Mothers Pass On emotions To Unborn Babies

Prenatal

oi-Devaki

By Devaki

Thursday, March 18, 2010, 11:42

Besides food and oxygen, a pregnant mother will also pass the transient emotions like sadness or happiness to the unborn babies, says the studies. So the emotional status of the mother can change the total individuality of the child, warns the experts. They advice the pregnant mothers to be positive and happy always to bring up a healthy baby.

The researchers showed the pregnant volunteers who participated the studies, a cheery five minute clip from the musical The Sound of Music. They also showed another emotional clip from the Champ, in which a boy cries at the death of his father. They provided a 'neutral' clip in between these two, so that they could measure the changes in the fetal movements against a baseline.

The fetuses are able to hear the sounds from outside, by the last trimester. The participants were made to listen through the headphones, to ensure that the clips only effect the emotions of the mothers.

Then the team counted the number of arm, leg and whole body movements via ultrasound. They could find that during the happy film clip the unborn babies moved their arms significantly more than when the pregnant women watched the neutral clips. The unborn babies of the women watching the sad clip, moved their arms significantly less than the normal. The sadness of the pregnant mother releases more of the 'fight' or 'flight' hormone epinephrine (adrenalin), which redirects blood away from the uterus and prepares muscles for exertion.

The study has been published in the Journal of Physiological Sciences.