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Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study

CARMEN POWER, Claire Williams Orcid Logo, Amy Brown Orcid Logo

PLOS ONE, Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Start page: e0284183

Swansea University Authors: CARMEN POWER, Claire Williams Orcid Logo, Amy Brown Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0284183

Abstract

Background: Childbirth has become increasingly medicalised, which may impact on the mother’s birth experience and her newborn infant’s physiology and behaviour. Although associations have been found between a mother’s subjective birth experience and her baby’s temperament, there is limited qualitati...

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Published in: PLOS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023
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A qualitative interview study</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>661a337bd61878ae525941b6df63c339</sid><firstname>CARMEN</firstname><surname>POWER</surname><name>CARMEN POWER</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author><author><sid>21dc2ebf100cf324becc27e8db6fde8d</sid><ORCID>0000-0002-0791-744X</ORCID><firstname>Claire</firstname><surname>Williams</surname><name>Claire Williams</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author><author><sid>37aea6965461cb0510473d109411a0c3</sid><ORCID>0000-0002-0438-0157</ORCID><firstname>Amy</firstname><surname>Brown</surname><name>Amy Brown</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2023-04-06</date><abstract>Background: Childbirth has become increasingly medicalised, which may impact on the mother’s birth experience and her newborn infant’s physiology and behaviour. Although associations have been found between a mother’s subjective birth experience and her baby’s temperament, there is limited qualitative evidence around how and why this may occur.Objectives: This qualitative study aimed to explore mothers’ childbirth and postnatal experiences, perceptions of their baby’s early behavioural style, and whether they saw these as related. Methods: A qualitative semi-structured interview schedule collected rich in-depth data. Twenty-two healthy mothers over 18 years of age and with healthy infants aged 0-12 months born at term, were recruited from Southwest regions of England and Wales. Thematic analysis was performed on the data.Results: Mothers experienced childbirth as a momentous physical and psychological process. However, they did not necessarily perceive the birth as affecting their baby’s early behaviour or temperament. While some mothers drew a direct relationship, such as linking a straightforward birth to a calm infant, others did not make an explicit connection, especially those who experienced a challenging birth and postnatal period. Nevertheless, mothers who had a difficult or medicalised birth sometimes reported unsettled infant behaviour. It is possible that mothers who feel anxious or depressed after a challenging birth, or those without a good support network, may simply perceive their infant as more unsettled. Equally, mothers who have been well-supported and experienced an easier birth could be more likely to perceive their baby as easier to care for. Conclusions: Childbirth is a physical and psychological event that may affect mother-infant wellbeing and influence maternal perceptions of early infant temperament. 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spelling v2 63094 2023-04-06 Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study 661a337bd61878ae525941b6df63c339 CARMEN POWER CARMEN POWER true false 21dc2ebf100cf324becc27e8db6fde8d 0000-0002-0791-744X Claire Williams Claire Williams true false 37aea6965461cb0510473d109411a0c3 0000-0002-0438-0157 Amy Brown Amy Brown true false 2023-04-06 Background: Childbirth has become increasingly medicalised, which may impact on the mother’s birth experience and her newborn infant’s physiology and behaviour. Although associations have been found between a mother’s subjective birth experience and her baby’s temperament, there is limited qualitative evidence around how and why this may occur.Objectives: This qualitative study aimed to explore mothers’ childbirth and postnatal experiences, perceptions of their baby’s early behavioural style, and whether they saw these as related. Methods: A qualitative semi-structured interview schedule collected rich in-depth data. Twenty-two healthy mothers over 18 years of age and with healthy infants aged 0-12 months born at term, were recruited from Southwest regions of England and Wales. Thematic analysis was performed on the data.Results: Mothers experienced childbirth as a momentous physical and psychological process. However, they did not necessarily perceive the birth as affecting their baby’s early behaviour or temperament. While some mothers drew a direct relationship, such as linking a straightforward birth to a calm infant, others did not make an explicit connection, especially those who experienced