The brain of a pregnant woman and a new mother is a place of profound and sometimes long-lasting transformations. This is what emerges from a recent study that followed more than 100 women from the end of pregnancy until about three weeks after giving birth, observing their brains both before and after the birth of the baby and also taking into consideration the type of birth, vaginal or cesarean. The findings shed new light on a long-neglected field, that of maternal neuroscience, and raise fascinating new questions.
An unexplored field
Until recently, the neuroscience of pregnancy and postpartum was almost uncharted territory. Most of the scientific literature on the topic is just over a decade old. Only in recent years have scientists begun to map the changes that occur in women's brains during and after pregnancy, discovering a surprising and complex panorama.
A 2016 study, for example, he had found that gray matter decreases in women after the first birth, and the reductions persist for at least six years. Other studies, however, had observed an increase in gray matter in the first weeks after giving birth. This new study (I link it here, but then I will summarize it for you) helps to reconcile these apparently contradictory results.
Childbirth, losses and gains
Researchers have found that women actually lose gray matter during pregnancy and childbirth, but they recover it in most brain areas after giving birth. However, there is an exception: the “default mode network”, a circuit that activates when the mind wanders or when you are not engaged in a specific task.
This network is critical for self-reflection and the creation of an “internal narrative,” which is central to building a “sense of self” and how we interact with others. Several studies have linked the activation of this network to the ability to empathize with others, and researchers believe that changes that occur during pregnancy or childbirth could help parents tune in to their babies.
What is the cause of these changes?
Researchers hypothesize that these "hormonal roller coasters" that accompany motherhood are the real culprits for these brain changes. In animal studies, scientists gave pregnancy hormones to mice and observed brain changes associated with maternal behavior. Of course, mice aren't human, and there haven't been many experiments to test this hypothesis in people.
There is another interesting parallel, however: The changes that occur in the brains of pregnant women and new mothers are similar to those that affect all of us during adolescence. Teens also experience a reduction in gray matter. In that phase of life, in fact, many brain connections, or synapses, disappear. It is a process known as “synaptic pruning”. That's not a bad thing: If you're trying to get somewhere on a highway with many, many routes, you're likely to get lost. The brain simply eliminates some of those “pathways” to make information processing easier. Anyone who has common sense knows this well: in certain cases, what is not super essential is "cut out", and the birth of a child is such a moment.
Vaginal vs cesarean birth
The study also found that women who had a vaginal birth or who went into labor but ultimately had an emergency cesarean section took longer to "recover" from gray matter declines than women who had a scheduled cesarean section. “The onset of labor triggers her hormonal and immune cascade,” she says Susana Carmona, senior author of the study. However, the researchers had a small sample for this part of the study, so they say the results should be interpreted with caution.
Open questions and future directions
The study opened a series of questions. For example, do non-biological or adoptive parents experience similar brain changes? What effect does childbirth have on parent-child bonding? Only about 0,5% of neuroscience studies deals with topics unique to women's health. There's still much, too much we don't know about how pregnancy changes the brain. I don't want to be an "accidental feminist", I swear. But I have to say: perhaps the fact that historically there have been few recognized women in the field of neuroscience can partly explain why many of these questions have not been addressed before. Everyone should ask themselves these questions, not just women. This is why representing and respecting diversity even in the scientific field is fundamental.
A fascinating journey
In summary: the brain of new mothers is a place of profound and sometimes long-lasting transformations. A largely unexplored landscape that we are only now starting to map. It is a fascinating journey, which takes us into the very heart of our humanity, into the primordial bond between parent and child. Of course, there are still many unanswered questions, many mysteries to be revealed. But every new study, every new discovery, is a step forward into this unknown territory.
If there's one thing this study teaches us, it's that childbirth isn't just a physical event. It is also and above all a cerebral event, a silent and powerful revolution that shapes the mind and soul of a woman. We can imagine a new mother's brain as a flowering garden, a place of growth and renewal, where old connections dissolve and new ones are born, and the past meets the future in the miracle of life renewing itself. A place of beauty and mystery, just like the bond between a mother and her child. I can't do it, too many memories! :)
