By now, we all must be aware of how a mother's body changes during and even after pregnancy. What comes next is a challenging phase, called postpartum. However, it is not just the mothers, but dads too go through postpartum depression. As per the UT Southwestern Medical Center, 1 in 10 dads struggle with postpartum depression (PPD) and anxiety. According to a 2019 study published in Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, a peer reviewed journal providing evidence-based information, titled Postpartum Depression in Men by Jonathan R Scarff defines postpartum depression as an episode of major depressive disorder occurring soon after the birth of a child. While it is frequently reported in mothers, but can also occur in father. However, there is no established criteria for this in men, although it could present over the course of a year, with symptoms of irritability restrict emotions, and depression.

Why Do Dads Experience PPD?

Fathers can also experience postpartum depression (PPD) due to various factors, including a history of depression, relationship conflicts, financial stress, and maternal depression. Sleep deprivation and disrupted circadian rhythms, known to affect maternal mental health, may also contribute to PPD in men. Additionally, hormonal changes during and after pregnancy play a role. Studies suggest that lower testosterone levels in new fathers reduce aggression and enhance responsiveness to a baby’s cries, while increased estrogen levels promote more engaged parenting. However, these hormonal shifts can also increase vulnerability to depression. Low testosterone is directly linked to depressive symptoms, and imbalances in estrogen, prolactin, vasopressin, and cortisol may hinder father-infant bonding, further exacerbating PPD symptoms.

In fact the study also goes on to note that fathers can experience prenatal depression like mothers too. While it depends on the kind of environment they are in, here are some of the common reasons why dads feel this way:

Hormonal Changes: As per a 2014 study published in the American Journal of Human Biology, titled Prenatal hormones in first-time expectant parents: Longitudinal changes and within-couple correlations, showed that fathers experience hormonal changes during and after their partner's pregnancy. The main reason is the decline in testosterone.

Feeling Disconnected: While dads also want to be part of the newborn experience, the baby usually spends most of the time with the mother. It may make them feel like they are on the "outside".

Other reasons include the pressure that a father feels. Parenting is not easy, it adds on to financial pressure, and this thought could also lead to depression. Especially, if depression runs in father's family, he is more likely to feel depressed with these changes around him. Most new parents underestimate the role lack of sleep plays in their lives. Staying up all night trying to get your baby to eat or sleep can leave you feeling sleep deprived, which could be one of the reasons why the father too may feel tired and depressed.

What Can Be Done?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that postpartum depression screenings not be solely the responsibility of obstetrician, and it must be done by pediatricians too to incorporate maternal health. However, fathers too should go for such screenings. In fact, in 2020, an editorial in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics called on pediatricians to assess the mental health of all new parents regardless of gender.

The ray of hope here is that more and more people are talking about it and are able to recognize the depression dads also go through. The change is not just for moms, but also for dads, thus it is important that they also are taken care of.

We may now have a clearer explanation behind ‘mommy brain’ or ‘momnesia’. Walking into a room and forgetting why you went there or losing track of a conversation is not simply a side effect of becoming a mother.

A new study has discerned a possible explanation for the phenomenon commonly known as “momnesia,” “pregnancy brain” or “mommy brain”. The findings were published in Science Bulletin.

According to the study, persistent high levels of estrogen during pregnancy may disrupt a particular brain circuit involved in memory.

Researchers found that high estrogen affected communication between the hypothalamus and hippocampus, two brain regions involved in regulating different aspects of brain function, including memory.

What Is “Momnesia”?

Pregnancy-related forgetfulness is generally considered to be temporary changes in memory and cognition during pregnancy.

Researchers say forgetfulness can become noticeable in late pregnancy stage and may continue well into the postpartum period before improving.

Women may have trouble recalling names or words, keeping track of events or completing everyday tasks.

According to the author of the study Dr Zheng Sun of Baylor College of Medicine, about 80% of pregnant women report these changes. The researchers say that this condition does not appear to be a decline in intelligence or cognitive ability.

According to Reuters, Dr Yanlin He, another study leader, said, “The important point is that pregnancy does not simply make someone ‘less intelligent.’ The effects appear to be more subtle and specific to certain cognitive tasks.”

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Link Between Pregnancy Hormones And Memory

During pregnancy, estrogen levels increase drastically and reach its peak during the third trimester.

The researchers focused on estrogen receptor alpha in neurons located in the lateral hypothalamus. In experiments based on mice who were exposed to high estrogen level conditions like in pregnancy, these neurons became more active.

Those neurons send signals to the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory formation. The researchers found that increased activity in this region suppressed hippocampal activity and impaired performance on memory tests.

When researchers switched off the hypothalamus-to-hippocampus pathway, the memory problems in the mice were prevented. Activating the pathway, meanwhile, impaired memory even without elevated estrogen.

Removing estrogen receptors from the hypothalamic neurons also reversed the estrogen-related memory problems in the mice.

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Does Pregnancy Actually Make You Forgetful?

The researchers also assessed memory in 70 women, including women at different stages of pregnancy and women who were not pregnant.

Memory problems surfaced during late pregnancy stages and were linked with higher circulating estrogen levels. The researchers reported changes across several memory-related tasks.

But it is important to note that the researchers did not directly measure or manipulate this specific brain circuit in pregnant women. That means the human findings support the mechanism observed in mice, but do not prove that exactly the same circuit causes memory changes during human pregnancy.

The study has cemented evidence that many pregnant women experience forgetfulness, but it does not mean pregnancy causes permanent memory loss. For most women, pregnancy-related forgetfulness generally improves after childbirth.

The gut microbiome may influence how type 1 diabetes develops in children at high genetic risk, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that children whose gut microbiome stopped developing early had about three times the risk of developing type 1 diabetes or the immune attack that precedes it, compared with those whose microbiomes continued to mature.

