Type of childbirth may affect mom’s bonds with baby

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Vaginal deliveries are less expensive, lead to quicker recoveries and don’t have the attendant surgical risks of cesarean sections. Now Yale University researchers suggest they may have another benefit as well -- improved infant bonding.

Using functional MRIs, the researchers interviewed and scanned the brains of 12 women who had given birth two to three weeks earlier. Six had had vaginal deliveries; the others, C-sections.

During the scans, the women heard recordings of their own infants crying (the distressing sounds were recorded during diaper changes, not deliberately inflicted pain). The vaginal-delivery moms showed greater activity in the parts of the brain that control emotions and empathy, as well as in regions connected to motivation and behavior, than did the C-section moms.

‘I suspect that the parental brain is ‘primed by vaginal delivery and affected by neurohormonal factors such as oxytocin, a hormone linked to emotional connections and feelings of love,’ lead author Dr. James Swain said in a news release.

No one’s contending that women who have C-sections are doomed never to connect with their kids, he continued. Rather: ‘These results provoke many questions and may help expectant mothers as they consider their options carefully.’

The answers to the questions are crucial. More than 30% of births in the United States are now C-sections, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And Swain is trying to get to the bottom of a possible link to postpartum depression in women who’ve had C-sections.

That’s not to say vaginal deliveries are risk-free. They’ve been linked most notably to later pelvic floor disorders, as described in Hidden epidemic of pelvic floor problems.

For a look at the risks and benefits of each type of delivery, as well as the trend toward C-sections, check out When ‘natural’ seems too risky.

The new research was published in the October issue of Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

-- Tami Dennis