Pregnancy stress harms your child

And it could be passed down the generations

CHILDREN whose grand mothers were stressed during pregnancy have a greater chance of mental health problems, say Scottish researchers.

The effects of maternal stress during pregnancy can be transmitted to both the first and second generation of offspring, a study has found.

The survey, carried out on rats at Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute, found that increased anxiety is linked to changes in genes expressed in the part of the brain that regulates emotions such as fear and anxiety.

Previous studies suggest that stress during pregnancy is harmful to developing babies’ brain sand is linked to a greater risk of mental health disorders. However, until now it was not known that the damaging effects of prenatal stress could present themselves in future generations.

The findings were published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology f ollowing the study supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Researchers found that the second generation of offspring from rats which had experienced social stress during pregnancy – caused by short periods of exposure to unfamiliar female rats – were more anxious than those whose grandmothers had not experienced stress.

These offspring showed a pattern of gene expression in the amygdala region of the brain that is linked with an i ncreased ri sk of anxiety problems.

The findings provide r esearchers with greater i nsight i nto the origins of mood disorders.

The academics said understanding how the effects of stress are transmitted to future generations could help researchers find new ways of treating some mental health conditions.

Dr Paula Brunton, of the Roslin Institute, who led the study, said: ‘It appears from this work that stress during pregnancy has l ong- term health implications not only for the unborn child but also for future generations.’

Last week, research by academics at the University of Notre Dame Australia found mothers-to-be who suffered stress late in their pregnancy gave birth to clumsier, more unco-ordinated children.

Their child’s development could be affected by major events s uch as divorce, moving home, losing a job or a relative’s death.

Other significant experiences which can affect the final third of pregnancy include financial hardship or marital problems.

The researchers tested 2,900 children at the ages of ten, 14 and 17, on abilities including standing on one foot, turning a nut on a bolt, threading beads on to a rod and walking along a straight line.

Children born to mothers who suffered more stressful events in pregnancy recorded the worst scores in all three survey years.

Money worries were the most common stress factor cited in the study – affecting just over a quarter of pregnant women at 34 weeks.

‘Long-term implications’