“Processes can be beneficial when caring for multiple children,” but they also impact mental health. “Each pregnancy leaves a unique mark on the female brain.”
The second pregnancy causes “unique” changes in the maternal brain that can improve the ability to guide attentionindicates a new study from the Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC), in the Netherlands.
Researchers had already discovered that a woman’s brain undergoes changes during a first pregnancy to prepare for motherhood, but this new study suggests that, in a second pregnancy, specific changes occur associated with pregnancy. “goal-oriented attention and task demands”.
According to the authors, the results also help to understand why some women develop mental health problems in the perinatal period.
A small child is almost lying on its mother’s lap, who is in an advanced stage of pregnancy and holding her belly. The child puts his ear to the belly, as if listening to the heartbeat. Most women become pregnant throughout their lives. And, in 2023, the global average was 2.3 children per woman.
Researchers from the laboratory that studies the so-called pregnancy brain (“pregnant brain”), at the University Medical Center in Amsterdam, had already concluded that, during the first pregnancy, the areas of the brain linked to self-reflection and understanding the emotions of children undergo changes, changes that can favor maternal care.
To reach these results, the researchers followed 110 women: some became mothers for the first time, another had their second child and a third group remained childless. Brain imaging tests carried out before and after pregnancies made it possible to precisely map the changes.
In women who had a second pregnancy, more changes were observed in brain networks related to the control of attention and the response to sensory stimuli.
“These processes can be beneficial when caring for multiple children,” said researcher Milou Straathof, responsible for analyzing the data.
The study did not draw conclusions about brain changes in women who suffered miscarriages. Still, the authors say the data suggests that the main changes in the brain occur late in pregnancy.
Impacts on mental health
The study also identified an association between brain changes in the first and second pregnancies and the development of maternal mental disorders.
Worldwide, around 10% of pregnant women and 13% of women in the postpartum period experience some mental disorder, especially depression, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Research from the University Medical Center Amsterdam indicates that structural changes in the outer layer of the brain — the cerebral cortex — are associated with perinatal depressionthat is, to depression that occurs during pregnancy or after childbirth.
Among women who became mothers for the first time, the changes were more linked to the state of mental health after the birth of the baby. In those experiencing their second pregnancy, the changes showed a stronger association with mental health during pregnancy.
“With this, we show for the first time that the brain not only changes in the first pregnancy, but also in the second,” said Elseline Hoekzema, head of the Pregnancy Brain Lab at the University Medical Center Amsterdam.
“In the first and second pregnancy, the brain changes in similar and unique ways. Each pregnancy leaves a unique mark on the female brain,” he added.
Although the authors stress the need for more research, they believe the results could contribute to improving the care of mothers by deepening understanding of how and why postpartum depression develops in some women.
“It’s important that we understand how the brain adapts to motherhood,” said Hoekzema.
