Mother–infant communication can be enhanced after conception by in‐vitro fertilization

Bibliographic Data

ID11277255
AuthorsZaira Papaligoura (Panteion University, corresponding author), Colwyn Trevarthen (0000-0003-1438-0086, University of Edinburgh)
Year2001
Volume22
Issue6
Pages591-610
Publication date2001-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInfant Mental Health Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-9641 • E-ISSN: 1097-0355
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/imhj.1021
OpenAlexW2047775242
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited30

To determine if stress associated with artificial pregnancy treatment might affect early communication, video microanalysis was applied to examine face‐to‐face play between infants and their mothers in the first 5 months. Three groups of infants participated: 8 born after in‐vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment employing parental gametes; 8 born after standard infertility treatment (INF), which did not include IVF; and 8 infants whose parents had experienced no infertility problems (Control group: C). All were videotaped at home in free play with their mothers at 4, 7, 13, and 21 weeks of age. A 3‐min extract of each video was reviewed in detail by means of an objective coding system, to define the style of communication. Data from this analysis was subjected to two separate repeated measures of analyses of variance. We found no evidence of detrimental effects of infertility treatment on mother–infant communication, but there were “positive” differences in behavior in the pairs where the mother had been so treated. Thus, while maternal “caretaking” episodes had become infrequent in the control group by the age of 21 weeks, in the two treatment groups the mothers continued to show many caretaking behaviors with infants of this age. Furthermore, infants of both the IVF and INF groups showed significantly higher frequencies of “play” episodes than those in the control group ( p = 0.018 and p = 0.004, respectively). Apart from these differences, mother–infant interactions were generally the same in the three groups. The results indicate that communication between mothers and infants is likely to develop along the normal path after IVF or INF treatment, but that mothers who have had these infertility treatments may be more attentive to their infants, and their infants are significantly more playful. Since the IVF and the INF groups were similar, it would appear that these differences from the control group are related to the experience of a successful treatment for infertility, and not related to any particular stresses that may be associated with IVF treatment. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health

Biology · Developmental psychology · Gynecology · In vitro fertilisation · Infertility · Obstetrics · Pregnancy · Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin Pregnancy · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Pediatrics

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