Why you should take better care of pregnant women.

WASHINGTON - PLUMP babies may really be happier babies, Canadian and British researchers reported people who had a low birth weight were more likely to have depression and anxiety later in life.

'We found that even people who had just mild or moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety over their life course were smaller babies than those who had better mental health,' he said in a statement. 'It suggests a dose-response relationship. As birth weight progressively decreases, it's more likely that an individual will suffer from mood disorders later in life.'

Asst Prof Colman said it is possible that when mothers are stressed, stress hormones are passing through the placenta to the foetus.

'One of the surprising findings from our research was that people who had worse mental health throughout their lives had also reached developmental milestones, like standing and walking for the first time, later in life than those who had better mental health.'

Not all small babies are fated to have poor mental health, the researchers said. 'Being born small isn't necessarily a problem. It is a problem if you were born small because of adverse conditions in the womb - and low birth weight is what we looked at in this study because it is considered a marker of stress in the womb,' Asst Prof Colman said.
'When a mother is really stressed, blood flow to the uterus is restricted and the fetus gets fewer nutrients, which tends to lead to lower birth weight.'

Other studies have linked low birth weight to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease in later life.

'I have been asked by many people what the 'take-home message' of this study is, and I would say that, in the simplest terms, it is 'We should take better care of pregnant women',' he said.