Daddy Brain: Nature’s Way of Ensuring Your Child's Survival

Throughout your life, your brain goes through critical periods in its development. When your brain is primed (more than usual), these are times to learn and adapt to new changes. During these moments, neurons and their connections are changing. Sometimes your brain is creating new neurons and new connections. Sometimes neurons are increasing or decreasing in size. And at other times, your brain is pruning nerve cells and synapses you no longer need. It’s all part of your brain becoming more efficient.

“Mommy brain” (pregnancy brain) is a real thing. During pregnancy, all of the above changes are occurring in an expecting mother’s brain. The primary purpose of your brain is to enhance your survival. But during pregnancy, “mommy brain” results in structural and physiological changes that shift the mother’s focus to her baby.

And just like women’s brains change during pregnancy, so do the brains of men. “Daddy brain” is a real thing, too.

The Role of Neuroplasticity in Daddy Brain

So what’s going on in the brains of fathers? As pregnancy changes a woman’s physical body, a man’s brain becomes primed for neuroplasticity. Without neuroplasticity, the brain isn’t able to develop paternal behaviors that enhance the baby’s survival. One of the changes that occur in men's brains is that parts of the brain get smaller. In a process called neural pruning, extra neurons and their connections are eliminated to have a brain that works more efficiently and focuses on the baby. Neural pruning allows the father to take the focus off himself and worry about his child.

While some areas of the brains of fathers may shrink to care for his child, other areas grow. The lateral prefrontal cortex gives birth to new neurons. New neuron formation supports healthy memory, decision-making, and creativity.

The Impact of Hormones on Fathers

What’s causing these changes in the brains of fathers? The answer is hormones. Expecting fathers go through hormonal and brain changes that are similar to ones occurring in pregnant mothers. The hormone prolactin increases by as much as 20% in fathers during the weeks before childbirth. In women, prolactin causes breasts to grow and also produces milk during pregnancy and after birth. In men, prolactin helps unlock the paternal instinct and increases testosterone and oxytocin. Testosterone levels in men decrease after the birth of their child, making men more receptive to bonding. As the love and bonding hormone, oxytocin increases in fathers, which hardwires their brains to respond to any threat to their infant’s survival.

Being a good parent, and especially a good father, is heavily inpsired by their partner’s pregnancy and the post-birth of their newborn. “Daddy” brain is the reason so many babies survive and thrive. So be receptive, supportive, and loving as that newborn and your partner’s needs.

Embrace your daddy brain—your expert brain! It’s a beautiful adaptation that nature has created to ensure the survival of your child.