Short Term Effects of C-Section

A recent study published in the The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry looked at the neurohormonal differences of mothers having just delivered their babies naturally and through a Caesarean section. The study looked at how responsive and attached mothers were to the sound of their babies voice immediately after childbirth. Using brain imaging scans, the researchers concluded that in mothers having delivered naturally showed significantly greater responses in several parts of their brains related to "sensory processing, empathy, arousal, motivation, and reward/habit-regulation" in hearing their baby's voice for the first time.

As the researchers explain: "The experience of childbirth by vaginal delivery (VD) compared with cesarean section delivery (CSD) uniquely involves the pulsatile release of oxytocin from the posterior pituitary, uterine contractions and vagino-cervical stimulation. Oxytocin is a key mediator of maternal behavior in animals. Indeed, across experimental models including cesarean sectioned rats, goats and horses, vagino-cervical stimulation improves the acquisition of maternal behavior. This supports the notion that cesarean delivery, which deprives mothers of this stimulation and associated neurohormonal experiences, might decrease the responsiveness of the human maternal brain in the early postpartum."

The results are most significant in their possible implications for targeting candidate mothers for postpartum depression, as there may be a link between initial mother-child attachment and the depressive condition.

It is important to mention that the study only looked at short differences in brain pattern. As Tara-Parker Pope of the New York Times writes, "There’s no evidence that delivery method has any long-term implications on a woman’s ability to parent or bond with her child or recognize her baby’s cry."

It is also worth noting that the study was clearly limited by its size, only 12 mothers were tested. However, considering nearly 30% of births in the United States involve C-Sections further studies may be of interest.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121395695/abstract
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/delivery-method-affects-brain-response-to-babys-cry/