Postpartum University® Podcast

5 Things Every Postpartum Provider Wishes They Learned in School EP 231

• Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

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If you’ve ever felt like your professional training left you unprepared for the realities of postpartum care, you’re not alone. 

This episode tackles the massive gaps in our education system that leave perinatal professionals—from doulas to therapists—under-resourced. It’s a candid look at the biggest blind spots in the industry and why they are costing mothers their peace, healing, and even their lives. We’ll expose the system that fails providers and explore the five critical things every postpartum professional wishes they learned in school. Get ready to shift your perspective on maternal mental health, postpartum nutrition, and the true meaning of postpartum recovery.

Check out this episode on the blog here: https://postpartumu.com/podcast/5-things-every-postpartum-provider-wishes-they-learned-in-school-ep-231/

Key time stamps: 

  • 0:02: The current postpartum care system is failing new mothers.
  • 3:01: Mental health professionals lack dedicated courses on postpartum.
  • 3:53: Nutritionists miss crucial information on depletion and the gut-brain axis.
  • 4:43: Doulas are left under-resourced to handle deeper maternal issues.
  • 6:03: Providers were failed by their training, not the other way around.
  • 10:08: Why nutrition is the missing link in postpartum depression.
  • 14:57: The importance of understanding the root causes of postpartum symptoms.
  • 18:00: Postpartum is a profound transformation, not a diagnosis.
  • 22:57: The nervous system holds the key to healing from misdiagnosed trauma.
  • 28:01: You aren't broken; you're just under-trained.
  • 29:25: Introducing a new model to bridge the educational gaps.

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Speaker 1:

The postpartum care system is failing, leaving countless mothers struggling with depression, anxiety and autoimmune conditions. I'm Miranda Bauer and I've helped thousands of providers use holistic care practices to heal their clients at the root. Subscribe now and join us in addressing what modern medicine overlooks, so that you can give your clients real, lasting solutions for lifelong wellbeing. Welcome back to the podcast Miranda Bauer. Here and today's episode is for all of the incredible providers out there the birth workers, doulas, lactation consultants, therapists, nutritionists, midwives, educators who are showing up with heart, deep care and an ever-growing sense that maybe school didn't prepare you for this. I have worked with hundreds of providers around the world, across disciplines, and I hear the same thing again and again. I love what I do, but I wish someone would have taught me what postpartum really is. And if you felt that gap too, you are absolutely not alone. The reality is, most professional training programs give very little time, if any, to the postpartum season, and what is taught is often reductionist, very clinical, based on checklists instead of lived experience. We've got the six weeks clearance right and then the end. But we all know better now. We know that postpartum is not six weeks long. We know that maternal mental health is deeply connected to food, sleep, trauma and support. We know that what providers don't know is costing mothers their peace, their healing and sometimes even their lives. So this episode is not about blame, it's about awakening. It's about naming the five biggest things I hear from providers over and over and over again that they wish they've learned in school, and my hope that this gives you clarity and inspiration and the validation you might not even realize you need, because you are not crazy for feeling like something was missing. You are absolutely right, something is missing, but you're here and that means you're willing to learn differently, you're willing to show up differently, to be a part of a new wave of postpartum care that mothers are desperately calling in. Okay, so let's tell the truth here, because most professionals working with postpartum moms have had no formal education in what this time, this physiological, psychological, mental, emotional time, really requires.

Speaker 1:

If you're a mental health provider, you likely never had dedicated course on postpartum in your schooling. At best, there may have been, say, a brief mention of perinatal mental mood disorders, tucked inside an elective course on human development. That was my experience. It was a blip on the radar in an optional class and when the professor stood in front of the room. She actually said, as we were going through this class again, birth to death and a blip of postpartum she, I swear to you, said there is no such thing as birth trauma. I actually walked out of that class. I never looked back. I never got my degree. That was the turning point for me that this is all awful BS. That was my breaking point.

Speaker 1:

If you're a nutritionist or a registered dietitian, you were probably taught about the standard breastfeeding Women need 300 to 500 extra calories, and that's it. We're not talking about blood sugar regulation when it comes to. That's it. We're not talking about blood sugar regulation when it comes to postpartum. We're not talking about depletion, where there's nothing on the inflammatory response after birth or the brain's rewiring and how the gut brain axis is directly influenced by that. There's nothing on this. And this is why I created my postpartum nutrition training in the first place, because over and over and over again, I've seen providers go through my program and come out angry, not at me but at the systems that train them. They say how could I have a degree and never have been taught this?

