stress stress Reducing during pregnancy


Recent studies have linked the effects of mum’s stress during pregnancy to health issues such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), mental health disorders and even addiction in later life. MM takes a closer look…


ensure a healthy birth. Now, an American study has suggested that stress in a pregnant woman can be harmful to her baby, and may possibly lead to increased levels of worry and anxiety for a child. Te study was carried out by Dr Elysia


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Davis and her colleagues at the University of Denver, who have spent years studying the effect that pregnant women’s stress reactions


8MODERNMUM Summer 2016


hen you're pregnant, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the long list of what you need to avoid in order to


have on the fetus. One hormone that the team focused on was cortisol, which is produced by the body during pregnancy and which passes through the placenta to the unborn child. While it is normal for a pregnant woman’s


cortisol level to increase by, on average, two to four times, Davis and her team made an alarming discovery: the babies, who were born to women whose cortisol levels were consistently higher than normal in early pregnant, displayed much higher sensitivity to stress than other babies.


As part of the study, the University of


Denver team followed these babies as they grew from infancy to toddlerhood, and found that they exhibited heightened levels of anxiousness compared to other children. In one test, for example, the two-year-old


children were put into a room. A stranger would then enter the room and roll a ball to them. Te researchers noted that the toddlers consistently showed more fearful behaviour than was usual. Instead of playing ball with the stranger, the toddlers would either run back to their mums or stand


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