Postpartum Changed My Life

If your mind seems to find a new thing to worry about every time you make peace with the last one, this episode is for you. When fears keep bouncing from topic to topic, it's easy to wonder if you're getting worse — or if you've finally stumbled onto the real problem. In this episode, I'm sharing the idea that completely changed how I understood my own experience of anxiety, drawin...

Fear isn't just a mental health issue some moms struggle with. It's woven into the fabric of modern motherhood — pregnancy, birth, feeding, sleep, development, safety, social media, parenting advice, and even the maternal mental health space itself. In this episode, I'm naming the system. The industry that has quietly made fear the operating system of motherhood, and packaged it as res...

You Deserve Beautiful Things: How Le Lolo Is Changing the Way We Care for New Moms What if the products you use in the postpartum season could do more than solve a physical problem? What if they could actually remind you of your strength, your worth, and your beauty during one of the most vulnerable seasons of your life? That's the question behind Le Lolo — and it started with a lost nipple sh...

Episode Summary In this first Ask Susannah episode, Susannah explores one of the most common and distressing questions moms ask when struggling with intrusive, anxious, or unwanted thoughts in postpartum and early motherhood: What do these thoughts mean about me? This episode breaks down why intrusive thoughts feel so charged, why they do not reflect your true desires or character, and how fear, n...

When a mother feels anxious, foggy, or not like herself postpartum, the conversation often centers around mental health — stress, sleep, hormones, or diagnosis. But what if there’s another layer that often gets overlooked? In this episode, I’m joined by registered dietitian Brittany Jones to explore postpartum depletion — and how nutrient deficiencies can sometimes mimic or amplify what feel like...

When you are experiencing anxiety, your mind has a way of making everything feel important. In this episode, we’re looking at the difference between something being possible and something being likely —and how anxiety tends to treat those two things as the same. When your mind believes that anything that could happen is something you need to figure out or prevent, it can pull you into cycles of ov...

This conversation is about so much more than breath and breathing. In this episode, I sit down with Perrin White — speech-language pathologist, orofacial myologist, yoga teacher, and breath coach — to explore the deeply personal journey that led her into the work she does today. What unfolds is a conversation about motherhood, grief, and what can happen when we stop trying to escape pain and begin...

What if anxious thoughts don’t mean you have a disorder? In this episode, we challenge the way anxiety and intrusive thoughts are commonly understood in early motherhood, and explore how identifying with labels can create more limitation than freedom. I share a different perspective—one that can fundamentally change your relationship with your mind. In this episode, we cover: Why intrusive thought...

Why does trying harder to feel better so often make anxiety worse? In this episode, I revisit the classic Aesop’s fable The Wind and the Sun — a story I first heard years ago while watching Mad Men , and later rediscovered while reading to my daughter. While the fable is often interpreted as a lesson in persuasion, today I explore it through a different lens: healing. If you’ve ever tried to press...

In this episode, I reflect on a story from Aesop’s Fables that I came across while reading to my daughter one night—and how it perfectly captures the way so many of us relate to our minds in early motherhood. I talk about why we don’t need calm, reassuring, or “good” thoughts in order to live a meaningful, healthy life, and how letting the mind lead—especially when it’s saying things we like—can q...

“Just pray about it” is often offered with good intentions — but when it’s used to bypass fear, emotions, or support, it can actually make anxiety worse. In this episode, we explore the difference between faith that supports healing and faith that unintentionally silences emotional experience. We talk about why anxiety and intrusive thoughts are nervous system responses — not spiritual failures —...

Being told to “stop overthinking” can feel frustrating — especially when your mind won’t stop analyzing, evaluating, replaying, and scanning for danger. But what if overthinking isn’t the real problem? What if it’s a signal pointing to something deeper? In this episode, Susannah explains why the mind gets stuck in mental loops during early motherhood, why logical solutions don’t calm emotional dis...