Speaker 1:

And doulas, doulas are getting more education than most, but even that often focuses on logistics, like holding the baby, doing dishes, offering a listening ear, but not going out of scope of practice. That care is beautiful, but it's also not enough because so many doulas are left feeling under-resourced. When mothers are spiraling into depletion or anxiety, or when she's bleeding heavily and can't get clear answers from her OB. I have seen over and over and over again in these doula groups doulas asking more questions and being shut down. That's not your scope of practice, but it's okay for us to know more. It's okay to be craving depth, to be wondering okay, what can I really give the mom that I'm serving and how can I refer to the best possible person for her If you're in that predicament, they deserve to have that, both mothers deserve that and so to do this, and even mid and OBs, they walk away from formal education with major gaps. That's not because they don't care Most of them do deeply but the truth is postpartum isn't studied enough, it's not prioritized in medical research, so of course it doesn't show up in our schooling.

Speaker 1:

It's not the curriculum. It's the curriculum, right, but it's not in the curriculum because it's not in the system. It's not in the system and that's what I want every provider listening to know is that you did not fail. You were failed, and the good news is that you can change that. You can seek out the knowledge that wasn't offered. That's why we have postpartum university. You can reclaim the depth and wholeness of postpartum care that mothers so desperately need, because it isn't just about healing the mother, it's about healing the entire way in which we see her. So that's what we're diving into today, because across every field like whether it's mental health, nutrition, body work, midwifery, birth support I hear the same thing over and over and over again from providers around the world why didn't I learn this in school?

Speaker 1:

Why did I not learn this? And it's not just one missing chapter, it's like entire sections of essential knowledge that were never taught. Not because, again, these, these providers care right. They deeply, deeply care. I'm one of them. That's why I have postpartum university, because I didn't get the education that I needed formally and I was like what in the world is happening here? Right, it's not because we didn't study hard enough. I needed formally and I was like what in the world is happening here? Right? It's not because we didn't study hard enough. It's because the postpartum care has been systemically overlooked. It's underfunded, it's undervalued in every corner of our professional world.

Speaker 1:

So I want to share the five most common things I hear from professionals who go through my postpartum training and coaching, and these are the pieces they wish someone would have told them. It's the light bulb moments, the part that changed everything in their practice. These are the gaps that leave providers feeling under-resourced and the exact truths that help them become radically more effective and compassionate and rooted in true postpartum support. So today, this is what we're covering. We're covering nutrition is the mental health care we're missing and why it's the missing link in postpartum depression and how most training programs get this entirely. You cannot heal what you don't understand, so we're going to dive into trauma depletion, the invisible wounds and how they show up, and what providers need to really know how to support root cause healing.

Speaker 1:

We're going to talk about postpartum is not a diagnosis. It is not a diagnosis is not a diagnosis. It is not a diagnosis. And if I said that on social media, which I have before, I get ripped apart by every single person. It is absolutely crazy. This is a transformative period and we deeply understand it and we make it not normal to go through this transformation. The nervous system holds the key. This is something else that we don't talk about enough. So we're going to talk about why traditional talk therapy or surface level care doesn't work unless we address nervous system regulation, and I also want to talk about why you, as a provider, are not broken. You are undertrained and you are here. You're gaining that training. You are doing something different. You are oftentimes creating something from scratch and you're burning yourself out, and this is the most important message for every provider who feels this burnout, who feels this overwhelm, feels like they should have known better. We're going to dive into all of those things and I'm going to give you the straight talk and we're going to go deeper into this, but also to give you the information that you need so that you can feel inspired, so that you can feel confident in your care and postpartum mothers deserve a provider who gets it, and we know that's you, okay. So let's first start with.

Speaker 1:

Nutrition is mental health care. This is one that I believe might be the biggest shock to most providers, especially in mental health that nutrition is mental health care, and yet 99% of providers never learn that. I cannot tell you how many therapists, counselors, even dieticians, come through my certification and say why did no one teach me this? Why wasn't this a chapter in undergrad or grad school? And the truth is, postpartum nutrition isn't just about calories or micronutrients. It's not about eating healthy. It's about rebuilding a woman's body from the inside out. But one of the most nutrient demanding experiences of the human body can absolutely go through, even more so than puberty it's just not talked about.

