Great Dads Are Made, Not Born: The Neuroscience of Fatherhood

When a woman becomes a mother, her brain physically reorganizes around the baby. We've known this for a while. What we didn't know (until recently) is that the same thing happens to dads.

Dr. Darby Saxbe is a neuroscientist and psychologist at USC, and one of the only researchers in the world scanning fathers' brains before and after they have kids. What she found: the same regions that change and streamline in new mothers change in new fathers. The more hands-on a dad is, the more pronounced those changes are.

Dr. Becky and Dr. Darby get into what "losing gray matter" actually means (it's not what it sounds like), how paternal postpartum depression shows up differently than maternal (and why it almost always goes unrecognized), and why the awkwardness of new fatherhood isn't a signal that you're wrong for the role.

Dr. Saxbe's new book is Dad Brain.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Skylight: Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky
LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside
Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
Little Spoon: Get 50% off your first order at littlespoon.com/rattled with code RATTLED

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