Coping with Crying programme expands to help parents manage new-baby stress

Research into the effectiveness of the NSPCC’s Coping with Crying programme has found that in areas piloting it the incidents of reported injuries to babies with feeding, sleeping or crying difficulties was lower in participating parents.

For the past two years, 24 UK hospitals and birthing units have shown parents a film about how to care for a crying baby and manage their stress levels to reduce the risk of them harming their child.

Around 30,000 new parents have seen the film, with 99 per cent remembering the film six months after watching it and four out of five putting advice from the film into practice.

Non-accidental head injuries are one of the leading causes of death and long-term disability in babies who are maltreated, with nearly 200 such incidents recorded each year in the UK.

Research has shown that crying can disrupt parents’ developing bonds with their babies, and in extreme cases can cause parents to get angry and harm them.

From May, parents in a further 19 areas will be offered the opportunity to watch the film either during pregnancy or soon after their baby is born. It is hoped to reach an additional 45,000 parents over the next 18 months.

One of these areas, York, will show the film to parents as part of their planned antenatal visits at one of the city’s nine children’s centres.

Janet Looker, York Council’s cabinet member for education, children and young people, said: “Every parent knows just how difficult it can be to cope with a crying baby, particularly if you’ve not had much sleep. This is a great opportunity to join a simple but groundbreaking project which could have huge benefits for parents and babies.”