Mom & Mind Podcast | Postpartum | Birth | Pregnancy | Maternal Mental Health |

As we’ve talked about many times on this podcast, hearing personal stories can be very liberating and shame relieving for mothers. Stories are real, educational, heart breaking and heart opening all at the same time. Today we are hearing a personal story, the lived experience of Molly Caro May. She is going to tell us about parts of her story and how as a writer, she was able to use her story in her own healing and the hope to heal others…. In her book entitled, Body full of Stars: Female Rage and my Passage into Motherhood. She talks about incontinence, breastfeeding challenges, relationship challenges, pregnancy illness, postpartum rage and what she thinks we all need to know in order to keep ourselves well. Please get connected with Molly and check out her book: Website: http://www.mollycaromay.com Facebook: Molly May Instagram: @mollycaromay Twitter: @mollymay26   For this and all episodes of Mom & Mind, please subscribe and find us at: www.momandmind.com Connect with us! Facebook: Mom & Mind Facebook Gr

We are talking about Postpartum Anxiety today and more specifically, what’s common and what’s cause for concern and treatment. This is a question that moms have so often and I’m happy for Dr. Carly Snyder to come on and dispel some of the confusion. We touch on the ever present guilt and shame that runs its course through motherhood as well as some ways to cope and manage postpartum anxiety. Some of what we touch on: - What is "normal" anxiety in new motherhood - How can people know when it's becoming more difficult or a clinical issue? - What kinds of anxiety might a mother experience  - What you can do to begin feeling better Connect with Dr. Snyder here: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/CarlySnyderMD Twitter - @CarlySnyderMD Dr. Carly Snyder is one of a small cohort of medical physicians in New York City specializing in reproductive psychiatry. Her unique approach combines traditional psychiatric treatment with integrative medicine-based treatments. Dr. Snyder is an attending physician on staff in the D

Katie Flores shares her personal story and how she became an holistic health coach for new mothers. She describes her depression, a miscarriage, the stress that she felt with her daughter who was fussy all of the time for a whole year and sleep deprived that whole time. She discusses some of her underlying biological factors that added to her experience. Katie talks about what she sees as root causes and biological contributors to postpartum depression, including trauma, loss physical illness and nutrition. She started her own podcast to address these issues, called Natural Postpartum Support Podcast. Please note: This is not medical advice. If you are concerned that you may be experiencing some of the things that are discussed in this episode, please contact your Naturopathic Doctor or Primary care doctor.  If you are interested to learn more about Katie and her work, Connect here: Website: katieeflores.com For updates on the podcast: bit.ly/naturalpostpartumsupportpodcast PPD Root Cause Assessment: katieefl

Shame thrives in the dark. Sharing our story and having ourselves reflected out in the world releases that shame. Sometimes we feel relief right away. Sometimes it takes time.  Today I want to talk with you about what happens for you when you hear another person share their pregnancy, loss or postpartum story. I’m talking specifically to the people who are or have experienced a perinatal mood change like depression, anxiety, ptsd, bipolar or psychosis. Or a pregnancy loss. Or a situation similar to yours. What is your experience when you hear others talk about what they went through? What happens for you in your mind, body and soul? There seems to be such power in listening and being reflected out in the world. In fact, I know there is power in that because it was my experience too…. The hope of this podcast and platform is to offer some way that you are all reflected out in the world. There will be parts of your story that are reflected here in our discussions, maybe not in a single episode, but across sever

Stigma is a terrible 6 letter word and it gets in the way of connection, truth, healing and compassion for moms. Dr. Walker Ladd is on to talk about some of her amazing research into stigma, her books about understanding women's stories and her new podcast Rebel Research Radio. The sting of stigma is so very real and we have internalized it in such a way that we hold shame about ourselves, when we should have understanding. Listen in to hear what Dr. Ladd has to say about mothers and motherhood. We also touch on some really fascinating facts about what happens with baby DNA! Connect with Dr. Walker Ladd Twitter @DrWLadd https://twitter.com/DrWLadd Facebook: @Rebel Research Radio  https://www.facebook.com/RebelResearchRadio/  Dr. Walker Ladd has been a thought-leader in the field of maternal mental health care for over a decade. Her first book, “Transformed by Postpartum Depression: Women’s Stories of Trauma and Growth (Praeclarus, 2015), was based on her research of the transformative nature of postpartum dep

