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TUESDAY, Sept. 22, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Babies<\/a> of mothers with anxiety<\/a> or depression<\/a> can have significantly higher heart<\/a> rates than normal, a new study finds.<\/p>\n And this might put them at risk for long-term problems, researchers say.<\/p>\n Mother-infant interaction plays a crucial role in children’s healthy development, but moms with depression<\/a>, anxiety<\/a> or postnatal depression<\/a> may be emotionally distant from their infants, the German researchers said in background notes.<\/p>\n “We found that if a mother was anxious or depressed<\/a>, their baby had a more sensitive physiological response to stress<\/a> during the test than did the babies<\/a> of healthy mothers,” said researcher Fabio Blanco-Dormond, of the University of Heidelberg.<\/p>\n In this preliminary study, researchers assessed 50 mothers and their babies. They found that when an anxious or depressed<\/a> mother withheld affection, her infant’s heart<\/a> rate rose to an average of eight beats a minute more than that of infants of healthy mothers.<\/p>\n “To our knowledge this is one of the first times this physical effect has been seen in 3-month-old infants. This may feed into other physiological stress<\/a> systems leading to imprinted psychological problems,” Blanco-Dormond said in a news release from the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.<\/p>\n Mothers with anxiety<\/a> or depression<\/a> were also more likely to say their babies had a difficult temperament, the investigators found.<\/p>\n However, the research needs to be repeated with a larger sample to make sure the results are consistent, Blanco-Dormond said.<\/p>\n Commenting on the study, Veerle Bergink, director of the women’s mental health<\/a> program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City, said, “This work means that it is important to diagnose and treat depressive and anxiety<\/a> disorders in new mothers, because it has an immediate impact on the stress<\/a> system of the baby.” Bergink was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n “Prior studies showed not only short-term, but also long-term adverse effects of postpartum mood disorders on the children. Most postpartum mood disorders start during, or even before pregnancy<\/a>, and early diagnosis is therefore important,” Bergink added.<\/p>\n Mood disorders — such as irritability, changing moods<\/a> and mild depression<\/a> — are common during pregnancy<\/a> and after giving birth, occurring in 10% to 20% of new mothers, the researchers noted.<\/p>\n The study findings were released recently at the virtual annual meeting of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. They should be considered preliminary until peer-reviewed for publication in a medical journal.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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