Possible Effects of Maternal behaviour on fetal development

1. Biology Class XII
Investigatory Project
Mikhil Chandnani
Class XII

2. 1
Certificate
This is to certify that Ma. Mikhil Chandnani of class 12th
_B_has
successfully completed this biology project on the topic
Possible effects of Maternal Behavior on Fetal
Development during Pregnancy suggested by Dr. (Mrs.)
Shipra Chaudhary, during academic session 2020-21 as per the
guidelines issued by Central Board of Secondary Education.
Internal Examiner Principal External Examiner

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Date: Mikhil Chandnani
XII-B
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude
to my teacher “Dr. (Mrs.) Shipra Chaudhary” as well as
our Principal Mam “Mrs. Nirmal Tondon” who gave me
the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project of
subject Biology on the topic Possible effects of
Maternal Behavior on Fetal Development during
Pregnancy, which also helped me in doing a lot of
Research and I came to know about so many new
things. I am really thankful to them. Secondly I would
also like to thank my parents and friends who helped
me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time
frame.

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INDEX
1. Introduction
2. Causes
Alcohol Abuse
Use of Illegal and Illicit Drugs
Ciggarate smoking
Stress
Effect of foetal injury
Human Reproductive Anatomy and Physiology-
Contraceptives
3. Conclusion
4. Bibliography

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Introduction
When you write about Ashttavakra, the person who comes to your thought is Abhimanyu.
After all, was a boy who learnt things while in his mother's womb. Abhimanyu was the
son of Arjuna, the third Pandava and Subhadra, Krishna's sister. According to mythology,
he was the reincarnation of Varchas, the son of Chandra, the moon God.
GARBHSANSKAR essentially means educating the mind of the fetus. This is derived from
Sanskrit words Garbh [fetus in the womb] and Sanskar [educating the mind]. It is
traditionally believed that a child’s mental and behavioral development starts as soon as he
is conceived. His personality begins to take shape in the womb, and this can be influenced
by the mother’s state of mind during pregnancy. This knowledge can be traced back to
ancient scriptures and is included in the Ayurveda.
Although it may sound strange and weird, your bond with your child starts right from the
time you conceive. It is not that when the child is born you know him. The baby listens to
you and feels your feelings even when it is developing in your womb.
You can shape up your baby’s first impressions by listening to good music, visualizing,
massaging gently meditating and of course, with the help of positive thinking.
Maternal nutrition and behavior plays a critical role in fetal growth and development.
Although considerable effort has been directed towards defining nutrient requirements of
animals over the past 30 years, suboptimal nutrition during gestation remains a significant
problem for many animal species.

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Maternal under nutrition during gestation reduces placental and fetal growth of both
domestic animals and humans. Available evidence suggests that fetal growth is most
vulnerable to maternal dietary deficiencies of nutrients during the peri-implantation period
and the period of rapid placental development.
Under nutrition in pregnant women may result from low intake of dietary nutrients owing
to either a limited supply of food or severe nausea and vomiting known as hyperemesis
gravidarum in first trimester of pregnancy. Growth retardation of fetus due to hypertension,
oligohydramnios, anemia of mother during pregnancy.
Pregnant women may also be at increased risk of under nutrition because of early or
closely-spaced pregnancies. Since pregnant teenage mothers are themselves growing, they
compete with their own fetuses for nutrients, whereas short interpregnancy intervals result
in maternal nutritional depletion at the outset of pregnancy. Low birth weights and preterm
deliveries in adolescent pregnancies are more than twice as common as in adult
pregnancies, and neonatal mortality in adolescent pregnancies is almost three times higher
than for adult pregnancies.
Further, placental insufficiency results in reduced transfer of nutrients from mother to fetus,
thereby leading to fetal under nutrition and IUGR. Finally, due to competition for nutrients,
multiple fetuses resulting from assisted reproductive technologies are often at risk of under
nutrition and therefore fetal growth restriction. Thus, various nutritional and pathological
conditions can result in IUGR.
Pregnant women are usually recommended to avoid soft cheeses, smoked fish, precooked
meats and foods made with unpasteurized milk. These foods may contain a bacterium
called Listeria. This bacterium does not usually cause people much harm, but even a mild
infection in a pregnant woman may cause miscarriage.

