In Sept’23, Carolina de Weerth gave a keynote presentation at the SRIP (Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology) conference in Lausanne, Switzerland. She talked about our research on maternal stress, parental caregiving behavior, mother milk constituents, intestinal bacteria, and child stress hormones, and on how we can help move the field forward. This yearly conference was a…

Two PhD students from our lab, Evie and Nina, went to London for the conference of the International Society of Psychoneuroendrocrinology (ISPNE). This conference took place from the 30th of August to 1st of September.  Evie presented a poster from her study on the BIBO cohort. With this study she investigated whether cellular aging in childhood is…

From 26-28 July, the DPB-lab visited the conference of the International Society of Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP). It was hosted in Utrecht, which resulted in easy travelling for our colleagues. Around 200 developmental psychobiologists visited the hybrid conference. Recent exciting findings were presented in talks and poster sessions, and ideas to move the field further were…

Student assistantship Research focusThe Developmental Psychobiology Lab, led by Prof. Dr. Carolina de Weerth, investigates how early life – specifically pregnancy and the early postnatal years – influences development throughout the lifespan. Research in the DPB lab focuses on: the influences of prenatal maternal mental wellbeing on children’s health and behavioral development, the development of…

On Friday 23rd of June we presented some of our lab’s results at the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting. Two PhD students from the lab, Yvonne Willemsen and Nina Bruinhof, both participated in a symposium called: “Mother’s milk: a crucial start for healthy neurodevelopment?”. This symposium was organized and chaired by Yvonne, together with associate professor Aniko…

Who doesn’t want it: a baby who sleeps, eats and grows well. A baby that doesn’t cry a lot and that you can take everywhere with you. So what makes a baby a happy baby? Carolina de Weerth talks about the role parents play in this and what sensitive parenting entails. You can read the…

Unfortunately, not every pregnancy is experienced as pleasant. One in five of the pregnant women experience anxiety, gloom or (severe) depressive symptoms. Of these women, 85 percent do not receive any kind of help. Carolina de Weerth was interviewed by magazine Baby op komst about this topic. Want to read more? Check it out below!

Carolina de Weerth was interviewed by the Belgian newspaper De Morgen on (expecting) mothers that are suffering from metal health problems. Experts call for more attention to mental health during pregnancy and maternity. Carolina speaks about a new professional in the perinatal care who will focus on the mental health of the (expecting) mothers, namely…

On April 13th the theme-event ‘Sensitive Care in Babies’ took place, an initiative of KION and the Baby & Child Research Center. About 100 people attended the event to learn more about this topic. What does science say? Carolina de Weerth spoke about the importance of early development: experiences at an early age affect physical…

One in five pregnant women experiences anxiety, stress and/or depression during the perinatal period. Many of these feelings go unnoticed and therefore untreated. TROUW released an article on these feeling in the perinatal period. Here, Carolina elaborately explains the importance of mental support during the perinatal period and more specifically the importance of our PEPO…