The findings, published in Nature Metabolism, also showed that genetics influenced how strongly some microbiome patterns were associated with disease risk.

Type 1 diabetes affects more than 9 million people worldwide, including 1.8 million children and adolescents.

"Understanding the role of microbiome development in diabetes progression could lead to early prediction and prevention strategies, giving us more options to delay or even prevent the clinical manifestation of this disease," said co-corresponding author Daniel Wang, associate scientist with the Channing Division of Network Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine.

Study Tracked Children From Early Life

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The longitudinal observational TEDDY Study followed 887 children at high genetic risk of type 1 diabetes and analyzed more than 12,000 stool samples collected during their first six years.

Participants came from Finland, Germany, Sweden and the United States.

Because the immune system can attack insulin-producing cells years before symptoms appear, researchers counted both the first detection of this immune attack and a clinical diagnosis as disease-related outcomes.

They identified three microbiome development patterns: early-matured, late-matured and early-plateaued.

Children with early-matured microbiomes developed greater bacterial diversity during their first year. Those with late-matured microbiomes started more slowly but eventually caught up.

The early-plateaued group showed slow development that failed to catch up, with low bacterial diversity persisting through the first three years.

Early Plateau Linked To Higher Risk

Children with an early-plateaued microbiome had about three times the risk of developing type 1 diabetes or its preceding immune attack.

The association was also seen when the researchers analyzed the immune stage and clinical diagnosis separately.

The finding emerged from repeated stool sampling over time, suggesting a single microbiome snapshot could have missed the association.

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Microbiome Reflected Dietary Changes

The bacterial differences also reflected how the children's microbiomes adapted as their diets changed.

In the early-matured group, bacteria shifted sooner from milk-adapted species such as Bifidobacterium toward bacteria that break down dietary fiber.

In the early-plateaued group, the microbiome remained more focused on digesting milk sugars even after solid foods were introduced and relied on a narrower range of bacterial species.

Genetics Also Played a Role

Lead author Danyue Dong, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Mass General Brigham shared that "genetic background" can also influence the risk. Dong noted that combining microbiome and genetic information gives a more accurate picture.

"By analyzing interactions between the microbiome and host genetics, we found genetic variants, particularly those involved in antimicrobial and antiviral immune responses, that shaped how strongly the late-matured pattern was related to disease risk. The early-plateaued pattern, by contrast, carried higher risk regardless of genetic background," the expert said.

What It Means for Prevention

The study was observational, so it cannot establish that microbiome changes cause type 1 diabetes. Clinical trials are needed to determine whether modifying the microbiome can reduce disease risk.

The findings also came from children already at high genetic risk, meaning they may not apply to the general population.

Researchers say future pediatric care could potentially include microbiome testing during the first years of life. However, approaches such as dietary supplements would need to prove effective in clinical trials before being used for prevention.

A baby girl who reportedly appeared healthy after being born died at just 14 months after getting afflicted with a devastating, ultra-rare genetic neurological disorder that made her incapable of moving, feeding and interacting with the world around her.

Poppy Massey was born in February 2022 with no signs or symptoms of any illness. Her mother Kaylee Massey's told PEOPLE that they began having concerns when Poppy was around four months old and her vision did not appear to be developing normally.

Further testing disclosed abnormalities in the corpus callosum, followed by diagnoses including microcephaly and cerebral visual impairment.

She eventually got diagnosed with TBCD leukodystrophy, a rare inherited disorder affecting the brain and nervous system. Poppy died on April 30, 2023.

What Is TBCD Leukodystrophy?

TBCD disorder is a rare genetic condition that affects the brain and nervous system. It is caused by changes in both copies of a gene called TBCD, which is important for the normal development and functioning of nerve cells.

A child usually inherits one faulty copy of the gene from each parent. The parents typically do not have symptoms because they carry only one altered copy.

The condition can cause severe complications in brain development, movement, muscle strength and vision. Children may grow normally at first but then start showing symptoms like developmental delays, poor muscle, difficulties in feeding and moving, seizures, vision problems and loss of skills they had acquired previously.

TBCD-related neurodegenerative disease is sometimes grouped among leukodystrophies, a group of disorders that affect the brain's white matter.

White matter contains nerve fibres covered by a protective layer called myelin, which helps electrical signals travel efficiently through the brain and nervous system.

When this system is disrupted, communication between nerve cells can become impaired, contributing to the severe neurological symptoms seen in patients.

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Babies With TBCD Leukodystrophy May Initially Appear Healthy

One of the most difficult aspects of the disorder is that neurological problems may not be obvious immediately after birth. As the child's brain develops, symptoms can become more evident.

Brain imaging can show cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, a thin corpus callosum and impaired myelination. Some children subsequently experience stunted development.

In Poppy's case, her mother told PEOPLE that her condition deteriorated rapidly after diagnosis at nine months. She eventually lost the ability to suck and feed independently, lost movement in her legs and arms.

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TBCD Is An Exceptionally Rare & Severe Disorder

The nervous system depends on organised cellular structures to develop, transport materials and communicate between neurons. Disruption of the TBCD protein can interfere with these processes during early brain development.

The disease involves brain atrophy and impaired myelination, affecting movement, development, vision, swallowing and other neurological functions.

TBCD is exceptionally rare. The TBCD Foundation says fewer than 50 diagnosed cases are known worldwide, although the true number may be higher because rare genetic disorders may largely remain undiagnosed.

Some affected children have very severe symptoms right from the onset of the disease disease, while others may survive longer. It varies depending partly on the specific genetic variants involved. Currently, there is no proven cure or treatment for TBCD disorder.