Sahar’s Reviews > Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood > Status Update

‘Just as children are absolutely dependent on their parents for sustenance, so … are parents, especially their mothers, dependent on a greater society for economic provision. If a community values its children it must cherish their parents.’

In both depression and pregnancy, for example, there is an increase in cytokines, the inflammatory signalling markers in cells. Other, similar changes are seen in serotonergic pathways, which are involved in mood and mood disorders.

“s the problem the individual woman who is pathologized for having ‘PND’, in its diminutive and popular short-hand, or is the problem a society which utterly fails to support women in this major life transition?”

In the United States, the military was still using sleep deprivation in 2004, although detainees were supposed to be given ‘four hours of continuous sleep every 24 hours’. This is more than many mothers will regularly get in the first year of looking after a new baby

In England, it is easier to travel with a bike than with a baby. One train company has a dedicated space for four bikes, or two tandems, that cyclists can book in advance. Tandems have more rights on the trains than young humans. New mothers are often found sitting on the filthy floors with their infants

Millennial caregivers, those born between 1981 and 1996, experience increased isolation and loneliness compared with previous generations, with other stresses including financial strain and lower rates of home ownership.

Women felt pressure to be the primary caregiver and to be ‘perfect’, but they also felt dependent on others. ‘I just wanted to be looked after,’ one said.

But, on closer inspection, it became clear that a further set of assumptions about motherhood had lain dormant inside me. When the baby was born, they reared up, reinforced by what I read and heard. Good mothers are content and grateful, undemanding and unambitious. Good mothers are fulfilled by their children. Mothers shouldn’t pursue their own interests: they are morally obligated to put themselves to one side

Indeed, the relationship between pregnancy, child-rearing and the brain, seems to be in flux throughout the life-course. We don’t know if matrescence really ever ends

“I thought that the hormonal impact of pregnancy was a one-time, transient event, to enable the baby to grow, and then, once out, that’s it. It is no surprise that I thought this: we knew virtually nothing about the maternal brain until the 2010s.”