In Today's Issue:
🧢 When Dads Struggle Too: The Unseen Side of Postpartum
🌀 I Got Matrescence Wrong—And I’m So Glad I Did
🧰 Not Everything Belongs in One Postpartum Toolbox
🌞 My Summer Life: Slow, Wild, and Fully Chosen
🧢 When Dads Struggle Too: The Unseen Side of Postpartum
Postpartum care has been seen as a "women’s issue."
We’ve screamed into the void that women’s postpartum health is chronically understudied, underfunded, and misunderstood. But what’s becoming clearer—especially in light of two recent studies—is that fathers are missing from the conversation too.
Because here’s the truth: postpartum is hard for dads. And they’re suffering in silence.
In a groundbreaking trial published in JAMA Psychiatry, researchers looked at 357 fathers in Pakistan diagnosed with postpartum depression. Their study tested a group-based parenting and mental health intervention called LTP + Dads, a blend of cognitive behavioral therapy, parenting tools, and community support.
The results?
• Dramatic improvements in depression and anxiety
• Reduced parenting stress
• Better child social-emotional development
• Gains that sustained for months
This wasn’t just "men supporting men" in a circle. It was proof that dads matter, their mental health matters, and when they’re supported, their children thrive.
A similar study from Singapore revealed that over 14% of fathers showed moderate depressive symptoms just one month postpartum. And yet—how many of them were screened? How many had access to care?
We already know maternal postpartum depression is underdiagnosed. Now imagine the fathers—no screening tools tailored to them, no cultural awareness, and no standard support systems in place.
This isn’t just about checking a box for inclusivity. It’s about real families. Real babies. And real consequences when we pretend that only one parent needs to heal after birth.
The postpartum transition impacts both parents.
And we’re only now beginning to ask the right questions.
🌀 I Got Matrescence Wrong—And I’m So Glad I Did
You’ll hear it when you press play on the latest podcast episode -> I made a mistake. Not once, but several times. The kind that makes you cringe a little.
And I left it in the episode.
Because getting it wrong is part of the journey.
After 15+ years in the field of postpartum care, I’m still unlearning, re-learning, and growing. And honestly? That’s what this whole conversation is about.
Matrescence—the word, the process, the rite of passage—is something so many of us experience… but almost none of us are taught about. It’s the developmental transition into motherhood, as profound as adolescence. Yet we’re told to "bounce back." To stay the same. To never lose ourselves.
But what if losing yourself is actually the point?
That’s what Jessie Harrold and I explore in this episode. And it hit me hard.
Because I’ve been that mother, searching for the “me” I used to be, grieving the life I once knew, questioning why I didn’t feel like myself anymore.
The truth is, matrescence changes us at our core. It’s not pathology—it’s metamorphosis.
And when we mistake that change for something “wrong,” we risk pathologizing what is actually a beautiful (and sometimes messy) rite of passage.
💥 Jessie says: “You can’t do the growth without the grief.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
We unpack why our culture has rejected this transformation… and how providers can hold space for mothers in the thick of becoming.
We also talk about:
- Why the word matrescence matters (and what happens when we don’t have the language)
- How grief, growth, and identity loss are not signs of illness—but of evolution
- What studies are now saying about this transition and its protective effects against postpartum depression
And yes, I talk openly about getting it wrong and why perfection isn’t the goal, authenticity is.
👉 Listen to the episode here and tell me—have you felt this shift too? What have you had to grieve in motherhood? How has this shaped the work you do with mothers and families?
We’re not here to bounce back.
We’re here to become.
🧰 Not Everything Belongs in One Postpartum Toolbox
You wouldn’t reach for a screwdriver when what you need is a scalpel.
And you wouldn’t expect one training to cover every layer of perinatal care.
At Postpartum University®, we’ve always believed in depth over fluff. Which is why our Postpartum Nutrition Certification program (PNC) has become the gold standard for practitioners who want to understand the physiological foundations of postpartum healing. Nutrition. Root cause care. Systems-based support. That’s our backbone—and many of you have built your entire practice around it.
But what happens when that same client you’re guiding through inflammation and depletion suddenly says:
“I can’t stop crying. I feel ragey all the time. I don’t even recognize myself.”
That’s where the Perinatal Mental Health Certification Training steps in.
This is not a sub-module. It’s not a bonus. It’s an entirely separate training—a deep dive into perinatal emotional wellness, diagnostic tools, root-cause mental health strategies, and collaborative care you can use alongside therapists and medical providers.
Because perinatal mental health is complex. And there’s never been a program designed for birth workers, doulas, nutritionists, chiropractors, and other non-mental health professionals to actually be trained in this specific area… until now.
If you’ve already walked through our Nutrition Certification, you’re halfway to changing lives.
If you’re adding this Mental Health training, you’re building something even more powerful:
A practice rooted in both the mind and the body—trauma-informed, collaborative, and truly holistic.
This is the next evolution of perinatal care.
And yes, it belongs in your toolbox. Just not the same one.
👉 Get the full details on the Perinatal Mental Health Training here.
🌞 My Summer Life: Slow, Wild, and Fully Chosen
If you followed me around for a week this summer, you might think you’re watching a dream life in motion: I work just two days a week—mostly writing, mentoring students in the current cohorts of the Postpartum Nutrition Certification Program, recording podcast episodes, and pulling this newsletter together. My team? They handle the rest. I spend a few quiet hours writing my next book, then I close the laptop and shift fully into real life.
That life looks like:
✨ Watching my daughter barrel race under the Alaskan sky while I stitch my fourth quilt of the season (I finished three in May!).
🌲 Late nights at the rodeo, orchard-building weekends (which included full-on wilderness defense mode to protect our new apple trees and cherry bushes).
🎬 Movie nights with my kids on our rainy days.
đź“š Endless stacks of books. Always reading.
It’s vibrant, exhausting in the best way, and rooted in family and intention.
But I want to be clear: I don’t do it all. I’ve built systems—on purpose—so I don’t have to. I’ve curated this life bit by bit over the years. And I didn’t get here by accident.
I was a single mom who used to count pennies at the checkout line. I worked from the time I was 10. I didn’t have safety nets. I had a hard childhood. And I carried all of that into motherhood, business, and healing. Nothing was handed to me—but everything was built with purpose.
So yes, this summer is a kind of magic. But it’s a hard-earned magic.
A life deeply chosen, shaped by systems, healing, and the refusal to believe that burnout is the cost of success.
What about you?
What systems are you building to support the life you actually want?
How are you curating a life that feels good, aligned, and true to you?
Hit reply. I’d love to hear what this looks like for you, or what you’re dreaming of building next. 🧡
Stay fierce, stay rooted,
Maranda Bower
CEO & Founder of Postpartum University®
www.PostpartumU.com
Current Ways You Can Work With Postpartum University®
đź””Get on the Postpartum Nutrition Certification Waitlist
📝Free Postpartum Restoration Method™ Assessment Tool
🧠Perinatal Mental Health Certificate Training
đź’Ś Know someone who gets it?
This newsletter is basically a secret handshake for providers who are done with surface-level postpartum care and want something deeper, realer, and rooted in truth. Forward this to your people—the ones who need to be in on these conversations. 👉 They can join us here: www.postpartumu.com/newsletter
