'Baby brain' forgetfulness is just a myth, women are advised

Pregnant women cannot blame being pregnant for their memory lapses, scientists have claimed.

Up until now, absentmindedness among expectant women has been largely attributed to the 'baby brain' myth, with a change in hormones believed to mess with the female brain.

However, new research carried out by a team of Australian scientists has found that this is just a myth, with no hard evidence pointing to a link between pregnancy and forgetfulness.

Carrying out cognitive tests on a group of women at four-year intervals, the team at the Australian National University found no difference in memory performance before, during or immediately after pregnancy, while they also found relatively little differences in the memories of those women who became mothers and those who did not fall pregnant over the course of the study.

However, writing up the findings in the British Journal of Psychiatry, lead researcher Professor Christensen noted that, even in the light of this new evidence, the myth is likely to stick around for some time, largely as most pregnancy manuals tell expectant women and their partners to expect some lapses in memory.

"Our results challenge the view that mothers are anything other than the intellectual peers of their contemporaries," she stated.

"Obstetricians, family doctors and midwives may need to use the findings from this study to promote the fact that 'placenta brain' is not inevitable."

This advice comes soon after delegates at the Society for Maternal-Foetal Medicine's annual conference in Chicago were told that acupuncture may be an effective treatment for combating depression during pregnancy.

As well as affecting the wellbeing of the mother, depression is also believed to have a negative health impact on the unborn baby, leading to behavioural problems in the early years.

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