Do you have Momnesia too?

January 13, 2010 by admin · 5 Comments
Filed under: Family, Health, Pregnancy

Last night, I was commenting on a great post from my friend Stu at The Marry Blogger. Right as I started typing, the word I was looking for escaped my brain. Poof! It was gone…another mommy-brain moment. How many times a day does that happen to you?

I like to joke about having “momnesia” – but did you know that momnesia, or mommy-brain, is a real, medical thing? (“thing” is the medical term, by the way)

When a woman gets pregnant, the hormones your body produces affects the memory portion of your brain: “the brain is being marinated in a huge amount of [the pregnancy hormone] oxytocin during pregnancy,” says Brizendine. And oxytocin has been shown to have amnesia-like effects during pregnancy.

This continues for a year or more after the baby is born. But as far as I can tell, once I got pregnant with my first child, I was never the same! I have momnesia moments all the time. What about you?

Some may disagree; in fact, some think that being a mommy makes you smarter. There’s even a book by Katherine Ellison called The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter. (affiliate link)

For the record, I have mommy-brain moments all the time. BUT – I still think being a mommy rocks my socks off and we all deserve the title, “Super Mom”. Because in our own individual ways, we all have super powers. I know our children think so…

What do you think? Please share a momnesia moment in the comments below. Let’s have a little fun together!