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CHANGES DURING PREGNANCY

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EFFECTS OF MATERNAL BEHAVIOUR ON FETAL DEVELOPMENT

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Causes
1. Alcohol Abuse
Drinking alcohol when you're pregnant can be very harmful to your baby. It can cause
your baby to have a range of lifelong health conditions. Drinking alcohol during
pregnancy can cause miscarriage, preterm birth and stillbirth.
When you drink alcohol during pregnancy, so does your baby. The same amount of
alcohol that is in your blood is also in your baby's blood. The alcohol in your blood
quickly passes through the placenta and to your baby through the umbilical cord.
Although your body is able to manage alcohol in your blood, your baby's little body
isn't. Your liver works hard to break down the alcohol in your blood. But your baby's
liver is too small to do the same and alcohol can hurt your baby's development. That's
why alcohol is much more harmful to your baby than to you during pregnancy. Alcohol
can lead your baby to have serious health conditions, called fetal alcohol spectrum
disorders (FASD). The most serious of these is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Fetal
alcohol syndrome can seriously harm your baby's development, both mentally and
physically.
Alcohol can also cause your baby to:
• Have birth defects (heart, brain and other organs)
• Vision or hearing problems
• Be born too soon (preterm)
• Be born at low birth weight
• Have intellectual disabilities
• Have learning and behavior problems
• Have sleeping and sucking problems
• Have speech and language delays
• Have behavioral problems

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Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are a group of conditions that can occur in a person
whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. Symptoms can include an abnormal
appearance, short height, low body weight, small head size, poor coordination, behavior
problems, learning difficulties and problems with hearing or sight.
A baby suffering with FASD

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2. Use of Illegal and Illicit Drugs
It's possible that you may not have a serious or long-lasting problem after using drugs.
But the same is not always true for a fetus. Drug-using mothers often give birth to
"drug babies." These children have a host of developmental problems.
Studies show that using drugs -- legal or illegal -- during pregnancy has a direct
impact on the fetus. If you smoke, drink alcohol, or ingest caffeine, so does the fetus.
If you use marijuana or crystal meth, your fetus also feels the impact of these
dangerous drugs. And if you are addicted to cocaine -- also called coke, snow, or blow
-- you're not only putting your own life on the line, but you are risking the health of
your unborn baby.
The consequences of using cocaine include heart attacks, respiratory failure, strokes,
and seizures. And these life-threatening health problems can also be passed to an
unborn baby. Taking drugs during pregnancy also increases the chance of birth
defects, premature babies, underweight babies, and stillborn births. Exposure to drugs
such as marijuana -- also called weed, ganja, dope, or pot -- and alcohol before birth
has been proven to cause behavior problems in early childhood. These drugs can also
affect the child's memory and attentiveness. In addition, some findings show that
babies born to women who use cocaine, alcohol, or tobacco when they are pregnant
may have brain structure changes that persist into early adolescence.
While cocaine's effects are usually immediate, the effect it can have on a fetus may
last a lifetime. Babies born to mothers who smoke crack cocaine during pregnancy --
so-called ''crack babies'' -- usually have their own set of physical and mental problems.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, exposure to cocaine in the womb
can lead to subtle, yet significant, deficits later in children

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Effects of various drugs on fetus during pregnancy

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3. Cigarette Smoking
Smoking during pregnancy affects you and your baby’s before, during, and after your baby
is born. The nicotine (the addictive substance in cigarettes), carbon monoxide, and
numerous other poisons you inhale from a cigarette are carried through your bloodstream
and go directly to your baby. Smoking while pregnant will:
• Increase your baby's heart rate.
• Increase the chances of miscarriage and stillbirth.
• Increase the risk that your baby is born prematurely and/or born with low birth weight.
• Increase your baby's risk of developing respiratory (lung) problems.
• Increases risks of birth defects.
• Increases risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
• Lower the amount of oxygen available to you and your growing baby
The more cigarettes you smoke per day, the greater your baby's chances of developing
these and other health problems. There is no "safe" level of smoking while pregnant.
Carbon monoxide combines with haemoglobin (Hb) in the fetus red blood cells. If the Hb
is combined with carbon monoxide then it cannot combine with oxygen. So when a mother
smokes, she reduces the amount of oxygen being carried in her own bloods and also the
baby’s blood.
Nicotine reduces the diameter of the fetus’ blood vessels. This reduces the volume of blood
that can flow through them. This, too, reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the fetus.

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4. Stress
Effect of maternal stress associated with poor birth outcomes including preterm birth,
infant mortality and low birthweight. Stress results in increases in cortisol,
norepinephrine and inflammation which affect the fetal environment and have
implications for maternal and infant health.

