Fathers' experience of childbirth and its relation to crying in his infant

As part of a research project exploring ways through which we can understand the crying infant and its family, this study focuses on the experiences of fathers during labour and delivery of their infant. In a previous part of the project it was shown that fathers' negative experiences during the childbirth were correlated with the amount of crying in the infant during the first months after birth. The aim of the present study was to explore and interpret the experiences that fathers reported in an interview when the infant was between six months and one year of age. A hundred and nine fathers were interviewed. The interviews, which took place in the families' homes and with both parents present, were carried out in dialogue form with open-ended questions. The results reveal that complications during the delivery were significantly correlated with the amount of crying in the infant. Feelings of helplessness, of guilt and that staff behaviour had been negative were more common in the group of fathers who experienced the delivery as a negative event. 'Locus of control' seems to be the most relevant concept.