The importance of non-separation of the newborn and his mother is vital in mammals. I bring you today a very interesting study based on the behavior of young mice that suggests that early separation from the mother could cause hyperactivity in the children.
Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine separated the newborn mice from their mothers for four hours a day between the second and fifth day of life and eight hours a day between the sixth and sixteenth day of life. On the seventeenth day the pups were weaned.
They compared them to animals in the control group and observed that their mothers' early separation and weaning promote hyperactivity and long-term anxiety.
I think it is a good starting point to reflect on the bad separation practices between the newborn and his mother and the possible consequences that this could have on his neurological health.
Hyperactivity is currently the most frequent psychiatric disorder in childhood and it would be interesting to avoid erroneous behaviors that could prevent it. The significance of non-separation has more implications than we suppose.
I leave you with the words of the author of the study, Arthur Simen, that I find very enlightening.
“Adversity in childhood, in the form of abuse and neglect, is prevalent throughout the world and poses a significant public health problem. Unfortunately, the molecular mechanisms that underlie the consequences of neglect at the beginning of life remain unknown. ”.
