Having a bub? here's what it does to her/his Brain.
March 5th 2008 21:18
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One new mum claimed she'd previously had a near 'photographic' memory.
When bub came along she started 'forgetting'
Dad's are affected, too as fatigue and stress take their mental toll.
Here's what happens:
Women don't get dumber after childbirth.
Once those initial problems are past she gets more efficient, and she becomes smarter and learns things faster, but it won't happen all at once.
While caring for a baby mums need to be "hyper vigilant" about their infants, who may develop symptoms of illness that are apparent only to those who have scrutinized their every coo and cry. Certain parts of your brain work really well. But other parts of your brain relax a bit more than expected.
Women's plummeting estrogen levels, which lurch from "incredibly high" in late pregnancy to "virtually non-existent" after delivery, can make it hard to focus. While estrogen plays a key role in fertility, it also acts as a neurotransmitter, sending signals in the brain.
Breast-feeding can prolong the mental haze by circulating hormones that help mothers relax and promote a "mellow, mildly unfocused" feeling. One mum says she has been feeling slightly sharper since she stopped nursing her son a few weeks ago.
Now for dad:
Fathers don't go through the same intense changes, but research shows their hormones shift slightly as well. Expectant fathers produce more prolactin — a hormone that is associated with nurturing — in the weeks before birth. Their testosterone tends to dip, while estrogen levels rise during their first weeks of fatherhood.
And both fathers and mothers suffer from sleep deprivation.
A baby's primary caregiver loses 450 to 700 hours of sleep the first year, with nursing moms losing the most sleep.
"Fatigue is a killer issue for memory," When people don't sleep or if their sleep is fragmented, events of the day may not be consolidated into long-term memories, he says.
Stress, which can damage attention span, also is known to impair the function of the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential for forming new memories.
Given all this complexity we are then confronted with a bit more.
Babies change too:
Babies keep their parents jumping through mental hoops, because their needs change from month to month.
A mother's memory of older skills, such as persuading a baby to latch onto a breast, may get displaced with new ones, such as teaching the same infant to eat from a spoon.
Parental brains may have limited memory because so much of their brain is devoted to anxiety, especially with the first child. "Fear takes up a lot of memory."
So for those who have babies or are thinking about it you may wish to go to the link which appears up top, next to the title.
Having babies is the most rewarding thing in the world. That's my opinion, and the opinion of many others.
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Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Very interesting post as usual!
Mis