I was reading my husband's Science News and this article caught my  eye.
This study was done by neuroscientist Talie Z. Baram of the University of  
Calf.  In this study they have found evidence that young animals exposed to  
stress later in life suffer memory decline, accompanied by disrupted cell  
communication in the hippocampus, a brain region critical for learning and  memory.
This was reported in the Oct 12 Journal of  Neuroscience. 
Braum's group tracked 24 newborn rats, each housed in a cage with its  
mother. On the second day after birth and for a week that followed, half the  
animals were placed in cages with nothing but a paper towel that mothers could  use 
to construct a nest.  Under these conditions, the mothers nursed and  groomed 
their pups infrequently.
The remaining rats lived in cages with plenty of wood chips for building  
nests, and the mothers nursed and groomed their pups often.
After a week of poor care, young rats displayed elevated stress-hormone  
levels and other physical signs of chronic stress.  However, by 4-5 months  of age 
- young adulthood for rats - the same animals no longer exhibited these  
stress markers.
At 1 year - late middle age for a rat - behavioral deficits appeared for  the 
early stressed rats.  Their memory scores dropped markedly.   Hippocampus 
analyses revealed disturbed cell firing, depressed cell responses to  electric 
stimulation, dwindling numbers of synapses, and an expansion of a class  of 
cells called mossy fibers that may disrupt overall hippocampus  function.
 
Oh, how we could use this in the breastfeeding world.
Ann Perry, RN IBCLC
Boston, MA

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