Fighting the stress of pregnancy Anxiety during pregnancy is
common, but new research shows that stress can harm a baby’s
development, leading to long-term problems. Being pregnant is
stressful. In a perfect world we would see the little blue line
of new life and then book nine months of yoga and pedicures.
Most of us, however, keep working, move into a bigger, more run-
down home and row with our partners about money. Yet new
research shows that looking after ourselves during pregnancy
could be the most important thing for our children. In a survey
of pregnant, largely middle-class, women at a London hospital,
nearly a quarter felt anxious and depressed, while the same
number argued often with their partners. These women’s babies
had a lower birth weight, lower IQ, slower cognitive development
and more anxiety than those born to the other women in the
survey. Although postnatal depression is a well-known condition,
prenatal depression is more common and at least as damaging to
the child, according to research