Speaker 1:

Birth is like this massive biological event. Right, we've got blood loss, tissue repair, hormone shifts, brain changes. And to do that your body has to pull from its reserves vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, proteins to give your baby your healing system. Especially if you're not getting those vitamins and minerals and fatty acids and all of the things in your day-to-day consumption, which is really difficult to do because we have to be so conscious of our eating patterns in order to get that level of nutrients that we so need to grow a human being. So if you're not deeply replenishing in this postpartum period, then what happens is you fall into depletion.

Speaker 1:

And depletion doesn't make you feel just tired, it makes you anxious, it makes you depressed, it impairs your ability to cope. It impairs your ability to cope and what we see clinically is low B vitamins, that equals mood swings, fatigue, brain fog. Zinc and magnesium depletion equals anxiety and insomnia. Colon deficiency is memory loss and emotional dysregulation. We've got blood sugar instability right. Everybody knows what it's like to be hangry. We get irritable, overwhelmed, we have crashes and then we have poor gut health. And poor gut health means serotonin imbalances, because that's where serotonin is created most of it. And then we have mental fog. That's where serotonin is created most of it. And then we have mental fog and that gut-brain connection is real. And in postpartum the axis is fragile.

Speaker 1:

And antibiotics and birth stress, sleep loss and that ultra-processed diet especially when we have this meal train and we're going to fast food places and we're getting deliveries from you know, whatever local place that you have you're looking at a perfect storm for postpartum depression and anxiety. But most mental health providers never learn this. Most nutritionists are only taught breastfeeding moms need 300 to 500 extra calories, that's it. And meanwhile I have clients who say that once we address food, their mood changes in days, their mind clears, their tears slow. They don't need a diagnosis, they need a nursery meal and this is why we have to change the game.

Speaker 1:

If you're a provider who supports postpartum women in any capacity. Please hear me when I say this you must understand nutrition, not to become a dietician, right, but to stop missing the root cause of the very symptoms that you're trying to treat, because you can't talk someone out of a panic attack If it's being triggered by low blood sugar or a magnesium crash. You can't affirm someone's worth if their brain is literally starving for neurotransmitter building blocks. You can't support someone's healing if they're running on an empty tank while giving everything they have to a baby. Postpartum nutrition is mental health care. It is nervous system care. It is trauma recovery care. It is regulation, stability and empowerment in a world that constantly asks moms to do more with less. And if you didn't learn this in school, you are not alone. That is exactly why we are here. Number two you cannot heal what you do not understand.

Speaker 1:

One of the most heartbreaking truths that I've come to realize after working with hundreds of providers and thousands of mothers is this Most providers and professionals don't actually understand what's happening in postpartum. And how could they right? It's barely studied, it's barely taught and it's almost never modeled in practice. And again, not a provider problem, this is a system problem. Midwives get training on physiology and birth, but mental health providers. Postpartum is a blip right In that elective course, if it's mentioned at all. Here's what I get. That's even more painful.

Speaker 1:

Mental health care professionals are working with mothers every day who are overwhelmed. They're anxious, exhausted, numbed out. They're being diagnosed, pathologized and sometimes even medicated for symptoms that are biological, hormonal and normal reactions to systemic neglect and depletion. Dietitians and nutritionists again taught that 300, 500 extra calories. That's it. No one talks about rebuilding the gut. No one talks about neurotransmitter cofactors. No one talks about the massive hormonal and micronutrient shifts that happen after birth. Doos are taught how to hold babies and refer out to a network of people on their list that they had to build in order to get their certification. Not how to identify thyroid shifts, not how to recognize trauma freeze, not how to screen for deep depletion masked as mom fatigue. But I'll hold your baby while you sleep and in the morning you should call these five providers when you have time and they'll give you this fragmented care that you don't deserve and you're going to have to act like it's your full-time job.

