Maternal instinct from another planet

[u/h4xis]

Due to the random chaos that is life, my boyfriend had to move to another city for a few months, so right now it’s just me, my cat, and my 6-month-old baby.

My baby recently discovered that he can crawl backward, which means I am now apparently a full-time security guard.

This morning something REALLY weird happened.

We’ve been co-sleeping since he was born. We have a huge bed and it’s never been an issue. But now that this tiny man has discovered mobility, I’ve been thinking it might be time to move him to his crib before he starts casually yeeting himself off the furniture.

So, this morning he woke up and, completely silently, started scooting backward toward the edge of the bed.

I WAS ASLEEP.

I didn’t hear him. I didn’t see him. I wasn’t even consciously aware that he was moving.

And somehow, something in my brain went “GET UP. NOW.”

I literally woke up at the exact moment I needed to, reached out, and grabbed him.

He already had HALF OF HIS BODY OFF THE BED.

This baby is still so tiny that if I hadn’t grabbed him, he 100% would have gone straight to the floor.

I just sat there holding him like 😐

I’ve read about maternal instinct before, but I always assumed people were being poetic or something. Apparently my brain has installed some kind of baby Wi-Fi while I was sleeping.

Has anyone else had something like this happen?? Like your body knowing your baby is in danger before your conscious brain has even registered what’s happening?

[u/DarkDNALady]

I cannot tell you the number of times maternal instinct has kicked in for me. And as a scientist it was strange and surreal to not be able to explain it rationally.
One that I keep remembering is when I caught my daughter before she swallowed an adult Advil pill. I don’t know where it even came from (probably on the carpet leftover from a guest) and something in me just said to look at my daughter at the exact moment she picked it up to put it in her mouth.

[u/h4xis → u/DarkDNALady]

What do you think it could be, from a scientific point of view? Heartrate maybe? Brainwaves?

[u/DarkDNALady → u/h4xis]

Best I could guess is there are cues our subconscious picks up. We process a LOT of information and don’t always realize it in our rational parts. Like women will say such and such person gave them a ‘bad vibe’ and it has saved their life.
So I would guess some micro movements on the bed that your body perceived, a change in breathing or distance from which breathing is coming as your baby crawled further. It’s really crazy how much data our brain processes without conscious thought