Playtimes HK Magazine October 2017 Issue | Page 34
advice
Baby Blues & Beyond
There’s a belief that the road to parenthood should be a celebrated journey,
yet the stress and anticipation associated with pregnancy, and having a
newborn, can make it less so. Dr Sharon Wong talks about the emotions
I
t’s true that the journey through
pregnancy is permeated with
apprehensive feelings. Every
movement, sensation or feeling you
experience brings a wave of nervous
wondering and, at times, paranoia. As
your foetus grows over the 40-week
gestation period, your brain alters to
enable you to adapt to this life-changing
event. Research has shown that pregnant
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women, most notably first-time mothers,
have significant reductions in brain
volume during pregnancy and sometimes
for an indefinite period thereafter – of
course this is otherwise known as
“baby-brain”!
These changes occur simultaneously
in the regions of the brain responsible
for the cognitive processes which guide
social interactions and, in particular, help
us to understand the emotional state of a
newborn child. Some scientists have also
said that these changes can reflect the
innate preparation of pregnant women to
establish infant bonding, but of course
this affects all women differently.
During my practise I’ve met mothers
who didn’t plan for, and in some cases
didn’t want, their pregnancies. But
regardless of circumstance, as soon as