Baby In The Womb
October 28, 2020
Emotional Intelligence ( Episode # 3 )
Episode 3 : Emotions and The Baby in the Womb
Hi everyone, this is Ludemia ( aka Mia ) and welcome to my channel Heart-Mind Equation. So this is episode 3 of my Emotional Intelligence Podcast series. Today, we are addressing Emotions and the baby in the womb.
Let’s begin by saying that it is scientifically proven that our emotions ( energy in motion ) produce chemical releases in our body, from either a thought we had, or from an experience we live ( real or imagined ).
It is safe to say that emotions are biochemical responses, from our consciousness to our body.
Researches have concluded that the emotions of the parents, from few days, hours even moments before fertilization, will signal the first genetic dye of the embryo.
For example, let’s take a couple living in extreme poverty and dangerous neighborhood, where both parents are living in a constant fear emotion. Unfortunately, the fear-based emotion sends biochemicals to the bloodstream, and from the bloodstream to every cell of the body, including the sperm and egg.
Upon fertilization between that sperm and egg, this fear emotion will also be transferred as information to the baby, for his development, preparing him to be able to survive in the outside world if gets to live in similar environments.
That reminds me of a Bible verse from the New Testament ( John 3: 6 ) that says: ‘’That which is born from the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’’. It is to say that the embryo will not only be an expression from the 46 chromosomes ( received from both parents together ) but also from the parents’ state of mind and emotions, highly influenced by their level of consciousness (whether they are aware of it or not). From Impression to our body to Expression in our unborn child.
During the gestation of the baby in the womb, it’s not enough to be eating well, avoid specific medication or toxic substances ( drug and alcohol ). Every thought, memory, and especially every emotion or feeling the mother experiences, influence the baby, in his development.
Usually, when the mother goes to her regular appointments with her ob-gyn doctor, she is often recommended to avoid stress as much as possible. Sometimes the stress is not related to a real experience. Sometimes it can be only the memories she selects in her mind, that can be emotionally charged.
In a workshop conference hosted by Dr. Joe Dispenza, we learn that significant researches have shown that, newborn babies, from highly stressed parents :
1- have smaller head circumference,
2- a smaller forebrain,
3- a larger hindbrain,
4- larger adrenal glands on their kidney.
Even the blood cortisol level of the baby is increased and the serotonin ( called the happy hormone ) is decreased. The consequence is, that it decreases the possibility for the baby, to express joy, happiness, and curiosity, later in life. Also, puts that future adult at risk for depression and anxiety.
Those biochemical functions that affect the gestational development of the baby, allow him to have a bigger chance of survival, by giving him the characteristics that are necessary for Fight or Flight reactions.
Although, when we speak about the reactive mode from stress and danger, we don’t only refer to physical danger.
For all of us, or for the future adults those babies will become, the Fight-Flight-Freeze responses can also occur when experiencing some psychological stress, not only physical.
Considering the Fight -Flight – Freeze responses: Here are some examples :
An example of the psychological Fight response mode would be: arguing a lot or too often. An example of psychological Flight mode would be: denying or ignoring an obvious situation or emotion. An example of a psychological Freeze mode would be: procrastinating, not deciding what we want to do, not prioritizing anything or, the paralysis of analysis.
What is unfortunate, is that the stress hormone ( cortisol ), that the mother experiences during her pregnancy, comes to influence the baby’s limbic brain. This is the part of the brain that regulates emotions.
Indeed, observations showed that those children born from stressful pregnancies tend to have difficulty regulating their own emotions, later on in life. In fact, researches show that those children, after the age of 3 y.o, tend to be more withdrawn, more aggressive, impulsive, and cry a lot.
A question easily comes to mind though. Some will say: if we already select the genes that will influence our baby from before conception, how is avoiding stress during the rest of the 9 months will overcome the gene expression from before conception.
We can answer that question based on the new Epigenetic studies, from an article written by Dr. Bruce Lipton ( cellular biologist ). He was saying that our genes are blueprints; that their expressions depend more on the environment than the ‘preselectionned” heredity.
Therefore, the baby’s development in the womb will be influenced by the environment he or she is in. That environment is :
– the mother’s blood flow ( always in contact with the baby ),
– the baby’s amniotic fluid
– the mother’s emotions ( Energy in motion ),
– her belief system ( that is stored in her subconscious mind ).
Is to say, that if the mother changes her emotional state from fearful to confident, from stress to serenity, or from resentment to gratitude even, the baby’s environment will change also.
The biochemicals released in the mother’s blood flow from her emotions will change the baby’s future emotional intelligence.
Some people will also wonder about the father’s influence on the baby’s gestational development. Well, of course, if present, he plays a part. As, every interaction he has with the mother, influences her state of emotion. Therefore, he influences the baby too. In the same way, the absence of the father will bring a different emotional state to the mother, depending on how she interprets that absence ( absence that could be by choice, separation or abandonment ). Different experiences, different emotions. How the parents choose to express their emotions about the situation, is related to their own emotional intelligence.
Depending on the emotional wound that the mother is experiencing, during her pregnancy, the baby would develop certain personality traits, growing up. That future adult would be at risk of using different defense mechanisms, in order to function better or prevent emotional pain. The defense mechanism chosen is in response to the predominant emotional trait that the mother had when she was pregnant.
That illustrates how the mother’s emotion influences the baby’s limbic brain, during pregnancy.
For example, the pregnant woman who is experiencing repetitive rejections, during her pregnancy, puts her baby ( future adult ) at risk of developing a flight personality trait, in the future. Like someone who avoids more, than confronting. Someone who is rather shy, not wanting to be noticed, or withdrawn, etc.
The pregnant woman who has experienced painful abonnement :
The risk to have a baby that could have traits of a co-dependant personality, growing up. That is to prevent potential abandonment by someone he loves. Being dependant, for some people is a defense mechanism used to insure another person’s presence, affection, compassion, and support.
The pregnant mother who has experienced several betrayals: Risk for the Baby to develop, growing up through adulthood, a controlling personality trait. As they would feel a lot of distrust towards people and towards life. They have the tendency to feel very insecure, always wanting to control the situation, or even people sometimes.
Need you to understand one thing though. It is not automatic that when the pregnant mother has those experiences that her baby will be born to develop those defense mechanisms. It is the emotions sustained by the mother, which will influence the baby to develop personality traits that will ensure potential survival if were to live in similar situations. Those personality traits are only potential risks.
We know now, that the predominant exposure depends on the environment the child grows up in, and the emotional experiences he will have through out his life. Those same personality traits can be emphasized if they get to live these same emotional wounds of rejection, abandonment, and betrayal, in the first place.
Just like someone said: Heredity holds the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger.
Indeed, our parents’ state of emotion, is the first marker, that has influenced the development of our personality ( started in our mother’s womb ).
So if you have appreciated episode 3 of my series on Emotional Intelligence, feel free to give me a thumbs up, share it with someone, or leave a comment below.
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Stay tuned and get a notification for episode #4 of my Emotional Intelligence Podcast series. Until then, this is Mia, and thank you for tuning into my channel HME, to unlock hidden potentials.