Variations of breeding success with age have been studied largely in iteroparous species and particularly in birds: survival of offspring increases with parental age until senescence. Nevertheless, these results are from observations of free-living individuals and therefore, it remains impossible to determine whether these variations result from parental investment or efficiency or both, and wh...

BACKGROUND A previous study found an association between maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and maternal-reported child behaviour problems at age 7. Together with cell phones, cordless phones represent the main exposure source of radiofrequency-electromagnetic fields to the head. Therefore, we assessed the association between maternal cell phone and cordless phone use during pregnancy and...

Maternal eating behaviour (e.g. restraint, disinhibition) has been associated with maternal child-feeding style (e.g. pressure to eat, restricting intake, monitoring) for children over the age of two years. In particular, mothers high in restraint are significantly more likely to restrict and monitor their child's intake of food. Research has not however examined the impact of maternal eating b...

The tender intimacy and selflessness of a mother's love for her infant occupies a unique and exalted position in human conduct… It provides one of the most powerful motivations for human action, and has been celebrated throughout the ages—in literature, art and music—as one of the most beautiful and inspiring manifestations of human behaviour (Zeki, 2004). Mothers demonstrate a unique ability t...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Sleep restriction is a common feature of modern lifestyle and its effects can be extended to pregnancy. Several neurobehavioural consequences of sleep restriction during pregnancy have been reported, among which stand out perinatal depression and maternal fatigue, however, its effects over mother-infant relationship warrant further investigation. Thus, this study was aim...

In mammals, the activation of maternal behaviour depends on internal maternal factors related with parturition. The nature of these factors may vary between species, although oestradiol, foetus expulsion and intracerebral oxytocin are the most commonly encountered. They induce a period of specific receptivity to some sensory cues provided by the neonate. These cues (tactile, olfactory, auditory...

At birth, ewes rapidly form a selective attachment to their offspring and subsequently restrict maternal care to their own lambs. This attachment occurs during a period of intense maternal licking of the offspring, accompanied by frequent low pitched bleats (a specific maternal vocalisation). Maternal licking wanes over the first day of life and thereafter maternal behaviour is expressed as a c...

Aggression in children is associated with an enhanced tendency to attribute hostile intentions to others. However, limited information is available regarding the factors that contribute to the development of such hostile attribution tendencies. We examined factors that contribute to individual differences in child hostile attributions and aggression, focusing on potential pathways from maternal...

We examined the maternal behaviour of seven domestic and seven wildxdomestic primiparous sows during 10 days post partum to investigate two questions: (1) Did maternal behaviour change during domestication? (2) Can the interindividual variability of maternal behaviour be subsumed into a few dimensions of maternal temperament? We recorded: (a) willingness to leave the nest for food on Day 2; (b)...