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AIBU?

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Original poster

to dislike "baby brain" as an excuse

80 replies

MmeLindt · 07/03/2011 13:15

for forgetfulness.

I had my DC in Germany and there is no such thing as "baby brain" there. No one uses the term and if you forget something, you have forgotten it. It is not due to your pregnancy.

OP posts:
LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 07/03/2011 13:19

Nods... it's just another daft label. There's no shame in forgetting things now and again, no need to explain or excuse it further.

Fernie3 · 07/03/2011 13:21

It is silly to call it baby brain. But i do think i am more forgetful with a new baby because of tiredness.

Original poster
MmeLindt · 07/03/2011 13:22

Fernie
I have heard it when women are pregnant - I can understand when you have a small baby and are suffering from lack of sleep.

But what part of pregnancy makes a woman forgetful?

OP posts:
VinegarTits · 07/03/2011 13:23

womens brains do actually shrink during pg, pg turned my brain to mush

i dont think the term baby brain is anything offensive, its just another saying

Original poster
MmeLindt · 07/03/2011 13:23

I am not offended by it, VT. Just bemused.

OP posts:
Psammead · 07/03/2011 13:24

Actually....

Am in Germany right now and my German friends say it often. Is it quite a newish concept in the UK? It seems to have caught on here. They blame things on pregnancy and, post-natally, on breastfeeding.

I think it's quite normal, if you have a lot on your mind as you tend to do during pregnancy and early parenthood, to be a bit more scatty than normal. I find the same happens during bereavement, for example. Idon't think it's hormonal, just a case of being distracted.

Bringonthegoat · 07/03/2011 13:25

During pg I was tired, grumpy and forgetful. YABU - pg hormones hit everyone differently.

worraliberty · 07/03/2011 13:25

I get forgetful around the time of the month but I don't call it 'period brain' lol

StewieGriffinsMom · 07/03/2011 13:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsH75 · 07/03/2011 13:26

I don't like it either. You may find yourself more forgetful due to having more things to think about certainly after having children but also when pregnant as well but it's lifestyle change rather than the condition.

I wasn't any more forgetful in first pregnancy but second time round I didn't sleep very well for a lot of the pregnancy as well has looking after a there year old so was knackered.

giveitago · 07/03/2011 13:28

I don't like the term but it certainly happened to me when I was pregnant - for the first time in my life I misplaced something and it was my handbag left in the restaurant. I had no concept that it belonged to me or was my responsibility.

lazylula · 07/03/2011 13:30

What part of pregnancy makes a woman forgetful? You have already said that having a small baby means lack of sleep so can lead to forgetfulness, well for me pregnancy leads to severe lack of sleep as I believe it does for ther women too. Infact, I get MORE sleep once the baby arrives than I do for at least the 3rd trimester. I can't understand why people get so annoyed or worked up about something someone else says, you don't like it don't use it!

Psammead · 07/03/2011 13:31

"What part of pregnancy makes a woman forgetful?"

At first, the concern that every odd feeling in your lower abdomen and vagina is the start of a(nother) miscarriage. Also the fact that you are absorbing a lot of new information in a short amount of time (reading pregnancy books etc). Then the distraction of feeling sick/headachey/generally not well. The excitement. The lack of sleep caused by feeling unwell. The slight worry of having to do a lot of unfamiliar things like having a ton of doctor appointments, vitamins to take, foods you are and are not allowed to eat, things you are and are not allowed to do etc.

And the lack of wine Grin

messylittlemonkey · 07/03/2011 13:31

I've heard people say nappy brain too Hmm

Beveridge · 07/03/2011 13:32

I really hate it when people come out with this.

A friend laughed when I miscalculated some arithmetic when I was newly pregnant with DD1 and said "oh dear, baby brain setting in already?!".

I just about bit her head off that she knew perfectly well my maths is suspect at the best of times, so miscalculating something is hardly due to pregnancy, FFS. She's never made a comment like it again (she's an old friend, so should have known better than say something like that to me in the first place)

It's the same as saying that women cannot do 'difficult' intellectual tasks just because we have periods. I thought people got over that ridiculous misnomer last century.

Sleep deprivation due to being a new parent is different though Fernie3, and it affects new Dads just as much as new Mums - well, it certainly seemed to have that effect on DH last time!

scaryteacher · 07/03/2011 13:32

I still suffer from post natal brain and ds is 15.

fizzyliftinggas · 07/03/2011 13:35

I am always forgetful, but I am ten times more forgetful at the moment whilst pg with twins. To the point it upsets me when I realise I have forgotten something else, and I feel so bloody stupid!
I'm afraid my hormones cause me to be more forgetful whilst pregnant and I will refer to it as pregnancy brain/baby brain or whatever... maybe we are all different, I don't find it offensive Smile

NarcolepsyQueen · 07/03/2011 13:35

I am 7 months pregnant, and sometimes suffer from maternal brain fog (which is what I call it) I very rarely forget anything normally, but when pregnant some hormone thing happens and I become quite forgetful. Everybody is different - but for me it's a fact Blush

Original poster
MmeLindt · 07/03/2011 13:35

Sleep deprivation is a different matter.

I guess it is the same as the old "Time of the month" saying - which I dislike as well.

It is all a bit twee and patronising.

OP posts:
Teaandcakeplease · 07/03/2011 13:37

I don't like the term either but I sometimes think I gave birth to my brain with DC1. Even now I'm still not up to par quite frankly. So so forgetful and scatty nowadays Sad

Teaandcakeplease · 07/03/2011 13:38

I also reversed into a post in the supermarket car park whilst pregnant with DC2, I knew it was there and still cannot fathom how or why I did it Blush

Original poster
MmeLindt · 07/03/2011 13:39

Teaandcake
But I have done that when I was not pregnant. :o

OP posts:
youngblowfish · 07/03/2011 13:42

I find it sexist and demeaning; to me the term is on a similar level with statements about ovaries shrinking from too much education and 'evidence' we have already seen on this thread about brain shrinkage in pregnancy Hmm. Harmless fun for most, no doubt, but to me it is just a symptom of casual discrimination.

Then again, I am a pregnant feminist in the middle of reading this.

thefurryone · 07/03/2011 13:43

I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant and my brain is not functioning as well as it does when I'm not pregnant, some days I can barely string a sentance together when I'm writing and I'm find mental arithmetic very taxing a lot of the time. This is not normal for me.

Sorry if you find that annoying, but I bet you're not finding it quite as annoying as I am at the moment.

Badgerwife · 07/03/2011 13:44

I've never heard the term before, and I sure won't be using it! How bizarre

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