Guest guest Posted July 3, 2001 Report Share Posted July 3, 2001 In a message dated 7/3/01 6:29:19 AM W. Australia Standard Time, nct-coffee writes: > my Mum had a fairly distressed pregnancy with me I went to a Symposium 4 years ago called " Building Healthy Babies " in which some very eminent researchers looked at the influences on babies in the womb - diet, pain etc. One of the things that was discussed was maternal stress. Vivette Glover talked about research done on rats, and some human studies which indicated a link between maternal stress and low birthweight babies. However, it was pointed out that that maternal stress can also be linked to things like poor housing, large families, poverty etc. - which also can contribute - so is it the stress or the environment. I do known that - having spoken to her she is of the opinion that maternal stress does effect babies (and possibly has an impact on their later behaviour). As to the cause, she has postulated that there are two possible causes - maternal stress hormones crossing the placenta, and stress restricting the arteries to the placenta thereby restricting blood flow (this would explain the low birthweight). Interestingly (and this is purely anecdotal, and not statistically significant) - as an ANT, I have noticed that many of the mums who work long hours, travel large distances, and work late into the pregnancies tend to be the one's that have early babies, and babies that are small. Interesting eh! So much so that I am thinking of doing a Graduate Diploma in Psychology next year (if they'll have me) - and would like to do more study on prenatal influences on children. Debbie Slater Perth, WA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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