Mother Brain

Chelsea Conaboy

'Promises a new route through the parenting wilds' Sunday Times
'Powerful, honest and reassuring' Professor Gina Rippon
'A vital new narrative . . . Meticulously researched, compelling and compassionate' Elinor Cleghorn
'A compelling book that upends popular notions about becoming a parent . . . reminds us why scientific research is a feminist issue' New Stateman
'I wish I'd had this book when I first became a mother' Emma Jane Unsworth

New parents undergo major structural and functional brain changes, driven by hormones and the deluge of stimuli a baby provides. These neurobiological changes help all parents - birthing or otherwise - learn how to meet their child's needs. Yet this emerging science is mostly absent from the public conversation about parenthood. Untangling insidious myths from complicated realities, Chelsea Conaboy reveals that the story that exists in the science today is far more meaningful than the idea that mothers spring into being by instinct. Weaving the latest neuroscience and social psychology together with new reporting, she uncovers unexpected upsides, generations of scientific neglect and an empowering new narrative of parenthood.