Neuron Mommy

Today Conner had his 9-month wellness check-up. First, I can't believe he is already 9 months old! Time has flown (well at times it doesn't feel that way). So there we were, Conner, Mommy and Dr. Aggie (see previous post to know why we refer to him as Dr. Aggie :D). Now Dr. Aggie is incredibly nice. He answers my weird off-the-wall questions (and I can definitely bring the weird). But when he starts to question me about Conner's developmental milestones I feel...well for those of you that know me well, I am quite a competitive person. In fact, I have been referred to as "Monica" from Friends (despite the fact that I am nothing like her!). Ahem. Moving along, so he starts to ask if Conner is doing this, that and the other. And I find that for most of the questions my answer is "um, no, not yet". So now I feel like a loser. It must be my fault that Conner isn't pulling himself up to stand using the furniture. No, no, no, Mommy or Daddy have to stand him up, then he can hold himself up using the coffee table. Or that he isn't crawling, cruising, walking, riding a bike, composing music to make Mozart jealous (deep breath!). But I left there thinking that not all babies develop at the same pace and I am not a big ass loser (well at least not in this realm). But I met a good friend for a baby date at Austin's Children's Museum. They have "baby bloomer" day and OMG it was a blast! So there we are, cute babies and all, and over crawls this really beautiful little girl. So the mom and I start talking and when she informs me that her daughter is Conner's age that same feeling of loserhood comes back. Now I know not to compare babies...but damnit I can't help myself! Of course as soon as they started the sing-along and Conner looked at me with this "Mommy I love you and thank you for bringing me here" look (yes people...that was what he was thinking!)...all those feelings of loser-hood went away. Instead I just felt so blessed that I have a healthy little boy who will develop all of these milestones when he is good and ready!

So Moms...did you feel the competitive streak? Did you overcome it?

My brilliant father-in-law, Rich, sent me a fabulous e-mail asking if there were any books about what babies need to be taught on a month by month, then year by year basis. I have read "What's Going On In There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life" by Lise Eliot (and I highly highly recommend this book, even if you are not of a science persuasion). But this aforementioned book does not really go into great depths about what to teach an infant/toddler, based on what they can developmentally grasp. Instead Dr. Eliot simply, but accurately explains how the brain develops. However, I would love to know what are the best age appropriate toys/activities. I know that anyone can walk into Target and buy a toy based on age. However, I am not convinced that this is necessary. Some of the toys Conner has found to be entertaining (and I am sure educational) have been items from around the house (i.e. that our wooden cooking spoon, when banged against a tupperware container, makes a noise).

I have found a bunch of websites that basically just say talking and reading to your baby is the best thing to do. Does anyone know of a book that has great suggestions for how to stimulate and encourage age appropriate development? Any input would be very much appreciated.

Also, Conner has become a bit bored with his current selection of toys and we need to invest in more. Any suggestions for toys/activities we can buy that an almost 9 month old would love?

And if there are no books...hmm...I have always wanted to write a book...but must must must finish grad school first!

Hi everyone!
Well I thought I would give a bit of an update on Conner. Ladies and gentlemen...(drum roll please)...we have a tooth! And boy oh boy is he not having any fun. Of course I can't blame him. If I had a hard object made up of calcium and phosphorus (and other mineral salts) ramming its way out of my gums, I don't think I would be too hot to trot either. But he is handling it like a little trooper. He has also started "backward" crawling. From what I gather, this precedes crawling forward. He also seems to be very very aware of his environment. He has always been a very curious, observant baby, but now it is as if he is going through a developmental stage and he is becoming more cognitively enhanced. So what that last sentence really means is...his sleeping is interrupted and WE ARE TIRED! But this is just an awesome journey and I love watching him learn and absorb the world!

My next blog entry will be more in line with neuronal/cognitive development. I am going to do an entry on spanking. So tune in...

Ok so I really don't have much to offer on this post about any specific research topic. But I was pondering, which I do often, about Conner's development. He is about to turn 8 months old and the little cutie IS NOT CRAWLING YET! And yes, I know, I know...not every baby crawls, and they do it at all different ages. So I guess this got me thinking about other aspects of his development and I thought I would pose some questions for other Mommies out there (or Grandmas, people with an opinion, hell cats and dogs if you please).

