![]() ![]() This is not the story of a personal tragedy. “You should see the other guy,” the nurse joked. When I was finally taken up to the neonatal unit in a wheelchair and able to hold him, my son was so bashed up he looked like he’d been in a bar fight. As one doctor later put it: “It’s like a truck drove through your pelvic floor.” I was given transfusions for blood loss and paracetamol for the pain, which didn’t help much. In addition to the forceps, I’d had internal and external tearing as well as an episiotomy – cut open and stitched back together. We watched doctors placing a toy-sized oxygen mask on our son’s face and heard them fall silentīy contrast, I was worse for wear. “We don’t know why.” He had a touch of jaundice, but there had been no evidence of oxygen deprivation. He could offer no real explanation for why our son was born “flatline” (his term) apart from the obvious deduction that he’d been knocked out by the grip of the forceps on his head. The resident paediatrician made it clear he wasn’t concerned – or even particularly interested – in Frank’s case. Hours later, to our immense relief, we were told Frank was fine. We waited for the baby’s cry, but it never came. We scanned their faces for panic or relief and saw nothing, only blankness. We watched the doctors placing a toy-sized oxygen mask on our son’s face and heard them fall silent as their movements became quicker. In such children, a proactive approach can go a long way in averting more serious psychological problems.‘The sound of his cry induced black thoughts, a darkening of my already dull mood’: Leah with Frank just after his birth. As the child grows, behavioral, academic, and developmental problems will need to be addressed. Timely intervention is critical when it comes to limiting the psychological effects of birth trauma. When the mother’s labor is contracted or the delivery is difficult, structural compromise to these areas of the baby’s body can lead to long-term effects on the nervous system. This is not surprising since the skull and spine of an infant are exposed to considerable compressive force during birth. ![]() In fact, it is estimated that at least 80 percent of children who suffer from developmental delay have a history of a difficult birth. Studies have also shown a link between a traumatic birth and developmental delay including attention deficit disorder and autism. The researchers concluded that there is a strong link between the prevalence of autism and a traumatic birth. ![]() The results of 60 studies were combined in this meta-analysis. In other words, children who have a difficult delivery have a higher chance of developing autism compared to children who are born uneventfully. Researchers at Harvard University and Brown University published the results of a study in 2011 showing that the circumstances of a baby’s birth can predispose it to autism. Psychologists report obvious links between oppositional children and angry or anxious adults and difficult birth experience. This effect on mother-child bonding so early in life has a major influence on the child’s psychological development later in life. The trauma of the birth is thus compounded by a separation from the mother. Psychologists believe children who had difficult births are more likely to be angry, aggressive, and anxious compared to children who had easy births.īabies with birth complications are frequently placed in a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). Although the infant has an unconscious mind, these early experiences become the blueprint on which future psychological development takes place. The trauma associated with a difficult birth becomes imprinted on the as-yet immature mind of the newborn. Early Trauma and Long-Term Psychological Effects Add to this a long and difficult labor, a forceps-assisted delivery, or a life-threatening situation, and the birth experience can become extraordinarily traumatic. At the time of delivery, the baby must push and squeeze through a narrow canal in the mother’s adrenaline-charged body. In its mother’s womb, a baby grows comfortably, floating in warm fluid, surrounded by darkness and the reassuring sounds of its mother’s heartbeat and muffled voice. Now, studies are showing a direct link between birth injuries and long-term psychological problems. The ramifications are, not surprisingly, evident during childhood development and all the way through adult life. Research has shown that psychological trauma has lasting effects on human beings.
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