A recent study in Spain suggests that pregnancy has a profound impact on the brain, with grey matter decreasing by an average of nearly 5% during pregnancy.
According to Prof Susana Carmona, director of the NeuroMaternal laboratory at the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute in Madrid, these changes may be beneficial for caring for newborns. The study, which included 127 pregnant women, found that the greater the changes in the brain, the more likely women were to bond well with their babies.
The BBC was given exclusive access to the Be Mother project, which scanned the brains of pregnant women before, during, and after pregnancy, and compared them to scans from a smaller number of women who were not expecting.
Study Findings
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that the brains of pregnant women lost an average of nearly 5% of their grey matter, which then partially returned by six months after giving birth.
Prof Carmona says that the transformation could be down to the pruning of nerve networks, and changes to blood vessels and cells that support nerves, which may represent the brain rewiring in a positive way.
Expert Insights
Prof Liz Chrastil, from the University of California, agrees that Carmona's work is important, as it can help with attachment between caregivers and infants, and find better ways to provide support and recovery for new moms.
Tania Esparza, a new mom who took part in the study, says that the findings are welcome, as they show that pregnant women are not becoming less capable, but rather, are becoming more specialized for the job of caring for their babies.
Future Research
More research is needed to build a detailed neurological map of the pregnant brain and to chart how it transforms during the transition to motherhood, says Carmona. This could help not just with pregnancy in general, but also when things go wrong, including postpartum depression.