1) What age did your baby begin to crawl? Did you do "tummy time" and if so, did they seem to get cranky doing tummy time after a while?

2) When did your baby get teeth? Which teeth came in first? Were there any signs of teething?

3) When was the first word said?

4) Was your baby smaller/cubbier than normal? Did anyone have a smaller baby that has turned into a golly-green-giant of a kid?

Ok if I have missed anything else important that deserves ratiocination, please do tell.

And by the way...babies in blue jeans.EFFING.CUTE.

Hope everyone is doing well and has a fabulous day! Oh and if you could comment here on the blog that would be helpful. Not everyone has a Facebook account and, dear me, I would not want anyone to miss out on all the special little nuggets of input :D

Anyone that has ever seen a woman interact with a baby can attest to one fact, one certainty in life, if you will…women baby talk to babies. Period. I don’t know what it is, but something just makes us want to raise the pitch of our voice and sound like our tongue was just stuck to the icy flagpole outside. Oh and in case you didn’t catch the title, it is taken from Poison’s “Talk Dirty To Me” song…and yes, you are welcome for it now being stuck in your head! And if you are too young to know who Poison is consider yourself lucky.

But why-oh-why do we talk to babies like that? I mean, babies learn language from those that speak to them and will talking like a baby to your baby impair their language development?

Many, many studies have shown that babies prefer baby talk, aka motherese, parentese or infant-directed talk, to normal plain old adult talk. Baby talk not only has a higher pitch, it also is typically more rhythmic, slower, shorter and more exaggerated than adult talk. Baby talk has also been shown to facilitate the bond between the infant and caregiver and assist in language development and communication between the adult and the baby. So clearly it has been shown to be beneficial.

In 2007, an article published in Brain and Cognition looked at what is going on when an infant hears “baby talk”. The researchers used Electroencephalography (EEG) (which is just a fancy schmancy way of recording electrical activity of the brain when its neurons are firing) and they looked at heart rate using 39, 9-month old infants while they listened to baby talk. The baby talk differed in which emotion it conveyed, i.e. love, surprise, fear, etc. They found that the greatest brain activity was in the frontal lobe (the executive, decision maker, problem-solver) and the highest EEG activity was associated with fear, then love/comfort, and so on. Despite the affect presented (i.e. fear, comfort) all of the infants’ heart rate decelerated. Another interesting finding is that babies who are reported as more temperamental showed greater right frontal lobe activation in response to baby talk expressing fear. Previous research has shown that at rest, babies that exhibit greater fear responses to novel stimuli have greater activity in their right frontal lobe at rest compared to infants that do not exhibit these fearful responses.


http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/bfrontal.shtml

There is quite a bit of research that shows infants have greater at rest right frontal lobe activity and this will influence the personality of the infant, and into adulthood. This article is good at showing that the content of the talk is also important. If the affect is fear, surprise, or other “negative” emotions, it will affect activity in the frontal lobe differently than affect of comfort, love, etc.

Of course now comes the chicken and the egg aspect. Are fearful, more anxious babies that way because of their brain morphology? Or do their parents create the brain to wire in a way that makes them more anxious? Based on this article, even if you are baby talking, if you are talking in an affect of fear the baby is able to discern that. Or does brain wiring of this nature occur in utero (of course it does!). If you are an overly anxious person, or have encountered a high stress, or fearful situation, your fetus is sure to respond accordingly.

Any thoughts?



Santesso DL, Schmidt LA, Trainor LJ. Frontal brain electrical activity (EEG) and heart rate in response to affective infant-directed (ID) speech in 9-month-old infants. Brain Cogn. 2007 Oct;65(1):14-21. Epub 2007 Jul 30.

