Category: Parenting

Understanding Mama Guilt: A Guide for Expecting and New Moms

By Claire Baumgartner, MSW, LICSW What is Mama Guilt? You decide to take a break while your baby is napping instead of folding the laundry, your toddler has eaten frozen chicken nuggets for the fourth time this week, you...

What Does Islam Say About Postpartum Depression?

Reprinted from www.postpartumprogress.com by Katherine Stone (2/3/2011) I found myself asking that question when I read a heartbreaking comment from Amina, a Muslim mother who had postpartum depression, on a piece I had written about postpartum depression and different religious...

Wanted: A Journey to Surrogacy / Un viaje hacia la subrogación

We love this bilingual children’s book about different kinds of families. In Wanted: A Journey to Surrogacy / Un viaje hacia la subrogación, by Carolina Robbiano, many types of families are shown. Some have two parents, some have one. Some have parents living in...

Coping Skills for the Intense Emotions of New Motherhood

Learn how to manage emotions with DBT skills New parenthood is a transition time and of course there will be moments of stress and frustration. But for some new moms, stress and frustration lead to harmful or self-destructive behaviors....

Softening, Strength and HELP

We’ve heard the saying – yes – that “it takes a village.” We’ve also heard that, sadly, our villages are disconnected, dismantled – spiritually broken by the almighty smart phone, and the news–oh, the news. Families, who once dwelled...

The Postpartum Doula’s Perspective

I am lucky to be the writer and editor for the Postpartum Counseling Center, an organization I support 110%. I support this organization wholeheartedly because I used to work as a postpartum doula. Once a doula, always a doula....

Adoption After Infertility

Though some come to adoption by choice at the start of their parenting journey, others arrive at the decision after a lengthy battle with infertility. Neither scenario makes the adoption more wonderful or more challenging. However, those who decide...

Postpartum Recovery: Patience and the Placenta Wound

Woven into many cultures and backed by years of wisdom is the practice of “lying in” after having a baby. In Latin cultures this womblike “baby moon” is called la cuarentena—a literal, yet nonabrasive quarantine. In China and Korea,...

Claiming the House: Emotional Wellness for Parents

Many things come together to build what we call “emotional wellness.” For parents, this is particularly true. Throughout the daily grind and highs and lows that come with raising children, parents need many things to fall into place in...

Filling the Empty Arms: Pregnancy After Loss

We recently discussed the impact of fertility struggle on pregnancy and childbirth—mainly, the increased risk for perinatal mood disorders. A situation that similarly affects the emotional state of the new or expectant parent is pregnancy after loss—be it miscarriage,...

Marriage After A Baby: You Say Goose, I Say Grey Duck

Perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones. You’ve married the love of your life—you’ve fine-tuned your communication skills, sex is great, and your partnership is strong. You practice compassion over fairness. You laugh hard and often. Marriage after a...