How a mother responds to her baby’s cries can make a big difference in the child’s ability to learn, develop, and thrive. While a warm, supportive response can help the baby calm down and feel secure, a distant or angry reaction leaves the child to fend for herself in a scary world. Over time, the lack of nurturing in the face of adversity in childhood can contribute to “toxic stress”—a harmful level of stress that can affect the child’s well-being well into adulthood.
“Toxic stress is the prolonged experience of significant adversity,” says Monica Ordway, PhD, APRN, PNP-BC, Assistant Professor at Yale School of Nursing (YSN). Left unchecked, toxic stress in early childhood strains the stress response system and even alters the developing brain. “Over time, without intervention, toxic stress will lead to an increase in adverse health outcomes that would last a lifetime for these children.”
[For more of this story go to http://nursing.yale.edu/exposu...or-and-adult-disease]
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