Publishers Weekly
★ 08/08/2022
Journalist Conaboy debuts with an illuminating examination of the changes the brain goes through during parenthood. Digging into neurological and cognitive research on becoming a parent, Conaboy contends that caregiving isn’t as instinctual as often assumed. She debunks the “maternal instinct,” citing research that found parents who don’t carry their children undergo similar neural changes to those who do, regardless of gender, which suggests that “ ‘maternal behavior’ is... a basic human characteristic.” These changes take time to develop, Conaboy writes, reporting on research that found “circuitry involved in social cognition” strengthens in new parents as they learn to decipher their child’s nonverbal cues. She looks at the evolutionary benefits of the universal human capacity to bond with and care for a child regardless of one’s biological relationship with them, noting that some scientists believe this ability might have been the “fundamental characteristic that set humans apart.” As for the policy implications of her research, she asserts the need for universal paid family leave based on studies that found it lowers rates of postpartum depression, preterm births, and infant mortality. Conaboy’s detailed research and eye-opening myth-busting add up to a cogent argument that “all human adults... are fundamentally changed by the act of parenting.” Surprising and enlightening, this should be required reading for all caregivers. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Digging into neurological and cognitive research on becoming a parent, Conaboy contends that caregiving isn’t as instinctual as often assumed…Conaboy’s detailed research and eye-opening myth-busting add up to a cogent argument…Surprising and enlightening, this should be required reading for all caregivers.”
—Publishers Weekly, *starred review*
“[Conaboy] deploys her journalistic skill to bring this complex subject to a readable level…Conaboy’s book isn’t a parenting manual but rather a work of pop science jam-packed with neurobiological research; it’s both fascinating and surprisingly readable…Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal, *starred review*
“[A]n engaging book debut…The author deftly translates scientific studies—by neurobiologists, anthropologists, primatologists, psychologists, and endocrinologists, among others—into accessible prose that speaks to needs and anxieties that many parents share.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Mother Brain offers a science-based reassurance that ‘unlike a rigid instinct, [parental aptitude] also can be repaired and redirected’ by any motivated caregiver.”
—Science Magazine
“I learned so much from Mother Brain—about neuroscience, yes. But also about pernicious mythmaking, and the vast chasm between the reductive, sexist lines we’re sold about motherhood versus the science and stories of how families are actually made, how brains and hearts and bodies are transformed by pregnancy and parenthood. Chelsea Conaboy has written a generous, engaging, deeply researched book that will change the way you think about your own parents, your children, and yourself.”
—Rebecca Traister, author of Good and Mad
“Mother Brain captivated me from page one. Chelsea Conaboy fearlessly pours herself into the silence surrounding the open secret of mothering and caregiving—how we are profoundly remade by it, in both beautiful and destabilizing ways.”
—Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor and Like a Mother
“Conaboy’s fearlessly researched and deeply empathetic Mother Brain blew my mind, and I don’t mean that just figuratively. Every page pruned away sexist, guilt-inducing assumptions about the 'maternal instinct,' wiring me up for new growth as a parent and a feminist. Even as Conaboy dissects complicated studies and points out what’s still missing, there is so much wonder and hope (and humor!) here. If every new parent, boss, and lawmaker read this book, I swear, we would make a century of progress overnight.”
—Lauren Smith Brody, author of The Fifth Trimester
“Part memoir, part scientific sleuthing, Mother Brain is storytelling at its very best. This book is deeply engrossing, not only because it untangles so many mysteries, but because it helps us reframe what we thought we already knew – about motherhood, about parenting, about ourselves. This book is a game-changer.”
—Amy Ellis Nutt, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The Teenage Brain and Becoming Nicole
“Chelsea Conaboy shines a bright light on the truth of parenthood, and the way it changes us. Mother Brain is a book about neuroscience—but it’s also, ultimately, a book about the mysteries of the human heart: how we become ourselves, and how we are transformed by the mysteries of pregnancy, birth, and childrearing. A book for anyone raising a child, or who ever was one. Mother Brain is insightful, generous, and wise.”
—Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders and Good Boy
“Becoming a parent often comes with an influx of overwhelming feelings, and beliefs that result in guilt and shame. Conaboy dissects the research of what is truly going on inside our brains through storytelling to help us remove the unrealistic parenting expectations and get true support.”
—Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play and Find Your Unicorn Space
“Chelsea Conaboy’s Mother Brain takes direct aim at the damaging and false narratives of morality and biology that have shaped our thinking about women and mothers for centuries. In a book that is both fascinating and relatable, Conaboy shows how emerging science is disrupting hide-bound notions of a ‘maternal instinct.’ A must-read not only for parents and caregivers, but for the policymakers and organizational leaders who have far to go to create the kind of world where caregivers can thrive.”
