Pregnancy can bring on new character traits, like acting clucky or craving strange food combinations, but forgetfulness is not one of them, a new study shows.
It is a common belief that pregnancy causes expecting mums to be forgetful because the size of the woman's brain alters during pregnancy.
But researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have debunked the myth, finding no evidence that pregnancy effects cognitive function.
The study, conducted by the Centre for Mental Health Research, looked at 223 women who became new mothers between 1999 and 2007.
Although women and their partners thought there could be a link between brain capacity and pregnancy there was none.
"We found no effects of pregnancy on cognitive capacity and motherhood also had no detrimental effects," centre director Professor Helen Christensen said in a statement.
But the study did suggest mothers were marginally less educated than women without children during their 20s.
"While this is hardly surprising, as having children will interrupt education, it is something to watch in the future as early mothers may be disadvantaged later on if they do not continue with further training," Prof Christensen said.
