Your Child’s Struggles May Be Connected to You — But Not the Way You Think

Aug 5

It starts with wiring.

We tend to think of trauma as something that happens after a child is born — after a scary event or a hard experience.

But the truth is, the foundation of your child’s brain was already being laid down as an embryo.

The nervous system starts forming at 3–4 weeks after conception.
By 6 weeks, the brainstem — the survival center — is developing.
By 12 weeks, stress responses, sensory pathways, and movement systems are already wiring.

So yes — even before birth, your child’s brain is learning how to respond to the world. And it learns from you.

Stress in the Womb = A Brain Wired for Survival

If your pregnancy or birth experience involved high stress, trauma, disconnection, medical interventions, or fear — your baby felt it. Not emotionally — neurologically. When a baby develops in a high-stress womb, the following can happen:

Cortisol (stress hormone) floods the system and trains the brain to expect danger.
Oxytocin (bonding + calming hormone) is suppressed, making connection harder after birth.
Fight-or-flight systems become dominant, making it harder to regulate emotions or stay calm.
Brain regions like the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex may grow differently — or even fail to fully develop.

And in some cases, literal holes or gaps show up on brain scans — especially in the corpus callosum (which connects the two brain hemispheres) or frontal lobes (which control behavior, decision-making, and self-regulation).

So What Does This Look Like Later?

If your child had trauma in the womb or at birth, you might notice signs like:

Intense meltdowns over small things
Inability to calm down without external help
Trouble following directions or staying focused
Extreme sensitivity to sound, touch, or visual input
Disconnection, apathy, or rage
Sleep issues, chronic stomachaches, or frequent illness
Diagnoses like ADHD, ODD, sensory processing disorder — or just being labeled “difficult”

These behaviors aren't just personality traits or discipline issues.

They’re the downstream effects of a nervous system that wired itself in survival mode.

Can It Change? Yes. But You Have to Start with the Nervous System.

Here’s the good news: the brain is not fixed.
It’s plastic. Which means:

What was wired can be rewired.
What was skipped can be restored.
What was damaged can be repaired but not through punishment, charts, or lectures.

At BrainPassion™, we start with nervous system repair:

We assess the brain-body pathways that may have disconnected early on.
We use brain-based movement, reflex integration, and sensory regulation tools to rebuild the missing pieces.
We guide parents to shift from behavior management to brain support — because when the nervous system feels safe, behavior starts to change naturally.

You Didn’t Cause It, But You Can Help Change It

Maybe your pregnancy was stressful.
Maybe birthing was traumatic.
Maybe no one told you how much that could affect your child’s brain.

That doesn’t make you a bad parent.
That makes you human.

So now, I need you to take a big dragon breath in, hold it for five, and let go of all that guilt.

Because your child isn’t broken. Their brain just needs the chance to reconnect— safely, gently, and with the right support.

So, let’s get to work.

Makayla Wood