Article; Stressed-out moms may keep infants awake

Babies born to women who are anxious or depressed while pregnant may have trouble sleeping at night as infants and toddlers, a U.S. report suggests.

The study, published in the journal Early Human Development, assessed more than 14,000 women in Britain.

Babies born to mothers classified as anxious or depressed while pregnant were about 40 percent more likely to refuse to go to bed, to wake up early or to persistently crawl out of bed.

The findings are "another piece in the unfolding mystery of just how much the prenatal environment may shape a child's health and development for years to come," lead author Thomas O'Connor, a psychiatrist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said Friday in a release.

Related studies show that stress, which is associated with increased exposure stress hormones such as cortisol, may disrupt a child's formation of a bundle of nerve cells in the brain that tunes the body's internal clock.

Source:www.sciencedaily.com