Mothers, Babies, Perception

Judith M. Willging. R.N., M.S.N. Psychiatric Clinical Specialist, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Toledo Outpatient Clinic, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Previous research findings suggest that there is a sensitive period immediately following the birth of a baby and that the contact between mother and baby is a significant variable in the development of the maternal caregiving activities. Based on this assumption, this study was undertaken to explore whether the increased infant contact which occurs in rooming-in situations is related to a more positive maternal perception of the baby. The mothers’ perceptions of their babies were measured at two days and four weeks postpartum, using Broussard’s Neonatal Perception Inventory. It was hypothesized that mothers in a rooming-in setting would demonstrate higher positive scores on the NPI at both observations than would‘mothers in a traditional setting. The study was carried out in the maternity units of three mid-western community hosptals, using samples of 46 rooming-in mothers and 35 mothers in a traditional setting. The findings did not support the hypotheses. Rather, the results suggest that mothers in a rooming-in setting tend to express more positive perceptions of their infants during their hospitalization than mothers in the traditional setting; however, the differences were not statistically significant. An additonal finding was that more prenatal education as well as participation in natural childbirth was positively correlated with more positive perceptions of the infant. In recent years there has been increasing concern for the physical, emotional and social development of human infants. In particular, researchers are exploring the effects of variations in maternal caretaking on the child’s subsequent emotional and physical development. Attention is being focused on the effects of such factors as the father’s involvement with the mother in the birth process and the effects of mother-infant separation at various stages in the development of their relationship. The focus of this study was the relationship between patterns of postpartum contact and separation and mothers’ perceptions of their babies.