We are getting into some good stuff today about attachment and bonding in new parenthood. We are talking again with Dr. Juli Fraga about what all of this means and what it means for you and your baby. In particular, what might be going on for a mother experiencing a perinatal mood change. *We will be touching on the difference between attachment and bonding. *What can happen in new parenthood when a mother or father is struggling. *We touch on the ever present shame and guilt. *Getting support for your perinatal mood change can support good bonding and attachment. *That you don’t need to be perfect in order to have a good connection. Connect with Dr. Fraga! Twitter @dr_fraga www.drjulifraga.com Dr. Juli Fraga is a psychologist in San Francisco where she specializes in maternal mental health concerns. Dr. Fraga is also a freelance health writer and she's written about women's health concerns for Refinery29, NPR, Quartz, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post and the Washington Post.   For this and all episodes

Why Compassion? I'll tell you... I’ve been doing some deep thinking about the podcast, perinatal mental health in general and how to continue the movement forward through our neck of the woods here. I really believe and feel deeply that more information, awareness and support need to get to mothers and families. I believe that we can improve our efforts at prevention too and I’m hopeful to have that reflected in the podcast this year. How can we improve the lives of mothers, fathers, babies, couples? It’s a complicated issue or set of issues... For now, I’ll talk about one way through this in particular that I see A LOT. Well, maybe two ways. We need to change our culture of perfection-or-nothing and into a culture of compassion and flexibility. I think this is key to combat stigma, guilt and shame. I’m going to talk a little bit about developing self-compassion AND how OTHERS can be more compassionate towards those who are suffering. Short-hand: if you’re in it and suffering, be kind to yourself and allow fo

We have the honor of hearing from Dr. Sheehan Fisher about new fathers, the transitions they may go through when a baby comes along, as well as the challenges and strengths that they may experience. There are quite a few gems in our talk today, one of which is how the role of fatherhood is changing and adapting to the times…AND thoughts about navigating that. Dr. Fisher’s take on these transitions is not to be missed. I’m sure you’ll want to share this with the fathers, men and partners of men in your life. PLEASE DO! We also discuss: - The spectrum of mood changes that fathers might experience postpartum, such as depression, anxiety, anger - how it affects them, what they might experience  - what their partners might notice  - Looking at the family as a system and how family members affect each other - What can they do? What kinds of support or therapy, available? - Coping suggestions - hopeful messages for fathers  Connect with Dr. Fisher: Twitter: @SheehanDFisher Facebook: @SheehanDFisher Instagram: @DrChe

Andrea Schneider, LCSW is sharing with us about how our difficult, toxic or traumatic past relationships might affect our journey into motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood. This fascinating discussion digs deeper into how we may respond, behave and interact as new parents...based on our own early experiences with our own caregivers, parents or influential difficult relationships. We chat about: * What is relational trauma? How does it show up for perinatal mothers and fathers? * What are some signs that a person might notice if they are impacted by this? * What can they do? What kinds of support, therapy, etc is available? * Coping suggestions & hopeful messages Connect with Andrea: facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andreaschneiderlcsw/ https://www.facebook.com/aschneiderlcsw/ Twitter: @SavvyShrink @andrea_schneid Website: Andreaschneiderlcsw.com The Savvy Shrink Podcast: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thesavvyshrinkAndrea Schneider, MSW, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist in priv

Dr. Diane Sanford is talking with us about coping skills for wellness! Pregnancy and postpartum mental health changes can really take you by surprise and leave you feeling disoriented. When we have skills for coping that we can rely on, it really helps us heal. Our guest, Dr. Dianed, has been supporting perinatal mothers for many years. Shares a bit about how she's seen the landscape change in supporting mothers. AN she dishes on what she'd like to see more of in support of perinatal mothers. We talk on: * Using mind-body and integrative health to support mothers. * Use able, short skills that fit into the lives of busy people. * We are often unprepared to cope with difficulty, skills can be really helpful * How simple skills can support us * 3-5 minutes of a break from stress is better than NO break. * Notice your accomplishments!!!! Connect with Dr. Diane https://drdianesanford.com/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/drdianesanford/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/drdianesanford Bio Dr. Diane Sanford is a psychologi

Annika O'Melia breaks through stigma to share her story about alcohol use in early motherhood and increase awareness about the impact of substance use for perinatal mothers. Annika is speaking out about her experience and has created a podcast, Mother Recovering, that focuses on supporting these mamas. *She talks about the thought process that happens with substance use and how we sometimes can't see how bad things are getting. *Substance use is a way to cope, but ends up making things worse. *Health care providers aren't asking enough questions *What "normal" drinking limits are for women and how to notice when it's going beyond that limit. *The social messaging to mothers that drinking is what get's you through motherhood.  *Use compassion when talking with mothers, and mothers who are struggling with substance use.  *What we can do better to support mamas *Safety concerns that we should consider for kids *Getting past quitting and onto living *What coping in a new way can look like Connect with Annika: ww

Caribbean Mothers and Perinatal Mental Health with Dr. Kendra Flores-Carter One of the important pieces of understanding perinatal mental health, is putting it in the context of culture, immigration and other socio-cultural factors. When we use the culture to inform healing, a depth of relief and understanding happens. Today we will learn a bit more… Today we have on Dr. Kendra Flores-Carter to discuss perinatal mental health from the lens of Caribbean mothers. As we have stated on previous episodes about culture, there are many different cultures within the Caribbean. So, this is not meant to be specific or prescriptive, rather it is information for us to keep in mind for pregnancy and postpartum. She talks about: *Broad cultural differences for Carribean Mothers *How immigration and length of time in the US impacts seeking help *Ways that Caribbean mothers may experience or express perinatal mental health difficulties *Ways to support mothers Dr. Flores-Carter Bio Dr. Kendra Flores-Carter received her BA in

  Just in time to honor Veterans Day, we talk with Dr. Melinda Thiam about what life might be like for some military mamas. In this fascinating and necessary discussion, Dr. Thiam talks with about the unique aspects of perinatal mental health in the military family.  Dr. Thiam highlights: *The stressors for both for the perinatal mother who is in active duty and for the perinatal mother who is the spouse of an active duty person. *She addressed the need for more healthcare providers to receive training in Perinatal Mental health to be able to help mothers. *The need for healthcare providers to take TriCare insurance so that these mothers and families can access the care that they need. *Understanding the stress that military life may bring and how that may impact social supports. Resources: Link to Book: https://www.routledge.com/Perinatal-Mental-Health-and-the-Military-Family-Identifying-and-Treating/Thiam/p/book/9781138924789 Postpartum Support International: http://www.postpartum.net/get-help/psi-support-f

Expectful offers guided meditations for all of the transitions through motherhood from fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and motherhood. They heard feedback that many mothers who experienced pregnancy loss, didn't have guided meditation support they needed. So, they teamed up with Dr. Jessica Zucker, who is well known for her strong advocacy through the #ihadamiscarriage campaign. Together, they made a beautiful resource to help mothers to cope through guided meditations and supportive information. It is so hard to know how to heal after a pregnancy loss. In this episode, we are talking about using guided meditations as a way to cope and heal. We honor all who have dealt with such grief and hold space, love and support for you, especially through October for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Our guests share: -Some of the unique stress and grief that comes with pregnancy loss -How guided meditation can support healing and give a sense of grounding through the upset of pregnancy loss. -The importance o

When you can really start to understand how stress and trauma affects you on a physiological level and emotional level, you can hold more compassion and understanding for yourself. Nkem Ndefo is on with us today, teaching, informing, shedding light on how to think realistically, holistically about stress. This is totally necessary to understand for pregnancy and postpartum...but also for pretty much everything. Nkem is teaching us about how our bodies and minds respond to stress and ways to build resilience. There are too many gems in this episode to quote, you'll just have to soak this up when you listen. Here are some of the things Nkem discusses with us. * Understanding how a "disorder" may actually be an "adaptive response" to stress. * "What can we build up, what's good, what's working"... "How do we build on that and help build out the strengths?" * "We do grow, we do get stronger, but it has to be within our window of tolerance, if it's outside of our window of tolerance its too much, it doesn't cause

