what maternal factors influence the course of child development

by Haskell Swift 4 min read

Three modifiable prenatal factors that appear to shape fetal nutrition and health in later life are the mother’s smoking habits during pregnancy; the mother’s weight gain during pregnancy; and the mother’s blood sugar levels during pregnancy, specifically, whether she develops pregnancy-related (gestational) diabetes.

Maternal factors
  • Pre-existing medical conditions (for example polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes and endometriosis)
  • Maternal stress and mental health (including socio-economic factors, stigmas)
  • Environmental exposures (for example smoking, alcohol and pollution)
  • Obesity/high BMI.
  • Microbiota.
  • Breastfeeding.

Full Answer

What are the factors that influence child development?

Peopleimages / Getty Images. Early child development is influenced by a wide variety of both biological and environmental factors. Certain biological factors including genetics, nutrition, and gender can play a particularly important role in the course of early development.

How do prenatal factors affect linguistic development in children?

Research conducted at Rutgers University demonstrated how prenatal factors affect linguistic development and how postnatal factors are key components contributing to a child’s cognitive development. Gross motor development is widely considered to be the result of innate, biological factors, with postnatal factors contributing to a lesser extent.

Does maternal general experience affect child outcomes?

For maternal general experience using OLS, we find evidence that the association between maternal general experience and child outcomes is different from 0 and that a greater number of years is associated with larger benefits to children’s human capital. Parallel tests on specific experience show broadly similar, although less definitive, patterns.

What factors affect the growth of a baby?

Genetic Certain hereditary factors influence the body formation. Tall parents have tall offspring. The genetic & chromosomal disorder also effect on the growth & development of a baby. Sometimes it is not possible to prevent the genetic factors but to take necessary care.

How does maternal age affect child development?

Overall, the risk of a child being developmentally vulnerable decreases as maternal age increases, until a certain point. Once a mother becomes 35 the risk of their child being developmentally vulnerable increases with maternal age, roughly equivalent to the risk for children born to mothers in their early 20s.

What are the maternal factors affecting prenatal development?

Advanced maternal age, adolescent pregnancy, maternal height, parity, maternal weight, social economic status and nutrition affect fetal weight. Environmental factors like drugs, alcohol, smoking are determinants of low birth weight. Maternal infections, chronic medical disorders are other causes of IUGR.

What are the factors affecting maternal and child health?

The variables examined included age, duration of marriage, education, occupation, income, parity and husband's education. The analysis showed that distance from the health service, education of the mother and her age were the strongest determinants of the choice of maternal child health service used.

What are the 3 main factors that can affect prenatal development?

The principal determinants of fetal growth are fetal genotype and in utero environment. Environmental factors include maternal and paternal genetics, maternal size, and the capacity of the placenta to provide nutrients to the fetus.

What maternal factors influence the embryo and/or fetus?

Maternal nutritional and metabolic factors influence the developmental environment of the fetus. Virtually any nutritional factor in the maternal blood has to pass the placental membranes to reach the fetal blood. Placental weight is a commonly used measure to summarize placental growth and function.

Which common maternal diseases can lead to flaws in development?

Maternal Disease: A number of maternal diseases can negatively impact the fetus, including herpes, rubella, and AIDS. Herpes virus is one of the most common maternal diseases and can be transmitted to the fetus, leading to deafness, brain swelling, or intellectual disability.

What are the factors influencing maternal health?

In diverse contexts, individual factors, including maternal age, parity, education and marital status; household factors including family size and household wealth; and community factors including socioeconomic status, community health infrastructure, region, rural/urban residence, available health facilities and ...

What factors influence child and maternal mortality rates?

The underlying pathology is the lack of education, sanitation, accessible health care, as well as poor nutrition and poverty. These affect women during pregnancy and childbirth when they are more vulnerable.

What are the factors affecting maternal and child health care in Nigeria?

The three main reproductive health indicators are skilled birth attendance, contraceptive prevalence rate and adolescent birth. The maternal and child health factors identified in Nigeria include community perceptions of maternal mortality, problem of teenage pregnancy, childbearing age of women with HIV and AIDS.

What are maternal factors?

A myriad of maternal factors (including pre-existing conditions, environmental exposures, and genetic predisposition) are known to influence pregnancy, childbirth, and the health of both the mother and her child during pregnancy and long after birth.

How do environmental factors influence the course of pregnancy and childbirth?

Adverse pregnancy outcome from environmental factors may include congenital anomalies, increased risk for miscarriage, preterm delivery, intrauterine growth restriction and still birth.

What are the factors affecting growth and development?

Factors Affecting The Growth And Development Of ChildrenHeredity : ... Environment : ... Gender : ... Hormones : ... Exercise : ... Nutrition :