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

POWER, CARMEN; Williams, Claire; Brown, Amy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0284183

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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

, Amy Brown

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

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

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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.
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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
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63094

first_indexed	2023-04-06T12:06:48Z
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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	2023-05-18T14:54:41.8841236 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
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college_str	Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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url	http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284183
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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	2023-04-06T08:24:40Z
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Does a mother’s childbirth experience influence her perceptions of her baby’s behaviour? A qualitative interview study

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