The study is will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science. The researchers aren't sure how infants "sense" the mother's psychological state while in the womb, but it could be through hormones, such as stress hormones, released in the mothers' body. While there has been increased awareness about postpartum depression, prenatal depression receives less attention, Sandman said. He emphasized that the new findings do not mean that if mothers are depressed during pregnancy, they should be left alone, Sandman said. Pregnant women should be screened for depression so that they can be treated, Sandman said. A 2005 study showed babies who were exposed to near-starving conditions while in the womb, and then provided sufficient nutrition after birth, were at increased risk of metabolic disease. It's not clear what the effect of incongruent conditions will be over the long term, Sandman said.Ī similar phenomenon has been found in the field of nutrition.
The babies periodically underwent tests designed to assess mental and motor development during their first year of life.Īt 6 months, babies who were exposed to congruent conditions before and after birth (their mothers were either depressed or not depressed at both time periods) had significantly higher scores on the tests of mental and motor development than babies who were exposed to incongruent conditions.Īt a year, babies exposed to congruent conditions had higher mental development scores, but not motor development scores, than babies in incongruent conditions. The mothers were evaluated for depression both before and after pregnancy. Sandman and colleagues studied 221 pregnant women.
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