The Social Baby

"This is by a colleague of mine, and I have been very influenced by her. It describes how mothers with post-natal depression can effect the outcome of the child. The babies are more anxious and more depressed themselves with some cognitive delay and ADHD. Well, the more positive side is that a lot of children in society have these problems and the more we can understand them the more we might be able to help. Guilt is the last thing I want to induce and that isn’t where we should be going, but we now know how to prevent these things – by supporting pregnant women more and women who have just had a baby. As a society we can help them and thereby help the next generation. It also has implications for crime – ADHD and cognitive delay are strong indicators for criminal behaviour. If we want to prevent crime and prevent bad outcomes we need to start in pregnancy. This book is about the effects of post-natal depression but it is also a description of what happens when things go well. Until quite recently it was thought that babies had no feelings, and were unaware of their surroundings. In the 1980s newborn babies were operated on without anaesthetic because it was thought they did not feel pain. Much research in the last 20 to 30 years has shown how very sensitive newborn babies are, how delicately they interact with their mother, and how long lasting these interactions can be. Older children, of mothers who had postnatal depression, are more likely to be anxious or depressed themselves and to have slower cognitive development. This book shows, frame by frame, the marvellous two-way interaction that a sensitive mother can have with her baby. If the mother opens her mouth, so does her baby. If the baby smiles so does the mother. However it also shows how this interaction can go wrong. Depressed mothers are often over intrusive and poke their baby inappropriately for example. The book shows a mother putting her face too close to her baby, and how instead of initiating a happy interaction, the baby turns away and becomes sad and unresponsive."