Pregnancy Brain

At the latest meeting of Current Psychiatry and the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists Dr. Henry Nasrallah presented research on brain changes due to pregnancy.

The structure and the physiology of the brain does change with pregnancy, the post partum transition, and the first 6 months after you have a baby.

During pregnancy the size of the brain actually shrinks. After pregnancy the brain grows, for up to the first 6 months!

In fact throughout our lives brains are more plastic than we have thought in the past, affected by age, hormones, and other life phenomenon.

In general it’s harder for a mom to concentrate in pregnancy. But other brain functions actually are heightened in pregnancy.

Attachment, motivation, reward, fear, reaction to threats, are all improved in pregnancy. These factors help protect her fetus.

If a mom has a boy baby, her memory and spatial abilities are higher than if she has a girl baby!