Nautilus

When Stress Comes with Your Mother’s Milk

A few years ago, when my oldest daughter was still nursing, I went through a panicky phase. I had committed to a run of public-speaking engagements, and I constantly worried that I would flub them. Before each event, I pumped milk for the baby and left her with the sitter, who eventually confided that she dreaded my departures as much as I did. While I was away, she told me, my daughter was irritable and inconsolable. She would cry in the stroller; she would cry when held. Refusing to nap after feeding, she back-arched and bawled.

“We’re like quantum particles!” I marveled. My daughter felt how I felt—from across the city.

“No,” the sitter insisted, “it’s the milk.”

I flashed on all those times I had pumped between nervous preparations, my heart racing. Had I passed my stress on to my daughter through my breast milk? When I posed this question to Laura Glynn, a psychologist at Chapman University, she said it was plausible. Along with the proteins, minerals, vitamins, fats, and sugars that nourish an infant, the antibodies that help fight infection, and the growth factors that aid in tissue development, milk contains a cocktail

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Nautilus

Nautilus4 min read
When Sleep Deprivation Is an Antidepressant
My default mode for writing term papers during my student days was the all-night slog, and I recall the giddy, slap-happy feeling that would steal over me as the sun rose. There was a quality of alert focus that came with it, as well as a gregariousn
Nautilus7 min read
The Plight of Japan’s Ama Divers
On the last day of fishing season, Ayami Nakata starts her morning by lighting a small fire in her hut beside the harbor. The temperature outside hovers around freezing, and as Nakata warms, she changes into a wetsuit; gathers her facemask, chisel, a
Nautilus4 min read
Why We Search for Silver Linings
Pollyanna, Eleanor Porter’s buoyant novel from 1913, tapped into something deeply rooted in the human psyche. In the story, the eponymous protagonist is tragically orphaned and sent to live with a grumpy aunt, but nonetheless maintains such an optimi

Related Books & Audiobooks