Mommy Brain

[Sabine]

Every day after ds''s lunchtime bottle, I get out the stroller and we take our dog on a nice long walk, regardless of weather.

Twice in the past few weeks I''ve put a jacket on ds, strapped him into the stroller, grabbed my keys and opened the door, only to have the dog go bolting out the door because I forgot to put her on the leash!

The first time my dh was there so he went chasing after her, but today he wasn''t so I had to chase her down with stroller in tow! Not fun...

What has mommy brain made you do?

 

[Mandarine]

oh boy....fun thread!!!

I mix up my babies all the time.

I start adding scoops of formula and lose count...so then I have no idea how much it has in there and down the drain it goes!.

I always forget to lock my car. ALWAYS!...I never used to forget this!.

If I go to the grocery store for something specific, you can guarantee I will forget the specific item I went for. And yes, I make a list...I just never take it with me

I forget to put the bottom part of the bottles and start pouring the water, which comes right out the other side! (not fun)

I''m sure there are so many more...but I can''t think of them with my mommy brain! haha

 

[janinegirly]

I don't know if it's mommy brain or age, but I repeatedly have stuffed things away and then no idea where it is..keys, work badge, train pass....so I'm always shuffling in my bag like a bag lady. Very annoying especially when someone just handed something to me or is waiting. I used to get annoyed at people like that and now it's me.

when C was little I also often lost count of scoops of formula too (and would then toss the whole bottle)--i think that's very easy to do when making lots of bottles though!

oh and the shopping list..i also often leave it at home or bring it and then lose early on in the shopping trip..left on some aisle of food i suppose. just ridiculous!

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 3/30/2010 1:58:22 PM
Author: Mandarine
oh boy....fun thread!!!

I mix up my babies all the time.

I start adding scoops of formula and lose count...so then I have no idea how much it has in there and down the drain it goes!.

I always forget to lock my car. ALWAYS!...I never used to forget this!.

If I go to the grocery store for something specific, you can guarantee I will forget the specific item I went for. And yes, I make a list...I just never take it with me

I forget to put the bottom part of the bottles and start pouring the water, which comes right out the other side! (not fun)

I''m sure there are so many more...but I can''t think of them with my mommy brain! haha

FI does the highlighted all the time and it cracks me up! Or he''ll forget the plastic part on the playtex ventaire bottles and the formula starts dripping out. Awful for our pockets but hilarious!

 

[TravelingGal]

I keep forgetting Amelia and leave her at a friend''s house.

Oh wait...I do that on purpose............

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 3/30/2010 2:14:22 PM
Author: fiery

Date: 3/30/2010 1:58:22 PM
Author: Mandarine
oh boy....fun thread!!!

I mix up my babies all the time.

I start adding scoops of formula and lose count...so then I have no idea how much it has in there and down the drain it goes!.

I always forget to lock my car. ALWAYS!...I never used to forget this!.

If I go to the grocery store for something specific, you can guarantee I will forget the specific item I went for. And yes, I make a list...I just never take it with me

I forget to put the bottom part of the bottles and start pouring the water, which comes right out the other side! (not fun)

I''m sure there are so many more...but I can''t think of them with my mommy brain! haha

FI does the highlighted all the time and it cracks me up! Or he''ll forget the plastic part on the playtex ventaire bottles and the formula starts dripping out. Awful for our pockets but hilarious!

Wait until you guys get to the sippy cups. We use the munchin straw ones. I put the part she sucks on in the cup, but NOT the part that actually goes into the liquid. I gave her the cup and she sucked and sucked until she turned blue but I still didn''t even realize that she wasn''t getting a drop out of the cup until she gave up and gave me back a full cup.

 

[fieryred33143]

On Saturday we were getting ready to go to the zoo (which we never made it too). I was combing Sophia''s hair and had her clip in my hand when I decided to go find her comb to unknot her hair. Well that ended up being a longer search than anticipated and I lost her clip. I looked everywhere for it and was frustrated because it was in my hand.

I had FI helping me and of course he''s going just put this one on or put that one on which is getting me even more upset.

Then he says "wait...are you looking for that one?" and points to the clip that was CLIPPED ON TO MY SHIRT.

I totally forgot I had clipped it to my shirt so that I wouldn''t lose it.

****

Oh and one night I was giving Sophia a bath. FI wasn''t home and I was so tired. I realized I forgot her towel and there''s no way I would leave her alone in the bathroom so I took off my shirt to cover her so that we could go to her room, grab her towel, and go back to the bathroom.

Um....why didn''t I just use the towel that was hanging in the bathroom?? And if I was going to cover her with my shirt anyway, why didn''t I just finish giving her a bath and then take her to the room?

 

[E B]

I used to forget his diaper bag all the time when we went out. I've nipped that problem by keeping it in the car.

I also forget things at the grocery store, so I keep a running list to take with me. It works, unless I forget the list.

 

[lili]

Date: 3/30/2010 3:08:16 PM
Author: E B
I used to forget his diaper bag all the time when we went out. I''ve nipped that problem by keeping it in the car.

haha...same here. then i forget it when we use our weekend car!

