Beyond Birth: A Child’s Cells May Help or Harm the Mother Long after Delivery

A pregnant woman knows she is shaping her child’s future from the moment of conception. But she might not realize that the baby is already talking back. Mother and child are engaged in a silent chemical conversation throughout pregnancy, with bits of genetic material and cells passing not only from mother to child but also from child to mother. Scientists increasingly think these silent signals from the fetus may influence a mother’s risk of cancer , rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases, even decades after she has given birth. [More]