Having a child is a consuming event for both parents. In fact, this consumption process for mothers starts when the baby is still in the mother’s womb and continues throughout the mother’s life (our dear mothers). Of course, there are many consumer aspects of having a baby for fathers as well.
A recent study found that men’s brains shrink after their first child is born and fathered. Of course, a metaphor we refer to as shrinking does not shrink physically. Anyway, let’s take a look at the details below.
Neurological structure of men’s brains changes after first child
Previous studies on mothers after they had children had revealed that their brains had changed to a certain extent in their neurological structure. This study investigated first-time fathers and found that, on average, new fathers lose 1% or 2% of cortical volume, just like mothers.
The ‘downsizing’ is happening in the ‘default mode network’ of the brain, which is related to parenting. The loss of cortical volume may sound bad at first, but this allows parents to form a stronger connection with their children.
For example, similar cortical losses in mothers enable their children to have greater neural responses and to form stronger child-parent bonds. Previous studies have shown subtle neurological changes in the male brain following the birth of a child, but for the first time, this detailed study revealed that fathers’ brains ‘shrink’ in a similar way to mothers.
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