 

[vespergirl]

I wasn''t really forgetting to do things, but my vocabulary went down the drain during both pregnancies, and for several months after the first baby was born. I would forget the names of simple objects all the time, or forget a more sophisticated (and concise) word that I needed in conversation.

 

[Mara]

the first time we left the house with dog AND baby to go to my moms house, we come home a few hours later and find the front door open. greg thought someone had broken in...but nope, neither of us locked the door!! and we left it slightly ajar. we had so many things to put in the car we totally forgot about locking the door.

thank god we live in a quiet suburban neighborhood but we were gone 2 hours!! and thank god we had the dog with us and not in the house, she would have been long gone!

'i'm outta here for a household without a screaming infant..'

a less freakalicious thing...did i or didn't i put the vitamin/gripe water/gas drops into J's bottles? i had to come up with a system that i do every time, so that i don't have to wonder anymore.

just general memory things...i also am forgetting basic things like my friends husbands names!... whether or not i emailed someone back or returned a voicemail etc. i used to have a simply AMAZING memory and i don't know if this is mommy brain or just old age or worse yet, BOTH. so sad.

 

[vespergirl]

I forgot to mention (probably because of stupid mommy brain) that I read an excerpt from a book that came out a few years backc, written by a female scientist, called "The Female Brain."

She talks about how mommy brain is real, and how it''s related to the hormones released during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. The female brain actually shrinks during that period and takes a long time to recover. The book was very controversial and hated by many feminists, because they thought it "proved" that women actually became scientifically less intelligent during procreation.

One example I remember was of a woman who went to the author (who is also a doctor) to be screened for early Alzheimer''s - she was in her mid-30s, and having serious memory issues. It turned out that the woman was doing extended breastfeeding with her child, and her brain/memory never recovered to its previous sharp state until she weaned her child.

 

[Mara]

yep vesper, i was just thinking the other day about how my vocabulary is crap lately... when i write things they sound so simplistic and nothing like ME... aka in emails etc. and when i speak to people, i really struggle to come up with comprehensive sentences.

i better wean my kid before returning to work or my professional emails will look like they were written by a 5 year old and forget sounding competent in a meeting!

 

[vespergirl]

Date: 3/30/2010 3:31:17 PM
Author: Mara
yep vesper, i was just thinking the other day about how my vocabulary is crap lately... when i write things they sound so simplistic and nothing like ME... aka in emails etc. and when i speak to people, i really struggle to come up with comprehensive sentences.

i better wean my kid before returning to work or my professional emails will look like they were written by a 5 year old and forget sounding competent in a meeting!

LOL! I think that one woman in the book was an extreme case, but it''s true that my memory/vocabulary were just awful while I was still nursing ...

 

[ChinaCat]

I started pumping at work. About 2 minutes into it, I thought, why does my lap feel wet?

Yep, forgot to attach the pump to anything. So I was pumping BM directly into my lap.

Sad part is I wasn''t upset about my pants, but about the precious BM I lost!

I have lost so many words. When I was super preggo I spent a very long five minutes on the phone with a restaurant confusing the poor woman on the other end. It went something like this:

Me: "Is the cheese on the salad wet?"
Lady: "Umm, wet? Well it''s queso."
Me: "Yes, but is it like queso queso or is it like dry cheese?"
Lady: "It''s not queso, it''s a kind of cheese."
Me: "Ok good but is it hard cheese or wet on the salad?"
Big pause.
Lady: "Do you mean is it MELTED?"
Me: "Yes!!! Melted! Is the cheese melted?"
Lady" "No."

I could not remember the word for melted. I have had so many other instances where I talk around the thing I am talking about. Like I couldn''t remember the word for "pen". It''s like playing charades or pictionary at my house at all times.

 

[jewelz617]

In the morning I crawl into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, but half the time I forget to pour the water from the pot to the back. So I hear the thing sputtering and no coffee coming out. Yay...

 

[Sabine]

Oh my gosh these are too great!

The vocab. thing is totally getting me too! Ridiculously stupid words just fly out of my head and my dh cracks up at my attempts to rename things. This just happened the other night, but of course now I can''t remember what it was that I forgot!

It has led to me totally renaming a few things. After forgetting the name of the "bulb syringe" several times when calling dh to bring it to me from another room, it''s officially been renamed the "snot sucker."

 

[PumpkinPie]

I don`t have kids yet but I`m so forgetful and generally careless now that I am super worried about my future `mommy brain`!

 

[anchor31]

I attributed my mommy brain to not having had 8 hours of sleep in a row for weeks, but that makes sense too. Sometimes, I cannot for the life of me use the right words. I start my sentence over and make another mistake. It''s so frustrating to have a hard time carrying a conversation!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I just sat at my desk for 10 minutes trying to remember the word Bistro. I wanted to search CL for a bistro set for my deck and I couldn''t for the life of me think of the right word. I kept thinking boudoir, but I knew that wasn''t right.

