Anxious Mothers’ Impact on Infant Development
Women go through a major life transition during pregnancy and early motherhood that is physically and mentally demanding making women more susceptible to stress and anxiety (Henrichs, Schenk, Schmidt, Velders, Hofman, Jaddoe, Verhulst, & Tiemeier, 2009). I have had personal experiences observing anxious young mothers interact with their infants and children. I have seen these children eventually display developmental delays, poor eating and sleeping behaviors, and even their own anxieties. I am unsure about whether this maternal anxiety accounts for these problems. How do anxious mothers impact infant development?
Researchers have studied many different forms of maternal stress and anxiety
Emotion regulation involves intrinsic and extrinsic processing of monitoring and modifying emotional reactions in both positive or negative situations (Martins, 2012). In order for individuals to have the ability to regulate emotions, they must beware of their emotions. Although infants are unaware and lack the ability to regulate their emotions, it then becomes the role of a primary carer to nurture the infant, thus acting as a model for regulating emotions. Evidently, infants grow to reflect the ways in which their carers control and modify their emotions as well as social boundaries. Furthermore, emotion regulation is considered an important aspect of an individuals life as it 'can moderate emotions and keep them in a manageable range
Much research has been done on the influence of a mother on a child’s well-being and development (Pougnet, Serbin, Stack, & Schwartzman, 2011). However, research has shown that an engaged and loving father can contribute greatly to a child’s cognitive, social, and psychological development (Bronte-Tinkew, Carrano, Horowitz, & Kinukawa, 2008; Duursma, Pan, & Raikes, 2008; Pancsofar & Vernon-Feagans, 2010; Wilson & Prior, 2010).
The prenatal period is when quick changes in the fetal organs are vulnerable to organizing change and stability but also building internal working system to trigger emotional responses (McEwen et al. 2013). It is a critical time for brain development and the PFC (McEwen et al. 2013). It exposes a selection of long -term modifications on brain development and behaviour (Entringer et al. 2009). Prenatal exposure to stress affects hormones in the body including the physiology and anatomy that relate to increasing drug levels, cortical communication and more (Entringer et al. 2009). Fetal stress is any event that interrupts a fetal process in stability in the body. (Entringer et al. 2009). During pregnancy, maternal stress impends the fetal nervous system and shortens the length of maturation due to many issues and concerns affecting the mother (Entringer et al. 2009). During pregnancy, maternal psychosocial stress threatens the fetal nervous system and contracts the length of gestation (Entringer et al. 2009). High levels of placental corticotrophin- releasing hormone
Prenatal stress is an important topic to me; both our daughters are adopted from the same birth parents. The birth mother was addicted to heroin and was prescribed suboxone to help her with the addiction. Of course, she became addicted to suboxone, it is considered a wonder drug to combat opiate addiction. Suboxone is readily available as a street drug. My daughter experienced a great deal of stress in utero, not only from the drugs, but also due to abusive relationship between the birth mother and the birth father. The birth father beat the birth mother so severely in her 7 month of pregnancy, the state moved her to a hospital several hours away as a Jane Doe in order to protect the baby. It is probably the best possible outcome for my daughter as her health was monitored daily for the last 45 days of gestation. However, she was born addicted and required morphine for the withdrawals, she was in the NICU for thirty days in Seattle, I was with her during this time. My point to her history is that until the age of two she startled easily with any loud sound, and to this day if anyone speaks loudly or with an angry tone she becomes upset. Also, if anyone approached her unexpectedly she would flinch as if shielding herself. According to a 2012 Forbes article stress in utero can lead to ADHD and anxiety disorders. She has outgrown the flinching and
Second, children-parent attachment is very important to children development. According to Barnes (2006), “studies show a link between maternal depression and a new mother’s state of mind with respect to attachment”. Poor maternal-infant attachment is directly related to poor child development. Maternal-infant attachment enhances infant outcome (Barnes, 2006). Breastfeeding is one aspect of maternal-infant attachment that directly compliments children development. Infants that are not breast fed will not benefit from the more nutritious and anti-bodies rich breast milk. In retrospect, this may still be discussed under child development. However, poor maternal-infant attachment posed other health issues worth discussing separately. Being a mother is often very overwhelming to many women. Negligent parenting may result if there is no attachment between the parent and infant. Negligence poses increase health risk for the child as mentioned in the first paragraph. In addition, depressed women may respond to their infants with increased withdrawal and hostility making the child at risk for child abuse (Barnes, 2006). Consequently, child abuse may cause trauma that may affect the child’s lifelong psychological and cognitive health. Poor maternal-infant
In this paper I will explain how temperament shapes the cognitive, socio-emotional development. I will discuss various theories of human development, identify the social and emotional domains development and how they affect temperament. I will discuss the eight stages of socialization according to Eric Erikson, and the cultural perspectives of temperament.
