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Momensia
-Rebecca Klein
“I always joke each of my boys took a piece of my brain with them, and I have to live without it now,” shares Los Angeles area mom Tanya Remer Altmann.
During both pregnancies with her now infant and toddler, she accidentally left an ATM card in the machine. She’s driven off with the coffee cup perched on the car roof after buckling in a babe and knows of a mom who left the gas station with the hose still in her car.
Baltimore mom Miriam Abramovich reports walking into the kitchen only to forget what she needed.
Altmann often uses two words to describe such moments — “mommy brain.”
Only she’s not speaking from just a mommy perspective. She is Dr. Altmann, a pediatrician and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. In her practice, she often meets with new moms experiencing similar glitches.
A recent USA Today article calls the phenomenon “momnesia” and includes insight from neuropsychiatrist Dr. Louann Brizendine, founder of the Women’s and Teen Girls’ Mood and Hormone Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco and author of The Female Brain. Her book explores the lifelong changes a woman’s brain experiences. In “The Mommy Brain” chapter, Dr. Brizendine discusses the impact of the biological and hormonal changes motherhood brings. For example, she says a big boost in the feel-good hormone oxytocin and other changes contribute to a shift in a mother’s priorities. Dr. Brizendine, who jokingly refers to the entry to motherhood as the “invasion of the brain snatchers” writes, “The parts of the brain responsible for focus and concentration are preoccupied with protecting and tracking the newborn for the first six months.” She elaborates the additional oxytocin released during breast feeding can “heighten and prolong this mellow, mildly unfocused state.”
Dr. Altmann, who believes the part of the brain that makes labor memories fade may also be responsible for memory lapses after birth, attributes the forgetfulness to hormones, sleep deprivation, and agrees that nursing can also have an impact. She readily admits that becoming a mother impacted her perspective. “Moms in my practice talked about the mommy brain. I didn’t realize the magnitude of it until I had children myself,” she explains.
Dr. Altmann is fast to point out moms rarely forget the necessities or what matters most. “We never forget the child or forget to feed the child, even though I might forget to eat breakfast,” she says.
Here are some positive things to remember when forgetfulness hits: “I think a new mom’s memory improves every month after the baby is born,” reports Dr. Altmann. According to Dr. Brizendine, mothers and adoptive mothers, who have continuous physical contact with their children, may have better spatial memory, be more flexible and be more courageous than women who are not mothers.
Email us at info@ModernBabiesAndChildren.com to share your “momnesia” or “mommy brain” moments. We may share your experience online or in an upcoming print edition.
