Baby Brain Myth Dismissed

Australian researchers dismissed a silly non-scientific assumption that women literally “can’t be sensible during pregnancy and early motherhood”.

Researchers at the National Australian University, who conducted the study for twenty five years, analyzed mental function of women before and after pregnancy as well as during early motherhood.  According to the study lead, Prof Helen Christensen there was no difference between women before and after pregnancy, or before and after motherhood. There was also no difference between the non-mothers, the mothers and the pregnant women.

The women had memory and cognitive speed tests three times during the period of eight years as part of the National Mental Health Surveillance Program that involved a total of 7,500 individuals.

Prof Helen Christensen emphasized that the findings were unique because the women were not told they were tested for “baby brain” so they could not deliberately manipulate the result. By the way, a lot of prominent scientists previously assumed poorer mental abilities in pregnant women and mothers.

The only thing the Australian researchers did establish was some decline in cognitive speed at later stages of pregnancy. Helen Christensen says that lapses of memory normally happen to anyone but people have the tendency to blame it on the fact that they are pregnant.

The study appears in British Journal of Psychiatry.

Source of the image: sxc.hu/profile/coobee.