Postpartum Moods
A conversation about postpartum, breastfeeding, and disabled parenting
I talked to my disabled parent friend Amy about the postpartum period as part of my exhibition “Weaning” for The New Gallery. Listen below. It’s a straightforward conversation, two friends chatting over the phone.
Olivia Dreisinger calls up fellow disabled parent Amy to talk about their contrasting postpartum experiences. The two share stories about pregnancy, postpartum life, and the wild demands of breastfeeding and weaning. They talk about the chaos that is baby sleep, postpartum mood disorders, and figuring out parenting while juggling chronic illness and meds. By the end, they’re ready to start a new parenting trend: weaning cakes—because saying goodbye to breastfeeding deserves its own celebration!
Check out Olivia Dreisinger’s online exhibition “Weaning” here: https://thenewgallery.org/Weaning-Oli...
Lithium in breastfeeding sources:
A study of 16 babies in Barcelona, everyone does great: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
The results of a small 10-baby study in the US and info on how breastfeeding with lithium is safer than we thought: https://womensmentalhealth.org/posts/...
A review of 13 studies covering a total of 39 babies; 20% experience adverse events but they are all short term. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
This is a 30-baby study in Sweden and everyone does great: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f...
Many studies’ findings on infant lithium levels and side effects, collected: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB...