Moms' Stress in Pregnancy Linked to Smaller Babies

In a coastal region of Indonesia, scientists enrolled 293 expectant mothers while they were in the middle of their pregnancy. The participants lived across three different coastal neighborhoods. The team gathered information about the mothers’ emotional state using a validated stress questionnaire. At the same time, each fetus’s size was measured with an ultrasound scan.

The mothers’ ages ranged around 27 years, with many in their early twenties and a few in their early thirties. Most of the husbands were employed in informal work, and a large portion of the households earned low incomes. Researchers used the DASS‑42 instrument to capture levels of distress. Fetal growth was monitored by estimating weight from ultrasound pictures.

The results highlighted a strong connection. Mothers who reported higher distress were roughly four times more likely to deliver a baby that was small for gestational age later on. The adjusted risk ratio stood at 4.00, with a confidence interval from 2.76 to 5.80 and a p‑value below 0.01. Even after factoring in the mother’s age and any complications during pregnancy, the association remained significant.

These insights point to the need for routine mental‑health screening during antenatal appointments, particularly in communities facing social and environmental challenges. Early identification of stress could serve as a protective measure for both mother and child. The study also prompts reflection on how local health services might be adapted to address emotional well‑being before it impacts fetal development.