Pregnancy changes women’s responses to infants

Pregnant women react more positively than non pregnant women when exposed to audio recordings, videos, and images of infants. This suggests that pregnancy mentally prepares women to process infant signals, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen and the Psychiatric Centre Copenhag
For most people, a crying baby is stressful, but a pregnant woman is typically better at coping with it. Photo: Getty Images

A new study, published in Infant Mental Health, documents that women undergo not only physical changes during pregnancy, but also emotional and cognitive preparation for motherhood. One indication of this is that they respond more positively to infants than non‑pregnant women do.

The study also shows a connection between this mental preparation and the quality of the mother-infant relationship after birth. The researchers hope this knowledge can help identify women who may have difficulties forming a healthy bond with their child.

Baby cries and laughter

The study compared how pregnant and non‑pregnant women reacted to images, videos, sounds, and virtual reality scenarios featuring infants. In particular, the women’s responses to baby crying and baby laughter revealed clear differences between the two groups:

“We measured both their physiological responses and facial expressions and asked them to describe how they felt during and after the experiment. And the pregnant women became less stressed by baby crying and happier when exposed to baby smiles than the non‑pregnant women. The pregnant women also felt a stronger urge to pick up the baby,” says psychologist and researcher Anne Bjertrup, who conducted the study with Professor Kamilla Miskowiak and psychologist Catrine Sejer.

The researchers believe this is because pregnant women have already begun to mentally prepare for infant signals. They are therefore not as negatively affected by baby crying, which most people typically find highly stressful.

“The more positively the pregnant participants responded to infant stimuli during pregnancy, the better they later reported their relationship with their own child six months after giving birth,” adds Anne Bjertrup.

About the study

“Emotional‑cognitive differences during pregnancy: Adaptations for motherhood”, published in Infant Mental Health, included 78 Danish women, of whom 44 were pregnant.

The pregnant participants had no known social or psychological risk factors for postpartum depression. The non‑pregnant control group had no small children.

Participants were exposed to videos, images, voices, and VR scenarios involving infants while researchers recorded physiological responses, facial expressions, and self‑reported emotional reactions.

Researchers followed up with the pregnant women six months after birth using questionnaires on well‑being, attachment, and responses to their own infant’s crying.

Better prevention

For Anne Bjertrup and her colleagues, the results are important because they may help identify pregnant women at risk of developing relationship difficulties with their child.

The findings are also consistent with earlier studies by the same researchers, which show that negative reactions to infant signals during pregnancy are associated with higher rates of postpartum depression.

“If the reactions we document in this study reflect an adaptive emotional and cognitive adjustment that is important for establishing a healthy relationship with the child after birth, then this can give us important insight into what we should pay particular attention to in pregnant women,” says Anne Bjertrup, adding:

“In other words, if pregnant women become very negatively affected or stressed in the situations we exposed them to in this study, it may indicate that they are at increased risk of postpartum depression. We hope to help them by training emotional regulation during pregnancy.”

Researchers dispel the myth of ‘pregnancy brain’

Even though the study documents emotional and cognitive changes in pregnant women, the researchers found no evidence linking pregnancy to what is popularly known as “pregnancy brain” or “mommy brain.”

“In this and other studies, we primarily focus on emotional cognition, but we also screen for what we call ‘cold cognition,’ such as memory and concentration. And we cannot find any connection between pregnancy and so‑called ‘pregnancy brain,’” says Anne Bjertrup.

“The research is not clear‑cut. Some studies find cognitive impairments in pregnant women and new parents, while others do not. And when impairments are seen, they are often related to lack of sleep. In our studies, pregnant women do not perform worse than non‑pregnant women on memory or concentration tasks - even though they sleep significantly worse, and the same goes for new mothers. We believe that the idea of pregnancy brain or mommy brain has become a widespread cultural stereotype. Instead, we should give pregnant women’s and new parents’ brains more credit and acknowledge the adaptive emotional and cognitive changes they undergo.”

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