Early childhood mental disorders: excessive crying, sleep and feeding disorders, and interventions using the “Munich model” as an example

Abstract

About 20% of all healthy infants and toddlers show problems in the area of mental health during their first years of life such as inconsolable crying (so-called cry-babies), sleeping problems, and feeding problems. The prevalence of enduring feeding problems and sleeping problems is distinctly higher in premature children and in children with neuropediatric disorders. These problems present a higher risk for the development of internalizing and externalizing disorders of mental health in later childhood. The parent–child relationship is often strained. Parents report experiencing severe exhaustion, extreme uncertainty, and helplessness. Pediatricians and midwives are the first points of contact for families. Outpatient clinics for cry-babies such as the “Munich Consultation for Cry-Babies,” founded by Mechthild Papoušek in 1991 at the kbo-Children’s Center Munich, provide a low-threshold service for the highly stressed families. They can contribute to the prevention of neglect, maltreatment, and psychological secondary disorders of the child. Intervention strategies are based on parent–infant and attachment research and integrate child- and parent-oriented approaches. During the COVID-19 pandemic, psychosocial stress factors in families increased. This development was also observable in the outpatient clinics for cry-babies.