What You’ll Learn: We’ve all heard it: “Just don’t think about it.” It’s the kind of advice people give when they don’t know what else to say — but for moms struggling with anxiety or intrusive thoughts, it’s not helpful. It can actually make things worse. In this episode, I’m breaking down why “just don’t think about it” doesn’t work, what’s really happening in your brain when you try to push tho...

Have you ever filled out a postpartum screener — like the PHQ-9 or EPDS (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale)— and walked away feeling more anxious than before? You’re not alone. In this episode, Susannah Long Fowler, LMFT and early motherhood anxiety coach, explores how these widely used “check-the-box” tools can unintentionally make moms feel broken instead of supported. You’ll learn: The surpr...

In this episode, I reflect on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the rise of political violence in America, and the tragedies of recent school shootings in 2025 that have left many of us grieving and afraid. As mothers, we’re asking how to raise resilient kids in a broken world, how to navigate motherhood and fear, and how to parent through tragedy without being consumed by anxiety. Together we’ll...

Have you ever reached out for help during postpartum or early motherhood, only to feel like the support you received completely missed the mark? Maybe the advice felt generic, dismissive, or just didn’t land. In this episode of Postpartum Changed My Life , I’m unpacking why so much postpartum mental health support can feel tone-deaf — and how to recognize when it’s happening. I’ll also share what...

If you've been on the journey of healing from postpartum anxiety and intrusive thoughts, you know that recovery isn't a straight line. In this episode, we're diving into one of the most crucial yet challenging aspects of healing: navigating setbacks with the right mindset. We're rejecting the mainstream narrative that tells you setbacks mean failure, or that you're "stuck&...

In this episode, I’m joined by Katie Lakvold of @gracefilled_ministries , the creator of the Grace-Filled Postpartum Journal . Katie opens up about her own postpartum journeys—the joys, the grief, and the unexpected moments of spiritual growth that followed. Together, we explore how God uses the tender, raw, and often overwhelming experiences of early motherhood to refine us, stretch us, and begin...

Struggling with anxiety and intrusive thoughts as a postpartum mom or in early motherhood? In this episode, I'm sharing the most powerful question you can ask yourself to break free from the cycle of fear and reclaim your life. This isn't about managing your thoughts—it's about something much deeper. Download my FREE guide to understanding anxiety and intrusive thoughts in early mother...

In this episode, we dive deep into the hidden force behind postpartum anxiety and those disturbing intrusive thoughts that so many new mothers experience but few talk about openly: our relationship with uncertainty. Download my FREE guide to understanding anxiety and intrusive thoughts in early motherhood ⁠⁠⁠HERE.⁠⁠⁠ Becoming a mother instantly raises the stakes of life's inherent unpredictabi...

Experiencing anxiety or intrusive thoughts during weaning your baby from breastmilk? You're not alone. In this episode, I break down why weaning can trigger intense emotional responses—and it's probably not what you think. Many moms get stuck on anxious thoughts about their baby's nutrition or questioning if they're good mothers, or literally about ANY other scary topic when they a...

Ever wonder why being home with a baby - something that looks so simple from the outside - can feel overwhelmingly complex and challenging? In this episode, we dive deep into one of motherhood's greatest paradoxes: how the seemingly small, confined world of early motherhood actually contains some of life's most profound and transformative work. We explore why feeding, rocking, and soothing...

Let's explore the following question: is OCD something you "have", or something you "do"? DISCLAIMER: This podcast represents the opinions of Susannah Long, LMFT. The content of this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical or mental health care from a licensed mental health professional. In no way does listening, emailing, or interactin...

Listen to this week's episode to discover the paradox of recovering from postpartum anxiety. DISCLAIMER: This podcast represents the opinions of Susannah Long, LMFT. The content of this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical or mental health care from a licensed mental health professional. In no way does listening, emailing, or interacting on social media...

Discover how Harry Potter’s shape-shifting boggarts offer a powerful metaphor for understanding postpartum anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Learn why these thoughts, like boggarts, aren’t what they appear to be, and explore practical strategies for managing fear-based thinking through the lens of this magical creature. DISCLAIMER: This podcast represents the opinions of Susannah Long, LMFT. The con...