New Resource for Stress During Pregnancy

Increasingly, research is telling us that the environment a woman lives in -- and how it affects her emotionally -- can have lasting effects on a child's development. In other words, the stress a mom endures during pregnancy can affect her baby while it develops in her womb. While this new research helps us to know more about the factors that affect fetal growth and later, childhood development, it is not meant to send you into a panic -- "Oh no, I'm stressed a lot -- have I hurt my baby?" You should know that while maternal stress has been shown to have lasting effects, it has also shown not to have any affect at all. The information is also meant to serve as a call to action for moms who are pregnant and enduring an unusual amount of stress. The Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London has developed a new website to provide information and resources for moms and families enduring stress during pregnancy called "Begin Before Birth." The site gives information about how stress can affect babies, how to measure your level of stress, and most importantly, what moms and families can do to manage their stress for a healthy pregnancy.

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