Prenatal Mother Stress

The stress response in the body is a complex one, and depends on many factors. The impacts of both short and long term stress are dependent on many variables and it is known that stress has many different outcomes. Studies have been done to test for specific outcomes in distinct populations. One of these populations is pregnant women. Pregnancy is a time of importance in health for a mother and her child. It is a time where the mother focuses on eating well, exercising, reading pregnancy books and following doctor’s orders. Pregnancy can be nerve wracking; it entails physical changes, emotional tolls, and physical tolls. What most pregnant women don’t know is that stress can cause problems for their baby. One outcome of prenatal stress on the

The most prevalent is prenatal mother stress, which is chronic stress that is present before the baby is even born (Christian, Iams, Porter, & Leblebicioglu, 2013). Prenatal mother stress can cause problems in children. Stress hormones take a toll on the body and may cause many serious problems in pregnancy. Cortisol has been seen to be a mediator. Different types of stressors show different problems in the health of pregnant women. These stressors are measured by cortisol level. Furthermore, the future of the child is also jeopardized due to stress during mother’s pregnancy. The child may have different health problems, development problems, mental and behavior problems as well. People who are planning pregnancies should be aware of the potential dangers prenatal stress can cause their

Infants were examined at various ages to investigate the outcomes of prenatal maternal stress. Maternal cortisol levels were evaluated 5 times during pregnancy. Results showed that high concentrations of cortisol early in gestation correlated with a slower rate of development over the first year as well as a lower mental development score (Davis & Sandman, 2010). High levels of maternal cortisol late in gestations indicated increased cognitive development and higher scores (Davis & Sandman, 2010). This study shows that maternal cortisol and anxiety have influenced fetus development greatly. This is neither a good or bad thing. These results indicate that cortisol and anxiety have an impact on the fetus revealing that there is such a