The influence of an improvement of body contact on regulatory disorders in infancy

Objective: This study concerns the influence of an improvement of body contact on regulatory disorders in infancy. Two interventions were examined: 1. parent counseling on the subject of body contact; 2. practical training of body contact in connection with exposure. Both methods were supplemented by a video-based parent training. Methods: 20 infants with regulatory disorder were assigned to each treatment. Body and eye contact were examined by means of video ratings before and after treatment. In addition, we measured the daily amount of crying, sleeping, feeding, being fussy, and quiet play by means of an infant behavior diary. Results: Both interventions resulted in an improvement of body contact, though only in the group with practical training was this improvement stable after 3 months. Taking all 40 participating infants together, we found significant improvements for "fussiness," "sleep duration," "awake, quiet or playing," and a marginal significant intervention effect for the duration of crying. Both interventions showed that children who had markedly improved in body contact also improved with regard to the regulation problem. Finally, the practical training of body contact was superior to pure counseling respective to the fussiness of the infants and to their gaze contact. Conclusions: Body contact can be improved through specific therapeutic interventions. Video-based parent training in combination with interventions aiming at an improvement of body contact have a positive effect on the regulation problem.