Why Love Matters

How affection shapes a baby's brain

Stress is a word much overused today. But Why Love Matters by Sue Gerhardt will make you look at the connection between stress and babies in a totally new and different way. The author sets out the scientific basis for understanding why babyhood is a crucial time in emotional development. This, of course, has far reaching consequences in later life.

I could not put down this book. What I discovered was that the attention we receive as babies impacts on our brain structures. I was absorbed to read about how the basic systems that manage our emotions - the way how we as children and adults respond to stress - are not present at birth, and how these systems develop rapidly in the first two years of life.

Stress levels can now be measured through analysing saliva which makes it easier to test babies and young children. By taking a reading of the cortisol level, the amount of stress experienced can be monitored. High cortisol levels are linked to relatively high activity in the part of the brain which generates fearfulness, irritability and withdrawal from others. What has been shown is how babies react to stress around them, and what truly damages mental and physical health is persistent powerlessness and unrelieved, chronic stress. Babies’ resources for survival are limited, and stress levels rise when their needs are not met by others. They react to the expression on their carers face, and in turn, research shows how the brains of babies and young children are affected when their stress level is high.

The most stressful experience for all babies or toddlers is to be separated from their mother or a constant carer, someone who knows the baby so well that any signs of distress can be recognised and dealt with. Once again we are given firm evidence that quality of childcare - someone who really is in tune with a child - is of paramount importance. Studies show that children who were placed with childminders who were highly responsive and who really paid attention to the child, had normal cortisol levels. Babies rely on their carers to soothe distress and restore equilibrium. They need an adult who is continuously available and who notices the baby’s feelings and so helps the child to regulate them. Of course, if a parent is under stress it is likely that he or she will have more difficulty in regulating their baby’s level of stress.

According to the author: ‘A brain well stocked with cortisol receptors through this early experience will be better able to mop up this stress hormone when it is released in the future.’

A further fascinating discovery comes from examining not only the impact of high cortisol on our lives, but to look at the phenomenon of low cortisol. The thinking is that if a child experiences a high level of cortisol for a prolonged period, he or she will then react by closing down cortisol receptors as a defence mechanism. Children in this state slip into ‘passive coping’. This, of course, brings about a child less responsive to happy stimuli. So that in addition to a flattened emotional life, children with low cortisol are vulnerable to a host of psychosomatic disorders

The way we manage stress in ourselves and our children has a great bearing on mental health. So it is worth keeping in mind that although we know how we feel when we are stressed - and hopefully we can recognise the physical signs - the impact on helpless young children not only affects them immediately, but will affect how they manage stress in later life.

This is a very important book - and anyone interested in the mental health of children and adults must read Why Love Matters. If I awarded stars, Why Love Matters would get a 5-star award. Truly, love does matter.

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published by Brunner-Routledge
£40.00 hardcover £9.99 paperback    ISBN 1583918175

and is available from or www.brunner-routledge.co.uk