Happy mothers have healthy children-How?

Dr Vineetha Sreekumar

“When mom is happy, everyone is happy”. It’s also a reality for mom’s unborn child.

We all know that stress can have numerous negative effects on our lives. But can this stress also have an impact on an unborn child??? The answer is YES.

An unborn child is connected to its mother both physically and emotionally. Because of this, the mother’s physical and emotional state can have an impact on prenatal development. The “prenatal environment” (the environment inside the uterus) of the developing child is important because everything experienced by the mother is experienced by the baby as well.

Is this thought scientific?

• Scientists sampled blood from mother and amniotic fluid from around the fetus in the womb and at a gestational age of 17 weeks or more, high cortisol levels in mother’s blood were reflected in higher levels in the amniotic fluid. Amniotic fluid is mainly produced by the fetus.
• The hormones produced in a mother experiencing chronic stress passes through the placenta and will alter the distribution of blood flow in her fetus and change the character of her developing child’s physiology.
• The stress hormones produced in the mother can affect the mother’s vascular function, which may result in decreased blood flow to the fetus, i.e. oxygen and nutrients being delivered is decreased. This can adversely affect the fetal growth.
• When mother experience any stress, there is a rise in the mother’s blood pressure which causes a rise in the blood pressure of the developing child. Fetal heart rate is notably increased when mother is experiencing stress.
• Researches show that brain images have revealed that a “mother’s love” physically affects the volume of her child’s hippocampus. It has suggested a link between a larger hippocampus and better memory.
• On the other hand when mother feels joyful, the body produces natural pleasure chemicals called endorphin and encephalin. Without stress, the baby’s nervous system works smoothly.

Effects of stress on the baby

• It affects the brain function and behavior of the offspring including lowering the IQ.
• Stress activates the unborn child’s endocrine system and influences fetal brain development. It lowers the volume of hippocampus thus affecting the child’s memory.
• The child likely to have behavioral problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional problems like anxiety later in life.
• Mothers under constant and extreme stress are more likely to have babies who are premature, low birth weight babies, hyperactive and irritable.
• A recent review identified elevated fetal activity, delayed prenatal growth, prematurity, low birth weight and other biomedical adverse obstetric, fetal and neonatal outcomes as consequences of prenatal maternal depression and anxiety.
• Fear during pregnancy in a mother is identified as a predictor of higher levels of restless or disruptive temperament and more attention regulation problems in toddlers.

The “Limbic System” is a collection of parts of the brain that are responsible for generating and regulating emotions. Emotions arise in the limbic system, travel to the frontal lobes of the cortex, where feelings are monitored and interpreted, and then influence the hippocampus, which transmits the messages that trigger appropriate physical responses. Physical disruption of the limbic system causes major behavioral and emotional changes in a person.

Hormones affecting human emotions

• Acetylcholine – when a person is angry, acetylcholine weakens the heart and stiffens arteries which trigger one to feel depressed, anxious which then leads to sudden outburst of tears.
• Oxytocin – It’s called “love hormone” and helps build good interpersonal relationship in couple.
• GABA (gamma- amino butyric acid) – type of neurotransmitter that affects the growth hormone of humans. It acts as an anti- anxiety and anti- pain. Its low level makes one feel restless and anxious.
• Serotonin – a person may become aggressive and impulsive and will have difficulty in coping up strong emotions such as depression and sensitivity, when there is low serotonin level.
• Estrogen – women may start to feel increase levels of anxiety and mood swing when estrogen (primary sex hormone of women) is high.
• Progesterone – has greater influence to brain and when there is imbalance with the estrogen, it can lead to anxiety, insomnia.
• Norepinephrine or epinephrine – also called “noradrenalin” which surge at times of panic. It works to provoke the stress hormone and cause the blood pressure to rise, speedy metabolism and faster heart rate. Epinephrine is another type of adrenaline which brings out emotions such as fear, anger, and amusement.

This is how biochemistry and neurology accounts for ones feelings. Thus emotions are biological.

A pregnant women’s thoughts are the precursor for her emotions and her emotions are the precursor for the neurohormones that is transferred to the unborn developing child.

This is not to “unduly worry pregnant women”, but to highlight the need to lead a “healthy, balanced lifestyle” to avoid general stress.

It is the most powerful creation to have life growing inside of you. There is no bigger gift.

“In those few weeks of pregnancy, a mother mock up an entire life – who the baby is going to be.” So remember, when the mom is happy, the unborn child is happy.”

REFERENCE

1. Murray, Alyssa, “The Impact of Prenatal Stress on the Development of Limbic System Structures” (2014). Honors Theses. Paper 2588 http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses

2. Dipietro Janet A, Maternal stress in pregnancy: considerations for fetal development, Journal of adolescent health. 2012 Aug; 51(2 suppl): S3-S8

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