A psychophysiological study in infants' development influenced by mothers with maternity blues

我们有两个计划来研究母亲患有产后抑郁的婴儿的发育。其中一项计划是使用活动记录仪监测婴儿何时以及如何获得昼夜睡眠-觉醒节律，这些婴儿的母亲将自己适应产后时期。另一项是检查婴儿的昼夜睡眠节律，这些婴儿的母亲患有产后抑郁症。然而，很难遇到产妇忧郁的受试者。我们做了如下的第一个计划：研究对象是11位初产妇和她们的婴儿。他们在参与这项研究之前都有书面的知情同意书。在出生后的第3、第6、第9和第12周，对婴儿和他们的母亲进行连续3到5天的活动记录。在第三周检测到婴儿运动的平均自相关图的24小时峰值。婴儿的作息节律在第三周就已经存在了。从第6周到第12周，这24 h峰值的幅度逐渐增加。这可能是一个有用的指标，婴儿的昼夜休息活动节奏的发展。母鼠在第3周平均自相关图上的24 h峰值幅度最小，从第3周到第12周逐渐增大。这意味着母亲在第三周的昼夜节律受到她们晚上因照顾婴儿而中断的睡眠的影响。母婴同步可能是影响婴儿昼夜睡眠-觉醒节律的首要因素。现在，我们一直在研究患有产后抑郁症的母亲的婴儿发育情况。

We have two plans in order to study the development of infants with the mothers having maternity blues. One plan is to examine when and how infants obtain their circadian sleep-wake rhythm, using actigraph monitoring, whose mothers adapted themselves to postpartum periods. The other is to examine infants' circadian sleep-wake rhythm, whose mothers had maternity blues. However, it was difficult to encounter the subjects with maternity blues. We have done the first plan as follows:The subjects were eleven primipara and their infants. They gave written informed consent before participating in the study. Actigraphic recordings for the infants and their mothers were made over three to five continuous days during the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth weeks after birth. A 24-h peak on a mean autocorrelogram of the infants' movements was detected at the third week. The infants' circadian rest-activity rhythm already existed in the third week. The amplitude of this 24-h peak gradually increased from the sixth to twelfth week. This may be useful as an index of the development of infants' circadian rest-activity rhythm. Regarding the mothers, the amplitude of the 24-h peak on the mean autocorrelogram at the third week was the smallest of all other weeks, and it became larger from the third to twelfth week. This meant that the mothers' circadian rhythm at the third week was influenced by their interrupted sleep at night to take care of their infants. The mother-infant synchronization is probably the first factor in the entrainment of infants' circadian sleep-wake rhythm.Now, we have been studying development of infants with the mothers having maternity blues.