What does pregnancy do to your brain? 

Many women will go on to have children. When you become pregnant, multiple changes occur in your body; notably, you become bigger and broader. That’s just part of the process. But besides the significant changes in your body, pregnancy also affects your brain. So, what does pregnancy do to a woman’s brain? 

The transformation of the maternal brain 

Pregnancy has profound and long-lasting effects on your brain. Even two years after pregnancy, or possibly longer, you can still see the effects of your pregnancy. When you’re pregnant, you experience hormonal fluctuations, which cause adaptations in your brain. It is already known in animals that hormones can influence maternal behaviour. 

Your brain particularly changes in areas related to your ability to understand the thoughts, feelings, and needs of others. If you want to interpret your baby’s behaviour, you need to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Therefore, a mother needs to show empathy. 

Strong changes in your maternal brain 

The strong changes in the maternal brain are related to the fact that human babies are born relatively helpless. When babies are born, they can’t do much more than breathe, cry, and feed on breast milk. If you were to compare babies to mammals at birth, their intuitive abilities drastically differ. Many mammals can already walk shortly after birth to explore the world. However, when your baby needs to be born, their brain is not fully developed yet. If it were fully developed, the baby’s head would be too big to pass through the birth canal. 

As a result, new mothers want to protect their vulnerable children from the dangers of the outside world. It’s also challenging for a mother in the beginning to figure out what their baby needs. Is the baby hungry, too warm, or perhaps experiencing discomfort? Your maternal brain tries its best to interpret your baby’s needs during such moments. 

These changes in the brain during pregnancy and motherhood are significant and essential for the bonding and care of the newborn.