—Brigid Schulte, New York Times bestselling author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play When No One has the Time
“Mother Brain uses science to confirm a truth known to adoptive and other non-gestational parents: becoming a parent rewires our brains to love and care for children, just like biological parents. This physiological change anchors us to our children and makes space for society to see us as real parents. Thank you, Chelsea Conaboy, for including our mother brain in your tome about parenthood.”
—Nefertiti Austin, author of Motherhood So White
“I wish I’d had this book when I first became a mother. If I’d known what was coming, I might not have been so blindsided by how different I felt in my own head. Chelsea Conaboy has done a great service to parents and brains everywhere…I am so grateful for her work, insight, courage and generosity.”
—Emma Jane Unsworth, author of After the Storm
“Chelsea Conaboy presents a vital new narrative of what it means to parent, and to care. Meticulously researched and deeply personal, Mother Brain explores how parenting and caregiving shapes us, changes us, and makes us human. Compelling and compassionate, this is the book we need as we look towards a future where parenting, in all its diversity, is valued and celebrated.”
—Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women
“An awesomely detailed and refreshingly positive review of brain science as a rich source of explanations for the often surprising, commonly bewildering, routinely criticized experiences of parenthood…powerful, honest, and reassuring. A great read for beleaguered new (and old) parents.”
—Professor Gina Rippon, author of The Gendered Brain
“I absolutely loved Mother Brain. If I had read it in the early days of my recovery from postpartum psychosis, it would have been more than medicine—reassuring, legitimizing, and qualifying all those negative feelings that I thought were ‘just me.’”
—Laura Dockrill, author of What Have I Done?
“A fascinating insight into a hugely complex but important topic. Mother Brain is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand more about how and why the maternal brain changes during such an important life event. Conaboy writes in a compelling and accessible way that will help so many people understand themselves better.”
—Melissa Hogenboom, author of The Motherhood Complex
“[When] Conaboy was working on her book…moms of her acquaintance assumed she was writing about this mommy brain phenomenon. While the book touches on studies that have found some small and temporary effects on memory during pregnancy and the postpartum period, the real story she tells is far more interesting.”
—The Portland Press Herald
Library Journal
★ 05/01/2022
In her first book, Conaboy, a journalist specializing in personal and public health, explores what neuroscience shows about the way a parent's brain is affected by giving birth. Neurobiologists recognize and are documenting the many ways in which giving birth reorganizes the brain, actually changing neural feedback loops that affect how a person responds to social cues and the world around them and how they regulate emotions; scientists now consider this crucial postpartum time a major developmental stage. Conaboy (who was part of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning team covering the Boston Marathon bombing) deploys her journalistic skill to bring this complex subject to a readable level. She also attempts to apply a broader lens to the topic of birth and "motherhood," most of the research about which is overly focused on white cisgender heterosexual women. Conaboy points out other data that shows that transgender men and nonbinary parents who give birth also experience a change in their brains during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Conaboy's book isn't a parenting manual but rather a work of pop science jam-packed with neurobiological research; it's both fascinating and surprisingly readable. VERDICT Highly recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
2022-06-21
How parenting affects body and mind.
Conaboy, a journalist specializing in health issues, makes an engaging book debut with an informative, well-researched look at the physical and psychological changes caused by engaging in “the life-supporting practice of mothering.” Drawing on interviews with parents, scientists, and medical practitioners; examining abundant research; and reflecting on her own experiences as the mother of two sons, the author depicts motherhood as “a distinct developmental stage with long-lasting effects, in which each of the body’s systems thought to regulate social behavior, emotion, and immune responses” are dramatically affected. Noting the dearth of scientific studies about parents who are not “straight, cisgender people who share DNA with their child,” Conaboy focuses largely on birth mothers while also reporting on the experiences of fathers and other relatives involved in caregiving. In a historical and cultural overview of assumptions about motherhood, she underscores the social, political, and religious forces that gave rise to “the fallacy of the maternal instinct,” which has left some women feeling inadequate and guilty. She roundly debunks this notion, taken as scientific fact by lawmakers who want to limit reproductive rights and maternity benefits by arguing that motherhood is women’s destiny and that mothers are innately constituted as caregivers. Conaboy shares research in neurobiology and endocrinology that has revealed complex ways that pregnancy, birth, and caregiving reorganize the brain, “altering the neural feedback loops that dictate how we react to the world around us, how we read and respond to other people, and how we regulate our own emotions.” These changes occur, in varying degrees, in both men and women. The author deftly translates scientific studies—by neurobiologists, anthropologists, primatologists, psychologists, and endocrinologists, among others—into accessible prose that speaks to needs and anxieties that many parents share. Adapting to motherhood, she asserts, is “a bodily challenge and a logistical challenge” that lasts a lifetime.
Useful, well-informed encouragement for new and prospective parents.
