With nearly a third of babies in the U.S. delivered by
C-section, many researchers are wondering how if, at all, the experience of
undergoing labor contractions, which release hormones that are linked to
maternal behavior, affects a mother’s bond with her baby.
A new study from Yale University
has found that women who give birth vaginally are more responsive to their
babies’ cries than women who give birth by C-section. This increased responsiveness may be linked to the brain's innate response to natural birth, since brain scans on
post-partum women indicated that the areas of the brain that are linked to
motivation and emotions were less active in women who had had had C-sections.
This research does come with some important caveats. The
brain scans were conducted on 12 women—six of whom had given birth naturally
and six of whom had had Caesarean sections. 12 is pretty small number. Also,
the women who had their babies delivered by C-section had all elected to do so.
So there is certainly the possibility that the maternal differences the
researchers found between the two groups were due to a personality difference
between mothers who choose natural births and those who opt for C-sections,
even when medically unnecessary.
Lastly, the brain scans were conducted on women two to four weeks after birth. Clearly, this is no indication of what kinds of mothers they will be in the long term.
Photo: BBC
Related Post:
Woman Sues After No Meds C-Section
