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RELATION OF INFANT WAKING BEHAVIOR AND MOTHER-INFANT FREE PLAY

Amy K. Morgan, Karen Throckmorton, and Debra A. Harkins

Department of Psychology, Suffolk University, Boston, MA 02 114

In the neonatal period alert wakefulness consists of only brief fragile episodes that are usually followed by a shift to fussing or crying. There are differences in infants’ ability to maintain a stable waking state characterized by the ease with which each individual is able to rouse him or herself from the transition to wakefulness. One of the unanswered questions is what variables account for the individual differences observed between those infants who are able to make a relatively stable waking transition and those whose transitions are unstable. Komer (1972) and Wolff (1987) have suggested that it is more difficult to care for infants who exhibit unstable waking state profiles because one cannot anticipate the infant’s needs. It is the social cues provided by positive parent-child interactions that are considered an important context for early development. Furthermore, the face-to-face component of these interactions may contribute to an increase in the infant’s arousal-regulating ability (Gable & Isabella, 1992). Therefore, parent-infant styles of interaction may be associated with the infant’s ability to transition to a stable waking state. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of mother-infant free play and infant waking transitional behavior during the infant’s first through third month of age.

Eighteen infants (9 female) were videotaped as they awoke from naps at 3-4 wks, 5-6 wks, 7-8 wks and 9- 10 and 1 l- 12 wks of age. All infants were from normal full-term (38-41 weeks) pregnancies with uneventful deliveries, normal birthweight and Apgar scores (over8/8) from eastern Massachusetts. Mothers and infants were also videotaped during 10 minutes of free play episodes in which mothers were instructed to interact with their infants as normally as possible. Videotapes of waking activity were analyzed for duration of transition from sleeping to wakefulness; frequency and duration of generalized movements; and duration of fussing/crying and generalized movements until the first parental response. Mother-infant interaction during subsequent 10 minute unstructured play episodes were analyzed for frequency and duration of: mother-infant speech and use of motherese; mother holding or handling the infant; and face-to- face interaction.

Correlational analyses indicated significant relationships between infant waking behavior and the type and duration of maternal intervention techniques during free play. There were qualitative differences in the mother-infant interactions and infants fuss/cry behavior, frequency of generalized movements and durations of waking transition. Specifically, mothers of infants who exhibited fussy behavior and experienced longer sleep-to-wake transitions engaged in more mother-infant talk, used more motherese speech and held their infants more frequently during free play. However, they engaged in significantly less less face-to-face interaction.

These findings suggest that infants with unstable sleep to wake transitions are less likely to be exposed to the external cues provided by a caregiver that may assist in the development of arousal regulation.