Maybe you’d heard about postpartum: sleepless nights, endless diaper changes, and the occasional emotional meltdown. It’s a hard road and 1 in 7 women suffer from postpartum depression globally (StatPearls Publishing LLC, 2024).

Postpartum is not well understood. Lots of hormones, not enough research and it’s a highly sensitive time. There are some supports out there, but there needs to be more.   

What are we doing to help the mamas that haven’t been diagnosed with postpartum depression or anxiety, but are still struggling with the multitude of changes going on in their lives and their bodies, without the 1:1 support they deserve. 

Let’s talk about these things, the stuff no one really prepares you for during postpartum - 

1. The Guilt Games

Guilt sneaks up on you when you least expect it. You feel guilty for wanting a break, for not feeling ecstatic 24/7, for wanting to pinch your partners unhelpful nipples while they sleep peacefully (joking, not joking). Everyone’s telling you to “enjoy every moment,” but honestly, you’d just like five minutes to pee without an audience. It’s okay to feel this way. You’re not a bad mama; you’re just a human one.

2. The Identity Crisis

Postpartum can feel like you’re losing touch with who you once were. Your body’s changed, your priorities have shifted, and somewhere between all the feeding, changing, and not sleeping, you might find yourself asking, “Who am I now?” Maybe you were successful at work, managing teams or working with colleagues and feeling a purpose each day. Now you’ve entered a new version of yourself —wanting to hold onto some of who you were and who you can become, but not knowing what that looks like, or how to find it.

3. Invisible, Unacknowledged and Unseen

Motherhood comes with a lot of love—but not always a lot of recognition. 93% of mamas feel unseen and underacknowledged for the countless things they do daily and 72% of mamas feel invisible (The State of Invisibility, 2023). It’s not just about being exhausted; it’s about feeling like your efforts and everything you pour the limited energy and love you have each day, is slipping by unnoticed. 

4. The Challenge of Finding Balance with Your Partner

Those pre-baby days when you and your partner shared responsibilities and had time for date nights now feel like a lifetime ago. Postpartum introduces a whole new level of partnership where balancing responsibilities and sleep deprivation becomes the new norm. It’s easy to feel like you’re doing more or that your efforts are going unnoticed. Finding a new equilibrium is a journey, and sometimes it feels like you’re both just trying to stay afloat.

5. The Unexpected Lows

Here’s the thing: postpartum can be anxiety and depression. But sometimes, it’s just this weird, lonely feeling that you can’t quite explain. You’re happy, but also a bit lost. Overwhelmed, but in love. It’s a cocktail of emotions that doesn’t have a name, and it doesn’t fit neatly into any box. But it’s real, and it’s okay to feel it.

So, where is the manual for this?

If you’re nodding along, chuckling (or crying—we don’t judge), just know this: It’s all part of the wild, messy, beautiful journey of motherhood. 

All the feelings that get misunderstood by society, the realities that don’t make it into the Instagram captions—those are all valid. The ‘small’ things like nappy changes and sleepless nights are valid when it has become your whole life. You deserve to be heard and validated. It’s all part of your story and part of this new life you are making sense of. 

If you do want to talk about these things, that's exactly why we’ve built ‘WellMama’ - because it’s OK and important to ask for help for all those ‘small’ things. To share the hard with a non judgmental ear. Someone who will listen and validate all the hard, because our team of active listeners truly get it. 

Here’s to you, mama, for surviving the unsaid, unglamorous, and completely normal side of postpartum. Keep going, keep laughing, no one knows your baby like you do. You’ve got this.