It’s complicated, researchers say.
When I noticed our 14-year-old son drinking more water than usual, I commented to my husband that sudden thirst may be a sign of diabetes. We’re in the midst of a heat wave, he countered. A few days later our son seemed unusually tired, and I again mentioned the possibility of diabetes. Our son’s summer days were filled with sports and building sets for a play, my husband responded.
But is there such a thing as maternal instinct? Not exactly, scientists say. It is true that while pregnant, breastfeeding and caring for a new baby, mothers undergo hormonal changes that prime them for caretaking, says Helena Rutherford, a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine’s Child Study Center. These hormones, including oxytocin or the ‘love’ hormone, encourage bonding between the infant and mother.
“It’s a process. It’s not a switch — I don’t think the science backs up the existence of maternal instinct,” says anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, who has authored books on family bonds includingThe brain undergoes significant transformations during pregnancy, including structural changes that can linger up to six years afterward, says Elseline Hoekzema, a neuroscientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
It's possible that the more volume a woman loses in a key region of the brain's reward circuit, the stronger this region reacts after seeing her newborn, according to a 2020These changes during pregnancy may help a mom care for her baby — a phenomenon also observed in other mammals. For example, rat mothers become better at catching crickets. As for humans, these adaptations enable important maternal skills, such as recognizing her infant’s needs or spotting an external threat.
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