Stress in Babies

Stress in babies who are loved and well-cared for

We know that neglect and abuse are terrible stressors.

And we also know that the babies with the healthiest stress response systems have parents who are sensitive and responsive (Blair et al 2006).

But let’s assume a baby has loving, sensitive parents. There are still questions about everyday stress:

• Should you pick the baby up and rock her, talk to her, gaze into her eyes? Or is that too disruptive?

• Should I dress the baby up? Or are fewer clothes better, so he can experience skin-to-skin contact with his caregivers? What about baby massage?

• Is it better to change that diaper now—even though your newborn is asleep?

Of course, there isn’t any one answer to these questions. Each baby—and each situation—is different. But experimental research helps us understand the big picture about babies in stress.

Multi-sensory stimulation

You might worry that too much fuss will overwhelm your baby. And sometimes it might. It’s important to be sensitive to your baby’s moods. As noted above, stress in babies is influenced by sensitive parenting.

But studies suggest that multi-sensory stimulation--touching, gazing, talking, and rocking babies all at once--can reduce stress in babies.

One recent study presented newborns with one of three treatments (White-Traut et al 2009). Half an hour before feeding, each baby was given either

• 15 minutes of tactile-only stimulation (in which the baby was stroked without being picked up, gazed at, and talked to)

• 15 minutes of multisensory stimulation (in which the baby was touched, talked to, gazed at, and rocked)

• No stimulation (the control group)

Researchers also tested the infants’ levels of cortisol—a stress hormone—both before and after the intervention. Guess who experienced the largest rise in cortisol? It was the babies in the tactile-only group. The babies in the control group experienced an intermediate rise of cortisol.

And the least-stressed babies--as measured by their cortisol reactivity--were those who’d been given the multi-sensory stimulation.