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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One of natures strongest bonds is the one shared between a mother and her child. New research suggests mothers who deliver vaginally may have a heightened bond with their babies compared to mothers who deliver via caesarean section (c-section).
Researchers found mothers who delivered their babies vaginally were significantly more responsive to the cry of their own baby than mothers who had c-section delivery. MRI brain scans showed the mothers who delivered vaginally were more sensitive to their babys cry in the regions of the brain that regulate emotions, motivation and habitual behaviors.
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This difference may be because delivering a child naturally involves the pulsatile release of oxytocin from the posterior pituitary, uterine contractions and vagino-cervical stimulation, whereas c-section delivery does not.
Our results support the theory that variations in the delivery conditions such as with caesarian section, which alters the neurohormonal experiences of childbirth, might decrease the responsiveness of the human maternal brain in the early postpartum, James Swain, M.D., Ph.D., researcher at the Child Study Center at Yale University, was quoted as saying.
C-section is considered necessary under some conditions for the health and wellbeing of both mother and child, but it has been controversially linked to postpartum depression. The number of c-section deliveries has increased steeply from 4.5 percent of all deliveries in 1965 to 29.1 percent in 2006.
SOURCE: The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, published online Sept. 3, 2008
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