PREGNANCY - A Changing Brain

 So it's not too surprising that drastic changes in the hormonal levels influence women's brain. And it is definitely possible that the brain changes that we are looking at could constitute a shift in the attention of the mother. Priming the woman's brain for motherhood. We found during the first few months postpartum period there are greater increases in the mother's brain size, and that seems directly contradicting to this common perceptions of the mommy brain.

A lot of women feel that they don't do so well in this period when it comes to mental function. They say they don't remember as well, but it could be that this is a period where the brain is sort of merging into focusing on something else. And there are studies showing that these changes are linked to maternal behaviour such as attachment to the baby. Structural growth has been reported in a number of brain regions. These help mothers feel highly motivated to respond to babies calling and feel lovely when they smile. These help regulate her own distress in response to baby's crying. These help decide what's the most appropriate response to make. These help to take the perspective of the baby. And finally all these senses get a boost to help a mother interact with her baby. 

And if we think about it in an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense that any change that would promote care or protection of the child would be beneficial not only for the offspring, but also for for the reproductive success of the mother. So some changes may reverse after birth, while others may persist during the postpartum period and even years beyond. And what we would like to know more about is whether these changes that we see later in life are driven by the hormonal fluctuations and immune processes that occur during pregnancy in women, or whether we're actually looking at brain plasticity as a result of parenting experience. Brain plasticity or neuroplasticity is the process through which our brain reorganises and grows its neural network. It was once thought that only children did this but we now know that many areas of the brain remain plastic even through adulthood. 

I asked neuroscientist Pilyoung Kim at the University of Denver to elaborate. Those kind of changes we call experience dependent plasticity. Brain changes that are dependent on experience. So the more experience that the mother has, we see strong connections between neurons in brain areas that are important for parenting. That is true for fathers as well that we see. So the one study that I could mention here is that in Israel that people recruited same-sex fathers, couples who recently had a baby. And it's very interesting that, you know, not only the fathers show greater brain response to their own baby, but it's the primary caregiver father show even more greater brain sensitivity to his child compared to the partner. This means that women may get a head start. But partners who do not birth the child receive a brain boost too. My children are regularly looked after by my husband, for instance, which benefits everyone in the process. 

Women are not, therefore, biologically destined to be the primary carers. Pregnancy definitely primes the body, but it's clear that it's the time and the intensity of the emotional bonds that relates to how the brain changes. Neuroscientist Ann-Marie de Lange from Lausanne University Hospital and her team found even more lasting effects of motherhood on the brain, with all sorts of interesting implications. And what we found was that women who had given birth to several children showed slightly younger looking brains compared to what was expected for their chronological age. And what that means is that some of the brain changes that we commonly see with ageing, such as grey matter atrophy and white matter decline, that women who had given birth to several children showed less of these changes. And this may indicate that having had children earlier in life could potentially have a protective effect on the brain as we age. 

But before we get carried away Ann-Marie has a slight disclaimer. It is maybe one thing I can add in solidarity with all the women who do not have children such as myself. These effects that we see in brain ageing in women later in life, they are quite moderate. And what that means is that having had children earlier in life is only a part of many factors that may influence how we age. Ageing is indeed a complex process. And stress has long been linked to it. And not all changes in the mother's brain may help reduce it. Yeah, you feel stressed because you snap you don't feel like a good person. And I've read that when they scream it literally releases cortisol in your brain. So you're actually having a sort of fight or flight response. You could imagine the intensity of being highly sensitive to babies' cues for 24 hours. That can be quite overwhelming. In these periods of increased brain plasticity, such as pregnancy, there is also a potential vulnerability to environmental stress, such as lack of sleep or decreased social interactions. And we really need to understand the mechanisms behind this and which factors that may put some women at risk for mental health problems, such as maternal depression. You're not an individual anymore, you're a mum, which per definition gives you a different role in society. Now you're there to take care of your baby but also of the rest of the world, because that's what a mother does. Then there's quite a lot of impact on this very physical process of pregnancy and birth on how they feel about themselves and their own identity, and a sense of self. 

Do you think that's also because of the way society views mothers? 

So motherhood is a very separate sphere to the workplace. And so of course, for me anyway, that's why I felt such a strong clash. Because there's a saying that at work pretend that you're not a mother and at home pretend that you don't work. Yes, that's right. You're different. That's true. That's also difficult. Yeah, because as a doctor, you can't have a child running around. You really have to be concentrated. So, it's also lovely to be able to have this concentration and to feel that different part of yourself. And that was not one yet. It wasn't compatible yet? Yeah, not yet. I think later in life and it worked and it became more compatible. But in different stages of life, it has been... yes, a challenge.