How does stress affect an unborn baby?

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I've just had really bad chest pains due to stress and I'm worried how it's affecting my baby if it can put me in so much pain

I've been worried about this also as I am constantly stressed due to things going on and am 6 weeks

It really doesn't.

In general stress has no effect on baby. It's on the NHS lists of myths that it adds to risks of miscarriage.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/miscarriage/causes/

However if it was causing me chest pain I would discuss this with my midwife as that's not the pleasant for you at all OP.

I don't think it does. I was stressed all through my daughter's pregnancy and she's as chilled as they come! Women have healthy babies all the time in extreme stress e.g. War zones, natural disasters etc.

I’ve worried about this due to a long running relationship breakdown during pregnancy

The stress hormones are there constantly and at a much greater extent than normal everyday stress etc

Nothing can be done though - just got to hope it’s all ok

I was very stressed in the last few months of my pregnancy and dd1 is such a chilled child I wished I'd been a bit more stressed with dd2

The only type of stress that has been shown to increase the miscarriage rate is the sort that comes with living in an active warzone with regular shelling. Unless you live in a similarly stressful environment I really wouldn't worry.

Dh got blown up when I was 10 weeks with ds1 and was given 20% chance of survival. (Brain injury, aeromedical evac, emergency surgery etc) People move countries, split up, are involved in natural disasters all the time. I do find it the whole cortisol thing interesting though. I went to a talk a few years ago on neonatal brain development and there was a very interesting panel on whether maternal stress affects the foetus. Short answer - no. However, stress does affect your ability to parent, so later on it can become a problem. (I'm interested in brains. Obv dh has acquired BI, and later dd2 was brain injured at birth. So I was interested in foetal cortisol levels and the potential for ASDs etc).