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Everything about holding a baby is so adorable. The way they coo at you, their sweet smell, their soft skin and twinkling eyes can melt just about anyone. But did you know that cuddling your baby often can actually affect their DNA? But in order to understand this we must first understand what DNA is. Deoxyribonucleic acid is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses. Now let’s get back to the study. It’s been proved that if you can’t resist hugging and scooping your baby in for snuggles at every opportunity could actually result in altering your baby’s DNA slightly. It’s important to note that aside from the physical attraction, science has shown that there are more psychological and developmental reasons for you to cuddle your baby.And all this changes the way DNA shows itself.
According to a study published in the Development and Psychopathology journal, cuddles and hugs have a lasting positive impact at the molecular level (1）.This basically means that cuddling with your baby can affect their genes in a positive direction. How cool is that! If you’d like to know more about this phenomenon, keep reading!
The Study
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For the purpose of the study, researchers studied 94 healthy babies who were all 5 weeks old. They asked their parents to keep diaries to record their babies’ schedule, for example, when they ate, slept, were fed, and cried. The parents were also asked to make a note of how much bodily contact occurred during caregiving. After 4 and a half years had passed, the scientists swabbed the children’s cheeks to collect a DNA sample.
This resulted in the researchers discovering that the kids who had been cuddled less were lagging in biological development when compared to kids who had ample physical contact with their parents. This was stressed upon by Michael Kobor, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Medical Genetics, who found that less physical bonding during childhood can lead to the slow biological aging of genes (2）.Holding or not holding your baby can leave traces in your baby’s genes, which can go on to affect them for the rest of their lives. As hard as it is to believe, according to the researchers of this study, the results are consistent and conclusively show that kids who got fewer hugs and were more distressed in infanthood, had a lower than expected “epigenetic age” at 4 and a half (3）.This epigenetic age depends on the DNA methylation levels of your baby, which is the accumulation of methyl groups to a person’s DNA molecules (4）.
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Another survey found that the more you hug a baby, the more the baby’s brain benefits. In this survey, 125 full-term and premature newborns were studied. The researchers concluded that the more supportive touch a baby received from their parents or hospital staff right after delivery, the stronger their brain responses were (5）.不过是很重要的to note that researchers are still working on new findings and conducting further studies in order to understand the importance of physical bonding and the impact it has on newborns, especially in terms of cognitive and physical development.
New Findings
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Research has shown that physical contact between a newborn and their parents has many more benefits:
- Cuddling with your baby helps them regulate their body temperature (6）.
- Cuddling with your baby can also reduce any stress they may experience during breastfeeding (7）.
- Some studies have also shown that hugging can act as a potential painkiller for kids (8）.
- Hugging your baby isn’t just beneficial to the baby. It’s beneficial to the mother and father as well. It can calm them down and decrease their stress.
- Encouraging dad to take time out to cuddle the baby is a great idea as it promotes early dad and baby bonding (9）.
Many people worry that hugging or cuddling their baby can be detrimental for them. A lot of people in society will tell you that snuggling them or showing affection of any kind will only result in a spoiled and an uncontrollable child. This just isn’t true! As you can see in this article, several studies, surveys and papers have been published highlighting the benefits of hugging your baby. It affects their development, their abilities, growth and even their DNA. So, the next time you try to hold yourself back from hugging your little one, shake it off and go give them a big hug!
