Did you know that giving birth causes your brain to actually
grow larger? Research has shown that changes occur in a woman's
brain during childbirth and continue during motherhood. That's
important because the area of the brain that is growing helps in
developing the skills it takes to be a good mother. Through
these studies, scientists hope to better understand what
motivates mothers to care for their babies. While many women
seem to instantly develop the instinct to protect and nurture
their child, some women lack what is traditionally thought of as
a normal response to their child. "With this research, we hope
to better understand how to support moms who don't naturally
experience a brain reward response when they interact with their
baby," said Dr. Lane Strathearn, a developmental pediatrician at
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In the future,
this field of study could lead to treatments that help women
with mental illness or who lack certain types of normal brain
responses. "We're currently