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Help! I Have Baby Brain!

When Pregnancy Puts You in a Fog

By Shannon McKelden

Feeling fuzzy? Forgetful? Out of sorts? Are you pregnant? Many soon-to-be moms report these symptoms during pregnancy.

"Hoo boy, did I ever have that," says Sharon Wren, mother of two boys from East Moline, Ill. "Actually, that's how I knew [son] No. 2 was coming, even before I took the test. I said 'Either I'm losing my mind or I'm pregnant again.'"

With her first pregnancy, Wren reports that she once forgot where she lived – after living there for years. "I didn't panic because I knew I had my driver's license in my purse and I could always look up my address," she says.

According to Dr. Robert Greene, a reproductive endocrinologist and OB/GYN from Redding, Calif., some common brain-related symptoms of pregnancy include forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, fatigue and reduced coordination. "These are caused by natural shifts in hormones that are usually benign," says Dr. Greene, author of Perfect Hormone Balance for Pregnancy (Three Rivers Press, 2007).

We can't know how long "baby brain" has been around, but judging by responses to requests for these experiences, it's very common now. And it's probably not pregnancy that has changed, but that women have changed.

"These symptoms are probably more noticeable today as women tend to push themselves harder," Dr. Greene says. "Maybe even more important, many women don't have as much support from friends or family as they did in previous generations. To compound matters further, our diet has changed dramatically over the last 50 years – and generally not for the better. Biology hasn't changed but everything else has."

"I was in a perpetual dream state where time stood still," says Shannon Rosenberg of Wesley Hills, N.Y. "My twins became my clock and I constantly lost track of what day it was. When I noticed I was missing appointments because I couldn't remember which day it was, I started to 'X' days on the calendar every night before I got into bed."

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