a challenging birth and postnatal period. Nevertheless, mothers who had a difficult or medicalised birth sometimes reported unsettled infant behaviour. It is possible that mothers who feel anxious or depressed after a challenging birth, or those without a good support network, may simply perceive their infant as more unsettled. Equally, mothers who have been well-supported and experienced an easier birth could be more likely to perceive their baby as easier to care for. Conclusions: Childbirth is a physical and psychological event that may affect mother-infant wellbeing and influence maternal perceptions of early infant temperament. The present findings add to prior evidence, reinforcing the importance of providing good physical and emotional support during and after childbirth to encourage positive mother-infant outcomes. Journal Article PLOS ONE 18 4 e0284183 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1932-6203 childbirth interventions; birth trauma; maternity/perinatal care; infant behaviour;infant temperament; Bonding; maternal emotions; mother-infant relationship 6 4 2023 2023-04-06 10.1371/journal.pone.0284183 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284183 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) The research received no specific funding. 2023-05-18T14:54:41.8841236 2023-04-06T12:58:41.1508643 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology CARMEN POWER 1 Claire Williams 0000-0002-0791-744X 2 Amy Brown 0000-0002-0438-0157 3 63094__27397__88908cd31a124e4fa99fcfd4d89ad418.pdf 63094.pdf 2023-05-10T10:37:21.0672625 Output 568859 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright: © 2023 Power et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
spellingShingle Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
CARMEN POWER
Claire Williams
Amy Brown
title_short Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
title_full Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
title_fullStr Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
title_full_unstemmed Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
title_sort Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study
author_id_str_mv 661a337bd61878ae525941b6df63c339
21dc2ebf100cf324becc27e8db6fde8d
37aea6965461cb0510473d109411a0c3
author_id_fullname_str_mv 661a337bd61878ae525941b6df63c339_***_CARMEN POWER
21dc2ebf100cf324becc27e8db6fde8d_***_Claire Williams
37aea6965461cb0510473d109411a0c3_***_Amy Brown
author CARMEN POWER
Claire Williams
Amy Brown
author2 CARMEN POWER
Claire Williams
Amy Brown
format Journal article
container_title PLOS ONE
container_volume 18
container_issue 4
container_start_page e0284183
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-6203
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0284183
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284183
document_store_str 1
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description Background: Childbirth has become increasingly medicalised, which may impact on the mother’s birth experience and her newborn infant’s physiology and behaviour. Although associations have been found between a mother’s subjective birth experience and her baby’s temperament, there is limited qualitative evidence around how and why this may occur.Objectives: This qualitative study aimed to explore mothers’ childbirth and postnatal experiences, perceptions of their baby’s early behavioural style, and whether they saw these as related. Methods: A qualitative semi-structured interview schedule collected rich in-depth data. Twenty-two healthy mothers over 18 years of age and with healthy infants aged 0-12 months born at term, were recruited from Southwest regions of England and Wales. Thematic analysis was performed on the data.Results: Mothers experienced childbirth as a momentous physical and psychological process. However, they did not necessarily perceive the birth as affecting their baby’s early behaviour or temperament. While some mothers drew a direct relationship, such as linking a straightforward birth to a calm infant, others did not make an explicit connection, especially those who experienced a challenging birth and postnatal period. Nevertheless, mothers who had a difficult or medicalised birth sometimes reported unsettled infant behaviour. It is possible that mothers who feel anxious or depressed after a challenging birth, or those without a good support network, may simply perceive their infant as more unsettled. Equally, mothers who have been well-supported and experienced an easier birth could be more likely to perceive their baby as easier to care for. Conclusions: Childbirth is a physical and psychological event that may affect mother-infant wellbeing and influence maternal perceptions of early infant temperament. The present findings add to prior evidence, reinforcing the importance of providing good physical and emotional support during and after childbirth to encourage positive mother-infant outcomes.
published_date 2023-04-06T14:54:40Z
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