According Dr. Thomas R. Verny, one of the world’s leading authorities on the effect of the prenatal and early postnatal environment on personality development, maternal feelings and moods are linked to hormones and neurotransmitters that travel through the bloodstream and across the placenta to the developing brain of the unborn child.

My personal experience does prove the association between maternal emotions and fetal movements. For example, one night I lied on the bed, thinking about the grueling details of tax report (a lot of people probably have the same anxiety before April 15).

“Do I have all the receipts that I can claim deducible? I must put everything down in a table so that I will know what receipt is for what usage in the future…” I thought.

“Did I do the same work last year? Where did I keep my receipts last year? Were they all sorted out?” suddenly, I felt a little bit fretful and upset.

At the same time, I noticed some motions in my tummy. The baby began to stir, not the familiar bubbling, fluttering and swishing, but pushing, rolling, and shifting.

“Calm down, baby.” I pat on my tummy, “go to sleep with mommy.”

The baby still kept his/her work-up.

“I should stop thinking about taxes. I upset the baby.” I thought myself.

And I did. Instead, I kept thinking “baby calm down and go to sleep with mommy.” At the same time, I kept patting my tummy gently.

Maybe baby really received my unspoken message, after one minute the movements appeased and both of us fell into sleep.

Another time at night, somehow I thought about how people treated me before and the more I thought about it, the more I got agitated. (Sometimes it is hard to achieve forgetting and forgiving)

I noticed baby was getting irritated too. He/she began to stretch, turn, poke, and kick. The attack was so fierce that I felt I was pummeled by several fists.

“Calm down, baby.” I wanted to use the same strategy to placate the baby.

But this time, he/she was really getting excited. He/she kept his/her activities, completely ignoring me.

Even the killer weapon—patting didn’t have moderate his/her restlessness.

“This is unusual. I must make baby either worried or angry.” I thought myself.

“M, come to feel baby’s movements” I turned to M for help.

I put his hand onto my tummy. Suddenly baby became quiet.

“I don’t feel anything.” M felt puzzled.

As soon as M took back his band, baby was moving again!

Such a tricky baby!!

I put M’s hand back onto my tummy and waited for a while. No actions!

“Baby is fine.” M grumbled and turned over and quickly fell into sleep.

Right after M’s hand left my tummy, baby was playing again.

“What a tricky baby!” I thought. I then tried to communicate with him/her with my mind, “Go to sleep with mummy. Go to sleep with mummy…”

Little by little, he/she began to tranquilize, with my emotions starting to cool off.

Dr. Yoshiharu Morimoto, a pioneer in the field of prenatal education and founder of Pre-Birth Education Center in Osaka, Japan, believes mother and baby are like two synchronized computers and they communicate with each other in the deep layers of their unconscious minds.

Through my personal experience, I do feel this mutual connection. So, dear mothers-to-be, don’t let your own negative emotions, such as stress, depression, or anxiety, influence baby’s healthy growth and development.

Reference:
Thomas R. Verny (2002): Tomorrow’s Baby: The Art and Science of Parenting from Conception through Infancy , Simon & Schuster.

Related posts:
Fetal/prenatal education series: what is fetal/prenatal education?
Fetal/prenatal education in 4th month
Singing to baby
Fetal/prenatal education in 5th month
Maternal emotions & fetal movements
Continuing fetal/prenatal education
Connecting to my baby
Pre- and perinatal education

Tags: Fetal/prenatal education series | Fetal Education, From Lina, Pregnancy | Lina | February 11, 2008 12:54 pm | Comments (3)