ArticleScientific reports2024
Maternal heart rate variability at 3-months postpartum is associated with maternal mental health and infant neurophysiology.
Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dyadic physiological synchrony and maternal anxiety regulate infant autonomic and neural function.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Effects of Maternal Heartbeat Exposure on Neonatal Autonomic Regulation.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026Article
- Unpredictable caregiving is associated with disrupted neurophysiological measures of attention and autonomic function in three-month-old infants.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Peripartum Depression as a Heart-Brain-Endocrine-Immune Syndrome: Neuroendocrine, Cardiovascular, and Inflammatory Pathways Underlying Maternal Vulnerability.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Emotion and Feeling in Parent-Child Dyads: Neurocognitive and Psychophysiological Pathways of Development.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A multimethod longitudinal examination of the effects of childhood maltreatment on birth experiences and postpartum mental health.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Postpartum depression and the moderating role of empathy on child physiological reactivity.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Observational
- A Scoping Review of Studies Reporting Heart Rate Variability Measurement Among Pregnant and Postpartum People Using Wearable Technology.Biological research for nursing · 2025Article
- Review
- Neurodevelopmental Impact of Maternal Postnatal Depression: A Systematic Review of EEG Biomarkers in Infants.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated a critical link between maternal mental health and infant development. However, there is limited understanding of the role of autonomic regulation in postpartum maternal mental health and infant outcomes. In the current study, we tested 76 mother-infant dyads from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds when infants were 3-months of age. We recorded simultaneous ECG from dyads while baseline EEG was collected from the infant; ECG heart rate variability (HRV) and EEG theta-beta ratio and alpha asymmetry were calculated. Dyadic physiological synchrony was also analyzed to better understand the role of autonomic co-regulation. Results demonstrated that lower maternal HRV was associated with higher self-reported maternal depression and anxiety. Additionally, mothers with lower HRV had infants with lower HRV. Maternal HRV was also associated with higher infant theta-beta ratios, but not alpha asymmetry. Exploratory analyses suggested that for mother-infant dyads with greater physiological synchrony, higher maternal HRV predicted increased infant theta-beta ratio via infant HRV. These findings support a model in which maternal mental health may influence infant neurophysiology via alterations in autonomic stress regulation and dyadic physiological co-regulation.
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