[HPforGrownups] Re: What if...? - My last minute theory

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 172133

>> Bart:
>> Morty is mentally ill, and, as near as anybody can tell, he was
> born that way. Among other things, he is entirely incapable of
> empathy.
>
> ronnie:
> I just don't believe babies can be born mentally ill (although I
> totally agree with your diagnosis). DD showed Harry LV history exactly
> for him to understand the roots of this mental illness.
> Sure, plenty of orphan children (including Harry) grow up to be
> healthy, loving, sane people. But LV's mother was in deep depression
> even as he was a fetus in her womb, and on top of it all, there was
> no-one to compensate for this lack of parents love.


Shelley:
We know medically that babies born to depressed moms turn out ok- they can 
inherit a family tendency for depression later, yes, but no, depression 
itself during pregnancy does not cause the baby to be born mentally ill.

It's possible that babies can be born mentally ill, though- I'll give you 
several examples:
- the brain is an organ or a body part just like the testes and bones and 
limbs- it can have mutations or incomplete development coupled with other 
profound birth defects. The vast majority of the babies born this way either 
never made it out of the womb alive, or die shortly afterward.
- bad birth experience- we know that babies who are deprived of oxygen right 
before birth or during the birth process can have long lasting mental 
problems- a cord around the neck, a premature separation of the placenta 
from the mom before the baby is out can each contribute to the baby being 
starved of oxygen. Oddly enough, one of these symptoms of this shows up in a 
lack of connection to other people- lack of empathy, emotion and bonding. 
(sounds like Voldemort, eh?)
- the brain of the developing baby is just as sensitive to drugs that the 
mom takes in pregnancy as other organs. Babies born to crack addicted moms 
clearly show mental problems immediately at birth- they are restless, cry a 
lot, and cannot be comforted.  It's also theorized that some pesticides can 
cross the blood brain barrier to affect babies still in the womb, such as 
DDT. We know those kids show lower intelligence, but we really can't 
separate out the effects of contaminated food the mom ate while pregnant, 
what amounts crossed over in the breastmilk, and what foods the very young 
child ate, since the diets of people groups still using harmful pesticides 
is relatively stable and there are multiple chances for exposure. There are 
drugs that were banned because there were shown to yield definite problems 
in unborn babies, and as I said in point #1, the brain isn't immune to 
irregular development. Drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier in the mom 
do so also in the baby.
- nutrition of the mom does play a part in the development of the baby. The 
brain is mostly fatty tissues, and we know birth weight makes a huge 
difference in the survival rate of the babies. A severely starved mom will, 
by extension, will have a starved baby.

It's these last two that we don't know about Voldemort's mom- we don't know 
what means she used to keep herself alive long enough to give birth. We 
don't know if that wacky Gaunt history had some nutritional practices of 
ingesting potions that would harm the development of their babies' brains. 
We know that she was very poor, and I wonder how she ate- but either way, I 
very highly doubt if the baby Tom Riddle was a fat one, rather, I think he 
was lucky to have been born and survived at all given his mom's condition at 
the time of his birth.

Tom's mental illness, therefore, I think is a combination of two things: 
Gaunt family history, and his mom's dire circumstances during her pregnancy. 
Most curious is the orphanage worker's recollections: he was a funny baby, 
and didn't cry. Mentally ill babies go one of two ways- consistently crying, 
and never consoled, or they never cry at all because that normal means of 
communication has been somehow disrupted in the brain.

Shelley