In thinking baby brain DOES exist!!

[Missrubyring]

I'm 20 weeks pregnant with DC2 and this morning I was making my DD(3) her breakfast and put the dry cereal in the fridge and gave her a fork instead of spoon, I had a good night's sleep so that's not an excuse and it's not the first time I've caught myself halfway through doing something and thought 'what the hell am I doing??'
AIBU in thinking baby brain DOES exist and if so what are other's occurrences/ experience/ funny stories??

Yes definitely!

no funny stories but I've very much struggled with my normally logical, straight-thinking brain feeling like it's crawling through treacle at work. Very frustrating.

thankfully after a year back at work I'm finally starting to feel a bit more myself and get organised.

it's one of those things ( like the link between nappy rash and teething) that scientists can't figure out but a huge amount of mums know is true!

Not in my experience, sorry. In fact, I felt unusually focused, and finished a book just before I went on mat. leave.

But, when very much not pregnant, I did once put a jug of milk on the ground outside the back door and try to put the cat in the fridge.

Towards the end of my pregnancy I chucked a jar of nutella in the bin and put the dirty knife in the cupboard. I forgot the pin to my bank cards -same pin I've had for a decade - and left the house without shoes more than once. So for me, I would say it exists.

I'm still suffering and my youngest are 3! What I put it down to is having to think for 4 extra people as well as myself. So I get easily distracted when I'm doing the everyday things.

swiss I'm amazed the cat let you live :)

I didn't have it while pregnant but my mum and I have a theory that some of your brain gets lost with the placenta!!

more than once I have made a coffee without putting a mug under the flow and yes put shopping in the dishwasher instead of fridge. It may be sleep deprivation but I prefer my theory....

Yup, the cat regarded me with total horror for the rest of its furry, pampered little life. It wasn't even my cat - I was house-sitting for my parents and clearly thinking hard about something really, really important.

Yes, definitely. While pregnant, I was taking my pants off while sat on the toilet (multitasking as you do). After wiping, I threw my pants into the toilet instead of the used toilet paper! I also put the clean washing in the bin once instead of the rubbish that was in my hand to be thrown away.

I soon learned to stop doing more than one thing at a time, my poor pregnancy-addled brain couldn't cope!

I became quite forgetful. I can usually remember things without needing to write them down, but during pregnancy things would completely slip my mind and not come back again.

On one occasion DH asked if I'd wash a specific football shirt for him, as he would be coming home from a few days working away and going straight out to a game. He reminded me three times. When he got home and it wasn't done, it took a few seconds for me to even know what he was talking about.

We're TTCing at the minute, and yesterday I took the baby changing bag to work instead of my bag which had my staff pass, lunch and purse. The day before that I paid for some bits at a self checkout, walked to the station, got on the train and realised I'd forgotten the vital step of bringing the shopping with me. Ffs. So either I'm due a BFP or my 'baby brain' has lingered past DD's first birthday or I'm just an idiot.

I'm currently working with 3 pregnant colleagues, I love them dearly but they are a clear indication that baby brain does exist and it can be debilitating!

Lavenderice you have my sympathies that must be hellish!

My baby brain has sadly lingered, DC3 is now 5 and frequently the cereal goes back in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard, keys left in front door (on outside) when we get home...

It is hell on steroids! Yesterday I found a file in the fridge, a mobile on the back of the toilet and then to top it off one of them gave me DECAFF!

Watch out Original ! You could be due that BFP! My capabilities went downhill days before I P'dOAS! TTC does to strange things to your brain though..

I'm 25+3 and so clumsy I'm covered in little scrapes and bruises from knocking myself on doors as I walk past them and hitting my limbs on various things.

I asked DH to take out a bag of rubbish I have tied up on the kitchen side, he said he couldn't see it but I had left the milk out, when I went to investigate- you guessed it- the bag of rubbish was stuffed in the fridge door...

I've done all sorts, found the TV remote and phones in the fridge and the washing machine. Put the milk in the cupboard and tried to put the kettle on the fridge. I poured comfort in my coffee instead of milk once too.

I didn't have it at all. I do suspect, though, that a lot of it is the combination of the fact that a lot of women don't sleep as well when pregnant (especially not in the latter stages) and the fact that they are distracted a bit (often unconsciously) by thinking about the baby, etc.

A slew of well-conducted studies have demonstrated that pregnant women perform just as well in mental tests as non-pregnant women, but, interestingly, rate themselves as performing worse.

So it seems to be about people's perceptions of themselves, rather than anything innate in pregnancy. I also tend to think that because 'baby brain' is popularly believed to exist, pregnant women often ascribe normal forgetfulness to their pregnancy.

I can imagine that Lavender's colleagues are probably reinforcing behaviours associated with 'baby brain' in each other, probably unconsciously.

I think minisoks has it - it's down to thinking for/worrying about the little people in your life.... When ever I do dopey crazy things like this is because I'm either distracted by our preoccupied with the wee ones, or trying to do too much at once.... On that basis tho it will never end! At least it can be entertaining!

I've been increasingly forgetful, so have taken to writing lists to try and combat "baby brain"

I am meeting a friend for lunch on Sunday, and it was only when I found myself making a list of what I wanted to talk to her about, I became more than a little concerned about my mental capacity

I'm sure I read an article about baby brain that said it was a real thing. Something to do with brain cells being lost.

But I have had two kids in quick succession so maybe I imagined that....

To be honest I don't believe it exists in pregnancy. I think you just have so much to think about you're not quite as on top of things as usual which would explain why when given a specific task and time and space to perform it pregnant women perform the same as others

However I think it exists shortly after birth. I would get these totally blank moments where I would struggle to finish my sentence or forget the names of people of known years. I'm sure it's a mixture if tiredness, recovering from birth, shock of your new life etc but baby brain is a good shorthand to describe it

Ever since having kids I've become shit with people's names. I even call my DC the wrong thing, mixing their names up. It's a definite before/after thing. Never used to have trouble, but if I'm introduced to people I forget their name almost instantly. Dunno if it's physiological or just that I've got info overload in there now so part of me just goes, sod it, it's not important...

I didn't experience baby brain however I find SwissArmy's evidence unconconvincing. Lab tests on cognitive function can be poor approximations of what is going on in the real world (they lack ecological validity in psych-speak).

It is a very different thing to be given series of exercises and 25 minutes of peace and quiet to do them in compared to real life scenarios that include distractions, trying to do multiple things at once, especially when grouping similar tasks together - a lot of these examples include putting things in places. Two things in two places that inadvertently got swapped.