Maternal stress

Raising and educating children requires a significant daily effort that, combined with work stress and the high level of demand that parents sometimes impose on ourselves, ends up leading to what is called 'parental burnout'.

Being a mother is a wonderful experience, it changes your life and having your child in your arms is the most beautiful thing there can be. That is not in dispute. But it is also exhausting. It means being 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without rest, pending the care of a little human being. Sleepless nights and strenuous days even though we may not have even left the house. Not to mention if Mom also works outside.

I am the mother of two children and, fortunately, the pregnancy of each of them passed without complications. But even so I am aware that I could not enjoy them as other mothers have told me they did. Although there were seven years of difference between them, both in one case and the other, and due to different circumstances, I worked until a few hours before delivery.

Various studies over the years have analyzed how the mother's emotional state during pregnancy influences the baby's health, finding that stress can affect it in different ways.

For some years now, it has been analyzing and studying how the mental health of the pregnant woman influences her and her baby. Stress, for example, we know can increase the likelihood of certain risks and complications, both in the short and long term.

A study carried out by scientists from the University of Granada (UGR) has revealed that women who experience stress both before becoming pregnant and during conception are almost twice as likely to have a girl as a boy.

None of us put our hands on our heads if someone claims that parents are under stress. We also experience in ourselves how teleworking, distance education for our children and living together 24 hours a day has increased this stress.