Yale researcher outlines Promise Study tracking brain changes across pregnancy and early parenthood

Helena Rutherford, director of the Before and After Baby Lab at Yale University’s Child Study Center, told the Connecticut Paid Leave podcast that the lab’s Promise Study measures changes in maternal brain activity during the third trimester and again at roughly 4, 8 and 15 months after birth.

“We do that by having parents wear… a hair cap; within the cap itself there’s sponges. And those sponges help us detect activity from the brain,” Rutherford said, describing how researchers record maternal brain responses while participants view photographs of infants and listen to baby vocalizations.

The study recruits pregnant people in their third trimester and brings them into the lab to capture prenatal brain measures, Rutherford said. Participants return with their babies for follow-up visits to track how maternal neural responses and infant behavior evolve over the first 15 months of life.

Rutherford framed the work around mental health: “We want to understand more about how individuals respond… and how it may make them more vulnerable for things like depression or anxiety,” she said. The lab’s goal is both to advance scientific understanding of the transition to parenthood and to use findings to help families in the New Haven community.

Beyond laboratory measurements, Rutherford said the Promise Study has produced direct community supports: the lab has organized drives for maternity and baby clothing and held a community baby shower in New Haven to distribute donations to local families who participated.

Those interested in participating or learning more are directed to the lab’s website (spoken on the program as thebabl.net) and to contact Rutherford by email at helena.rutherford@yale.edu. The episode was recorded for the Connecticut Paid Leave podcast series 5 Minutes of Impact, hosted by Nancy Barrow.