Academics can be stressful for any child, but it's important for parents to provide the necessary support in order to help ease their child's mind.

One way to do this is by being as nurturing as possible, according to research from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. Researchers found that mothers who show massive amounts of love to their newborn can ultimately affect the baby's brain development, leading to less stress later in life.

"For example, we have shown that, in rodent models, maternal high-fat feeding during the prenatal and lactational period blunts stress responsiveness in neonatal pups. In addition, we demonstrated that maternal licking of pups also blunted adult sensitivity to stress," said Claire-Dominique Walker, Douglas research scientist and study senior author.

The researchers observed two groups of mothers that demonstrated either high or low affection. The group of mothers who did not show as much affection raised children who had a lower self esteem, and thus were more susceptible to overall stress.