How Dentsu Relieved Mothers’ Stress with the Power of Babies’ First Cries

A study by researchers in China showed that 98% of mothers experienced parenting stress. When stressed, the body produces a hormone called cortisol that increases especially when mothers are caring for their babies. In conjunction with International Women's Day on 8th March 2018, and in collaboration with Shanghai International Medical Center, Shanghai Dentsu launched a new project called ‘Your Baby's First Cry’.

Led by ob-gyn specialists, they identified the crucial moment during childbirth as the one that captures the powerful moment that welcomes baby to the world, and mother into the parenting world. It's a special bond that's only shared by mother and baby. The team realised that by hearing her baby's first cry, the mother is reminded of a joy that's almost indescribable. 

To prove this hypothesis, a medical study was conducted on 20 mothers. By monitoring the mothers’ cortisol levels (stress hormone) before and after they listened to their baby's recorded first cry, researchers noted that their cortisol levels actually decreased by 27% on average. Based on the experiment’s result, Shanghai Dentsu and Shanghai International Medical Center prescribed mothers with a new type of medicine created from their baby's first cry.

Shanghai Dentsu designed the packaged and label for the new medicine to look like an authentic pill bottle, but instead this bottle plays her baby's first cry when mother opens it. And although it is designed to look like a regular pill bottle, it consists of listening instructions and encouraging words of support for mothers. Shanghai Dentsu also created a PR film and launched the product on International Women's Day to inspire more people to care about mothers who are affected by parenting stress.