has an effect on the infant’s behavior and development. How mother’s respond to their infant’s
Does the transition from maternal care to nonparental childcare cause stress that is reflected both behaviorally and in cortisol levels?
The role of becoming a mother has many effects on a woman such as new roles, major responsibilities, money issues, increased unpaid workload, and harm to body image. These issues cause many women to suffer from postnatal fatigue and depression. These psychological issues can interfere with the mother’s ability to care for her new baby.
I’ll talk about how postpartum anxiety is different from postpartum depression. I’ll also share thoughts from experts in the field, like Kevin Gyoerkoe, Psy. D. and Jonathan Abramowitz, Ph.D., on why this distinct condition often gets lumped in with postpartum depression. I’ll go on to talk about the reasons why women experience anxiety after their baby is born. I’ll end the article by talking about ways women can manage and recover from postpartum anxiety, including how to get help from professionals and things that women can do at home (more than just deep
Maternal stress also plays a role in the prenatal development affecting the length of gestation. Most commonly, maternal prenatal stress affects birth outcomes including prenatal delivery. Emerging research suggests that measures of pregnancy-specific stress are better than measures of general psychological distress for predicting developmental outcomes including preterm delivery (Davis & Sandman, 2010). Goals from the study in this article investigated maternal cortisol and stress and how each affects cognitive and motor development. Women who reported having higher levels of stress during the prenatal period reported a strong correlation with cognitive and motor development were associated with a stronger correlation of cognitive and motor development in their children, and reported higher levels of stress and anxiety earlier in pregnancy. However, one could question the validity of this report because the information was self-reported.
The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the
The French EDEN Study, conducted between 2003 and 2006 on 2002 parents and children from 24-28 weeks gestation until the children were 3 years of age reports that there were significant correlations between prenatal anxiety and cognitive developmental delays at two and three years. The study, which was published in the online journal PLOS ONE in August of 2015, says the risk of cognitive delay is higher in offspring of parents who experienced prenatal depression
The infant’s temperament may partially stem from the way in which the mother handles the child. The child is affected by the way that they are treated even when they are infants.
“As infants grows older, they form close and enduring emotional attachments with the important people in their lives”. Reference 1. This essay will discuss the developmental period of infancy. Infancy is categorised as the development stage of a human from birth to 2 years of age. Infancy is a time in the human life that involves rapid growth and extraordinary changes in the first two years of life. Infants not only grow dramatically physically, their brains develop, and there is the start of locomotor skill development as well as the start of reflexes and sensory growth. The essay will also discuss anxiety and the role it plays with infants in regards to physical, cognitive and psychosocial stages an infant experiences. This essay will argue that the attachment of an infant to its mother is highly important. It will discuss the different way in which attachment affects an infant. This essay will discuss typical development milsetones in the first year years of human life. It will then go to analysis the relationship between infants being in day care or at home with their mother. T The typical physical development of a babys starts at borth. When a Baby is born on average it will weigh 3.4 kilograms and measure to be around 51 centimeters. A baby is typically 25 percent of its final adult weight when it is born but by its