What is the “baby brain”, the loss of memory and mental confusion that some women experience in embarrassment (and why it is not as bad as it seems)

“Y, ¿vas a venir?”.

El mensaje lo recibi un jueves a las 9 de la noche. I had ended up getting together with some friends but yo -who at that moment had 30 weeks of embarrassment- was lying in my bed watching a series.

He had forgotten completely.

Three days later, the keys to my house were lost.

“¿Qué me pasando?”, I thought. “That’s it baby brain (baby brain), I don’t have another explanation”, I say to my sister, with total security.

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“I live in mourning for a baby that never existed”: the drama of who has a psychological embarrassment

It was the first time I heard this concept (also called in English “mommy brain” or “momnesia”) that supposedly explains it memory loss and mental confusion that some women experience during the embarrassment or in the postpartum months.

Recent investigations suggest that this is a phenomenon that affects 80% of these embarrassed women and that it is related to contraction of gray matter in certain areas of the brain, including the prefrontal regions and the hippocampus, keys to memory.

And even though over the years this has been seen as something negative or harmful, it sure is that it could be quite the opposite.

brain reorganization

So I suggest a new studio entitled “It’s time to change the Baby Brain label”, published by JAMA magazine.

The investigation -conducted by academics Bridget Callaghan, Clare McCormack and Jodi Pawluski- ensures that until now the enormous faculties that women gain in this period of their lives have been ignored.

Through a memory test, using stimuli associated with babies (something that had not been done until that moment), the researchers arrived at conclusions that challenge what until now was believed to have happened in the brains of future mothers.

“We discovered that the embarrassed women show a strong impulse in learning about elements related to the baby, while they also have a long-term memory generally better than the women who have never been embarrassed”, says the report.

This would explain why, more than a contraction of gray matter, what happens is that during the embarrassment the brain goes through an “extraordinary period of reorganization”, thanks to the “neuroplasticity”which is the capacity that the brain has to recover, restructure and adapt to new situations.

In simple words, it is about “reaccommodating” the gray matter to respond to the needs of motherhood.

“It is a refinement of the neuronal circuits associated with motherhood; an adaptation instead of a deficit ”, he explains to BBC Mundo Bridget Callaghanone of the authors of the investigation and doctor of the University of California.

“The brains of mothers change in their ability to respond to the signs of a baby. So, for example, the brain of a mamá is very good to differentiate el llanto from her own baby from that of another. This allows you to take better care of your babies”, she adds.

According to the studio, these changes -which can last up to 6 years after childbirth- are not sold in biological mothers, but also in fathers who are not biological.

“We see that there are brain changes regardless of whether the person has given birth or not (…) as they learn the set of behaviors necessary to keep their offspring alive”, says the studio.

Bridget Callaghan explains that this suggests that there are some brain changes that are hormone driven and others that appear to be socially driven.

Matrescence?

The studio also signals that motherhood brings a similar degree of brain morphological modifications the ones observed during adolescence.

This development stage is called “matrescence”.

“Both adolescence and motherhood are sensitive neuroplastic ventanas characterized by hormonal changes in the attention, motivation, cognition and behavior necessary for adapting to the new demands of life”, says the study.

For Bridget Callaghan, this hallmark allows us, from now on, to see motherhood as a “true period of development, in which really rapid changes take place, both biologically, hormonally and cerebrally, as well as psychologically and socially”.

At this point, academics consider it important to point out that the memory loss or mental confusion that some women say they experience can also be explained by external factors, such as lack of sleep or stress.

In addition -dicen- many times there is a “attribution slant” al embarazo to justify all the things that happen to future mothers.

“Olvidas tus llaves todo el tiempo, pero cuando las olvidas mientras está embarrassed, then blame the embarrassment”, explains Callaghan.

This, says the researcher, has contributed to a negative image of the brain capacity of the women who will give birth.

“There is a very strong component of sexism behind the concept of baby brain”señala.

“We have a kind of paternalistic view of mothers and their capacity. And I believe it is important to emphasize the positive elements and how difficult it is to be a mother so that we, as a culture, can begin to appreciate and value the work they do”, she adds.

Considering all of the above, maybe it’s clear what my sister said.

Forgetting about the appointment with my friends and the keys in my house could be explained, in fact, by this phenomenon. baby brain.

But who said it was bad? Now I know that my brain was “reaccommodating” (and possibly preparing for the coming avalanche). (I)