Are "Stressed Out" Babies More Likely to Get Sick? Are stressed
out babies more vulnerable to disease later in life? A new book
contends that when babies experience “trauma” -- like being born
prematurely, having a depressed mother and being neglected -
they will be at risk for all kinds of bad things as they get
older. “Children raised in traumatic environments are more prone
to cancer, chronic pain and even diabetes,” said an article in
Salon that quoted findings from the book, called Scared Sick:
The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease. One of its
authors, Robin Karr-Morse told Salon that among the “traumas”
they studied were “emotional trauma very early in life - in the
prenatal months and the first three years. We talk about what
happens to a fetus and an early developing brain when there is
chronic emotional trauma.” What kinds of “trauma” experienced by
pregnant women wind up affecting their offspring? Karr-Morse
said anything from maternal malnutrition and ongoing maternal
stress can have an imp