Many literary works, music and movies have been produced on the relationship between mother and child, which is a meaningful bond. This bond has a quality that, despite its definition, is still poorly understood and baffles outside observers.
Children can feel inadequate in the face of their mother’s love and attention, and this can be experienced as “the embarrassment of not being able to love a mother like a mother”. So what is the neuroscientific basis for this unique bond?
First of all, new studies have shown that this experience and its effects begin in the womb and that the effects of the mother’s emotional experience on the fetus continue into adulthood.
As the mother carries her child, a bond is formed that begins with the baby in the womb. During this period, the mother is physically close to her child, establishes an emotional bond and this process forms the first connection between mother and child.
Life experiences that begin in the womb and are encountered at an early age cause changes in the brain and continue to have an impact in later life. A number of studies have shown that it has significant effects especially on mental health.
Mothers who were anxious and stressed during pregnancy were observed to continue to experience this during the first two years of their children’s lives. High levels of stress hormones can affect the baby’s brain development. In particular, it can lead to changes in brain regions associated with stress, such as the hippocampus and amygdala.
Stress can cause hormonal imbalance in the mother’s body. This can affect the baby’s hormonal system and these effects can be long-term. Anxiety, depression and stress during pregnancy can have negative effects not only on the health of the mother, but also on the health of the baby. This can result in an increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight and the associated risks.
In a study conducted in Canada on mothers who were victims of the 1998 ‘Ice Storm’ in North America, which left 3 million people without electricity for about 1.5 months, the children of mothers who were pregnant at the time of the disaster and who were exposed to the consequences of the disaster were tested for intelligence and language skills.
When the results were compared with the control group, it was observed that the children of these mothers, who had been exposed to prolonged severe stress, had retarded intelligence and language skills compared to other children.
Reference:
Psychologist Merve Altındağ
Twardosz S., Lutzker J. R. (2010). Child maltreatment and the developing brain: a review of neuroscience perspectives. Aggress. Violent Behav. 15, 59-68
DiPietro JA, Costigan KA, Sipsma H (2008) Continuity in self-report measures of maternal anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms from pregnancy through two years postpartum. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol 29:115-124.
