Baby Brain

Baby brain didn’t really kick in for me until about a year after I had my daughter. I had become quite distracted by my impending return to work. Within a 3 week period I had dinged the car twice (after driving for 18 years without a scratch and 10 of those in London). It was, of course, not my fault. The first was the fault of a floor to ceiling cement pillar in a basement shopping centre car park, the second was the fault of a stationary vehicle waiting to pull out of a junction – get out of my way goodammit. During this period I had also spent 24 hours looking for my door keys which were usually, if not on the kitchen bench, hanging in the front door when I eventually found them in a rubbish bag in the wheely bin out the front of the house.

Also during this 3 week period I had emptied the contents of the bathroom bin into the washing basket, poured grapefruit juice onto my cereal and moisturised my legs with shampoo (it really doesn’t absorb well). I was becoming a hazard to myself and possibly society when behind the wheel of a car. It was quite scary and did knock my confidence a little as it felt like I was loosing control.

The early signs of baby brain

Luckily my brain seemed to still function as bc (before child) when I returned to work and perhaps my return also haulted the crumbling decay of my brain cells as, thankfully, I regained control and was far less distracted all the time. Is this inevitable brain decay when looking after small children or just coincidental that it is coinciding with the aging process? Before I know it I’ll be calling my partner 3 different names of various family members including the cat before getting his right.