Once upon a time we assumed that the weight gain that fathers sometimes added when their wives were pregnant was sympathy weight: mom was eating for 2, why shouldn’t Dad join in on the extra calories? Other theories saw Dad’s changes as somehow neurotic-that Dad envied his wife’s pregnancy and wanted to be a little pregnant too!
However, a recent Tufts University conference on the parental brain revealed research about the real ways that men’s bodies may undergo changes in response to a partner’s pregnancy. For example, expectant fathers have been found to have elevated levels of cortisol and prolactin, hormones that have been found to promote attachment and emotional responsiveness to their offspring. In addition, Dads’ testosterone levels lose around one third of their normal levels in the first three weeks after their children are born. This is important because there is some evidence that lower levels of testosterone can make for more nurturing fathers; it may also make for less quarrelsome men which would increase the pair-bonding so necessary when a new one arrives on the scene. I suspect as we become more comfortable as a society with men as nurturers, we’ll begin to see much more research showing the evolutionary basis for a nurturing father.
On a personal note, my apologies for not posting anything lately. I’ve been deep in my book tour promoting WHEN PARENTS HURT: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don’t Get Along (HarperCollins) which is going great, but is definitely time-consuming. In addition to doing a virtual book tour through parent blogger, I was also on NPR with Diane Rehm, Good Day New York, The Mike and Juliet Show, View from the Bay, and a ton of radio shows. Susan Reimer did a nice review today in the Baltimore Sun which you can see at http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-al.reimer05aug05,0,2444552.column I should be back to my normal weekly schedule as of this week. Also, l’ll be doing a monthly chat with gather where we’ll post topics and you can write in and chat with me about them. The last one was a lot of fun with a lot of great questions. The upcoming chat will be on the subject of infidelity. Stay tuned for dates.
When Dads Become Dads: New Research Shows That Moms Are Not The Only Ones Whose Bodies Change
Once upon a time we assumed that the weight gain that fathers sometimes added when their wives were pregnant was sympathy weight: mom was eating for 2, why shouldn’t Dad join in on the extra calories? Other theories saw Dad’s changes as somehow neurotic-that Dad envied his wife’s pregnancy and wanted to be a little pregnant too!
However, a recent Tufts University conference on the parental brain revealed research about the real ways that men’s bodies may undergo changes in response to a partner’s pregnancy. For example, expectant fathers have been found to have elevated levels of cortisol and prolactin, hormones that have been found to promote attachment and emotional responsiveness to their offspring. In addition, Dads’ testosterone levels lose around one third of their normal levels in the first three weeks after their children are born. This is important because there is some evidence that lower levels of testosterone can make for more nurturing fathers; it may also make for less quarrelsome men which would increase the pair-bonding so necessary when a new one arrives on the scene. I suspect as we become more comfortable as a society with men as nurturers, we’ll begin to see much more research showing the evolutionary basis for a nurturing father.
On a personal note, my apologies for not posting anything lately. I’ve been deep in my book tour promoting WHEN PARENTS HURT: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don’t Get Along (HarperCollins) which is going great, but is definitely time-consuming. In addition to doing a virtual book tour through parent blogger, I was also on NPR with Diane Rehm, Good Day New York, The Mike and Juliet Show, View from the Bay, and a ton of radio shows. Susan Reimer did a nice review today in the Baltimore Sun which you can see at http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-al.reimer05aug05,0,2444552.column I should be back to my normal weekly schedule as of this week. Also, l’ll be doing a monthly chat with gather where we’ll post topics and you can write in and chat with me about them. The last one was a lot of fun with a lot of great questions. The upcoming chat will be on the subject of infidelity. Stay tuned for dates.