A new study revealed that some of the world's worst crybabies are British and Canadian babies. Experts said infants in the U.K. and Canada topped its crying chart, while Dutch infants landed low on the list.
Experts from the University of Warwick in the U.K looked into 8,700 infant data and assessed their first 12 weeks. The researchers wanted to establish the prevalence of colic, which causes stress for both babies and parents. The findings were published in the Pediatrics journal.
Experts learned 28 percent of British babies experience high levels of colic among newborns in the ages of one to two weeks. They cried at least every three hours when researchers measured their experience on the crying chart for three days.
High levels of colic were also seen among 34.1 percent of Canadian babies in the ages of three to four weeks and 20.9 percent of Italian babies in the ages of eight to nine weeks. Babies from Denmark, on the other hand, showed fewer colic episodes at 5.5 percent among the ages of three to four weeks. German babies also scored low on the cry chart at 6.7 percent for the same age, as per Science Daily.
The experts also saw Danish and German parents approached their babies' crying fits in a more relaxed manner. They waited a few minutes before picking up and relieving a crying baby compared to British parents who picked up their infants on the first sign of distress. The experts said doing the latter reinforced a baby's crying patterns, as per Telegraph.
Lead study author Professor Dieter Wolk said the study should help people understand and learn from the differences in child-rearing. "We may learn more from looking at cultures where there is less crying and whether this may be due to parenting or other factors relating to pregnancy experiences or genetics," Wolk said.
Wolk also said the study can help health care workers and parents alike. The crying chart can show "whether a baby is crying within the normal expected range in the first three months or shows excessive crying which may require further evaluation and extra support for the parents," Wolk said.
