# Do women get less intelligent after giving birth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460 "2010-09-03T03:07:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/21 "2010-09-03T18:13:58Z")
I took the GRE at 21, during my senior year of college. I took it a second time, when I was 29, I’d been out of school for 7 years, and my first child was 4 months old. My verbal and quantitative scores were exactly the same, +/- 10 points. My analytical reasoning score?? Down 250 points. Yikes. I’d like to think my analytic score would go back up if I took it again, but I’m not willing to take the exam again to find out. I’m inclined to chalk my “loss of intelligence” up to a combination of lack of sleep, hormonal weirdness, and lack of practice thinking about anything very complex. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/22 "2010-09-03T18:25:34Z")
Well, Sarah Palin has 5 kids, so… ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/23 "2010-09-03T19:38:15Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Well, Sarah Palin has 5 kids, so… Ok, I’m no fan of SP, but…Seriously? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/24 "2010-09-04T01:57:39Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Well, Sarah Palin has 5 kids, so… **MODERATOR NOTE** **steronz**. You’re in General Questions. Political shots are out of place. Stifle yourself. **samclem** Moderator, GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/25 "2010-09-04T02:18:03Z")
Your interests change. All of a sudden, conversations about poop become interesting. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/26 "2010-09-04T02:29:39Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > > [@UDS](#): > > > > \ > > > > But don’t worry. After about twenty years or so it gets better. > > Just in time for the swiss cheese brain of perimenopause. 🙂 Is THAT what this is? OP: I definitely spent my son’s earliest years with the vague notion that I had at one time been much smarter. I agree with those who attribute it to diminished sleep and increased worry. With a baby and then toddler you have to be alert even when you’re asleep. I’m in a sort of reprieve period now that I expect will end when he starts to drive in a couple years. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/27 "2010-09-04T02:49:04Z")
I’m a lot better now that my kids are 7 and 10. But yeah, we call it mommy brain and it’s mainly because 80% of your existence is now totally dedicated to baby maintenance. If you’re not actually looking at and interacting with the baby, your brain is on a little loop that goes “_Where is the baby? Is the baby breathing? Who is caring for the baby? Is there danger? Does the baby need food, diaper, new clothing?_ …5 second break to think about something else… _Where is the baby? Is the baby breathing?_” and so on, ad infinitum. There’s just not that much brainpower left over. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/28 "2010-09-04T12:34:51Z")
I always suspected brain cells leaked out with breast milk. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/29 "2010-09-04T14:52:14Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > I’m a lot better now that my kids are 7 and 10. But yeah, we call it mommy brain and it’s mainly because 80% of your existence is now totally dedicated to baby maintenance. If you’re not actually looking at and interacting with the baby, your brain is on a little loop that goes “_Where is the baby? Is the baby breathing? Who is caring for the baby? Is there danger? Does the baby need food, diaper, new clothing?_ …5 second break to think about something else… _Where is the baby? Is the baby breathing?_” and so on, ad infinitum. > > There’s just not that much brainpower left over. Yes, this is IT, precisely. Non-parents don’t understand this, but this is true. Later on in life, this can continue. Insert “has baby had an accident with the car”, “is baby being bullied in school”, “has baby been raped and murdered because it’s almost 5 a.m. and baby isn’t home yet”, “is baby becoming a druggie slacker”, “why is baby out, again, with that utter boob he/she can’t seem to get enough of”…It just doesn’t end! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/30 "2010-09-04T16:11:40Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I’m a single dad and I’ve always felt like parenthood has made me less intelligent due to a couple of reasons. Like everyone else mentioned, it’s freaking exhausting. My kid is 4 now so it’s a little better, but now she talks to me every 3 seconds. I enjoy it, but can’t complete a thought of my own a lot of the time. When she was younger, she was constantly needing milk, food, help with clothes, shoes, potty, reaching a toy, help figuring out the toy, help fixing the toy, help showing her how to do something and help with about 1000 other things. I remember days where I wished I could sit down for more than 30 seconds without having to get back up. > > I used to get interested in a subject, buy a couple textbooks on it and read them front to back. Now, my mind is always thinking about toys, parks, daycare, bathtime, dinner, clothes, etc and I buy paperbacks and give up about 1/3 of the way through. I can barely squeeze in the things I really love so when it comes to something new that could actually exercise my brain, give me the cliff notes and make them extremely interesting or I’m out. Feeling your pain, bro … well, your fog. I just told my brain: “See ya when the kids go off to college!” And now one’s in college, and I’m starting to be able to _think_ about _concepts_ again… it’s great. So hang in there. Oh, and **dangermom** and **salinqmind** , the worrying about older kids is less debilitating. I’ve got a kid living in SF on a friend’s couch for a while. But I don’t have to worry about him breathing… I doubt the White Slavers have done him in… yet. So my word of hope to all is: It Gets Easier! ---
**Author:** ![lisalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@lisalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisalan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/31 "2010-09-04T16:15:52Z")
I have 3 kids and my IQ score goes down with each child I have. Its called baby brain when you’re pregnant and mommy brain after. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/32 "2010-09-05T00:29:41Z")
I’ll put it this way–I have two kids under the age of three, and yesterday I went to the store with my pants on inside out. And didn’t even care that much when I discovered my mistake. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/33 "2010-09-06T01:39:25Z")
One of my good friends is a lawyer, and she had her kids later in life than I did…I think her oldest is ten years younger than my oldest. At some point, maybe when she was pregnant with Baby#2, I mentioned pregnancy brain to her…I think I was asking her specifically if she’d noticed an inability to concentrate at work…and she said yes. When I told her this was totally normal for a pregnant woman, she nearly cried with relief. She really had been worried about herself. I told her to think about it in terms that some portion of your brain has to be busy building a whole other human being now, while still maintaining rational thought and your own bodily functions. She said that made her feel so much better just to know it wasn’t just her. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/34 "2010-09-09T21:42:39Z")
But was she still working as a lawyer while affected by this problem? An admitted > [@](#): > > … inability to concentrate at work… might not have been very good for her clients. Was she in fact able to work properly, or perhaps leaving work to colleagues to do? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/35 "2010-09-09T22:04:24Z")
From what I hear, parents get even stupider when their children reach their teens. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/36 "2010-09-09T23:27:53Z")
Of course, I can’t remember if I saw this on the news or some documentary, or what, but at one point I heard that a woman’s brain shrinks during pregnancy (something to do with the baby needing the nutrients or whatever) and this is what causes the beginning of the “baby/mommy brain”. The mother’s brain is supposed to expand back to it’s “normal” size six months after birth. Does anyone else recall this? And where the heck did I see or hear it?? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460/37 "2010-09-10T03:57:38Z")
Hmm, although I’m a guy with “kid brain”, I was starting to believe there was probably a “pregnancy brain” that was the result or hormones and changes in the mother’s body, but there is actually a [study](http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/memory_lapse_it_may_be_pregnancy_brain) that found it’s just sleep deprivation and a more hectic lifestyle. Relevant quote “Your IQ doesn’t change, but your priorities sure do.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-get-less-intelligent-after-giving-birth/552460.md?page=1)