Dr. Sara O'Byrne:

To address the question about the in uteroexperiences, what comes to mind is that we look at two aspects regardless of the developmental stage. These are the history of adversity and the history of relational health. If we consider these aspects in the context of pregnant women living in mother and baby home institutions, we would look at elements such as whether the mother was safe, was she harmed in any way and felt safe physically and psychologically. All those factors have an impact on the growing baby. Babies are tuned into their mothers' heartbeat rate. We know this from the type of beats that babies seek out after they are born. Babies are tuned into that heartbeat rate and it becomes soothing for them because they are used to it. Consideration must then be given to the impact of separation from an environment that has been familiar and soothing to the baby or that has been familiar post birth.

Turning to the history of relational health, this element would include consideration of whether the mother was shamed or isolated from family members or the community. All these relational health factors have an impact on the growth and development of the baby in turn, because that has been the environment in which the baby has been growing and developing. The baby's development will be impacted by that context. The parts of our brains developing in uteroare the most impacted by such experiences. The brainstem is the oldest part of our brain, nearly fully formed when we are born, and that is what is responsible for our sensory and physiological regulation skills. This is where impacts will be observed in the cases of people who may be triggered by sensory experiences and who may have physical health needs down the line. Some of those needs can be traced back to in uteroexperiences and adversity outweighing relational health at those times.