The miracle of a baby’s smile, how it just instantly melts your heart and makes the sleep deprivation and the stress all worth while, is a powerful thing. Now, researchers have concluded, a baby’s smile not only warms the heart but it affects the brain, and it does so much the same way that a drug might.
The smile of an infant sends a trigger to the mother’s brain in the reward center. This is the same area that is considered the pleasure center and responds to the high of alcohol or drugs. A baby’s smile sets off a response in the brain that is associated with the neurotransmitter dopamine, a substance that is also activated in experiments done on drug addiction.
When you view a baby’s smile, your brain gets a natural high. The research has shown that this affect is magnified when the baby who smiles is your own.
The study was performed at Texas Children’s Hospital by Dr. Lane Strathearn and was published in the medical journal Pediatrics. It was performed using 28 first-time mothers of babies aged five to 10 months. The mothers were shown photos of babies while being given an MRI scan that measured blood flow to the brain. The photos showed babies smiling or happy, neutral or sad. The mother’s brains lit up at the happy and smiling expressions and did so with a greater response to photos of their own infants.
The findings from the study could have an impact far beyond the nicety of knowing that your baby’s smile has a significant impact on you, which you probably knew already. They can also help scientists learn more about the mother-child bond and how and why it sometimes goes wrong. A poor bond between mother and child can lead to abuse, neglect and a whole host of other issues.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don’t miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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