How do babies roll? Identifying the coordinated movements of infant rolling through video compared to laboratory techniques.

BACKGROUND: Rolling is an important developmental milestone for infants where identifying the coordinated movement patterns could facilitate the early identification of motor development delays. Current methods for identifying coordinated movements of rolling are limited to a laboratory setting and not feasible for clinicians. OBJECTIVE: To develop video-based methods in which six coordinated movements, previously defined through motion capture, can be identified through video alone. METHODS: Forty-five videos of sixteen healthy infants achieving a roll were used to develop the video-based methodology and twenty-four videos had corresponding motion capture data used for validation. Four raters comprised of researchers and a clinician identified rolling coordination using the new video-based methods. A Fleiss' Kappa statistical test determined the inter- and intra-rater reliability of agreement for the new methodology and compared it to motion capture. RESULTS: The comparison of the motion capture and video-based methods resulted in substantial agreement. The video-based methods inter- and intra-rater reliability were substantial and almost perfect, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We developed reliable methodology to accurately identify the coordinated movements of infant rolling using only 2D video. This methodology will allow researchers to reliably define coordinated movements of infants through video alone and may assist clinicians in identifying possible motor development delays and disorders.

Perinatal Maternal Mental Health and Breastfeeding Are Associated with Infant and Toddler Sensory Profiles.

Infants' sensory processing may impact their development and daily functioning in multiple domains, as does the mental health of their mothers. Little research has been conducted exploring the novel construct of sensory processing in relation to maternal mental health and arguably one of the most important co-occupations during this sensitive time (i.e., breastfeeding), which may also be impacted by maternal mental health. Therefore, this study aims to explore associations between maternal mental health, the co-occupation of breastfeeding, and the sensory processing profiles of infants. Specifically, a sample of maternal-offspring dyads was examined from pre-gestation through the infant's age of 18 months. Mothers completed well-validated and contemporary self-report questionnaires of mental health (i.e., depression and anxiety symptom severity) and sensory processing across time points. Findings yielded statistically significant relationships between maternal prenatal and postnatal anxiety and depression symptom severity and infants' sensory processing profiles. Further connections were found between infants' sensory processing profiles and both duration and frequency of breastfeeding. The study provides health care professionals with additional perspectives on how maternal mental health status and breastfeeding may be related to infants' sensory processing profiles.