By Joene Hendry
Mothers adapt to the medical, financial, and caregiver demands of raising a very-low-birth-weight child who has chronic medical problems, study findings suggest. "But that does not mean the stress is not significant," Dr. Lynn Singer told Reuters Health.
Singer, of Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues found that mothers of very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) children with chronic lung disease showed fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety by the time their children were eight years old than when they were younger than two years of age.
However, these mothers also report higher levels of parenting strain and more negative impact on the family and on social and financial aspects of their lives than do mothers of VLBW children without chronic medical problems or mothers of full-term children, Singer's team reports in The Journal of Pediatrics.
They assessed coping skills and stressors over time among 190 mothers of VLBW children with chronic lung problems and without, compared with 112 mothers of full-term children with no abnormalities at birth.
By the time the children reached age eight, the mothers reported similar measures of parental competence, marital satisfaction or divorce, family cohesion, and symptoms of psychological distress. Measures of everyday activities and pain among the children were also similar, the investigators report.
However, mothers of the VLBW kids with medical problems were more likely to describe their child as having greater physical limitations and being more demanding and hyperactive or less adaptable than were mothers of VLBW children without lung problems or full-term kids.
Of note, mothers of VLBW children did not attain educational advancement to the extent of mothers of full-term children, despite the groups' attainment of equal years of education prior to their child's birth, Singer pointed out.
The researchers conclude that long-term care of VLBW children has a significant and lasting impact on the child's families.