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" Mothers who are under high levels of stress could be passing this on to their babies, according to a new study at the University of California, San Francisco. Researchers recruited 69 mothers and their 12 to 14-month-old babies and attached cardiovascular sensors to them all. The mothers were then separated and asked to give a five-minute speech followed by a Q&amp;amp;amp;A session to two evaluators. One set was provided with positive feedback during the speeches; one was given negative feedback; and a control group received no responses. It was found that those in the second set experienced higher levels of negative emotions and cardiac stress than the other mothers. However, when their babies were returned, they too showed significant increases in heart rate within five minutes. The higher the mother&amp;#039;s stress levels, the higher the baby&amp;#039;s. Writing in the journal Psychological Science, lead researcher Sara Waters said: &amp;#039;Your infant may not be able to tell you that you seem stressed or ask you what is wrong, but ... as soon as she is in your arms, she is picking up on the bodily responses accompanying your emotional state and immediately begins to feel in her own body your own negative emotion.&amp;#039; Last year, a study at St Michael&amp;#039;s Hospital in Toronto also found that children whose parents were highly stressed had a body mass index around two per cent higher than those who were not. Read the abstract "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a24905/mothers-stress-can-be-passed-on-to-infants/>