Beyond Early Adversity: The Role of Parenting in Infant Physical Health.
Jessica A Stern, Roseriet Beijers, Katherine B Ehrlich and 2 others
PMID 32271266WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers who were more sensitive and cooperative while bathing their infants were linked to fewer infant respiratory symptoms and skin conditions during infancy.
Effects were small, and the study did not show parenting caused health changes.
Key findings
01Higher observed maternal sensitivity and cooperation at 5 weeks predicted fewer respiratory symptoms and skin conditions across the first year, with small effects.
02The same parenting score did not significantly predict digestive or general infant illnesses and symptoms.
03Higher maternal care was marginally associated with lower prescribed antibiotic use after covariates, but the result did not reach significance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study was observational, so it cannot show that sensitive parenting caused fewer health symptoms. The effects for respiratory symptoms and skin conditions were small. The antibiotic finding was marginal and did not reach significance. Infant health was reported by mothers in monthly interviews, so maternal perception could influence the symptom counts. The sample was low-risk, highly educated, and mostly married Dutch mothers, so the links may not apply to more disadvantaged or different populations. Maternal care was measured only once at about 5 weeks, using sensitivity and cooperation, so other caregiving dimensions and later changes were not tested. Digestive and general illness frequencies were low, so the study may not have had enough power to detect parenting links for those outcomes. The study could not tell whether less sensitive mothers had infants who were actually sicker or whether they sought antibiotics more often for similar symptoms.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that sensitive parenting prevents illness or reduces antibiotic use. The study was observational, the effects were small, and the antibiotic result was marginal.