According to a recent study published in the Maternal Child Health Journal , funded by the National Institutes for Nursing Research and in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia, domestic violence also affects the cognitive development of babies .
Abused women
After administering neurodevelopmental tests during home visits three, six and twelve months after birth, it was found that the babies of women who had only one male partner who abused them had poorer cognitive outcomes compared to the babies of women with multiple male partners if only some of them had abused them. Up to that point came the impact of multiple father figures on the cognitive development of newborns .
Linda Bullock , of the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing and lead author of the study, had helped implement the Enhanced Perinatal Home Visiting program against domestic violence that enhanced safety planning and reduced domestic violence for hundreds of abused pregnant women.
Bullock added that babies who come from homes with domestic violence often have poorer academic results in school due to neurodevelopmental delays and an increased risk for a variety of health problems , including gastrointestinal upset, eating and sleeping problems. , as well as stress and illness:
For women with only one abusive partner, the father of the baby, the father may not have provided any physical or financial support or played an active role in the child’s life. It can be difficult for busy single moms struggling to make ends meet. come together to provide the toys and stimulation their babies need to reach crucial developmental milestones.