How Men Experience Pregnancy
Photo by Leandro Crespi/Socksy
The hormonal roller coaster known as pregnancy doesn’t just take moms-to-be for a ride. Turns out, guys also undergo physiological changes when their partners are expecting—and it may all be part of nature’s plan to help them become more nurturing husbands and dads, according to a new study.
Researchers at the University of Michigan took a look at 29 first-time expectant couples, checking their hormone levels at regular intervals from the end of the first trimester through the 36th week. All of the women experienced big increases in four hormones: estradiol, progesterone, cortisol, and testosterone. What surprised the researchers was that they detected declines in testosterone and estradiol in the men, too (no shift was detected in progesterone and cortisol levels).
“We found that men undergo declines in the steroid hormones testosterone and estradiol, which could cause them to assume more sensitive and nurturing roles in the relationship,” study author Robin Edelstein, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, tells Yahoo Parenting. Although the role of estradiol in fatherhood is not exactly clear, Edelstein says a drop in testosterone could put the brakes on aggression and libido. From an evolutionary perspective, these chemical changes would keep a man more invested in his pregnant partner and future offspring.
“The study is significant because while pregnancy affects women for obvious reasons, there’s been little research on how impending parenthood affects men,” says Edelstein. And though previous studies have shown that men experience a testosterone and estradiol dip after the baby arrives, this is the first to find a hormone drop before the due date.
This isn’t the only unexpected way pregnancy affects a new or impending dad. Check out four other bizarre, pre- and postnatal changes men experience.
They get fat: Expectant moms are supposed to gain pounds. But interestingly, dads-to-be also pack on baby weight—an average of 14 pounds per pregnancy, according to a 2009 British survey of 5,000 new dads. What’s making men heavier, especially when they don’t have the excuse that a baby is growing inside them? The survey attributed it to all the additional food in the house to meet a pregnant woman’s boosted appetite … and the guys’ inability to resist chowing down.
They experience morning sickness: It’s bad enough when an expectant mother feels nauseous all the time. But imagine if her partner felt like heaving, too—or experienced heartburn, backaches, and even abdominal bloating. It’s not as out-there as you’d think. A paper published in the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology explored Couvade Syndrome, a condition in which a man experiences the physical signs and symptoms of pregnancy. (The name comes from the French word Couver, “to hatch.”) Also known as “Sympathetic Pregnancy,” it tends to strike during the first and third trimesters, and symptoms disappear shortly after birth. Previous research has estimated that anywhere from 11 to 97 percent of guys deal with it — and the reason is a total mystery.
Their milk (hormone) comes in: Okay, so new fathers still can’t exactly nurse an infant. But research published in the journal Evolution & Human Behavior documented that some experience a surge in the hormone prolactin, which promotes milk production, just before birth. Why’s that? Prolactin may play a role in priming a guy to be a better caretaker; the men in the study with higher levels were more responsive to a baby’s cries.
They suffer from postpartum depression: About 10 percent of fathers experience this disorder at some point between the start of pregnancy and one year after birth, with most cases concentrating in the first 3-6 months of the baby’s life, according to a 2010 Journal of the American Medical Association meta-analysis of 43 studies. (Levels of postpartum depression among women range from 10 to 30 percent). The rate of depression among men in the general population hovers at five percent, study coauthor James Paulson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Old Dominion University in Virginia, tells Yahoo Parenting. It’s not certain why men develop it, but Paulson believes that it shows the need for doctors to not only be on the lookout for PPD symptoms in moms, but in dads as well.
