We need to start telling women how pregnancy changes their brain

When I was expecting my first child, I knew what to expect. An expanding belly, a bout of morning sickness, perhaps a little sciatica. I’d been to birthing classes, I knew how to change a diaper and I was fully prepared for imminent exhaustion.

Except I wasn’t prepared. I was missing one vital piece of information: that pregnancy would change the structure and function of my brain – perhaps irreversibly.

No doctor or midwife mentioned it. Yet evidence has been building for years to…