Author(s): Dr Sarah McKay

Parenting & Pedagogy

Eighty-five per cent of women worldwide eventually become mothers, and most would agree it has profoundly changed their lives.

Exciting new science shows that pregnancy and motherhood bring on unique and profound changes to women's brains.In this remarkable book, neuroscientist Dr Sarah McKay weaves together baby brain research, and interviews with a new generation of neuroscientists and women's health specialists - many of whom are mothers - with personal experiences from parents concerning baby brain, nesting, maternal instinct, social support, anxiety and sleep.

In highly readable bite-sized sections - perfect for parents who have a lot of demands on their time - you'll see how pregnancy's hormonal shifts trigger dramatic brain rewiring. The rewiring of brain networks underlying self-identity, reading social cues, motivation and empathy propels mothers into a state of heightened sensitivity to respond to and bond with their babies.

You'll learn how mothers' and newborns' brains interact, that traces of parenting endure in midlife brains, and that elderly mothers' brains show resilience to ageing. And that the benefits of baby brain show up for non-birth parents - even fatherhood has a profound effect on the hormones and brains of men.

Baby Brain is an engrossing and informative book for anyone who has become a mother or who parents or spends time with children.