Contrary to what many birth professionals repeat, stress during pregnancy does not have a major impact on the baby… if it is pampered after birth.
- Cortisol is a hormone triggered by stress.
- It can be revealed by a blood test.
- The postnatal environment is also important for the baby
Pregnancies can be a great source of stress for expectant mothers: am I eating well enough? Is my baby healthy? How will the birth go? Will I be up to it when I get home?… But good news: this anxiety does not impact the baby’s mental health if he is pampered at birth. These are the conclusions ofa new studypublished in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Response to cortisol
To reach this happy deduction, the researchers analyzed the journey of 94 mothers and their babies. In mothers, several stress markers were evaluated at the end of their pregnancy, namely the levels of Interleukin-6, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), diurnal cortisol, alpha amylase and potential symptoms of depression. or anxiety. In parallel, the response to cortisol was analyzed in infants in their third month of life.
Bottom line: Higher cortisol levels during pregnancy were associated with a greater cortisol response in infants, but only in babies whose mothers were less emotionally available after delivery. In other words, these children were more susceptible to stress. All other markers of prenatal stress were not significantly related to cortisol reactivity in infants, either independently or in interaction with maternal care.
“The prenatal and postnatal environments have a joint impact”
“From a clinical point of view, these results indicate that high stress during pregnancy should lead to particular attention to the care provided to the newborn, in order to mitigate the long-term consequences of prenatal anxiety on the child development, says research author Sarah Nazzari.
“These new data are strikingly similar to those reported in animal work, and prove that prenatal and postnatal environments have a joint impact” on the health of the baby,” she continues. She concludes: “This is the first time that we have proven in humans that a nurturing mother can disrupt the association between prenatal maternal cortisol and infant cortisol regulation.”
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