Baby does not understand an angry mother

Is a mother screaming after her three-month-old baby so bad? She does not hit the child, she does not shake him, she does not put him in the cradle. No, she's just screaming, with an angry face. Stop! And now you are quiet! I am crazy about you!

"Yes," says Laetitia Smarius. "It may be bad, we found indications that this could have negative consequences." Babies born to mothers who screamed angry twice or more often when they cried were found to have high blood pressure at five or six years compared to babies born to mothers who had not yet done so. [19659002] Laetitia Smarius is a psychiatrist at De Bascule, the university psychiatry center for children and adolescents in Amsterdam. She did research in Amsterdam UMC about stress in mothers and babies, the stress caused by the mother's verbal aggression and the baby's excessive crying. She was promoted last month.

Blood pressure is only slightly increased, from one to five millimeters of mercury. Why is this a problem?

"Even slightly elevated blood pressure has an effect on health, especially if it starts at such a young age.In the long term, it is an important risk factor for diseases Cardiovascular. "

Is this perhaps a worrying sign?

"I have not investigated this, but I could have." Our research shows that verbally abusive mothers are also more physically aggressive – they often have an authoritarian parenting style and experience more maternal stress than mothers. who are not verbally aggressive, they also have more depressive symptoms, we have corrected all these factors, but there is certainly more than that. "

She is at the table with her supervisor, Theo Doreleijers, professor emeritus of psychiatry of children and adolescents, and with his co-director, Susanne de Rooij, psychologist. and epidemiologist. She also conducts research on the effects of stress on childhood and is a researcher in the ABCD study: 8,000 Amsterdam children who follow their mother's pregnancy up to the age of 18. ;adulthood. ABCD: Children born in Amsterdam and their development. Laetitia Smarius did her research on these children and their mothers. Fathers do not participate in this long-term prospective cohort study before the children are eleven or twelve years old.

Why does a psychiatrist want to investigate the verbal aggression of mothers?

"Because depression and anxiety, ADHD, hostility and problems are associated with unpleasant events in childhood. Many researches have been done on this, but the Mostly retrospectively and retrospectively, I wanted to see how a three-month-old baby experiences these unpleasant things. "

Why is it screaming like that?

"I imagine that a three-month-old baby can not understand it and can not do anything with it." With a toddler, it can be helpful to raise one's voice to be able to do argue his point of view as a mother.For a baby, it's only scary. "

And this fear is recorded in the brain?

"We do not know, but it is possible.In the first few months, brain structures for the treatment of emotional information are developing very rapidly and are therefore the most vulnerable to the harmful influences of the disease. babies learn to recognize and understand facial expressions, which is very important for attachment The link between mother and child is essential to the development of self-regulation and the regulation of emotions . "

According to your research, one child is genetically more likely to be verbally abused than the other.

"Yes, this is our observation, it has never been studied before.In babies who recognize emotions better because of their genetic predisposition, we observe a stronger increase in blood pressure: three to five millimeters of mercury instead of one millimeter.Social sensitivity could be said to have a price.And these are not exceptions, these babies.It is a genetic variant that frequently appears. "

Numerous researches have also revealed crying. This is not related to high blood pressure.

"In babies who cry excessively, three hours a day, you will see later, more problems of behavior and mood and hyperactivity.This seems to be due in part to the fact that the mother is having a lot of trouble caring for her baby.It is very stressful to have a baby crying, stay calm.But the excessive crying alone wasn 't indeed related to high blood pressure. or other cardiovascular problems. "

How many mothers scream against their baby?

"We asked mothers anonymous questionnaires, which gave more reliable results than conversations, but it's hard to recognize that you're verbally aggressive towards your three-month-old baby. mothers report having angered their baby twice or more often.In fact, this will happen more often than not often. "

Theo Doreleijers, who after his retirement in Rotterdam, conducted research on young children at the Clinic and has always shown that prevention is better than cure, says that there is a task there. is for consultation centers. "The nurse might know if this kind of thing would happen by asking simple selection questions.Just: Do you scream at your baby to stop crying, or if you do not like it anymore?" [19659007] And then?

Doreleijers: "Explain why it does not help, ask others how to help prevent these cries, there are also good programs, such as" Solid Parenthood. "" Very insightful, "he says. it's been years since care is provided in consulting offices and youth doctors. "The first thousand days of a child are so important."

See also: A Beginner's relationship with a baby

Laetitia Smarius says that mothers can also do a lot of good things.Take the baby for a moment.Make sure that she can go out for a while. so bad, she says, that mothers are sometimes so isolated and they have to redecorate everything by themselves.This is not something you solve, she says, but it can already help a lot if the mothers at the clinic hear that there are solutions or if they can talk to other mothers about it.