With all of the excitement and exhaustion (for the parents) of a new baby, one concern is all too often overlooked…maternal depression. Women are raised to believe that having a child is the most joyous occasion. Yes you are tired. But you are also so elated at this tiny little bundle of joy and life couldn’t be better, right? Well, maybe. I will admit that when I was pregnant there was a part of me that was a bit concerned that since I had the propensity for depression (family history, and once needing medication for it myself) I would be a fine candidate for post partum depression. Or that I would even encounter prenatal depression. My son is 7 months old and (so far) I have not experienced true post partum depression. But I know many women that have and I think it is just now being truly talked about and assessed.

Honestly I really thank Brooke Shields for bringing this issue to light (and on a certain level Tom Cruise and his “vitamins and exercise can take care of depression” rant…anyone else longing for the days of Top Gun?). She was open and honest about her experience. But what does it mean to have post partum depression? We know Mom isn’t herself, it affects the way she interacts with her baby, husband, family, job, everyday activities…but what about the effects on the kid(s)? A review paper published in the Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review (2006) did a fabulous job of taking a lot of research and highlighting some of the deleterious consequences of untreated maternal depression.

Here are some interesting statistics:
1. During adulthood, women are almost twice as likely as men to have depression, and
onset is usually in the mid-20’s (childrearing years)
2. Approximately 20% of pregnant women experience depression (and tend to seek less
prenatal care)
3. Postpartum depression affects 5-25% of women

So how does prenatal depression/stress a fetus? Glad you asked. Many studies have shown that prenatal depression/stress undermines good prenatal care. These women do not seek basic prenatal check-ups, engage in more alcohol and drug abuse, gain less weight, smoke cigarettes more, and feel more stressed. The increase in feelings of stress and depression in turn affect the quality of cortisol (the primary human stress hormone) release from the mother. Depression and stress both increase the release of cortisol. Elevated levels of maternal cortisol affect the growing fetus by: altering the fetus’ development of the HPA axis (makes the HPA axis more responsive to stress), and higher rates of premature labor and slower growth of the fetus. Prolonged or elevated HPA axis activation has been shown to interfere with learning and memory in children.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2008/stress/images/stressresponse.jpg

But what if there is postpartum depression? According to recent research, postpartum depression may interfere with the cognitive and language development of infants. Infants of depressed mothers have deficits in vagal tone measures (vagus nerve activates facial expressions, vocalization and maintains slower heart rates). These infants vocalize less and show muted facial expressions which could interfere with the depressed mothers’ ability to interpret the needs of the infant. Maternal depression also appears to alter brain activity in the frontal lobes. Using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, infants and toddlers of depressed mothers have decreased activation in left frontal brain activation and more right frontal activation. Activation in the left frontal region is associated with positive emotions, whereas right frontal activation is associated with negative emotions. The negative emotional responses would thus interfere with the infants’ ability and motivation to process and interpret external stimuli (i.e. learning). As a side note, most women do experience postpartum blues (I know I did) but this does not appear to interfere with the development of the child, and does not last as long.

Honestly this article is HUGE with vast amounts of information. I have definitely not done justice to how much maternal depression can interfere with the social, emotional, and cognitive development of infants. What is most important is not IF a mother is experiencing depression, but HOW will she, her family and her community respond. No one, especially a pregnant woman or one that just gave birth, should feel isolated and embarrassed for their depression. A mothers’ ability to care for her kids is the most important part of this equation. Therefore, if medication aids in allowing the mother to be more interactive and respond better to her kids’ needs, which in turn allow for the child to develop in a more enriched environment, I am all for it. However, if a woman can find other methods to deal with her depression I think that is great too! Medication doesn't have to be the only solution. But if it works, go for it.

Of course, it would be interesting to see what role Dad plays in this. If Dad compensates for Mom’s lack of interaction, will it offset some of these negative outcomes? What if the baby attends daycare? Will the interaction from the caregivers be enough?

Any other thoughts?


Sohr-Preston SL, Scaramella LV. Implications of timing of maternal depressive symptoms for early cognitive and language development. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2006 Mar;9(1):65-83. Review.

