Post Baby Mum's Health: Has aging or child birth ever affected your health?

[burnnet]

I'm not sure is it just me, or it is actually quite common... After having my 2nd child (she's one now), I've never been so forgetful, or keep dropping things, things slipped out of my hands, or wrong calculation of distance, spill hot water or milk, etc.

Tireness is one thing (I've never had so many "accidents" when my first child was born), i mean, they did say having a second child is a game changer...but I wonder if it is also because of the aging (I'm turning 40 next year) plus child birth has affected my overall neural functions. Or is it something's really wrong with me? (not praising myself, but I've never been clumsy in my life...so this is new to me).

Anyone else noticed your neural functions mostly coordinations isn't the same anymore after child birth?

Interested to hear what everyone has noticed about this.

[juiceylu]

I was extremely accident prone with my first who was a very poor sleeper. I broke my toe twice by catching it on furniture and was forever bashing his head on the door frame when carrying him as I just seemed to constantly misjudge it

No problems like that with my second (at 40) but she slept. Are you very tired?

[hairyturkey]

I'm a fair bit younger than you and my mental capacity has plummeted. It's shocking. I do stupid things all the time. I say the wrong words and speak in a dumbed down way that really frustrates me because I have such a love of English. All of my friends say the same.

[burnnet]

@juiceylu

Thanks for your message. It's good to know your experience, and i think it probably answered what my question is, I'm probably just very very tired. My first child slept, so I never had this problem. The second one, she woke up at least once, plus I'm working from home compare to when I had my first child, I wasn't working. So that probably explained why i'm so drained of both mentally and physically.

I'm very sorry to hear that you broke you toes twice!!! I didn't break any of my toes, but I did accidentally kick into the wall once on top of the stairs while holding my baby. That's probably ones of the worst fear that I have, rolling down the stairs with the baby. I had cold sweats all over

After reading your message, I decided to take a complete day off yesterday (no work), but still looking after baby, do feel a bit better, but I'm still very tired XD With the likes of things, I probably have to cut down my work load and just focus on the baby.

Thanks again for sharing your experience, I feel less worried now :) xxx

[burnnet]

@hairyturkey

I know what you mean. There was once the postman delivering a parcel when I needed to sign for it, I wanted to see "Cheers! See you later!" Ended up saying "Cheers later" lol

I do feel like my brain is like scrambled egg. And I'm glad to know I'm not the only one feeling like this.

Hope you are feeling better lately. :) And glad to hear your experience too. xxx

[Shinyletsbebadguys]

Most definitely my DC are 7 and 4 in a few weeks and I've just turned 40 if I am honest I'm only just now beginning to feel more like me in terms of brain capacity but really I doubt I shall ever return fully.

But then to be fair very few 40 year olds are the same as they were 8 years ago (accounting for pregnancy )

I do find as they have got older though I can do more things to benefit my health. Eat well and exercise. That was incredibly hard when they were babies and toddlers.

What I have found is for 8 months I have been losing weight and exercising and I do feel much better in terms of brainpower but no bloody way could I have invested that time in myself a few years ago.

[onetwothreemore]

Mommy brain here. I am the same OP. I was wondering if my brain has been damaged irreversibly by the pregnancies (mommy of 2 children). I can't even begin to describe how different my everyday life is now . Often I feel stupid and embarrassed :(

[managedmis]

Yeah I'm the same.

I drop stuff, take longer to get stuff done, can't remember stuff and am just generally dumber than before.

[DramaAlpaca]

Yes, I had this. A friend once described it as feeling like her brain had come out with the placenta

Please be reassured your mental function after having children comes back eventually, at least it does in my experience. Then it disappears for a while again during perimenopause.... but I've noticed it's back again now I'm through the other side, and I'm as mentally sharp as before. Thankfully.

[burnnet]

@DramaAlpaca That's probably the best description I've ever heard!!! I definitely feel the same!!!

Not looking forward to menopause either. My mother in law had it really bad, couldn't sleep, cold sweat and all sort.

[burnnet]

@managedmis make us two. I don't remember anything these days, and with an older child, this makes a lot of troubles, like forgetting to do her homework, or baking cakes for their school's cake sales etc. Forgetting to take out the bin is the worst!

[burnnet]

@onetwothreemore if it's a lack of sleep issue, surely hope once they are old enough and sleep through the night, our lives could get back to normal. Speaking of which, just 2 days ago I discovered this article:

The Brain Literally Starts Eating Itself When It Doesn't Get Enough Sleep
www.sciencealert.com/your-brain-starts-eating-itself-due-to-lack-of-sleep

I think that explains why we are hardly functioning.

[SecondTimeCharm]

not only did i get the same brain you’re all mentioning but i also developed gallstones after the birth of my first (and i very much was not in the ‘fair fat and forty’ category) which was a side effect i had no clue about

[burnnet]

@Shinyletsbebadguys I think you are quite right. Talking about how children could change your life forever lol

I do think aging does cause a bit of difference, somehow I just felt I am no longer recover as fast as I used to be.

[burnnet]

@SecondTimeCharm OMG! Totally didn't know that. How was the recovery after birth and taking out the gallstones? Hope you are all ok now. xx

[sar302]

For a long time after the birth of DS, now 2yrs, my linguistic ability was absolutely trashed. Hard to explain, but I just couldn't find my words.

I could look at a cup, know it was a cup, want to call it a cup, but couldn't say the word "cup". It would come out as "hot drink holdy thing". All I could do was give a description. And this happened multiple times a day, it was incredibly frustrating.

It's much better now, although does still happen occasionally. I put it down to sleep deprivation and PND.

[burnnet]

@sar302 did you have any full anesthetic when you were giving birth? or shortly after?

I had an operation on my ear years before, and had full anesthetic, the first two months was real struggle for me, like what you said, i lost all my words, and my response time in a conversation is extremely slow. I'd be looking at you and hear every word you said to me, but what I'm seeing, is a slow motion of you talking, and it take more time for me to digest what those words mean! Then i have to use a considerable amount of time to think, on how to put into words to response.

After the first 3 months of the operation i became "normal", but like you said, can't find the right words anymore, also became very slow in response. :(