In Today's Issue:
- Why postpartum depression might actually be your immune system screaming for help
- The inflammatory cascade that psychiatry completely ignores
- What happens when we treat the root cause instead of the symptoms
- Plus, a new lacation partnership!
Here's what nobody tells you about pregnancy and birth: they're inherently inflammatory processes.
This isn't pathological, it's biological. Your immune system has to tolerate a foreign organism (your baby) for nine months, then orchestrate massive tissue repair after delivery.
But in our modern world, that inflammation often doesn't resolve. It becomes chronic, low-grade, and persistent.
And chronic inflammation is one of the most significant drivers of depression and anxiety.
Think about the last time you had the flu. You felt depressed, anxious, fatigued, unmotivated, achy.
Not because the flu virus caused a psychiatric disorder. Because inflammation affects brain function and neurotransmitter production.
Now imagine instead of having the flu for a week, you have chronic low-grade inflammation for months or years.
That's what's happening for many postpartum mothers.
Their bodies never fully resolved the inflammatory cascade from pregnancy and birth. And instead of investigating why, we're handing them psychiatric labels and antidepressants.
What Drives Chronic Postpartum Inflammation
When I work with mothers experiencing "treatment-resistant depression," we almost always find these inflammatory triggers:
Poor nutritional foundation: The body can't resolve inflammation without specific nutrients—omega-3s, vitamin D, zinc, antioxidants. Most postpartum women are depleted in all of these.
Chronic sleep deprivation: Sleep is when the body repairs and regulates inflammation. Months of disrupted sleep creates persistent inflammatory signaling.
Unrelenting stress: Cortisol dysregulation from chronic stress either drives inflammation (when elevated) or prevents proper immune function (when depleted).
Gut dysfunction: Increased intestinal permeability during pregnancy often doesn't resolve postpartum. A compromised gut barrier allows inflammatory triggers into circulation.
Unresolved birth trauma: Physical trauma creates inflammatory responses. When birth injuries aren't properly supported in healing, inflammation persists.
Environmental toxins: Exposure to inflammatory triggers—processed foods, environmental chemicals, mold—compounds the burden.
Lack of recovery time: The six-week postpartum "clearance" ignores that tissue healing, immune recalibration, and inflammatory resolution take months, not weeks.
The Gut-Brain Axis Nobody Addresses
Your gut produces 80-90% of your serotonin. When gut function is compromised—which it almost always is in postpartum—neurotransmitter production crashes.
Pregnancy naturally increases intestinal permeability. This is normal and necessary for nutrient absorption to support the baby.
But postpartum, that increased permeability should resolve. Often it doesn't, especially with:
- Antibiotic use during labor
- C-section delivery
- Poor nutritional support
- Chronic stress
- Inadequate sleep
The result? Inflammatory particles crossing the gut barrier, triggering immune responses, creating systemic inflammation that directly impacts brain function.
When we address gut healing alongside nutritional repletion and stress support, we see dramatic improvements in mood—not because we "treated depression," but because we resolved the inflammatory cascade driving symptoms.
Postpartum psychiatric screening asks: "Have you felt sad? Anxious? Trouble sleeping?"
It never asks:
- How is your digestion?
- What does your inflammation feel like?
- Are you experiencing joint pain, brain fog, or temperature dysregulation?
- What's your stress response like?
- How's your gut function?
These aren't "separate issues" from mental health. They're the physiological foundation creating psychiatric symptoms.
When providers only screen for depression without investigating inflammatory markers, gut function, nutrient status, or stress response, they're treating symptoms while the underlying inflammation worsens.
(See Our Recommended Assessment Tool Here)
The Perinatal Mental Health Training exists because traditional education completely ignores these inflammatory foundations.
We teach providers to recognize when psychiatric symptoms are actually inflammatory responses. To identify the patterns. To create comprehensive support plans that address root causes.
Because mothers deserve more than symptom management. They deserve investigation, understanding, and care that actually resolves what's creating their suffering.
YES! Take me to the Perinatal Mental Health Training!
If you haven't taken this training yet, reply to this email and let us know what's stopping you. We have so many incredible providers from a diverse range of backgrounds going through this right now. And you can join them!
Lactation Support You Can Trust
I'm often asked where providers can go to get comprehensive lactation education. There's so much out there, the IBCLC field is riddled with gates and high walls, and there's a lot of outdated information in the field.
But there's no better resource than Lactation University with Christy Jo Hendericks.
As the founder, Christy understands the limitations and challenges within the IBCLC world. And she's actively working to transform it. I've watched her work over the last several years and I can tell you, her educational programs are the most thorough I've seen, addressing the real complexities of lactation support that traditional training glosses over.
I'm not an affiliate, just a raging fan who believes mothers deserve providers trained at this level. If you're wanting to expand your services into lactation, this is the way to go!
Stay fierce, stay rooted,
Maranda Bower
CEO & Founder of Postpartum University®
www.PostpartumU.com
