-I feel as if my baby is always tense, as if defensive - A mother told me a few days ago.
At that time the baby was calm, serene ... He was in the consultation of the primary care center, rather inhospitable place for babies where an unknown face is usually approached to do several things in a short time and to end with a painful prick in the leg (or more than one).
-It may be his character - I replied. It's hard to know what's wrong with babies, so the most advisable thing is to understand that something happens to them and act on what we see. If you cry a lot or are irritable, try to calm him down and give him the peace he cries out for all possible solutions. If, like this baby, you are on the defensive, think that you are probably a more nervous or unsafe child and understand and respect their rhythms.
-Maybe he had a bad time during labor. There are children who are not born too well and it is such a huge change that it affects them in a certain way ... - I ended up saying by way of hypothesis. A couple of hours later I read the news that I bring today: Having a difficult birth could favor child aggression.
Childhood determines our future character
For all it is known since the experiences are shaping our being, our personality and our character. The latest research, of which we have been echoing in Babies and more, they come to say that the first five years of life are very decisive in our adult emotional health. For this reason it is recommended that the childhood of children be as happy as possible, that they feel loved and well treated and that they feel wrapped in the face of any threat that makes them feel fear or stress.
Within the first five years there is, of course, the time to be born. There are many hypotheses that are considered in this regard and that come to say that depending on how the birth is, the baby born will be one way or another (with greater or lesser variability) and a study conducted at the University of Beijing comes to confirm this.
As they comment, Babies who have a difficult birth and are born with forceps are more likely to be aggressive during childhood than those born by caesarean section.
Cortisol may affect behavior
Apparently, behavioral problems may be associated with the presence of high levels of cortisol, the hormone that the body produces when there is a threatening or stressful situation.
Analyzing the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies, it has been observed, in other studies, that Babies who come to the world through spontaneous vaginal delivery have higher blood cortisol levels than those born by scheduled caesarean section.
In the study that we mentioned, in which 4,190 children from 4 to 6 years old participated, it was observed that the children whose births were using forceps or suction cup had higher cortisol levels at present than the rest of the children. These children had a greater amount of emotional problems (anxiety, depression, attention difficulties and aggressiveness) than those born by caesarean section.
In other words, the more cortisol in the blood, the more alert or more "defensive" people can become and therefore more aggressive they can become. If a baby has a traumatic birth, she begins to secrete cortisol because she lives the situation as threatening. As they comment in the study, it is possible that this experience leaves a kind of emotional footprint that affects the levels of alertness and defense in the future, to the point of observing with children from 4 to 6 years who have more emotional problems than those who They had a less aggressive birth.
But not everything is childbirth
Obviously, childbirth is not everything. There are many experiences that will make us one way or another in adulthood. Therefore a bad birth may not be relevant in the future if a baby grows up in an environment of respect and love and a wonderful birth may not be enough to maintain a solid personality and good emotional health if they grow up in an unstable and intimidating environment.
However, it is still an experience (a first experience) that for a baby can be lived in such a threatening way that it affects him for a while, or in a latent way for life.
Mothers and fathers cannot do much in this situation (or perhaps yes, trying to have the most respected birth possible), so the most important conclusion of this study is that our role as parents should be try to understand that bad experiences affect them and try to love our children very much and show it to them. In this way they will feel loved, important, understood and relevant (the basis for healthy self-esteem).
