Every day, we learn more and more about just how amazing childbirth is. One surprising discovery is that a mother's emotions can actually have an effect on her unborn child.
This means that if the mother is depressed, sad, or suffered a lot of negative emotions during her pregnancy, it can have an impact on the baby. Likewise, positive emotions and a good mental state can have a positive impact on the child.
How can babies know their mother's emotions?
Whenever a person is depressed or goes through a traumatic experience, it can have an effect on that person's brain chemistry. What this means is that women who have depression have a different state of mind compared to women who do not have any depression.
Additionally, researchers have discovered that unborn babies can receive chemical signals from their mother through the placenta. They discovered that these chemical signals can give the unborn child an idea about their mother's emotional state, and can thus affect their development inside the womb.
Having a positive mental state during pregnancy means that an unborn child will develop in a healthy environment inside the womb. On the other hand, if a mother is depressed during her pregnancy, then her child might suffer the effects of her depression and can possibly have a negative on the child's mental health.
This also means that fetuses aren't as passive as we initially thought. Fetuses are collecting information about the world and the environment through their mothers, so it's important to create a loving and caring environment wherein the baby will thrive.
What can mothers do?
It's very important for mothers to always have a positive mental outlook during their pregnancy since this can affect their unborn child.
Here are some ways for pregnant moms to improve their mental health and keep positive during their pregnancy:
- Maintain a healthy lifestyle. A healthy body can contribute to a healthy mind, so eat healthy!
- Exercise can help manage depression and negative feelings, so it's a good idea to exercise during your pregnancy.
- Stay away from negative people. Negative people won't do you any good, so it would be best to avoid those kinds of people during your pregnancy.
- Be kind to other people. Positive actions can make you feel good, and do you good as well.
- Relax. Don't get too stressed, take some time to pamper yourself and to make yourself comfortable during your pregnancy.
Source: sciencedaily.com, psychologicalscience.org
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