Recently an article was published in the journal Pediatrics that detailed a study supporting what parents have always known instinctively
– that the smiling face of their baby brightens any day. But it may be even more
than just the result of seeing a happy face. It may actually be more about biology.
Dr. Lane Strathearn, assistant professor in Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, and a developmental pediatrician at Texas Children's Hospital, helped conduct a study that showed mothers pictures of their own and other smiling infants (as well as infants with sad or neutral faces). Their responses were recorded by MRI.
Baby smiles can relieve parenting stresses. |
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"When mothers see their own baby's face, 'reward' centers of the brain are activated, similar to when a cocaine addict gets a shot of cocaine!" Dr. Strathearn says. "It's like a 'natural high' that I believe stimulates responsive care-giving behavior, and strengthens the mother-infant bond."
Mothers' brains reacted less to infants other than their own. Maybe this explains the need parents have for making their baby crack that first grin – and then striving to get it to happen again and again.
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