In
chapter 6 of The Ravenous Brain, Bor talks about brain enhancement of infants
and when they are mentally aware of the surroundings around them. The debate
revolved around whether the infant awareness occurs before birth or after
birth. The fact that a fetus is kicking and moving in the mother may mean that
it is active, but does it mean that it is conscious and aware of life? Even at
the end of pregnancy, a fetus is extremely responsive to the outer world, which
is why people believe that the pre-birth existence is still considered being conscious.
Bor
believes, however, that true awareness occurs after birth, especially in the
two months that follow it. This can be seen by observing the behavior of the infant.
When his daughter was growing up, he found that her awareness of the world was
proved by her sudden series of hiccups due to her surprise of the world. During
her third month, she began to laugh. This signified her realization and
consciousness.
Bor also brings up the question of whether the events
that occurs to the mother affect the baby’s brain. The most obvious example of
this would be the use of alcohol and cigarettes during pregnancy, and how it
would affect the baby’s condition. But in the article, “Newborns Gain
From Mother's Pain... In The Gym: Exercise During Pregnancy Enhances Babies'
Brain Development,” Matthew Mientka believes that when pregnant women exercise,
it enhances the development of the baby. If the mother does a moderate workout
for twenty minutes about three times a week, it results in a healthier brain
for the child. To prove this, an experiment was done with two groups of
pregnant women. In one group, the women were instructed to exercise moderately
for twenty minutes, three times a week. The group was directed to not do any exercise.
When the babies were born, an electroencephalography was done for each of the
babies in the ages of 8 to 12 days. It was found that the babies born from the
mothers that were physically active “have a more mature cerebral activation,
suggesting that their brains developed more rapidly.”
I found your blog very interesting. You can see that infants do have some awareness of the outside world. Some examples would be that they could lift their head and grasp a person’s finger in their palm. I too found an article that discussed exercise boosting a baby’s brain development. In Mother’s Exercise May Boost Baby’s Brain Gretchen Reynolds talks about a study that the University of Montreal did involving woman who participated in an exercise program or remained sedentary during their second trimester. After twelve’s days of birth the mothers brought in their infants to participate in an EEG test that involved unfamiliar sounds. The results showed that the baby’s born to mothers who exercised during their second trimester where able to respond to these sounds. This is truly remarkable. As we learned in the lecture Art Kramer gave that exercising can benefit brain cognition in the elderly but it can also set an advantage for the babies whose mothers exercise while they are pregnant.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Reynolds, Gretchen. "Mother’s Exercise May Boost Baby’s Brain." N.p., 20 Nov. 2013. Web.
I strongly agree that infants are aware of the world around them. Therefore, I also agree that the outside world has a huge influence on the baby both before and after birth, especially when it comes to exercise. As the oldest of ten, I have seen firsthand how exercise during pregnancy helped both my mother and my unborn siblings. Many people may see this as endangering the child, but there is plenty of research to back up the idea that the child will benefit greatly from physical activity. This is only if the mother does not take it too far, however. Participating in strenuous physical activity over the course of several days a week puts the mother and child at great risk. The human body cannot take the stress of both growing and protecting a baby while being pushed beyond its physical limit. It’s all about being smart and doing what’s right for the mother and her baby.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your blog. Mothers are simply mechanisms that aid the maturity of a baby before it is born. The child is a part of the mother and therefore is affected by her decisions. After I read ur post, I also began to think of the negative impacts a mother can have on her child. Activities such as alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and poor eating habits all have an effect on the developing child. The child is in many regards molded by the decisions the mother makes during pregnancy.
ReplyDelete