All babies cry, but parents who have a colicky baby, defined as a child between three weeks and three months old that cries for three hours a day at least three days a week, may have a hard time coping. According to a new study released in the July issue of Pediatrics, dads-to-be who are depressed throughout their partner's pregnancy may be responsible for the crying babes. It said:

Paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy might be a risk factor for excessive infant crying. This finding could be related to genetic transmission, interaction of a father with lasting depressive symptoms with the infant, or related indirectly through contextual stressors such as marital, familial, or economic distress.

The study followed 7,600 babies and their parents, screening the couples halfway through their pregnancies and two months after the births. In cases where the expectant father was found to be depressed, there was a 1.29 percent higher risk of the baby exhibiting excessive crying. Though the researcher has said that the study is not definitive, the results are interesting.