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Managing Stress: Safeguarding Infants from COVID-19 Impacts - Cord Blood

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Managing Stress: Safeguarding Infants from COVID-19 Impacts

Scientist reading research notes

Expecting a baby? This news may interest you. A study carried out by the National Institute of Mental Health discovered that managing stress during pregnancy could be key to minimising any negative effects prenatal COVID-19 infection could have on your baby’s attention span and emotional and cognitive development.

Who’s Behind the Study?

The research, published in Pediatric Research, was spearheaded by Denise Werchan, Ph.D., Moriah Thomason, Ph.D., and Natalie Brito, Ph.D., all based at New York University. They focused on 167 moms-to-be and their babies – 50 of which had experienced COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive during their pregnancy, while 117 did not encounter the virus at all while pregnant.

The majority of participants were enlisted between March and August 2020, with the study extending up till January 2023.

Research Details: Stress and Its Impact on Infants

So, what did the research entail? Basically, the expecting mothers were asked to share details of any physical complaints, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms they experienced during their pregnancy. Based on this, the researchers calculated an overall score for prenatal psychological stress.

When the babies were 6 months old, the investigators used an eye gaze task to measure the infants’ attention span. They also had the mothers answer a questionnaire about how well the babies could control and soothe themselves.

By the time the infants turned a year old, 99 moms completed a second round of surveys aimed at spotting any delays in the emotional and cognitive growth of their babies.

What Did They Find? The Link between Pregnancy Stress, COVID-19, and Infant Development

Interestingly, the study found that neither prenatal stress nor COVID-19 infection on its own appeared to affect infant development. Even moms who were seriously stressed during pregnancy did not seem to have 6-month-old infants with attention problems, as long as they did not also contract COVID-19.

However, if a mom-to-be was both highly stressed and tested positive for COVID-19, her baby was more likely to struggle with attention at 6 months of age. Moreover, those infants who experienced attention problems at that age were more likely to show potential delays in emotional and cognitive development at 12 months.

Next Steps: Future Research Plans

The researchers intend to continue tracking this group of children to see whether the impacts of mum’s stress persist and affect neurobehavioral development as the kids grow older. They’ll be using parental feedback, biospecimens, behavioral assessments, and neuroimaging as tools to gauge this.

The takeaway? Keeping stress in check during pregnancy may protect your baby from possible negative outcomes if you contract COVID-19. Vaccination can also offer additional protection.