What Are The Changes In The Brain During Motherhood?
Have you ever wondered if changes occur in the brain during motherhood? Science has provided an answer to this question, and the latest studies reveal that, indeed, changes occur in women’s brains during this vital stage.
But what type of changes occur, mainly? What brain structures are involved? What effect do these changes have on the mother’s behavior? Finally, does the same happen in mothers who conceive naturally, in mothers who undergo in vitro fertilization or in mothers who adopt? In this article we will solve all these questions.
The changes in the brain during motherhood are mainly located in a brain structure called the nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens is a very primitive part of the brain, related to obtaining pleasure, gratification and reward
Activate our motivation and allow our will to guide our actions. It is also related to learning, memory, fear, aggression, addictions, laughter… and with very basic and primitive needs, such as sex or eating food. Later we will talk in more detail about this structure and its relationship with changes in the brain during motherhood.
“Hormonal boom”
The changes mentioned They appear as a consequence of the great hormonal movement that arises during pregnancy and they have the direct consequence that mothers fall madly “in love” with their children.
This hormonal movement, which consists of a great synthesis of different hormones, is very intense and abrupt; In fact, it is generally considered to be even greater than the hormonal change that occurs throughout a woman’s fertile life.
These changes occur mainly in the mesolimbic-dopaminergic system of the brain, where dopamine acts as a neurotransmitter and a hormone at the same time. Dopamine is involved in pleasurable behaviors, in the regulation of motivation, in desire and in the repetition of certain behaviors (especially those that are reinforcing for us).
Thus, science suggests that during pregnancy there is a modification of the activity of the nucleus accumbens, as we have seen, a structure closely related to obtaining pleasure and reinforcement, in this case from the mother. This activity, in turn, is related to the mother’s primitive and instinctive behaviors towards her baby, aimed at care for it, protect it and promote its survival
The importance of the nucleus accumbens: what does science say?
We have seen how the nucleus accumbens is a brain structure related to different human sensations, needs and emotions; learning, pleasure, motivation, fear…
In relation to it and the changes in the brain during motherhood, a research carried out in the Experimental Medicine Service of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid and the Ciber de Salud Mental (CiberSAM), by the team led by researcher Susana Carmona and with the collaboration of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), aims to The nucleus accumbens undergoes important changes in its volume during pregnancy Specifically, its volume decreases.
Research suggests that these changes are directly related to instinctive maternal behavior. This research can be consulted in the journal “Psychoneuroendocrinology” (February 2020).
As we see, the changes in the brain during motherhood are mainly due to the aforementioned “hormonal boom”, which mainly affects the mesolimbic-dopaminergic system of the brain, as well as other secondary areas of the brain. These changes cause the mother’s behavior to be organized to attend almost exclusively to her baby (its development and survival, fundamentally).
“Addiction” to the baby (infatuation)
The changes in the brain during motherhood make us think of a true “addiction” towards the baby, on the part of the mother, since Many of the brain areas that do so in the face of addiction are activated (for example sex, alcohol, smoking…).
Furthermore, in the face of an addiction, all the structures and different brain systems are coordinated so that the individual obtains the reinforcement and/or motivation that they crave.
But, What does this “addiction” translate into, at the brain level? In a study developed by the Valencian Infertility Institute (IVI) of Barcelona, carried out with 25 women (first-time mothers) and 20 control women (who were not mothers), a decrease in the volume of the nucleus accumbens was observed, through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The decrease in the size of this structure is related to the aforementioned addiction.
Decreased nucleus accumbens
The results of this study, which are in line with the results obtained by the same team three years earlier, in 2017, through a study published in Nature Neurosciencereveal that The decrease and changes in the nucleus accumbens allow the baby to be a more striking, pleasant and relevant stimulus for the mother.
In turn, this fact causes the mother’s behavior to modify and be directed towards protecting, caring for and loving her baby. These behaviors, logically, would not appear “on their own” in a woman who has not been a mother.
Necessary addiction?
We have seen how the changes in the brain during motherhood involve, fundamentally, an addiction or “infatuation” towards the baby, which causes a series of instinctive behaviors to be unleashed in the mother, aimed at promoting her integrity and her life. (of the baby).
In line with all this, we find a very interesting idea from the psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner, which establishes that For a baby to develop properly, there must be at least one adult madly in love with it
Natural pregnancy, in vitro and adoption
A question that may arise in relation to changes in the brain during motherhood is the following: Do these occur in all “types” of mothers? That is, in mothers who conceive naturally, in mothers who have undergone in vitro fertilization… well, the answer is yes, in all of them.
On the other hand, in fathers and mothers who adopt, this infatuation or “addiction” that we talked about would occur, although hormonal factors would not play the same role, logically. Neither would brain changes, which would not occur. In cases of adoption, therefore, more social and interactive factors would intervene with the baby
