When you become a mother you take on an enormous responsibility. All of your child's ills will most likely be traced back to you at some point in time. I have a friend who jokes that she keeps a notebook to record all the bad things she has done as a mother so that her kids will not have to remember them later in therapy--they can just look them up. For a long time we have known that prenatal development is important in many ways and maternal conditions while pregnant can influence a child's physical, emotional, and intellectual development for the rest of their lives.
Read an article today about stress during pregnancy. While pregnant with my second son I was under a fair amount of stress. A couple months after finding out I was pregnant I found out I would be out of a job. I had been turned down for tenure at Penn State and would need to find a new position. Stressful. I found a new job quickly, fortunately, but then had to pack up and move. Stressful. Seven months pregnant I had to find a new doctor, start a new job, settle into a new house, find care for my young son. Stressful.
Today I read this opening paragraph...During gestation, the fetal brain develops dramatically as structures and connections form, providing the foundation for all future development. The fetal environment plays a critical role in these early neural processes, for better or for worse. Scientists now know that exposure to maternal stress can sometimes have deleterious effects on the fetus, depending on the cause, timing, duration, and intensity of stress. Great. I've ruined my second child's chances in life....Then there was this hopeful next sentence....Fortunately, postnatal interventions, such as a secure parent-infant bond and an enriched environment, can buffer the potential negative consequences.
The article discusses some interesting time periods in the development of the fetal brain, such as when synapses are formed (3rd trimester), myelination (last few months continuing for 9 months after birth)...
But, in the end there was a little reassurance that maybe stress wasn't so bad afterall:
Exposure to psychosocial stressors, on the other hand, has more nuanced effects on the developing brain. Overgeneralized assertions, such as “Stress is bad for you and your baby,” may inadvertently contribute to anxiety and worry among pregnant women. In fact, some researchers reported a beneficial effect of moderate psychosocial stress during pregnancy on certain child neurodevelopmental outcomes, noting that such stress may have different consequences depending on factors including its duration, intensity, context, as well as the social support systems available to the mother. This is consistent with the stress-inoculation theory, which posits that early-life stressors may provide a challenge that, when successfully overcome, can induce advantageous adaptations.
Maybe I just innoculated my son reallly well.....
The study, by Claudia Buss, et al, is reported in Cerebrum:
http://dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=37188
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