Losing sleep after a baby arrives is treated as part of the deal, and that expectation can hide a risk factor, a symptom and part of treatment.

In this episode, Rebecca walks through four ways to think about sleep across the perinatal period. She covers why "sleep when the baby sleeps" doesn't give parents the unbroken stretches of sleep they need, the questions she asks when a client says they're not sleeping, and practical steps like sleep logs and building a supported sleep plan, ideally during pregnancy.

Try asking about sleep at your next client session, and keep asking, because it changes.

Subscribe so you don't miss the next piece of the puzzle, and share this episode with someone in a client's village.

Links & resources mentioned

* Sleep tips tool: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/sleep-tips-350152

* PMHI website: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/

Disclaimer: Perinatal in Practice is intended for professional education purposes only. It does not constitute clinical advice or supervision, and does not replace your own professional judgment or your organisation's protocols.

🎵 Theme music: Hopeful Horizons by Justin Lee

And when you’re ready to transform your Perinatal Practice with evidence-based Training & Community:

🟢 Join the PMHI Community Hub: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/communityhub

If you or your clients are looking for specialised mental health counselling in the journey to parenthood check out our team at Mindful Roots Counselling here: https://mindfulrootscounselling.com/

Every parent goes through matrescence. Around one in five also experiences a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder. Telling the two apart, and knowing what to say when a parent tells you they no longer know who they are, is what this conversation is about.

In this episode, Rebecca walks through matrescence with her guest, covering how the identity shift after birth mirrors adolescence, what changes in the brain and nervous system in pregnancy and postpartum, and how "ghosts in the nursery" can bring a parent's own history to the surface.

They talk about how to separate the clunky but normal parts of matrescence from the signs of a PMAD, how a NICU stay, loss or birth trauma changes the picture, and which responses help or shut a conversation down, whether you are a midwife, doula, GP, health visitor, lactation consultant or therapist.

Rebecca's guest is Maya McDaniel Bailey, MA, LPC, PMH-C, a licensed therapist, educator and creative based in Birmingham, Alabama. She owns From Rain to Rainbow Counseling and Consulting, where she runs continuing education trainings, consultation groups and treatment groups for clinicians and caretaking professionals, and her doctoral research at the University of Alabama focuses on trauma-informed systems change and maternal health disparities.

Her own postpartum experience led her into perinatal mental health advocacy, and she previews the self-compassion and DBT-informed activity from her upcoming PMHI training.

You will find the link to Maya's training below. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode, and share this one with someone in a client's village.

Links & resources mentioned

* Maya's PMHI training, “The Sun will Rise and we will Start again: Building through Matrescence”: https://learn.perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/2610baileyregistration

* Maya McDaniel Bailey: https://monthlysparkle.net/portfolio

* Maya on social: @maya_rain2rainbow

* PMHI website: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/

Disclaimer: Perinatal in Practice is intended for professional education purposes only. It does not constitute clinical advice or supervision, and does not replace your own professional judgment or your organisation's protocols.

🎵 Theme music: Hopeful Horizons by Justin Lee

And when you’re ready to transform your Perinatal Practice with evidence-based Training & Community:

🟢 Join the PMHI Community Hub: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/communityhub

A parent who is exhausted, flat and snapping at her children could be experiencing perinatal depression. She could also be experiencing something that is much easier to miss.

In this episode, Rebecca looks at two presentations in perinatal mental health that can sit side by side in a session and call for very different support: perinatal depression and parental burnout.

She explains why telling them apart matters for the parents you work with, and what perinatal providers can start listening for when a client says she feels like she is drowning.

If you support parents through pregnancy and the postpartum period, this is one to bring into your next appointment.

To go further on parental burnout, Rebecca shares a training in the links below.

Subscribe so you don't miss the next piece of the puzzle, and share this episode with someone who is also part of a client's village.

Links & resources mentioned

* Parental burnout training: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/product-details/product/w-parental-burnout-reddin

* PMHI website: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/

Disclaimer: Perinatal in Practice is intended for professional education purposes only. It does not constitute clinical advice or supervision, and does not replace your own professional judgment or your organisation's protocols.

🎵 Theme music: Hopeful Horizons by Justin Lee

And when you’re ready to transform your Perinatal Practice with evidence-based Training & Community:

🟢 Join the PMHI Community Hub: https://perinatalmentalhealthinstitute.com/communityhub