Why We Need to Talk About Black Maternal Mental Health
It’s Black Maternal Mental Health Week. I learned of this last night from a colleague who sent an email to a group of birth workers urging us to consider doing something.
So late last night I thought about my own mental health in the months after giving birth. Looking back, I don’t think that I was doing well at all.
It was winter when I gave birth for the first time and for 3 months I was cooped up with a newborn.
I remember wanting support from a postpartum doula and a lactation consultant but didn’t give myself permission to need the help. I suffered through 6 weeks of painful breastfeeding - blisters, engorgement, clogged ducts. I kept pumping to alleviate the engorgement and amassed a freezer full of milk. Many months of pumping passed before someone told me to stop.
Meanwhile, I was sleep deprived, not eating well, and barely holding on. What I did have was a steady stream of family checking in and lots of support from my partner.
That spring I sought support from my community and found Mocha Moms of Manhattan. When my son was 4 months old, we went to Abyssinian Baptist Church for the first of many meetings that would sustain me.
Finally I had a place to go and women to talk to each week. I learned how to wear a baby carrier, how to pack the stroller for long city walks, and even how to tandem feed an infant and a toddler if doing so was in my future. (Tandem feeding was not something I would do, but I LOVED being able to see two Black women do it brilliantly!)
Being in this group taught me the value of mom-friends. More than a decade later, I’m in touch with several moms I met in my neighborhood during my childrens’ first years.
Maternal mental health starts with community support. As birthing people we need folks around us to check-up and check-in.
Black women in particular need this because we experience postpartum mood disorders at rates that are dispopotiate to others. Black women also receive less treatment for postpartum depression. Neither is a surprise. The stress of racism and implicit bias in healthcare contribute to both trends.
In recognition of Black Maternal Health Week, I’m lifting up Mocha Moms and thanking those women for supporting me when I was a new mom.
Upcoming Events and Ways to Work Together
Tomorrow I'm co-teaching Companioning Clients After Pregnancy Loss - a virtual 2-hour course for doulas and birth professionals. This workshop is hosted by Birth Day Presence, July 20th at 7 PM ET. Registration is still open. More here.
I'm co-teaching The Advanced Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss course with Amy Wright Glenn on 3 Saturdays in October. *This course has been approved by Lamaze International for 8.0 Lamaze Contact Hours. These hours may be applied towards recertification as an LCCE educator under learning competencies 1, 6, and 7. More info and registration are here
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