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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think being pregnant affects your brain capability

55 replies

ILoveSparklers · 08/11/2012 21:24

How did you find being pregnant? Was your work, studying, driving or general cognitive functioning impaired? I'm sure mine was as wondering whether it's a good idea to do a tough uni course with an exam while pregnant (heavily). Aibu?

OP posts:

shellshock7 · 08/11/2012 22:08

I wasn't too bad when pregnant, but am terrible now DS is here....he's 8 months now and it's not letting up.

the worst I've done is leave the car key on the roof of the car while doin the shopping Was so relieved the car wasn't stolen

flamingtoaster · 08/11/2012 22:08

Definitely affects the brain - when I was pregnant I loaded the breakfast washing up into the fridge (and I didn't even have a dishwasher!) and my friend cooked the potato peelings having thrown out the potatoes.

RightUpMyRue · 08/11/2012 22:16

I'm not sure if it's a good or bad sign that this PG doesn't seem to have affected my mental capabilities. Does this mean that I'm usually stupid and this baby has made no difference or is it that I have such superior brain power that no pregnancy could dampen it?

Currently 19 weeks so I suppose there's still plenty of time for my brain to become addled.

Sokmonsta · 08/11/2012 22:18

I figured having kids means all the stuff you used to think about gets shoved out in favour of family things.

Original poster

ILoveSparklers · 08/11/2012 22:22

Actually, I can empathise with the "can't be arsed" while pregnant...thinking I should leave the course but then my brain really will leave me...

OP posts:

Original poster

ILoveSparklers · 08/11/2012 22:23

I guess you can't have everything...:)

OP posts:

Peevish · 08/11/2012 22:35

Not to rain on anyone's individual parade, but there's no scientific evidence at all to support the existence of 'baby brain' while pregnant. The original study has long since been discredited - it was tiny, and didn't compare the cognitive function of the women before pregnancy - and a much bigger, properly-run Australian study found no difference in cognitive function between pregnant and non-pregnant women.

Apparently we've been misled by a myth, and are thus more likely to label absent-mindedness etc during pregnancy as 'baby brain'.

I didn't notice any difference that couldn't be explained by pregnancy insomnia, myself, but then I'd read about the Australian study, so wasn't expecting any.

Original poster

ILoveSparklers · 08/11/2012 22:37

Well, there may be no scientific evidence so far but that doesn't change people's experiences :). Maybe they didn't test the right thing...

OP posts:

LimeLeafLizard · 08/11/2012 22:39

YABU. I am pregnant and my brain is 100% of its usual bright self. My body is knackered though.

ninjasquirrel · 08/11/2012 22:41

Personally I didn't find that pregnancy affected me in that way at all. But then I had a v easy pregnancy. If you're under real physical strain then understandably your concentration's not going to be at its peak.

noblegiraffe · 08/11/2012 22:42

My first pregnancy I was awful for leaving the keys in the ignition of my car on the driveway overnight, and once I left the house keys hanging in the lock of the garage door over night.

This pregnancy I've only left the keys in the car once, but I have also had the neighbour come around to inform me that I'd left the car door wide open.

It doesn't happen when I'm not pregnant. That's my scientific evidence

nomoreminibreaks · 08/11/2012 22:50

It definitely did for me. I used to have a pretty accurate memory but suddenly had no recollection of conversations I'd had, work I'd agreed to do etc...

Though I did fail and pass my driving test while pregnant too!

nomoreminibreaks · 08/11/2012 22:52

Should have said, DS is now 19 months old and I'm either just getting used to it or it seems to be improving a little now.

CaliforniaLeaving · 08/11/2012 23:39

My brain went to mush with number 2 baby, I would fall asleep if left to stand or sit anywhere longer than a few minutes. It was weird.

rogersmellyonthetelly · 09/11/2012 07:08

I dont think cognitive ability is affected tbh, it won't suddenly make you stupid. What it does do I think is affect your ability to concentrate.
Just like pmt, hormones affect some people more than others.
For the record I had never heard of baby brain when pregnant with my first until someone mentioned it and it finally clicked that may be why I couldn't remember people's names who had introduced themselves 5 minutes previously and did wierd distracted stuff like microwaving a cup of tea with a teaspoon still in it.

greenbananas · 09/11/2012 07:18

I'm sure my thinking has got more erratic and my that my memory is not working properly. I like to blame pregnancy for this - there does seem to be a link. But it might just be age (I am an older mum). Sleep deprivation doesn't help either.

