Mom's Emotions Effect on Baby
QUESTION
Dear Midwife,
I'm 8 weeks pregnant and was wondering if my emotions like getting upset,sad,anxious during my pregnancy will affect my baby's develop or health. Does he/she feels anything when I experience emotions?
Thank you.
ANSWER
We don't really know, of course. Your hormones do change when you are upset, and we think some of these hormones cross the placenta to the baby. So it is a good idea to do what you can to reduce stress in your life, of course, but on the other hand, babies are pretty resilient and seem to be able to survive quite a bit that parents do :-).
-- Cynthia, CNM. PhD.
Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
