Children are said to have “fine antennae” for the mood that prevails in their environment. And indeed – sometimes it seems as if they can read minds or sense how mom or dad are feeling at the moment, whether they are in a bad mood, happy or sad.

How Moods Are Transmitted

Babies and children, even the unborn, can sense exactly how the people around them are feeling. Where does this come from? Italian researchers discovered mirror neurons in the late 1990s. These are nerve cells in our bodies that make us compassionate beings.

Babies observe their environment and the facial expressions and gestures of other people particularly closely, because that’s how they learn. If the parents are in a bad mood, the same feelings are transferred to the baby through the mirror neurons. This is especially true of caregivers, such as parents or siblings.

The Unborn Baby Senses Your Mood

But it is not only after they have seen the light of day that children sense how things are around them. Babies recognize voices and moods long before they are born. From around the sixth month, the unborn child begins to perceive and distinguish voices in the womb. It reacts to loud, excited, familiar, male or female voices by kicking or moving violently.

The baby does not like noise and bustle at all – because then the mother’s belly becomes hard, tight and it becomes uncomfortable. The tiny baby in mom’s tummy relaxes all the more quickly with gentle, reassuring coaxing from mom. It can actually sense whether mommy is happy, stressed, sad or worried. Mommy’s feelings are ultimately triggered by hormones.

These hormones pass through the blood to the placenta and thus inevitably to the unborn child. For example, if the mother is frightened, adrenaline is released and the maternal heartbeat speeds up. The adrenaline also enters the baby’s bloodstream and triggers palpitations and excitement, just as it does in its mother. Like mom, however, the baby also has moods. There are days when the unborn baby feels completely at ease and can’t let off enough steam in mom’s belly. On other days, it is completely calm and can be rocked comfortably and gently..

At Around Five To Six Months..

…babies become aware of what is happening around them. Although the little ones don’t yet understand what mommy or daddy are saying with words, babies at this age already recognize and understand very precisely what they mean. Parents can recognize clear helplessness or a troubled expression in the faces of their little darlings when mom or dad are sad or even scolding them angrily.

Children Can Also Sense Their Parents’ Moods

Parents’ moods are often reflected in their children’s behavior. If the caregivers are stressed and tense, it can also be seen in the children that they become more restless, crotchety and irritable. Even when parents know how to hide their current emotional situation from the children. Conversely, this is also transmitted to the offspring: when mom is feeling well, she makes a relaxed and balanced impression. Long-term bad moods can also affect your child’s performance at school and social behavior.

This Is Why You Should Pay Attention To Your Mood

Many parents wonder why their baby is restless or their child seems to be hyper for no reason. It often helps to reflect on yourself and ask yourself: Am I stressed right now? Am I angry with my partner or am I worried about something right now? Our children hold up a mirror to us.

Of course, we can’t always be relaxed and content. But our children help us to pay better attention to our emotions and, if necessary, to question how we could approach the situation in a more relaxed way.