Pregnancy stress/anxiety and baby temperament?

[PeachSalsa]

Have any of you ladies noticed a link between your baby's temperament (whether they are a good sleeper, colicky, cry alot, etc) with your mental state during pregnancy, especially the 1st and 2nd trimester?

I read an article that if you have constant stress/anxiety in the first few months of pregnancy, that you're much more likely to have an anxious, colicky baby. Just wondering if that is true.

 

[lau86]

I think there's something in it. My first and third are a lot more high maintenance and I did feel a lot more stressed and anxious during those pregnancies. My third I had quite bad morning sickness too which didn't help.

 

[themisfit]

Hmm... definitely an interesting topic.

I had severe morning sickness (to the point where I worried about hyperemesis [sp?] for a while) for half of my pregnancy. This did lead me to be very depressed the first 20 or so weeks.

Raven isn't an anxious baby, but she has gotten somewhat fussy the past two weeks. She was a quiet baby at first, but her 1 month mark seems to have brought out her colicky side. She does cry a lot in the evenings.

I'm not sure if this is related or a coincidence.

 

[minties]

My first tri was extremely stressful with Emma, I won't go into the reasons but it was pretty bad. She's a lovely happy baby who sleeps well at night. She's very smiley and content.

She does have reflux which my others didn't have, and she does cluster feed every evening but it's nothing major and she still seems happy.

 

[MindUtopia]

There is a relation between chronic stress in pregnancy (but like severe chronic stress, like homelessness, job loss, abuse, death of a partner, serious illness, etc.) and preterm birth and low birth weight, so in a way it makes sense that babies of mum's who experienced severe chronic stress in pregnancy would struggle in a lot of ways in the early months, due to things like failure to thrive, complicating health issues due to low birth weight and preterm birth, plus just the fact that chronic stress doesn't just go away (so it's definitely going to be more difficult and stressful dealing with being homeless, etc. after you give birth than before, which will have a knock on effect on baby). But that sort of chronic stress isn't really the same as just being hormonal or tired or a little sick, it's like serious stress.

But I wouldn't say that not sleeping through the night or being a high needs baby is so much a sign of stress. That's just called being a baby, and I'd say that's different from a baby who is truly distressed and unwell. I had a lovely, relaxing pregnancy with no stress, but I definitely had a high needs baby. She was perfectly happy, but she was happy in my arms and didn't STTN until she was just over 3 years. I think that's pretty normal (certainly is for all the mums I know with kids her age, who all also had lovely, easy pregnancies). She was never unhappy seeming or in pain though. But she wasn't a pram baby who just laid there and did nothing and was 'easy' if that makes sense. But if you are a stressed out person, you will definitely see that reflected in your baby though. I don't think it's so much a biochemical thing. Just if you are always wound up, they pick up on that and mirror your emotions. It's really obvious when we go through stressful periods (like I'm under a lot of work stress at the moment myself) and my daughter definitely picks up on that and it affects her too.

 

[Spudtastic]

My first (successful) pregnancy I was not stressed at all. I had hyperemis but was mentally relaxed. Dd1 was a terrible sleeper and suffered with FOMO.

After a few more losses and then pregnant with dd2 I was so anxious. Dd2 is cruisy and sleeps well.

I agree with previous poster about chronic stress. There was an interesting study of pregnant woman after 9/11 of those who were in the vicinity and witnessed it. It was a while ago since I saw this on a documentary so my apologies if I don't quite remember the facts but they found that trimesters 1 and 2 had no affect on baby. Trimester 3 was different and the stress in mum flipped a genetic stress switch on in the baby and those babies were born with their genetic stress switch on high.

 

[Spudtastic]

https://www.theguardian.com/science.../09/pregnant-911-survivors-transmitted-trauma

 

[staralfur]

I had a very low-stress, chill, relatively easy pregnancy and ended up with an extremely high needs baby with a nightmare temperament, so for us there was absolutely no correlation. She's also now a very friendly, easy-going, happy kid, so for us babyhood was not indicative of how my pregnancy went OR her temperament just a few short years later. She was just not a fan of being a baby, I guess.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Not sure. I had horrific stress with 2nd and she was my easiest.

 

[psychochick]

I highly doubt it because my mom was actually pretty depressed when she had me like the entire pregnancy. She was also by herself a lot because my dad was studying in a different city. I was a calm baby in terms of sleeping. She said she just left me in a room and I slept. I did have a weaker immune system though and got sick a lot. My mom had a great pregnancy with my brother, who was also fine and not colicky but bigger temper than me since birth.

I also know two mom's my age that were both stressed with work the whole way through and their infants had very different personalities right away. I think it's a matter of personality. However, I think the moms physical and mental state would affect the infants initial health for sure. Like if you get a virus or are physically abused, it will absolutely hurt the baby's development but not personality.

 

[themisfit]

There is a relation between chronic stress in pregnancy (but like severe chronic stress, like homelessness, job loss, abuse, death of a partner, serious illness, etc.) and preterm birth and low birth weight, so in a way it makes sense that babies of mum's who experienced severe chronic stress in pregnancy would struggle in a lot of ways in the early months, due to things like failure to thrive, complicating health issues due to low birth weight and preterm birth, plus just the fact that chronic stress doesn't just go away (so it's definitely going to be more difficult and stressful dealing with being homeless, etc. after you give birth than before, which will have a knock on effect on baby). But that sort of chronic stress isn't really the same as just being hormonal or tired or a little sick, it's like serious stress.

But I wouldn't say that not sleeping through the night or being a high needs baby is so much a sign of stress. That's just called being a baby, and I'd say that's different from a baby who is truly distressed and unwell. I had a lovely, relaxing pregnancy with no stress, but I definitely had a high needs baby. She was perfectly happy, but she was happy in my arms and didn't STTN until she was just over 3 years. I think that's pretty normal (certainly is for all the mums I know with kids her age, who all also had lovely, easy pregnancies). She was never unhappy seeming or in pain though. But she wasn't a pram baby who just laid there and did nothing and was 'easy' if that makes sense. But if you are a stressed out person, you will definitely see that reflected in your baby though. I don't think it's so much a biochemical thing. Just if you are always wound up, they pick up on that and mirror your emotions. It's really obvious when we go through stressful periods (like I'm under a lot of work stress at the moment myself) and my daughter definitely picks up on that and it affects her too.

Your last bit is what I think it is. I don't imagine it's biochemical, so much as the baby picking up on the stress - so, environmental. Those of us who are stressed during pregnancy may be more likely to be stressed after, as well. Personality type and all that. So, what you said definitely makes sense. My mom said that with her first baby she never understood why she would just cry and cry and cry for her, but as soon as my dad came home and held her she'd shut up and go to sleep. She brought this up to her doctor, who suggested that maybe it was because my mom was stressed out and anxious. My dad, on the other hand, was relaxed when he came home. Raven is often the same way with me and my partner. She'll cry all day for me, then relax as soon as she's in his arms. I wonder if it's similar to my mom and my sister, given that I do have postpartum anxiety and some depression, in addition to being stressed out half my pregnancy.