In honor of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, I wanted to take a moment to highlight an AMAZING book, all about maternal mental health, “Good Moms Have scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers”! Over 90% of new moms experience intrusive, scary thoughts about their babies. Are you surprised by that number? Many people are! It simply isn’t something that we as a society have normalized. In fact, I would venture to argue (and I bet other postpartum birth workers would agree!) that we have normalized the opposite view, that new mothers should be over the moon in love with their lives at all times. And if you aren’t? Well, then you just gotta fake it ‘til you make it!

But if anybody asked, I was doing great! My baby was just so easy! Oh, breastfeeding is the best (you’re supposed to bleed with every latch and be in incredible pain all day, right?). I honestly believed that motherhood was pain and other women were just stronger than I was. How was I supposed to know any differently? The fear of being seen as a bad mom kept me from reaching out for the help that I desperately needed. That’s why I love this book so much. It opens the conversation for maternal mental health and allows parents to be open about their struggles. The more we can talk about the scary thoughts that nearly all new mothers have, the more we can normalize and support people experiencing them! Parents can flip through the book, read the conversations and thoughts depicted in the illustrations, and feel that sense of community that is so important to mental healing. You are not alone.

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless!

Read more about Karen Kleiman and her work here!

All of the illustrations used in this blog can be found in “Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts” with illustrations done by Molly Mcintyer