Physiological reactivity of pregnant women to evoked fetal startle

Abstract

Objective The bidirectional nature of mother-child interaction is widely acknowledged during infancy and childhood. Prevailing models during pregnancy focus on unidirectional influences exerted by the pregnant woman on the developing fetus. Prior work has indicated that the fetus also affects the pregnant woman. Our objective was to determine whether a maternal psychophysiological response to stimulation of the fetus could be isolated. Methods Using a longitudinal design, an airborne auditory stimulus was used to elicit a fetal heart rate and motor response at 24 (n = 47) and 36 weeks (n = 45) gestation. Women were blind to condition (stimulus versus sham). Maternal parameters included cardiac (heart rate) and electrodermal (skin conductance) responses. Multilevel modeling of repeated measures with 5 data points per second was used to examine fetal and maternal responses. Results As expected, compared to a sham condition, the stimulus generated a fetal motor response at both gestational ages, consistent with a mild fetal startle. Fetal stimulation was associated with significant, transient slowing of maternal heart rate coupled with increased skin conductance within 10 s of the stimulus at both gestational ages. Nulliparous women showed greater electrodermal responsiveness. The magnitude of the fetal motor response significantly corresponded to the maternal skin conductance response at 5, 10, 15, and 30 s following stimulation. Conclusion Elicited fetal movement exerts an independent influence on the maternal autonomic nervous system. This finding contributes to current models of the dyadic relationship during pregnancy between fetus and pregnant woman.

Maternal Stress in Pregnancy: Considerations for Fetal Development

“…These findings were based on time series analyses of contemporaneous maternal-fetal recordings during undisturbed periods of maternal rest during which time fetal movements were observed to generate an increase in maternal heart rate and electrodermal activity within 2–3 s following the spontaneous fetal movement. Recently, we have demonstrated the same phenomenon using an experimental model in which a fetal motor response was elicited by an external stimulus and generated a maternal physiologic response consistent with an orienting response [88]. Despite the ubiquity of the stimulus (i.e., fetuses move, on average, about once per minute in pregnancy), the indication is that women do not physiologically habituate or become desensitized to fetal movements.…”

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“…This finding was replicated on another, sociodemographically distinct sample (DiPietro, Caulfield, et al, 2006). We have also documented a maternal physiological response when fetal motor activity is induced by a percussive external sound, despite maternal auditory masking (DiPietro, Voegtline, et al, 2013). In the current report, we extend this body of knowledge by showing that the trajectories of maternal heart rate and skin conductance appear to be influenced by fetal heart rate and motor activity, respectively, at preceding gestational periods and not the other way around (Chapter 8).…”

“…In both cohorts, spontaneous fetal movements generated an increase in maternal heart rate and electrodermal activity within 2–3 seconds at each of the six gestational periods studied. Moreover, using an experimental paradigm to evoke a fetal startle response using an acoustic stimulus generates a physiological reaction consistent with an orienting response in pregnant women blind to condition (i.e., fetal stimulation v sham) (DiPietro, Voegtline, et al, 2013). …”

Pregnant Agencies: Movement and Participation in Maternal–Fetal Interactions

“…By this, she means that maternal movement and affect guide or imprint on the fetus's ways of moving and being. Lymer connects maternal experience with empirical studies that show fetal responses to maternal actions, like voice, touch (Marx and Nagy, 2015), and stress situations (DiPietro et al, 2013). This combination of phenomenological and empirical research provides an experiential and existential advance on the analytical question of whether the fetus is merely contained within, or rather a part of its mother.…”