Great. As skeptical as I am about the-sky-is-falling studies, especially the ones about our kids and how horrible their lives are going to be because of some trait they have, I almost have to give some credence to this one: smaller babies tend to have more problems with depression later in life than bigger babies. Almost.

My biggest baby was just over 7 pounds at birth. Just great. “Okay kids, you’re doomed to a life of depression, get used to it now!” I weighed 5-pounds something. Uh huh.

This theory is all part of a 40-year study in which some 4600 Britons, all born in 1946, were studied. Their birth data was analyzed and their lives were tracked in terms of depression and anxiety, and in general it was noted that the lower the birth weight, the more depressive episodes they had and the more likelihood of repeated episodes. Conversely, as birth weight went up, there were fewer occasions of depression.

In addition, birth weight seemed to affect the timeline of reaching developmental milestones: babies weighing less took longer, in general, to reach typical milestones. 

So hello, guilt? Obviously there are huge swaths of exceptions here, but the conjecture is that stressed-out moms transfer stress hormones to their babies in utero and that this depresses growth as well as sets Baby up for a life of misery.

My family seems to be moving into this trend: not only were all my kids on the smaller side at birth, but they’re emotionally and energetically sensitive, traits that seem to lend themselves to what’s perceived as depression.  

Now, I’d like to point out that the people who were studied all were born in postwar England, which likely meant that there was a fair bit of stress happening during pregancy as a result of various deprivations, fears, etc that were a part of the wartime and postwar experiences that would have been a part of those pregnancies. So I find that significant and a possible explanation for some of the depression experienced by those babies as they grew up and lived their lives. It would be interesting to compare this data with just as widespread and comprehensive study started a few years later.

So maybe it’s not time to hand your small-at-birth kid a bottle of Prozac just yet. 

Photo: Reuters

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