Prenatal Stress Does Affect the Baby Being born Later on in Life

Prenatal Stress Does affect the baby being born later on in life
Student Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Prenatal stress does affect the growth of the child born under such conditions later in life. Stress can be defined as a response to a pressure or tension with variety of causative agents. The response by the body is controlled by the body nervous system and varies from individual to individual, but the overall effects on the unborn child are similar. If the stress levels are not controlled within the allowable limits for an expectant mother, the effects will be transferred to the unborn child, for example, incomplete development of the child’s body systems and also a toll on the mother’s body.
Usually, during the occurrence of a stressful situation, the automatic nervous system primes the body inhibiting non-necessary processes like digestion, body repair and even reproduction. All these responses are perpetrated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). During the growth of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, it also develops its HPA (though not attaining full maturity not until after birth) while the mother’s HPA is the supreme one in this case (Tess Lefmann, 2014). Therefore, if she is faced with a stressful situation or is under stress, her HPA will control her reaction to the stress which would involve reduced digestion rate, level of blood flow rate and even the secretion of the placental Cortico Releasing Factor (CRH). Reduced digestion rate will affect the synthesis of nutrients vital for the child’s growth; coupled with low level of blood flow rate, the unborn child will be restricted to the amount of nutrients it receives hindering the full development of its organs and body parts (Olena Babenko, 2014). The effects will be aggravated if the mother is continually exposed to stress/stressful conditions during the pregnancy period and may contribute to undue delivery and children being born underweight. On the positive ...