Healthy mothers lead to intelligent kids

Mothers who are mentally healthy can ensure a significant positive improvement in their children’s intellectual development, says a new icddr,b study.
It shows that a reduction of stress and depressive symptoms in mothers can potentially help in providing a cognitively stimulating and nurturing home environment for their children. Scientists of icddr,b shared preliminary findings of study at a function held at its conference hall on Thursday.
During the study, the scientists introduced a simple, low cost, community-based intervention aimed at changing behaviour of mothers with depressive symptoms.
The targeted mothers had young children who were in the first 1,000 days of their lives when a child’s brain growth is rapid.
The intervention consisted of two components – ‘thinking healthy’ programme for mothers and ‘psychosocial stimulation’ programme for their children.
The children of mothers who participated in the study achieved significant improvement in developmental scores.
The study also found that it is possible to combine this intervention with existing healthcare programmes at grassroots level. In Bangladesh, about 25 percent of new mothers experience depression.
Principal investigator of the study Dr Fahmida Tofail said the findings of this interventional study highlight the importance of taking into account mothers’ mental health while undertaking child development programmes.
Mentally healthy mothers can ensure a good start to life, ensuring that their children do better in school and ultimately grow up to function better in society, she said.