Baby's Heart Rate and Development

Posted by Brenda Lane Jan 9, 2007

A joint study by the NIH and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health shows that the baby's heart rate during labor may have indicators for the baby's future development.

137 mothers participated in the study and the baby's heart was reviewed 6 times for both rate and variability between 20 and 38 weeks of pregnancy. The researchers then looked at the children at 24-36 months of age for language, mental and motor abilities.

What they discovered was that after 28 weeks gestation, better variability in the fetal heart rate was associated with higher performance on a standardized development test at 2 years of age as well as improved language ability when the children were 2 1/2.

Researchers concluded that "these data suggest that the foundations of individual differences in autonomic control originate during gestation and the developmental momentum of the fetal period continues after birth."

Brenda