In my introductory post, I mentioned that I had two children and that I might make reference to them as I blogged about my experience studying Child Psychology. My oldest child is a 5 year old boy, my youngest is a 4 month old girl.
Upon watching this weeks assigned video "National Geographic: In the Womb," I was most struck by a brief passage in the video describing the effects of Pre-natal stress on many aspects of the unborn fetus' life, and felt it made an apt starting point for a small (and admittedly not terribly scientific) case study of my two children.
The effects of Pre-natal stress on pregnancy outcome and fetus health have been a common topic for psychiatric study. A cursory search found many articles relating prenatal stress and anxiety to many changes in the development of the fetus:
Effects of maternal prenatal stress on infant outcomes: a synthesis of the literature.
Examining the correlations of prenatal stress and emotional health in my own children seemed to follow this well studied model.
During my wife's first pregnancy, she and our family were under considerable stress. She was required to work up to 14 hour days on high stress projects until almost time of delivery, our housing was cramped and finances were unstable, and she was of course very anxious dealing with her first pregnancy.
Our oldest child had jaundice at birth, requiring hospitalization, and has always displayed signs of fussiness and anxiety. He has always been a difficult sleeper, in infancy he was very hard to calm down when crying, and was very dependent upon having parents close and could not be left alone. Even today, at 5 years old, he still displays many signs of anxiety, such as insomnia, frequent nightmares, fingernail biting, etc.
During my wife's 2nd pregnancy, our situation was much different. Her work schedule was much lighter and her commute was only 5 minutes each day. We lived in a calm and beautiful rural setting in a large house, instead of the cramped Brooklyn apartment of the first pregnancy. Finally, much of the 3rd trimester was spent on an extended vacation, traveling to meet friends and enjoying new sites.
The difference in our 2nd child's personality is striking. She plays happily by herself, falls asleep easily and is adept at soothing herself. When distressed, it is relatively easy to calm her.
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