Speaker 1:

And meanwhile moms are failing and falling apart. They feel like they're failing. Moms are not okay, not because they're broken, but because their educational and care models have massive gaps and understanding what's actually going on underneath the symptoms. And here's what you'll want to hear. When you finally understand the root causes, the healing path becomes clear. When you see that her irritability is likely mineral depletion, when you recognize her anxiety as a trauma imprint, when you understand her intrusive thoughts are wired into a brain trying to protect her child, that's when you can stop treating symptoms and start supporting the whole woman. And that's why it matters, because you cannot heal what you don't understand. And postpartum true postpartum is a complete transformation biologically, emotionally, spiritually, neurologically, and we must learn it, study it, normalize it, center it. Only then can we finally serve the woman we say we're here to support.

Speaker 1:

Number three postpartum is not a diagnosis, it's a transformation. We need to get this loud and clear. Postpartum is just not a diagnosis. It's not an illness, it's not a disorder. It's a biological, emotional, spiritual and neurological metamorphosis. But the problem is our system only has one language to describe what mothers go through, and that word is symptoms. So when a mom cries easily, that's depression. When she gets frustrated or overstimulated, that's anxiety. When she feels distant, overwhelmed and detached, we call it postpartum. When she tries to ask for help. She's handed a screening tool and a prescription medication.

Speaker 1:

Postpartum is not the problem, it's the context that's broken. Think about it. How do you expect a mother to be stable when her hormones are collapsing in a span of hours in a way that's biologically normal? She loses up to 10 to 15% of her blood volume at birth, sometimes even more. She's sleep deprived, bleeding, leaking and holding her baby 24-7, oftentimes with very little support. Her nutrient stores are completely depleted. Her identity has been obliterated. She hasn't eaten a full meal or showered in three days. She's got to return to her previous life of chasing toddlers and working full-time, and the only support she gets is here's your pill. This isn't postpartum depression. It's a complete misunderstanding of what postpartum actually is.

Speaker 1:

Providers are trained to look for dysfunction, when we should be trained to understand transformation, because the woman sitting across from you isn't just having mood swings. She's undergoing one of the most intense neurological and physiological rewiring events in the human lifespan. Her brain is shrinking in some areas and growing in others. Her blood volume is recalibrating, her inflammation markers are changing. Her nervous system is rewiring itself in real time. She's mourning her previous life and self so that she can embrace the new woman she's become.

Speaker 1:

That's not pathology, it's evolution, it's transformation, it's power. And, yes, it's disorienting, it can be overwhelming, it can even mimic mental illness, but it's not the same. So when we, as providers, are only taught to diagnose, when we are given a DSM or an ICD code, when we are given a DSM or an ICD code, we miss the opportunity to witness this metamorphosis with reverence. We miss the opportunity to guide and not just treat. And more than that, we send women the message that their suffering is individual, that it's a flaw in their brain, that the solution is chemical in their brain, that the solution is chemical when in reality the solution is community support, nourishment, restoration, validation. This is the awakening that changes everything for a provider when you realize postpartum isn't a diagnosis to be feared, it's a transformation to be honored. That's when your entire practice changes. Okay, that was a big one. Here's number four. The nervous system holds the key.

Speaker 1:

Trauma is misdiagnosed as depression and anxiety. So so much. And we're failing women because we don't know how to see it. One of the most heartbreaking realities of postpartum care is often how trauma is misdiagnosed. So many moms have come into my world after being labeled with postpartum depression or anxiety. But what really happened?

Speaker 1:

When we get into their story, their lived experience, it's not depression. It was birth trauma, it was partner trauma. It was some form of abuse that they experienced in early adulthood or even their childhood that came roaring back in postpartum. And that's normal, right. We experience this often. Any mom can attest to this, especially as moms, as women, we experience very high rates of traumatic events in our lives as women, especially around all things sexual, and a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of times that comes roaring back in postpartum. Sometimes we black it out and we forget until postpartum. Sometimes we spend years working on it and think it's gone away and it comes back postpartum. Sometimes we just tuck it away, throw it under the rug, pretend like it's never happened and then it comes back postpartum and then we have 30% of women experience birth trauma as well, not to mention the amount of women who experienced partner violence. So it's women coming back handed a diagnosis that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what they're truly living with.

