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Mumnesia 'medical fact'

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Shortage of midwives causing problem for women in labour

If you've become rather forgetful since having children, don't panic: scientists claim forgetfulness among new mothers is officially a scientific fact.

For years mothers have admitted momentary memory lapses such as forgetting people's names, misplacing items or failing to remember what they're looking for.

However, neuroscientists and psychiatrists now say that the phenomenon is actually medically proven, dubbing it 'mumesia'.

Scientists explain that tiredness, changes in our hormones and stress all play a part in memory loss.

One neuroscientist said that the condition could occur in some mothers who are so focused on their new baby, they forget everything else around them.

'New mothers are dedicated to serving that little infant, determined to keep him or her alive no matter what,' said neuroscientists Louann Brizendine. 'Consequently less important matters get forgotten, or at least put into a less active area of the brain.'

Tiredness was also named as a big contributor to memory loss with mothers losing an average of between 450 and 700 hours in the first year a baby is born.