Baby brain is real

Just as it’s inevitable that you’ll get your clothing hooked on something when you’re in a hurry, it’s also inevitable that new mums will experience moments of baby brain - you know the ‘erm what’s your name again?’ ‘what did I come upstairs for?’, ‘what actually is my postcode?’ moments.

Research carried out in Australia by Deakin University assessed pregnant ladies and non pregnant ladies on tasks such as memorising a series of numbers and decision making, and what they found was there was a notable difference between the two groups with pregnant ladies, you guessed it, performing worse than non pregnant ladies.

The decline in cognitive function was steepest in the first trimester, levelling out for the second and third, but most importantly it was the first study that proved that something definitely changed when pregnant, where others had dismissed it as nothing statically significant.

Another different study showed that pregnancy leads to long lasting changes in out brain structure - notably a reduction in grey matter (the outer layer of our brain involved in muscle control, memory, emotions, speech, decision making and self control). The study showed that the loss of grey matter was generally restored two years after the birth of your child, but given that little Uma is now two and I still experience regular forgetfulness I'm not sold on that part...

So next time you stop mid-sentence with no idea what your point was, blame the baby brain and point people to the research if they don't believe you.