Speaker 1:

We've created a system where providers must diagnose, to treat. In order for a mom to get help from a therapist or a counselor, she has to have some sort of diagnosis. She needs a code right, otherwise her insurance won't cover it, otherwise she'll have to pay out of pocket usually a lot of money, especially here in the United States so that we have to give her that diagnostic code. So we oftentimes just give depression or anxiety, or oftentimes we don't even look for trauma, where a woman's emotional experience must be squeezed into this billing code in order to get her care.

Speaker 1:

And because trauma isn't something most providers are trained to see, especially in the context of birth, it gets overlooked and rewritten and silenced Again. Us alone, over 30% of women experience birth trauma. That's nearly one in three. And yet most mental health care professionals don't learn about birth trauma in school. Or, if you're like me, you have providers or people who are professionals who are saying that birth trauma is not real. Professionals who are saying that birth trauma is not real and a psychology degree higher learning institution. These are people in the field. They are doing this work. They are working directly with mothers and families and they're teaching others how to do the same. That's real. Nutritionists and dieticians aren't taught how to treat depletion. That worsens stress, anxiety and trauma responses and dualism.

Speaker 1:

And postpartum care workers are trained to be kind and helpful but not offer trauma-informed care. It's usually not a part of their training and I'm very grateful to see that some trainings are now providing that, but it's not all right. And OBs and nurses, they're working in a system that can unintentionally perpetuate trauma while never calling it by its name. And we treat these women with talk therapy and prescriptions. And we treat these women with talk therapy and prescriptions and while those tools can be life-changing when used appropriately, they're not trauma care, especially not when that woman is still living in the exact same environment that created the trauma to begin with the sleeplessness, the isolation, the lack of nourishment, the constant diligence, the absence of support.

Speaker 1:

Trauma doesn't heal in a vacuum. It doesn't heal with coping strategies alone. It heals when the body feels safe again. This is why so many providers tell me after going through my trainings why didn't I learn this before? They feel betrayed because they went into this work to help women and instead they were sending out with incomplete maps and and missing tools. But this knowledge, it really changes everything and how we approach care. It helps us see clearly. And when we can see clearly, we can actually help.

Speaker 1:

Here's the fifth component you are not broken. You are under trained and it's not your fault. If you're a provider listening to this and feeling overwhelmed, maybe even angry, I want you to hear me clearly. You are not broken. This has nothing to do with you. You were sent into this work with a heart that wanted to help and a toolkit that was half empty, and that's not your fault.

Speaker 1:

That's the reality of modern professional education. Mental health care providers aren't taught how trauma shows up in postpartum, and nutritionists and dieticians learn almost nothing about life altering seasons. You know doulas are trained to support birth and postpartum, but rarely with the depths of what motherhood absolutely needs. Ibclcs, right, never taught about anything nutrition related. I can go on and on and on. And even midwives some of the most deeply trained birth professionals, only get fragments of postpartum care woven into their education, especially if they were trained outside of the traditional midwifery model. Not because they don't care, but because postpartum has never been prioritized in our modern day medical system. Not in science, not in policy, not in professional education. It's just not there.

Speaker 1:

But when you know better, you do better and you're here because you know something is missing and that's exactly why I created Postpartum Restoration Method and Postpartum University. This is the method I teach to bridge the gaps, to bring together everything we've talked about in this episode the mind, the body, the brain, the nervous system, the trauma, the nutrition, the care systems, the cultural realities and give providers like you a clear framework for which we really need to have our care systems based upon so that we can actually provide the help we need care systems based upon so that we can actually provide the help we need, because women deserve more than patchwork care and you deserve a method that makes your work easier, more effective and more deeply aligned with the kind of impact you came to make. That's why I give away the Postpartum Restoration Assessment Guide for free. That's why I provide the training for that to walk you through exactly how you need to use it and want to use it to better support your clients and yourself for free, because we need every provider, especially the ones who care this deeply, to have tools that work.

Speaker 1:

You don't have to start from scratch. You don't have to piece this all together on your own. You just have to take the next step, because you are never broken. You were just never taught, and now you're ready. Thanks so much for being a part of this crucial conversation. I know you're dedicated to advancing postpartum care and if you're ready to dig deeper, come and join us on our newsletter, where I share exclusive insights, resources and the latest tools to help you make a lasting impact on postpartum health. Sign up at postpartumu the letter ucom, which is in the show notes, and if you found today's episode valuable, please leave a review to help us reach more providers like you.

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Maranda Bower

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