Infants' Regulation & Coregulation with Mothers

What is the purpose of this research?

The focus of this research is on how you and your baby’s heart rate and breathing change in different moods (e.g. when they are happy, calm, or upset). Also of interest is the mother’s role in helping her baby return to a calm state when they are mildly upset.

By learning about the changes in heart rate and breathing, we can further understand how babies learn to regulate their behaviour and emotional states physiologically, and how to better support the early relationship between mothers and their babies.

This will involve both you and your baby wearing adhesive tags and a belt around your chests to measure yours and your baby’s heart rates and breathing as you play with your baby in a series of games. This observation will be video recorded for later scoring. There will be a questionnaire for you to complete to understand your baby’s development, your well-being, and your parenting journey thus far. You may choose to complete the questionnaire prior to coming in for the observational part of the study or to complete the questionnaire in-person when we meet. The information gathered from this study will help to inform clinical and nursing practices, as well as future parenting education.

Who can participate?

You may sign up to participate in the study during the last trimester of your pregnancy or if your baby is younger than 6 months old.

When your baby is around 2 weeks old or between 4 and 6 months old, we will either visit you in your own home or invite you to visit us at the Pukemanu Centre at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch.

What will my participation involve?

If you decide to participate, you will be sent an information sheet, a consent form, along with a questionnaire about you and your baby.

Depending on which group you are a part of, you will be asked to participate in the following:

If your baby is 2 weeks old:

• A visit at your home or at the Pukemanu Centre at the University of Canterbury
• A questionnaire about you and your baby
• Non-invasive heart rate and breathing measurement during brief sensory exercises. This will be done by applying 3 adhesive electrodes on you and your infant’s chests as well as a respiration belt around your chest and your baby’s belly
• A video recording of you and your baby during the sensory exercises

If your baby is between 4 and 6 months old:

• A visit to the Pukemanu Centre at the University of Canterbury
• A questionnaire about you and your baby
• A video recording of you and your baby while you complete a few play episodes
• Non-invasive heart rate and breathing measurement during the play episodes will be performed the same way as for the 2-week-old mothers and babies