My friend took her finals when her baby was 3 weeks old and got a 1st. However, she is probably just ridiculously clever anyway. That baby is now 18 years old and has got nothing but As for all the exams he has taken so far.

docsarah · 09/11/2012 07:26

22 weeks here and firing on all cylinders. I can easily attribute any flakiness to being tired - had a few weeks' of poor sleep in the first trimester which made things a bit tough. I've also experienced insomnia pre-pregnancy and felt exactly the same, so the baby has nothing to do with it.

To be honest, I'm less flaky than normal - I used to do a good line in putting the remote control in the fridge and suchlike. Haven't done anything daft like that in ages.

Mumsyblouse · 09/11/2012 09:16

Although I didn't feel less mentally sharp, and worked up until 8 1/2 months, I was exhausted with pregnancy related insomnnia (it was terrible second time around). I also found after the birth I was just sooo tired, although I did complete a PhD during that time period, so I can't have been less mentally capable really.

For me, it's all about the tiredness, and lack of sleep, and that's what causes you to crash the car/forget stuff. Also, once you are back at work and have small children, you have permanent brain overload from doing too many things. But I don't believe you get stupider as in cognitively impaired, I'm as sharp or not sharp as my male colleagues, some of whom also have small children and are exhausted!

Mumsyblouse · 09/11/2012 09:22

And my husband had post baby brain for sure first time around, he looked grey and exhausted and did no real work at work IYSWIM. We hadn't cracked the sleeping (our arrangements, the baby was fine!) and he had a sleeping disorder as it turned out. He found it difficult to go to work and was falling asleep all the time. Subsequent children, we've done whatever we needed to do to get sleep (him sleeping in other room, tag sleeping on weekends!) because it was horrendous for both of us.

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHopeful · 09/11/2012 09:25

Well I think more research needs to be on this. I am sure that for some women pregnancy affects cognitive function. From week 28 to 37 I felt like a fog had wrapped itself round my brain.
It lifted really quickly at week 38, I gave birth about 3 days later. I am convinced it was hormone related.

I have however seen women completely unaffected

Mumsyblouse · 09/11/2012 09:29

I do know what you mean about the foggy thing. It's almost like you don't have enough energy to do any tasks, everything is a real effort, and you just plod along. I had it through most of the last pregnancy. What I found though, was if I had to do a task (say writing a report), I could do it to a high standard, but even getting the things out, or getting home on the Tube, it was like grinding to a halt.

It really puts me off being pregnant again, I didn't 'bloom' whatsoever and spent most of the time chronically sleep deprived!

wanderingalbatross · 09/11/2012 09:32

I don't think that pregnancy itself affects my mental capabilities. But tiredness does, and I think the hormones make me more emotional (am 8 weeks pg now with #2). While I'm just as capable in my job which requires a lot of thinking, I wouldn't really have the emotional energy to take on anything really challenging.

The toughest part I found was the few months post-birth when I was really tired, as I couldn't concentrate on very much at all. But once we'd got through that stage, I felt I was back to normal, and even better at some stuff than before.

Boomerwang · 09/11/2012 09:36

I've heard it's true, but I didn't get my baby brain until after my baby was born. I just could not fathom what people were saying to me. I would stare at them and watch them speak the words, but not at all understand how to put them together and derive meaning from them. I was forever saying 'sorry, my brain isn't working' and bursting into tears. I felt utterly lost. The only thing I could comprehend was stuff to do with the baby as I'd been doing it for a week in the hospital.

It was actually quite upsetting.

CailinDana · 09/11/2012 09:40

God Boomerwang, I remember that. Sitting there and having someone talk and talk and it was like they were speaking Chinese. It was horrible. I think it was a mixture of hormones, tiredness, and feeling overwhelmed. I used to just say "Sorry I didn't catch any of that," and walk off. I had the side effect of not really caring.

Boomerwang · 09/11/2012 09:48

Must mention, it lasted less than a week then I was back to normal.

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