Stay-at-Home Moms Could Be Earning Thousands

According to 2018 research by Beike Biotechnology, a center that does societal and stem cell studies, a stay-at-home mom with four children is estimated to be continuously working the equivalent of 26 years (1). The research group conducted this study using statistical data, salary metrics, and time estimates for each job of motherhood across various countries. 

The study then projected the commercial value of the usual tasks performed by stay-at-home mothers, like cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, and general home management tasks, putting a value on each role versus the projected number of hours. 

If moms were paid for these tasks, they should be raking in substantial salaries. For instance, a stay-at-home mom would take home between USD 5,300 and USD 5,900 in Switzerland.

In a recent study, four US cities were ranked among the top 10 cities where stay-at-home moms would earn the highest salaries if paid for all their work. These cities are San Francisco, Washington DC, New York, and Los Angeles, with potential earnings of up to USD 5,400.

Why Moms Carry Their Kids on the Left

According to Abigail Tucker (Smithsonian Magazine, 2021), whether a mom is left or right-handed, they would still cradle their babies on the left side of their body, especially in the early months (2). 

The left-handed bias is due to the human brain’s lopsided layout: sensory information on the left side of the body is processed on the right side of the brain, where emotions are processed. 

A 2018 study published in Biology Letters Journal demonstrated that holding and observing the baby on the left may help transmit social information to the right side more efficiently (3). Babies also prefer to keep their mother on the left side, which makes the exchange of information and emotional connection more convenient. 

“Mommy Brain” is a Real Phenomenon

When mothers feel forgetful, it’s due to a biological reason known as “mommy brain.” A study published in the Nature Neuroscience Journal in 2016 found that mothers experience a reduction in gray matter during pregnancy, and these changes can last for at least two years (4).

However, losing gray matter during pregnancy may have some benefits. Research has revealed that the brain regions involved in processing and responding to social signals may become more efficient during pregnancy. 

In fact, women who experienced the most significant decrease in gray matter performed better on a standard assessment of maternal attachment to their children. This indicates that the areas of the brain responsible for a mother’s interaction with her child become more active.

Pregnancy May Actually Be Contagious

A 2014 study published in the Advanced Life Course Research Journal analyzed the pregnancy timing of more than 30,000 German women and found that pregnancy spreads in workplaces (5). In the year after a colleague had a baby, there was an uptick in first pregnancies among colleagues. 

Similar research published in the Demography Journal 2010 showed the same trend followed by families (6). A Norwegian study involving over 110,000 sibling pairs demonstrated that siblings significantly influence each other’s decision to get pregnant, particularly during their first pregnancies.

References

1. Beike Biotechnology. “The Value of the Stay-at-Home Parent in 2024.” Beike Biotechnology, 2024. | https://beikecelltherapy.com/studies/the-value-of-the-stay-at-home-parent-in-2024.html
2. Abigail Tucker. “14 Fun Facts About the Science of Motherhood.” Smithsonian Magazine, May 7, 2021. | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fascinating-facts-about-moms-180977677/
3. Andrey Gijov, Karina Karenina, and Yegor Malashichecv. “Facing each other: mammal mothers and infants prefer the position favoring right hemisphere processing.” Biology Letters Journal, 2018. | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0707
4. Elseline Hoekzema, Erika Barba-Müller, and Oscar Vilarroya. “Pregnancy leads to long-lasting changes in human brain structure.” Nature Neuroscience. | https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4458
5. Sebastian Pink et al. “Fertility and social interaction at the workplace: Does childbearing spread among colleagues?” Advanced Life Course Research Journal, September 2014. | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26047546/
6. Torkild Hovde Lyngstad et al. “Do siblings’ fertility decisions influence each other?” Demography Journal, November 2010. | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21308564/