Do you identify as a perfectionist? Do you feel like things need to be a certain way and if they aren't, you feel unsettled? How did that affect you when you were trying to conceive, during pregnancy, birthing or postpartum? This is one of those things that really impacts the early stages of motherhood and parenthood (and all stages really). In this episode, I talk about the dynamics that I see with the mamas that I help...and one that I struggled with in my postpartum...and still work on managing. I touch on how it even impacted the recording of this episode. Some of the things we address on this episode... *The struggle with feeling the need to be perfect *It seems that perfectionism often comes with a high sense of morality and conscientiousness - I believe that this makes intrusive thoughts even more unbearable. *Perfectionism often develops as a way to cope and manage life. But that way of coping goes head to head with the challenges of new parenthood. *The stress of perfectionism, can make getting help

"It is ridiculous that when you are the person in the middle of a crisis, that you are the person who is faced to do the heavy lifting" - Joy Twesigye Lack of social support is a part of what is impacting perinatal and postpartum wellness. Could we start to count on our social supports more if we are giving them some fundamental info? Joy Twesigye has a great perspective on how we can all support perinatal mothers more fully. She is talking about a fundamental need for change in the way WE, not medical or mental health professionals, but us, the people close to mamas, support mothers. Some gems from Joy: - Empathy for the mothers - We can support the support people though education - Changing our mindset to better support mothers and babies - Not making the person who is having the crisis, do the work!!!! YES!!!! Joy Twesigye Joy is an impact driven health care administrator with 16 years progressive experience in health systems and policy. 2017 marks 26 years of starting and managing socially responsible org

Pregnancy & Postpartum: Soapbox Edition II Yeah, no. I have some thoughts about how mothers are treated.... I'm hoping back on the soapbox! And this time, I'm shouting out some of the things that the Mom & Mind listeners are upset about too! Thanks for sharing! Let's see..most of the things I discuss are about how other peoples OPINIONS and JUDGMENTS affect mama's and partners. Can we just stop spouting out whatever comes to our mind when we see a pregnant person, or someone with a new baby? How 'bout that?!?!?! I also touch on some potentially controversial topics related to birth, birthing justice and maybe upsetting to some medical providers. Let's just say there are mostly amazing providers and a few that are less than amazing.... As always, please come join us, listen in, share, subscribe, rate and review this podcast! Find links to places to listen at www.momandmind.com CONNECT WITH US! FB @momandmindpodcast Twitter @drkaeni Instagram @momandmind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co

Bipolar disorder in pregnancy and postpartum is not often discussed. Dyane Harwood is advocating for that to change. In this episode, Dyane shares her personal journey through postpartum bipolar, what she wishes people would understand and how we can all be more supportive to mothers experiencing this difficult and often misunderstood condition. In this rich discussion, we touch on: -Some signs, symptoms and what it may look like to others -Insight into what it might feel like for a mother to be going through Bipolar in postpartum. -Supportive tips on what might help in early detection, prevention and healing. Connect with Dyane:  Twitter: @DyaneHarwood Website: www.dyaneharwood.com Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BirthofaNewBrain Instagram: birthofanewbrain Birth of a New Brain is available for pre-order on Amazon and Kindle. Released on October 10 2017. https://www.amazon.com/Birth-New-Brain-Postpartum-Disorder/dp/1618688014/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506311992&sr=8-1&keywords=birth+of+a+new+brain Sup

We talk about feeling bad about our bad feelings in postpartum & pregnancy. How many of us have had feelings in pregnancy or postpartum that we didn't understand, but then also felt guilt or failure for having them at all? Melissa Divaris Thompson, LMFT shares with us some of her personal experience and a great discussion on the roller coaster of feelings that we may have related to anger, rage, failure and guilt. This is SUCH a common mix of feelings. Most of us don't know about this, because we don't talk about it much as a society. SO, we get in to it here! Breaking the silence on anger and rage, normalizing the pattern and reducing the stigma of having negative feelings in motherhood and feelings with our babies, relationships and ourselves. Listen in, deepen your understanding and feel understood. We got you mamas and parents!!!! Connect with Melissa here: www.embracingjoy.com www.honestmamas.com Twitter: Embracing_Joy Twitter: HonestMamas Melissa Divaris Thompson, LMFT Is a licensed Marriage and Family