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EFFECTS OF STRESS ON HYPOTHALAMUS PITUITARY AXIS DURING
PREGNANCY

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Stress and Long-term Health and
Developmental Outcomes
Maternal stress can also negatively impact the health and development of infants and
children:
 Stress may increase the risk for developmental delay among low birthweight
babies even if they did not experience initial neonatal complications.
 Several studies show an association between maternal stress in pregnancy and
congenital heart defects.
 Maternal bereavement during the prenatal period and 6 months’ preconception was
associated with increased risk of overweight or obesity in their children which may
be due to severe stress exposure early in life.
 Women with high levels of stress in pregnancy had an increased likelihood of
having children with autism-like characteristics; this association was most
pronounced in children of women with high stress levels during the first
 trimester.
 One study found that increased fetal cortisol levels may affect the function of a
certain part of the brain, which leads to impaired cognitive reaction time in
adolescence

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5. Effect of Fetal Injury
Placental abruption is the most common cause of fetal death from trauma in
pregnancy. Force from trauma can steer the placenta from the uterine wall and lead to
fetal demise. Uterine rupture, though rare, usually occurs in the third trimester and is
associated with high risk of fetal and maternal mortality.
Direct fetal injury is very rare in blunt trauma complicating less than 1% of all
significant maternal trauma.
The maternal soft tissue, uterus, and amniotic fluid all provide a significant degree of
protection to the fetus.
Those cases of direct fetal injury that do occur are usually late in the gestational
period.
The most commonly reported direct fetal injury is head injury.
For example: In the film “Koi mil Gaya”
directed by Rakesh Roshan. The actor Hritik
Roshan played the role of an abnormal boy
Rohit Mehra. His mother had occurred a foetal
injury during car accident. This accident
brought the abnormal characteristics to Rohit.
(A case of trauma during pregnancy)

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6. Human Reproductive Anatomy and
Physiology- Contraceptives
Effective public health programs, research, and policy relating to human sexuality,
pregnancy, contraception, and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections
(including HIV) depends upon knowledge of the structure(anatomy) and function
(physiology) of the male and female reproductive systems. Human beings are sexual
throughout life. Sexuality encompasses more than sexual behavior - it is not only the
physical, but the mental and spiritual as well. Sexuality is a core component of
personality and a fundamental part of human life. While the problems usually associated
with sexual behavior are real and need to be addressed, human sexuality also has
significant meaning and value in each individual's life.
Sixty-one percent of all women worldwide who are within the reproductive age (15-44
years old), are using methods of contraception (methods used to deliberately prevent
pregnancy). No method of contraception is 100% effective other than complete
abstinence from sexual intercourse. However, many methods exist that are close to
100% effective if used consistently and correctly. People frequently fail to use their
method every time or to use it perfectly.

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CONCLUSION
In short, women should be very careful during pregnancy. Findings from the current study
indicate that excessive GWG and mothers’ eating behaviors during pregnancy, especially
intake of sweets in overweight/obese mothers, may influence offspring weight status early
in infancy. More research with larger sample sizes and frequent assessments of diet is
needed to inform the impact of timing of nutrient exposures on offspring weight status.
Also, future adequately powered randomized clinical trials are needed to determine
whether modifying maternal prenatal behaviors and GWG can prevent offspring obesity.
Identifying modifiable, prenatal causes of childhood obesity will inform future
interventions targeting pregnancy as a “teachable moment” for primary and secondary
obesity prevention.
The popularity of GarbhSanskar is also because researchers have proved its relevance and
importance in the development of the child. There are scientific evidences that prove that
a baby inside the mother’s womb responds to the outside stimulus and has the ability to
listen. Doctors and experts also believe that there is a significant effect of the hormonal
secretions that are activated by the thoughts of a mother on the unborn baby.

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Bibliography
1. Biological Science: Third Edition by, N. P. O. Green (Author), G. W.
Stout (Author), D. J. Taylor (Author), R. Soper (Editor)
2. NCERT Text Book class XII biology Chapter 4; pg. :58. Reproductive
Health
3. Wadhwa PD, et al., 2011. The contribution of maternal stress to preterm
birth: issues and considerations. Clin Perinatol. 2011;38(3):351-84.
4. Walder DJ et al. Prenatal maternal stress predicts autism traits in 61/2
year-old children: Project ice storm. Psychiatry Research. 2014 (in press).
5. Cardwell MS. Stress: Pregnancy considerations. Obstetric Gynecology
Survey. 2013;68(2):119-29
6. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternal_effect