How the mother's emotions affect the baby's ability to speak

Up to 70% of mothers experience postpartum depression after the birth of their child, also known as "baby depression.
"
The analysis shows that this also affects the development of
the child's own and language.
Until now, however, it was unclear how this disorder manifested
itself in infants' early language development.

In one study, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognition and Brain Sciences in Leipzig investigated the ability of babies to
distinguish speech based on their mother's emotions.
This ability is considered an important prerequisite for
further development towards a sound language.
If sounds can be distinguished from each other, individual words can also be distinguished from
each other.
Obviously, if mothers show more negative emotions after two months of life, their children are less mature
at the age of six months on average.
Babies find it particularly difficult
to distinguish between syllables and pitch.
Specifically, their study showed that their alleged mismatch response developed later
than those whose mothers were more emotionally active.
This mismatch response, in turn, can be used to measure a person's ability to
distinguish between sounds.
If the development of this apparent mismatch reaction is delayed, it is considered a sign
of an increased risk of developing language disorders later in life.

"We suspect that the affected mothers use fewer infant-oriented languages,"
explains Gesa Schaadt, a postdoctoral fellow at MPI CBS at the University of Berlin and professor of child and adolescent development and first author of the study.
The study is now published in the journal JAMA Network Open
.
"When speaking to babies, they may use fewer tonal variations
.
" It also leads to children's more limited
perception of different pitches, she said.
This perception, in turn, is considered a prerequisite for
the further development of language.

The findings show how important
it is for parents to use baby-directed language for further language development in their children.
Baby-oriented speech varies greatly in pitch and will emphasize certain parts of the word more clearly, thus focusing the attention of the little child on what is being said, which is considered child-friendly
.
In turn, mothers with depressed mood often use more monotonous and less baby-oriented language
.
"To ensure the normal development of young children, appropriate support also needs to be provided for mothers who suffer from mild disturbances, who often do not need treatment
yet," Schaadt said.
This is not necessarily an organized intervention
.
"Sometimes fathers need to be more involved
.
"

The researchers investigated these relationships with the help of 46 mothers, who had different emotions after giving birth
.
Their mood is measured using a standardized questionnaire that is often used to diagnose postpartum depression
.
They also used an electroencephalogram (EEG), which helps measure the baby's ability to
distinguish between voices.
The so-called Mismatch Response is used for this purpose, in which specific EEG signals show the brain's ability to
process and distinguish between different voices.
The researchers recorded this reaction in two- and six-month-old babies
when they heard different syllables such as "ba," "ga," and "bu.
"

Association of Postpartum Maternal Mood With Infant Speech Perception at 2 and 6.
5 Months of Age