Pregnancy Brain. 6 Tips to Combat 'Baby Brain'

Feeling like the baby has somehow hijacked your brain lately? You may be experiencing “pregnancy brain.”

Pregnancy brain, also called ‘baby brain’ or ‘momnesia’, can cause forgetfulness, trouble focusing, difficulty making decisions, and brain fog. Memory loss during pregnancy is something that pregnant and postpartum women joke about, swapping funny stories of leaving their keys in the fridge or double booking themselves repeatedly—but it can be quite frustrating. Most women can agree that their cognitive function decreases during the time between pregnancy and postpartum.

Is Pregnancy Brain Real?

Baby Brain is scientifically proven to be real. Between 50 and 80 percent of women reported experiencing a decrease in cognitive function during pregnancy (a.k.a. pregnancy brain). 

In fact, the structure of your brain changes during pregnancy, so perhaps this is part of the changes in cognition. Also, when you think of all the effort going on inside your body to grow a small human, it’s really not surprising that you might not feel 100% sharp at all times and experience memory loss during pregnancy.

What You Can Do About Pregnancy Brain

There are some things you can do to avoid pregnancy brain fog and keep your brain power at its best during pregnancy and postpartum.

1. Take our postnatal vitamin. Common practice has been to continue taking a prenatal vitamin after giving birth, but that is like using your bike to travel cross-country. A prenatal vitamin is designed differently with a focus on your little one’s development, not your health. Our postnatal vitamin is all about you. It contains all of the key ingredients listed above that you’re most likely lacking. It helps with your mood, energy levels, and focus, and prevents further depletion that can occur through breastfeeding.

2. Sleep. Make sure you’re getting enough zzz’s every night, as lack of sleep definitely impacts your cognitive function. If getting sleep is a challenge, we have some pointers here.

3. Diet. You’ve probably noticed even before pregnancy that when you’re not eating a balanced diet, you’re not as alert. Eating healthy, nutritious foods fuels your body and keeps you on the ball

4. Exercise. Regular exercise improves memory and cognition. It also helps beat pregnancy-related insomnia and prepares your body for delivery.

5. Try Energy Boost. If you’re low on energy and that seems to be exacerbating your pregnancy brain, our Energy Boost Drink Mix is a good pick. It’s completely natural, pregnancy-safe, and will help perk you up without a crash afterwards or affecting your nighttime sleep (unlike caffeine).

6. Start rocking the reminders. Now’s the time to start getting organized with phone reminders, taking notes, using an agenda—whatever works best for you. Simplify where you can, like by subscribing for products you get on a regular basis (hello, prenatals). Just one less thing to remember!

We’ll let you get back to finding your keys now. (Have you checked the fridge?)

Image credit: Renee Shah