Since Conner is only 6 months old, and seems to love every vegetable and fruit we give him, I feel very fortunate. I think at some point everyone has encountered (or is) a picky eater. Now, I think we all have one or two veggies/fruit or types of cuisines that we do not care for. But you know what I am talking about. I am talking about actually refusing to eat certain things. I have a close friend and her daughter will actually gag up most veggies. Collin used to work with a woman that made 5, yes FIVE different dinners every night because everyone wanted something different. I will admit that I have always thought that most of the food kids/people don’t like has almost everything to do with the parents’ attitude and behavior (and whether they knew how to cook the food item). For example, I happen to love broccoli. However, if you over cook broccoli, it tastes like ARSE! If Mom and Dad don’t eat or like fruits/veggies/ different cuisines, how on Earth are their kids supposed to like them? Boy I have been proven WRONG! Wrong. Wrong. Now, I do think that some peeps just turn their noses up at things because they sound weird, or they think they won’t like an item. But recent research has illuminated why some people really don’t like eating certain foods. And guess what…IT IS GENETIC! Who would have thunk?

So here’s how it goes. A study by Dr. Lucy Cooke, dept. of epidemiology and public health at University College London, was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Her study investigated almost 5400 twins to determine why kidlets have certain food aversions and/or neophobia (fear of trying new things). What her research suggests is that dislike for new or certain foods is inherited! Dr. Cooke estimates that food aversion is about 80% genetic, 20% environmental.

Another recent study, headed by Dr. Paul Breslin, contends that there is an evolutionary explanation for our dislike of certain foods, i.e. our ability to taste bitter foods was a defense mechanism to ensure we did not consume toxic foods. According to Dr. Breslin "the sense of taste enables us to detect bitter toxins within foods, and genetically-based differences in our bitter taste receptors affect how we each perceive foods containing a particular set of toxins". His research identified taste receptors sensitive to Glucosinolate-containing vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, turnips, kale, etc. His study investigated how adults respond to these veggies. A similar study investigated how kids respond. Both found that those with the more sensitive form of the Glucosinolate taste receptors on the tongue show a definite dislike for the aforementioned veggies. Those without the sensitive form of the Glucosinolate taste receptors don’t seem to taste the bitterness of the veggies.

So how is this genetic? Recently Nova Science Now (yes I am that dorky) aired a report on this very topic. On our chromosomes contain our genes. If Mom and Dad have the gene to encode this bitter taste receptor, YOU NO LIKEY BROCCOLI! If you got a sensitive one from Mom, but non-sensitive one from Dad, you may not completely like the taste, but you aren’t completely appalled by it, and could grow to like the bitter taste. And if neither Mom or Dad have the gene, you are not sensitive to bitter and should be able to eat whatever veggies your Mom puts in front of you!

For a fabulous video (well fabulous if you are a BIG ASS DORK LIKE ME) go here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0404/01.html

Now this is not meant to completely rule out the environment. If you are a picky eater, it is likely your kids will be too. If you are cooking these poor, innocent little veggies to oblivion (buy a cookbook already!) then they won’t taste good. I should also note that from what I have read, infants typically aren’t as picky as toddlers. So Conner may eat well now, but as he gets older we may see more of Mr. Picky Pants (but Collin and I both love almost every fruit and veggie out there so I think he will too).

In addition, the brain senses how something tastes not only from our taste receptors, but also from how food looks and smells. So if you try a different cooking method, and keep things fresh and colorful, perhaps this will aid in our preference?

It will be interesting to see if other dislikes (i.e. fish, curry) are genetically based too.



Lucy J Cooke, Claire MA Haworth and Jane Wardle. Genetic and environmental influences on children's food neophobia. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 86, No. 2, 428-433, August 2007.

Mari A. Sandella and Paul A.S. Breslin. Variability in a taste-receptor gene determines whether we taste toxins in food. Current Biology. Volume 16, Issue 18, 19 September 2006, Pages R792-R794.

Kendra I Bell and Beverly J Tepper. Short-term vegetable intake by young children classified by 6-n-propylthoiuracil bitter-taste phenotype. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 84, No. 1, 245-251, July 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/dining/10pick.html?ex=1349755200&en=51045ae881c09efb&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink