Caesarean childbirth ‘may affect bonding’

CAESAREAN childbirth may weaken the attachment of a mother to her baby, a study has shown.

Scientists found women were more emotionally responsive to the cries of their babies if they chose to give birth naturally.

Those who had caesarean deliveries were significantly less sensitive to the sound of their own babies crying.

Parts of their brains believed to regulate emotions, motivation and habitual behaviour were not as strongly activated as they were in natural birth mothers.

Researchers believe the difference may be explained by a “bonding” hormone released in the brain during labour.

Oxytocin, known as the “love hormone” or “cuddle chemical”, creates feelings of attachment in both humans and animals.

It is also produced in women during breast-feeding and also during sex.

Controversially, the caesarean section procedure is linked with post-natal depression. Caesarean deliveries may be advised for health reasons, but increasingly they are being seen as a “lifestyle choice”.

The “too posh to push” tag has been applied in the media to women who pay for private caesareans.

Women who delay motherhood are more likely to have the operation because childbirth risks increase with age.

The new research by British and US scientists involved 12 American mothers having their first baby. Six had natural vaginal deliveries and six caesarean sections.

Two to four weeks after the births, the women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of their brains while listening to the recorded cries of their babies.

The scans revealed a range of brain regions that were more highly activated in natural birth women while hearing the sound of their babies crying.

These were parts of the brain that dealt with emotions, empathy, motivation, reward-seeking and habit.

The findings were published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Research leader Dr James Swain, from the Child Study Centre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, said: “We wondered which brain areas would be less active in parents who delivered by caesarean section, given that this mode of delivery has been associated with decreased maternal behaviours in animal models, and a trend for increased postpartum (post-delivery) depression in humans.

“Our results support the theory that variations in delivery conditions such as with caesarean section, which alters the neuro-hormonal experiences of childbirth, might decrease the responsiveness of the human maternal brain in the early postpartum.”

The research could help the early detection of families at risk from post-natal depression and attachment problems, he said.