The First Physical Movements of Life: Fetal Movements, the Mother's Psychological States and Wellbeing of Future Child

The movement of the fetus inside the womb has been recognized as a foremost indicator of fetal wellbeing. Fetal movements have a wide range of expression and the decrement of this movement is associated with numerous pathologies and poor pregnancy outcomes. An account of the fetal activity based on the mother’s perception of the movements that begins between the third and fourth month of gestation, along with the technological assessment, can provide crucial information about the developing fetus. More studies report the association between maternal anxiety and depression during pregnancy and the perception of the fetal motor activity. Women who consider their lives as more stressful and report more stress about pregnancy, also report more fetal activity across gestation. Coherently, fetuses of women who perceived their pregnancy to be more pleasant and have a more positive emotional attitude toward pregnancy are less active. Moreover, mother-fetus attachment and maternal emotional regulation skills have a positive association with health practices in pregnancy and some studies reported an association between low level of prenatal attachment and high level of alexithymia. People with high alexithymia show high levels of sympathetic activity and a dissociation between subjective and physiological stress responses. In 2013, a pilot study was carried out whose aim was to investigate the relationship between mothers’ emotional regulation ability, prenatal attachment and fetal movements in the first three months of pregnancy. The results of this study showed that that the time elapsed in extensor movements by fetuses at three months of gestation was negatively associated with the emotional regulation ability of the mothers in pregnancy. The human motor activity thus has a primary relevance since the first months of life suggesting the bidirectional relationship between psychological and physical dimensions. Studying fetal body movements and their association with the maternal features could, therefore, provide a key to facilitate early intervention and optimal treatment before, during pregnancy and after birth.