London:  Expectant mothers can benefit a lot by staying happy in their daily life. A British study has found expectant mothers suffering from stress are 60 percent more likely to have babies with health problems.

Stress during pregnancy leaves a baby more at risk of conditions such as the meconium aspiration breathing syndrome and being placed on a ventilator for the first half-hour of its life, Daily Mail reported.

Meconium aspiration - usually a sign of foetal distress - occurs after babies breathe in a mixture of meconium, or early faeces, and amniotic fluid around the time of delivery.

Researchers from Princeton University analysed both birth records and meteorological information to find children born in Texas between 1996 and 2008 whose mothers were in the path of a major tropical storm or hurricane during pregnancy.

The results showed how mothers living within 30km of a hurricane's path during their third trimester were 60 percent more likely to have a baby with abnormal conditions.