Baby Brain is a Lie: How Parenthood Actually Makes You Smarter — with Neuroscientist Dr. Elke De Witte
Dam Parenting2 Jul 2025

Baby Brain is a Lie: How Parenthood Actually Makes You Smarter — with Neuroscientist Dr. Elke De Witte

"Baby brain" is one of the most persistent myths in parenting — the idea that pregnancy and new motherhood make you forgetful, scattered, less capable. Neuroscientist Dr. Elke De Witte has spent her career proving it wrong.

I sit down with Dr. Elke, author of De Moederbreinmythe (The Motherbrain Myth), for what became one of the most genuinely surprising conversations we've had on Dam Parenting. What she describes isn't decline. It's neurological transformation — a profound increase in plasticity, emotional intelligence, and pattern recognition that applies to every caregiver, not just biological mothers.

We cover:

  • What is actually happening in the brain during pregnancy and the postpartum period

  • Why the myth of baby brain persists — and who it serves

  • The cognitive strengths caregiving builds that workplaces consistently undervalue

  • Why this matters beyond the personal — and what it means for maternity policy

  • What partners, employers, and society get wrong about the parental brain

If you have ever felt embarrassed about forgetting something simple, or wondered whether you are somehow less than you were before you became a parent — this episode is a direct rebuttal.

Find Dr. Elke De Witte at: www.elkedewitte.com


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