Becoming a mother is like discovering the existence of a strange new room in the house where you already live. A lot of things do change but one of the most intimate things that changes is emotion, which is largely neurological. In animals and humans during the postpartum period there is an enormous desire to take care of their own child.

Even before a woman gives birth, pregnancy alters the structure of her brain. Scientists have begun to uncover the links between the way a woman acts with what is happening in her prefrontal cortex, midbrain, parietal lobes and elsewhere. Gray matter becomes more concentrated and activity increases in regions of the brain that control empathy, anxiety, and social interactions.

Just by staring at her baby, the reward centers of a mother’s brain will light up, scientists have found in several studies. This maternal brain circuitry influences the loving way a mother speaks to her baby, how attentive she is, and the affection she feels for her baby.

One particular region of the brain that helps drive mothering behaviors and mood is called the amygdala. The amygdala helps us process memory and drives emotional reactions like fear, anxiety, and aggression. In a normal brain, activity in the amygdala grows in the weeks and months after giving birth. This growth is correlated with how a new mother behaves- an enhanced amygdala makes her hypersensitive to her baby’s needs.

Mothers experiencing higher levels of anxiety and lower mood demonstrated less amygdala response to their own infant and reported more stressful and more negatively balanced parenting attitudes and experiences. An estimated 1 in 6 women suffer from postpartum depression and many more develop behaviors like compulsively washing hands and obsessively checking whether the baby is breathing.

Much of what is happening in a new mother’s amygdala has to do with the hormones flowing to it. Oxytocin, which surges during pregnancy, has a high concentration of receptors in this region of the brain. The more the mother is involved in childcare the greater the increase in oxytocin. Oxytocin increases as women look at their babies, hear their coos and cries, or snuggle with their babies. Research has shown that breastfeeding mothers show a greater level of brain response to a baby’s cry compared to formula-feeding mothers. These blueprint functions of the brain are automatically primed for mothering behavior even before a woman has children.

CHIROPRACTIC AND THE VAGUS NERVE

Studies show that regular neurologically-based chiropractic care can have a positive affect on brain activity. The key to this is through the autonomic nervous system- more specifically the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve has been referred to as the “rest and digest” nerve because of the crucial role it plays in those functions. It also helps regulate our social and emotional regulation.

Chiropractic adjustments can help activate and stimulate the vagus nerve by removing subluxations (stress stuck on). This stuck stress mode triggers “fight or flight” brain responses from overstimulation of the amygdala. When this happens, function of the prefrontal cortex- known for executive decision making and stress controllability, is decreased. This relationship is critical for stress response, emotional regulation, and memory formation during postpartum.

Pathways to Family Wellness, Issue 49, Spring 2016