How does stress affect babies in our bellies?

Baby health and stress during pregnancy are clearly linked, according to scientific research. One recent study (Phelan, DiBenedetto, Paul, Zhu, & Kjerulff, 2015) was conducted on 3,000 pregnant women who assessed the stress they feel. The baby’s health was monitored at 1, 6, and 12 months after birth. It was proven that the more stress a pregnant woman experienced during pregnancy, the sicker the baby – more colds, fever, inflammation, infection, diaper rash, emergency room visits, service, the child was more tearful, etc.

Another study (Henriksen and Thuen, 2015) involved nearly 75,000 pregnant women who assessed marital satisfaction and stressful situations during pregnancy in the 30th week of pregnancy, and showed that both stress and dissatisfaction with marriage during pregnancy lead to significantly more frequent colds, inflammation of throat and ear, pneumonia, bronchitis, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, urinary tract infections and about 20 other different diseases in babies.
Stressful life events are a significant factor based on which a whole range of diseases can be predicted in adults as well (eg heart attack), and the mentioned research, as well as numerous others, indicate the importance of working on oneself.
A satisfied mother is the foundation of happiness and health in children. The mother has to take care of herself to be able to give the maximum for the children. Stressful situations cannot be avoided, but you can learn to look at them differently and teach the body not to react excessively to stress, or teach the body to recover faster after stressful situations. Even when you don’t notice it, your body reacts in different ways – through breathing, rapid pulse, high blood pressure, damage to the walls of blood vessels and other tissues in the body, lowering immunity and much more, not to mention your emotions, satisfaction and behavior changes, poorer functioning …
Every mother wants her children to be healthy and happy, but there is no happy child without a contented mother. Start with yourself.
Andrea Vlašić, psychologist – clinical hypnotherapist and CBT psychotherapist IE