US EditionTwin Study Reveals Genetic Influence on Infant Crying and Sleep
UPPSALA COUNTY, SWEDEN, JUL 7 – Genetics explain up to 70% of crying duration in infants by five months, with the remainder linked to unique environmental factors, researchers found in a twin study.
- A Swedish twin study from Uppsala University shows genetics explain up to 70% of infant crying variation at five months, recently published last week.
- Researchers analyzed data from 1,000 Swedish twin pairs using questionnaires at 2 and 5 months to distinguish genetic versus environmental influences on infant crying.
- Analysis shows that crying duration is up to 70% genetically determined at five months, making it the most heritable infant behavior studied, with 50% influence at two months.
- For parents, crying is largely genetically driven, limiting their influence, especially in early months, but they can still support infants through comfort and routines, as noted by researcher Charlotte Viktorsson.
- Future research by Viktorsson will follow twins up to 36 months, focusing on sleep routines and deeper behavioral analysis, as the study points toward examining environmental influences beyond infancy.
16 Articles
16 Articles
New Study Reveals a Big Reason Some Babies Cry More Than Others
A Swedish study looks at why babies cry and experts weigh in on what this means for parents.Fact checked by Nicholas BlackmerParents/GettyImages/David EspejoKey PointsA Swedish study, published in JCPP Advances, took questionnaire responses from nearly 1,000 parents of twins, at 2 and 5 months of age.Researches looked at both fraternal and identical twins to determine genetic and environmental factors that impact crying.The research concluded th…
The longer babies cry, the more restless parents become. A research team is looking for the causes of long screaming and will find the genes.
Many parents wonder why their baby is screaming so much. Swedish researchers offer comfort: it can simply be due to the genes.
Twin study reveals that genetics largely influence how long infants cry
How much an infant cries is largely steered by their genetics, and there is probably not much that parents can do about it. This has been shown in a new Swedish twin study from Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet in which researchers investigated how genetics and environment influence infants' crying duration, sleep quality and ability to settle during the first months of life.
Researchers found out that smells like the screaming of babies are preferably processed during sleep.
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