Episode 99: Inside the Mother Brain: How Parenthood Rewires Us with Chelsea Conaboy

No One Told Us

Rachael Shepard-Ohta

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.9 • 590 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 99: Inside the Mother Brain: How Parenthood Rewires Us with Chelsea Conaboy In this episode, Rachael sits down with journalist and author Chelsea Conaboy to explore what really happens to the brain during pregnancy and postpartum. Drawing from her groundbreaking book Mother Brain, Chelsea unpacks the myth of maternal instinct and shares what neuroscience is revealing about the profound brain changes that take place when we become parents. Together, they dive into the emotional and psychological realities of new parenthood, the shifting identity of caregiving, and why understanding the science of the parental brain is a powerful step toward building more compassionate cultural narratives and systems that support families. Inside this episode: The major neurological shifts that occur in pregnancy and postpartum Why “maternal instinct” is more myth than science How caregiving changes all parents’ brains, not just mothers The impact of identity shifts and anxiety in early parenthood How brain science supports better parental leave policies The role of sleep, stress, and societal pressure on new parents Why the transition to parenthood is a developmental stage Why understanding your brain helps you give yourself grace And so much more! Mentioned in this episode: Mother Brain by Chelsea Conaboy Follow Chelsea on Instagram: @chelseaconaboy Between Us Substack If you enjoyed this episode, please rate 5⭐️ and write us a review! ⬇️ ✨For sleep support and resources, visit heysleepybaby.com and follow @heysleepybaby on Instagram! 😴☁️🤎✨ Rachael is a mom of 3, founder of Hey, Sleepy Baby, and the host of this podcast. Instagram | Tiktok | Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Channel 4 asked us to make an ad for Educating Yorkshire 2025.
0:03.0	So we made this. We're on Channel 4 and we're here to say, watch Educating Yorkshire it's on today, with a little bit of drama and a little bit of sass. Let's hope we're not late to class. Do you want to know what our high school's like? You do? Oh great, tune in tonight. Let's make our way to Thornhill High. Come on over, don't be shy, pen drop.
0:24.0	Educating your You do? Oh, great. Tune in tonight. Let's make our way to Thorn Hill High. Come on over. Don't be shy. Hand drop.
0:24.3	Educating Yorkshire 2025. Stream now on Channel 4.
0:33.5	Welcome to No One Told Us, the podcast that tells the truth about parenting and talks about all the stuff you wish you knew before having kids.
0:40.4	I'm your host, Rachel Shepard Ota, and today I'm so excited to speak with author and editor, Chelsea Connoboy.
0:45.8	Chelsea's work has been published by The New York Times, the Boston Globe, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Politico, and elsewhere.
0:52.0	And her first book mother brain how neuroscience is
0:55.1	rewriting the story of parenthood has been called a game changer and is set to be published in 20
1:00.2	countries she lives in Maine with her husband and their two children and her own changing parental
1:05.7	brain and today I'm so excited to talk to you about this topic I think it's going to be so
1:09.9	fascinating for everyone listening so thanks so much for agreeing to do this and for joining us I'm so excited to talk to you about this topic. I think it's going to be so fascinating for everyone listening. So thanks so much for agreeing to do this and for joining us. I'm so glad to be here,
1:15.7	Rachel. Thank you. So Chelsea, your book is obviously very like science heavy, very research
1:22.1	heavy. I'm curious to know about like your background and what got you interested in this topic in
1:26.8	the first place. Was it just becoming a mom or was it other things that led up to that?
1:31.1	Yeah.
1:31.4	So I was a newspaper reporter for a long time and specifically I was a health and science writer.
1:38.6	What got me interested in it was having my first son 10 years ago now.
1:43.8	And because of my background in journalism
1:47.7	when I and because I had like a real comfort in exploring the the science literature when I started
1:55.6	to experience the you know dramatic turmoil of brand new parenthood, I went looking for answers
2:05.8	that could explain why I was feeling the way I was. And I started digging into the research
	...

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