Emotionally stressful pregnancy & effects on baby

[camille76]

Hi,
I had quite an emotionally stressful pregnancy. Now that my baby has been born (full term, healthy), I've noticed that she doesn't smile much when she's awake. She smiles some in her sleep. Do you think this could be due to the emotional stress i was under for much of my pregnancy? Just a thought I had.
Thanks.

[ZeldasMom]

I think it's hard to know the answer to your question cuz I think there is so much we don't understand about this kind of thing.

I don't know how old your baby is, but my DS wasn't much of a smiler til he was a little over a month old. In general the older they get, the more overtly expressive they're able to be. I viewed it that the baby thinks/feels all kinds of stuff, but just isn't able to show it very well when they're little, so you have to pour out the affection/ expressiveness and let them soak it up like a little sponge.

Congratulations on your healthy, little baby girl! Enjoy!

[Messac888]

I agree with Zeldasmom. We DON'T know much about this kind of thing. I had an emotionally stressful pregnancy with ds (compliments of my former job IN A HOSPITAL), and ds had lots of medical interventions during childbirth and was a very, shall we say, grumpy baby. My dd was born at home, I had a very emotionally stressful pregnancy (compliments of my mom insisting that she be there for the birth) and dd had NO interventions during childbirth (and my mom wasn't there) and is a very, VERY happy, giggly baby. (And she cries whenever she hears my mom's voice.)

It's hard to say if stress during pregnancy can affect a babe before its born. I'm sure it can, but it probably also depends on the individual babe itself. Sorry I'm no help! Just wanted to say my thoughts on this.

[camille76]

Thanks for your reply. I guess it would be difficult to know this kind of thing.
I guess the main reason why I'm concerned is because my 1st baby was a big smiler from the beginning. My 2nd wasn't quite as smiley but still smiley; my marriage was a little stressed at this point. Now my third, is not smiley at all; and my marriage is even more stressed. She is 6wks old. I'm sure she'll start smiling more as she gets older. I was just wondering if there were any studies out there relating to this. Thanks again for your reply.

[orangebird]

I don't know. We know that mom's emotion has an effect on baby, but to what extent and how it will express itself is still, I think, a mystery. I wouldn't let this get you down, some babies just smile more than others. They each have their own personalities and you can't blame yourself for everything. IMO it isn't your "fault" at all, and I hate saying it that way because then it implies there is something wrong with your baby and I don't think that at all. She is just a different person than your other baby and because she smiles less at this early age doesn't mean she is less happy a person. Please don't be so hard on yourself Mama!

[orangebird]

Oh, and for the record, my first baby had a more emotionally stressful pregnancy, like stressful beyond what you could believe and in fact it is so bad I can't even post on a public message board what I was going through, and a typical hospital intervention laden birth and he was the happiest, sweetest, smileyest baby you could ever imagine.

My second baby had an unstressful happy gestation and a peaceful calm homebirth and he was the grumpiest SOB from the minute he was born and I'm still at 3 years old trying to figure him out. He is incredibly intense.