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May 2011 Moms
Mommy Brain is real!
Jennifer, a mom from Wayne, New Jersey, says she began noticing
differences in the way her brain worked after giving birth to a baby
boy. "I began to lose words," she says. "I would start in a
conversation, and then all of a sudden, I wouldn't be able to remember a
simple word like 'tomato' or 'chandelier.'" Dr. Oz says this is a real
condition known as "mommy brain."
Dr. Oz says Jennifer's son, Benjamin, used up a lot of her omega-3 fats
while he was in the womb. "Eighty percent of our brains are fat," he
says. "So the baby sucks up a lot of that vital nutrient, sometimes
potentially to the detriment of the mother."
During pregnancy, Dr. Oz says a woman's brain also shrinks by about 8
percent. "You don't lose cells. The cells get smaller," he says. "It
might be because you're focused on one thing, but the good news is after
you give birth, your brain begins to rewire quickly. ? Your brain
actually gets more powerful than before you got pregnant."
To combat "mommy brain," Dr. Oz recommends taking omega-3 fatty acids
and getting plenty of sleep. "[Omega-3 is] important because we know
that it actually allows women to recover from depression faster if they
have depression after pregnancy," he says. "It also allows the brain to
grow."
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Mommy Brain is real!
And here I was thinking that it was the lack of sleep, the slow insanity that starts to take you over after 2 years of conversations with babies, the wiggles and being in a constant ground hogs day of bottles, tears and poopy diapers.
Dr. Oz's explication sounds much cooler.