I went to visit with a friend today who now has a 4week-old baby. This was her first baby and she definitely had the new mama thing. She commented on how at a recent mothers group she had attended, most the new mamas had much to say about depression, lack of help, and partner issues. She went on to talk about how the lack of village greatly affects mamas because new mamas need help. Having a woman stay the night to help with nighttime feedings was vital for her emotional health so she could take care of her baby. She also had a rough labor with cesarean birth, so the oxytocin released through the birth canal upon vaginal delivery was not her experience. The surge of synthetic hormones in her body mixed with the absence of her own production of hormones resulted in high anxiety and an internal fight for her life versus nurturing her baby’s life.
These “fight-or-flight” hormones produced by the placenta and fetus marinate in the mamas brain and body throughout pregnancy. Biologically, mamas are made to be super focused and sensitive so they can build new highways of neurological connections. Mamas must be ready for the act of life or death. The hormones released by the mamas brain, the placenta, and the fetus are made to prepare both the mama and fetus for postpartum survival of the fittest, including breastfeeding and bonding. Growing a fetus and mothering is a neurological act, as these nerves in mamas bodies release hormones that appear as emotional responses, which are transferred to the fetus/ baby. The pregnancy experience and birth experience both play a role in the neurological and physiological development of the baby.
Being a mama is both hormonally and socially isolating for a purpose. If there is an unpredictable environment, with stress or scarcity of resources, the mama’s nurturing response is blocked, which can affect pregnancy/ birth and parenting/ child development. “So whatever a mother does and others do to help her, inside or outside the home, to ensure the predictability and availability of resources- financial, emotional, and social- may ultimately secure her children’s future well-being” (Brizendine, Louann. The Female Brain, p.114).