 

[sugarpie honeybun]

These are too funny!

Shortly after DS was born, I realized we were out of milk and I reeeally wanted a bowl of cereal. I frantically called DH and asked him to pick some up on his way home from work, which he did. The next day I opened a kitchen cabinet to get a plastic bag and found the original "missing" carton of milk sitting there.

 

[Sabine]

I finally remembered what word it was that I couldn''t think of the other day (it had been bothering me the whole time). It was dust-buster. And I had asked dh to empty "that vroom vroom thing (while pushing hand back and forth)" and when he looked at me like I was crazy and I still couldn''t think of it, I said, you know, the mini vacuum thingy.

I''m also pretty sure I threw away a dirty 4 oz. bottle sometime early on. It went missing and never turned up and I have a distinct memory of always wanting to throw them away instead of washing them. I also put things away in the wrong places ALL.THE.TIME.

 

[lilyfoot]

Date: 4/1/2010 7:31:46 AM
Author: Sabine
I finally remembered what word it was that I couldn''t think of the other day (it had been bothering me the whole time). It was dust-buster. And I had asked dh to empty ''that vroom vroom thing (while pushing hand back and forth)'' and when he looked at me like I was crazy and I still couldn''t think of it, I said, you know, the mini vacuum thingy.

I''m also pretty sure I threw away a dirty 4 oz. bottle sometime early on. It went missing and never turned up and I have a distinct memory of always wanting to throw them away instead of washing them. I also put things away in the wrong places ALL.THE.TIME.

This is hilarious!

I don''t have children (yet), and I''ve never heard of "mommy brain" before. I''m already forgetful enough as it is!

 

[jewelz617]

During my shower yesterday morning I began massaging what I thought was shampoo into my hair. Turns out it was exfoliating scrub. That was super fun!

 

[Steel]

I must have spent the last 18 months being pregnant and not known it. I have the same issue and it can be really annoying. I asked DH last week to pick up the ''washing'' list from the dining room table - meaning the shopping list. I often refer to the weering steel instead of the steering wheel. I know what I mean in my head but the word seems to have vanished. I can''t imagine it getting worse... I will have to buy picture cards so DH can understand me. Oh the joys.

 

[taovandel]

A few days after being discharged from the hospital I was on the phone with the hospital trying to get in contact with someone and I said I was just "outmitted from the hospital" haha....I hung up the phone I was so embarrassed!


The other day it was pouring down rain---lilke crazy crazy rain. I packed the baby up, his bag and everything ran to the car and off we went to daycare in the POURING RAIN. I was super proud of myself because I didn't have my husband with me to keep me on time...and I was actually out the door early.

Half way to the babysitter...I realized that I never packed any diapers!!! So I had to go back to my 4th floor apartment with a baby in the POURING Rain! Super super fun day.

 

[Kay]

Date: 3/30/2010 3:24:04 PM
Author: vespergirl
I wasn''t really forgetting to do things, but my vocabulary went down the drain during both pregnancies, and for several months after the first baby was born. I would forget the names of simple objects all the time, or forget a more sophisticated (and concise) word that I needed in conversation.

LOL, 17 months post delivery I still have this problem. My verbal skills have gone to pot.

 

[Kay]

Date: 3/30/2010 1:58:22 PM
Author: Mandarine
oh boy....fun thread!!!

I mix up my babies all the time.

I start adding scoops of formula and lose count...so then I have no idea how much it has in there and down the drain it goes!.

I always forget to lock my car. ALWAYS!...I never used to forget this!.

If I go to the grocery store for something specific, you can guarantee I will forget the specific item I went for. And yes, I make a list...I just never take it with me

I forget to put the bottom part of the bottles and start pouring the water, which comes right out the other side! (not fun)

I''m sure there are so many more...but I can''t think of them with my mommy brain! haha

I lost count on scoops of formula many times. If you put the formula in a dry empty bottle and then add the water after the formula, you have the option of dumping the formula back in the container and starting over if you lose track of the # of scoops.

 

[D&T]

Date: 3/30/2010 3:24:04 PM
Author: vespergirl
I wasn''t really forgetting to do things, but my vocabulary went down the drain during both pregnancies, and for several months after the first baby was born. I would forget the names of simple objects all the time, or forget a more sophisticated (and concise) word that I needed in conversation.

ditto!

I still have mommy brain now even after two kids five years later

I have left baby shoes in the fridge before, put dirty diapers in the baby laundry bin, but its almost an every week occurrence on little things

 

[packrat]

I put things in weird places too. I remember calling mom once in a tizzy b/c I couldn''t find my purse and she said "Look in the cupboard" I''m like..uh huh ok. And there it was. I asked if she came over and put it there and she said no, that she''s found her own purse in the cupboards before, so she figured maybe I did it too. I''ve put the cereal box in the fridge and stuck the milk in the cupboard..and then I look at it and am confused b/c I know it shouldn''t go there but I can''t figure out why or where it really should go. I hate that.