PURPOSE: To verify the association between the presence/absence of a risk of delayed child development and the presence/absence of maternal anxiety during repeat Neonatal Auditory Screening (NAS). METHOD: Sixty mothers were interviewed when they presented for a second round of Neonatal Auditory Screening Program at University Hospital. The protocol used for elaboration of the Index of the Risk of Delayed Child Development was applied to a population of children aged 0-4 months. The relationship between mother and baby was applied. Beck's Anxiety Scale was applied sequentially. For the statistical analysis, any associations among variables were verified using the Qui-Quadrado test, with 0.05 (5%) as the level of significance. RESULTS: The results showed that there is a positive correlation between a risk of delayed child development and maternal anxiety. The Index of the Risk of Delayed Child Development showed higher frequencies of alteration at scores of 1, 2, and 4, which are directly related to the mother´s initiative. CONCLUSION: Maternal anxiety can cause negative implications for the motherhood exercise, for the mother/baby interaction, and therefore represents a risk factor for optimal development in general and language acquisition in particular.
