A mother's overwhelming desire to take risks in the face of danger to protect her child, and other nurturing behaviors, are driven by neurons in the cMPOA region of the hypothalamus which contains a protein called the calcitonin receptor.
Mothers with more than one child reported more sleep disruptions that mothers with just one child. The number of children did not impact the quality, or quantity, of sleep for fathers.
Breastfeeding mothers with higher levels of oxytocin show more enhanced positive recognition of adult faces. The findings shed light on how oxytocin may support both continued nurturing behaviors and affects general social cognition of other adults.
Positive interaction with direct eye contact between mother and infant enhances the ability to synchronize brain waves.
While there is a clear genetic link between young mothers and ADHD in their children, the association is not necessarily causal.
Study sheds light on the olfactory importance of the smell of a newborn baby's head and mother-child bonding.
Mothers who address their teens with a neutral tone of voice elicit more positive and less negative emotions in their children, increasing closeness. Those who speak with a controlling tone evoke negative emotions and have a less close bond with their teenage child.
Fathers who sleep more than other fathers experience lower overall well-being and closeness with their partners and children, while women who are able to sleep more report a greater sense of well-being. The study also found exercise impacts parental moods, reporting on days where men exercise more than usual, they are less likely to argue. By contrast, mothers who embark on more physical activity during the day experienced higher levels of emotional negativity and were more likely to have arguments. Researchers speculate this could be a result of paternal 'stress' of taking up the primary caregiving role for a time to allow his wife time to herself, causing a more argumentative state in males.
Researchers report increases in cortical responses to infants' faces between the prenatal to postnatal period is associated with more positive relationships with the baby after birth.
A new study reports mother rats who received hormone replacement therapy responded worse to memory and spatial learning tasks than those who had not given birth. Researchers suggest a woman's reproductive history could impact how the brain responds to hormones later in life.
A new study reports mothers who demonstrate better emotional control and problem solving abilities have a more positive influence on their child's behavior.
A new study reveals longer breastfeeding is associated with increased maternal sensitivity well into childhood.
