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According to the MSNBC:

‘Momnesia’ not just in moms’ heads March 6: Neurologists say there may be a biological basis for what new moms already know to be true — childrearing contributes to memory loss. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports.

   Thank God there’s someone out there validating this phenomenon. I thought I was just losing my mind. Forgetting to eat. Forgetting appointments. Forgetting to pay the bills (how in the world can you even do that???). Yep, for me it wasn’t little stuff like the car keys or my cellphone -it was bigger stuff. But it’s getting better now. I’ve been working on it for awhile.

   How did I do it? I stopped focusing in on my children as if I had  blinders on. I found myself thinking about their needs even when they weren’t around (i.e. – at preschool). I think that I have been so focused on them and their needs that I forgot about many of my own. It’s gotten much easier now that they are not little babies or very young toddlers. I feel like I can stand in the kitchen while they are in the living room and feel fairly confident that they aren’t going to just up and die while I’m in the next room because I’m not watching them.

   I’ve also been taking a little more time for myself. I got a membership to a local YMCA so that I could get out, meet new people, do something different, and get some exercise. Now that is multi-tasking! I have even started to stop and get lunch at places I like or have always wanted to try, all the while reminding myself that I don’t need to run right home. My husband is there or they are at school with their teachers and their little friends having a great time. The laundry can wait. Mommy needs some new experiences.

   Additionally, I have made a mental note (and sometimes paper notes) to remind me of just what areas seem to be falling through the cracks. I’ve spent a little more time and effort on those areas which has been enormously helpful. I put phone calls that I need to make in my dayplanner. Due dates for bills are altogether on only one page in the week to cut down on information overload. I also keep short to-do lists of only the most important things that need to get done.

   While I don’t think any of that would have helped much before both my children were over the age of two, it really is helping now. I think that nature just didn’t intend for a human mother to let her attention stray from her little ones and for good reason. It really could be dangerous for them.  If you still feel the need to stay so intensely focused of your children, that’s ok too. Just give dad some warning that he is gonna needs to take over the reins on some things for a bit.

   But just remember, it’s ok to look up from the blinders once in awhile.

 Additional links of interest:

The Mommy Brain – “Journalist Katherine Ellison draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to demonstrate that, contrary to long-established wisdom that having children dumbs you down, raising children may make moms smarter. “