Monsters, Rats, & Baby Sleep Studies – DAY 131

A few interesting items I’ve come across the past few weeks:

• This artist’s work is very cool! He takes children’s artwork (in this case, drawing of monsters), recreates them, and paints them so they look realistic. How creative!
• This study was performed on mommy rat brains. If the same information holds true for humans, the “mommy brain” lasts forever!

“Fetuses share cells with their mothers, a strange phenomenon called microchimerism. Fetal cells pass through the placenta and lodge in a mother’s body, where many remain quietly for years. One 2005 study found that in pregnant mice, these fetal cells hang out in the brain, especially in smell-related areas that are crucial for recognizing offspring. No one yet knows what, if anything, these fetal interlopers do there, or whether fetal cells in humans are similarly drawn to mothering-related areas of the brain.

Some of the brain changes during pregnancy may help mothers become more attuned to their infant when it is born, Glynn suggests. Fetal movements that tickle a woman’s unconscious might prepare her to bond with her infant, for example. Likewise, changes in brain areas associated with emotion and memory could prime women for caregiving.”

• Finally, this study was done with humans and their small children. Turns out that babies who have sleeping problems tend to have them when they’re older children too. Eek! BUG, PLEASE SLEEP BETTER!!! (We’re finally back to just one wakeup at night for a bottle… had a few bad nights of 3 or 4 wakeups for seemingly no reason at all.)