Three factors predict more stress hormone production in child care settings. The first is age. However, many three- and four -year-olda also show rising stress hormones levels over the child care day. We do know that infants whose mothers are clinically depressed tend to receive more instrusive, erratic, and unresponsive care. Moving to more extreme adverse early care, researchers know that children who are maltreated during their early years develop smaller brains that are organized somewhat differently than the brains of children who have not have been maltreated.(Lally.2006.WestEd). Stress can cause brain development with the child as they get older.
