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    In some important research, Mark Smith of Dupont Labs separated infant rats from their mothers for just 24 hours, and then reexamined their brains for signs of apoptosis. That’s a process in which cells commit suicide. Apoptosis normally eliminates many cells as the brain establishes its complex wiring system.

    Smith and his fellow researchers found that twice as many brain cells were dying in the mother-deprived rats than those kept with their mothers.

    If we can assume that the same thing happens in human beings, children deprived of their mother’s love and attention in the first few months of their lives are actually losing brain cells. Their brains will be wired differently.

    Wow! Moms are you ever important in those first few months and years!

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