Mother's Psychological State Vital To Child Development

It has always been believed that mother’s mental health passes on to the child, and that it is vital to the child’s personality growth that the expectant mother is happy and relaxed during her pregnancy. New study undertaken in the University of California has shown that it is actually the mother’s psychological state just before and after birth that matters more.

The researchers studied the impact of expectant mothers’ mental state on the developing foetus. The women were followed through pregnancy and a year after birth. It was revealed in the research that the consistency of the psychological state immediately before and after the childbirth had the greatest impact on child development.

This research and experiences of various post and pre natal researchers does show us that one needs to be conscious of what the babies feel during and after pregnancy. With this in mind, it is important that the expectant mother understands what the preborn baby feel, sense or think. Previous studies have shown that babies can be made to move to the rhythm of the mother’s speech, and even taught when to kick. The sense organs of the baby are already developed by the time he is 24 weeks into development.

The baby can already frown, squint and grimace by the time it is 4 months into pregnancy. After 6 months into the child development, the baby’s emotional and physical connection with the mother take a new turn. Apart from the senses of touch, feel, taste, vision and hearing; they can now feel the emotion of the mother.

The latest research done in University of California has only made our understanding better about this phenomenon. Moreover, it has also pointed out that just prior to the childbirth, a woman should be in a good mental state as she can convey this to her baby. Negative state of mind or disorders such as depression should not affect a woman when she is about to deliver, and also when she is nursing. Foetuses are perceptive to their mother’s psychological state, and they gather information from it to get ready for the environment they are likely to face.

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