Why I Started Rooted Postpartum Care

By: Natalie Marchione, DNP, CRNP-PMH

Motherhood changes everything.

It changes your body, your mind, your identity, your relationships, your routines, your nervous system, your sleep, and the way you move through the world. Yet for so many women, the transition into motherhood can feel incredibly isolating and unsupported.

As a nurse practitioner specializing in women’s mental health, pregnancy, postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, and perinatal mental health care, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside countless mothers during some of the most vulnerable seasons of their lives.

Again and again, I noticed the same thing:

Many mothers were receiving treatment, but very few truly felt cared for as a whole person.

At the heart of it was a simple realization: the mother matters too.

While motherhood often brings immense joy and meaning, it is also one of the most physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially demanding transitions a person can experience. Mothers deserve care that recognizes the full complexity of that experience—not just their symptoms.

In modern healthcare, postpartum care often becomes centered around the baby while the mother’s recovery quietly fades into the background.

There are appointments for the baby. Weight checks for the baby. Feeding schedules for the baby. Sleep discussions for the baby. Milestones for the baby.

Meanwhile, mothers are often left trying to survive physically, emotionally, and mentally on their own.

Many women attend a single six-week postpartum visit and are told they are “cleared,” even though they may still be experiencing:

• postpartum anxiety

• postpartum depression

• intrusive thoughts

• nervous system dysregulation

• emotional overwhelm

• identity loss

• severe sleep deprivation

• burnout

• chronic stress

• rage or irritability

• hormonal shifts

• physical depletion

• feelings of guilt, loneliness, or disconnection from themselves

  
  

Many mothers are not only struggling with anxiety or depression—they are carrying the weight of chronic stress, invisible labor, decision fatigue, and burnout while continuing to care for everyone around them.

And almost immediately, mothers are expected to continue functioning as though nothing monumental has happened. They are expected to care for newborns while healing. To maintain households while sleep deprived. To return to work while emotionally overwhelmed. To care for everyone else while neglecting themselves.

It is not uncommon for women to be awake every few hours overnight with a newborn, recovering from birth physically, struggling with feeding challenges, navigating relationship changes, and experiencing significant hormonal fluctuations — all while hearing messages that they should be “grateful,” “enjoy every moment,” or “bounce back.”

In many ways, modern motherhood has become a paradox: Mothers are expected to do everything, often with less support than ever before.

Many families today live far from relatives or community support systems. Partners often return to work quickly. Maternity leave in the United States remains limited compared to many other countries. Social media creates unrealistic expectations of motherhood and recovery. And many women silently struggle because they fear being judged or misunderstood if they admit they are overwhelmed.

For some mothers, postpartum mental health struggles are obvious. For others, they are quiet and hidden beneath perfectionism, productivity, over-functioning, irritability, or emotional numbness.

But historically, postpartum recovery was not always approached this way.

For thousands of years, many cultures recognized the postpartum period as a deeply vulnerable and important transition requiring intentional care for the mother herself. Across cultures, the first 30 to 40 days postpartum were often treated as a sacred recovery period focused on rest, nourishment, emotional support, nervous system healing, and community care.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the practice of “zuo yuezi,” often translated as “sitting the month,” encouraged mothers to spend the first month postpartum resting, staying warm, eating nourishing foods, limiting stress, and allowing the body time to heal after birth.

In many Latin American cultures, “la cuarentena” refers to approximately 40 days of postpartum recovery where mothers are traditionally supported by family members, encouraged to rest, eat healing foods, and focus on bonding and recovery rather than household responsibilities.

In parts of India, postpartum traditions often include warm foods, herbal support, body care practices, reduced physical labor, and extensive involvement from family or community members during the early recovery period.

Across various African, Middle Eastern, Indigenous, and Asian traditions, postpartum care historically centered around the understanding that birth was physically and emotionally transformative — and that mothers required ongoing support, nourishment, protection, and recovery time afterward.

While these traditions vary greatly and are not without complexity, many shared a common understanding: The mother deserved care too.

There was recognition that postpartum healing was not supposed to happen in isolation. Meals were prepared for mothers. Communities gathered around them. Responsibilities were reduced. Rest was encouraged. Recovery was expected — not rushed. Caring for the mother was viewed as part of caring for the baby.

And while modern medicine has made extraordinary advances in maternal and infant safety, many women today still feel emotionally unsupported during the postpartum period. In Western culture, postpartum recovery is often treated as something women should move through quickly and quietly. Women are praised for “doing it all.” For getting back to normal quickly. For returning to work quickly. For hosting visitors immediately after birth. For pushing through exhaustion. For functioning despite depletion.

But the nervous system does not heal through pressure and survival mode alone. Mental health does not exist separately from sleep deprivation, stress, hormonal changes, nutrition, physical recovery, emotional support, and the realities of modern motherhood.

The body and mind are not separate. A mother who is sleep deprived, undernourished, overwhelmed, and physically depleted may experience emotional symptoms that cannot be fully understood without looking at the bigger picture. Mental wellness is influenced by many factors, including nourishment, sleep, stress, support, physical recovery, and the demands of daily life.

That realization is what led me to create Rooted Postpartum Care.

The name Rooted Postpartum Care reflects my belief that healing begins at the foundation. Before asking mothers to push harder, do more, or simply cope better, we must look at the roots that support emotional wellness—sleep, nourishment, nervous system health, meaningful support, physical recovery, relationships, and mental health. When these foundations are neglected, it becomes much harder to feel like yourself. When they are supported, healing often becomes more possible.

I wanted to build the kind of postpartum mental health practice that recognizes mothers deserve comprehensive, compassionate, whole-person support during pregnancy and postpartum — not just symptom management. Rooted Postpartum Care was created to provide integrative postpartum mental health care that considers the full picture of maternal wellness:

• emotional health

• nervous system regulation

• psychiatric care

• nutrition and nourishment

• sleep

• stress

• hormonal changes

• identity shifts

• lifestyle factors

• burnout

• and the emotional transition into motherhood itself

  
  

My approach combines evidence-based mental health care with a more holistic and compassionate understanding of postpartum healing.

Medication can absolutely be an important and life-changing part of treatment when appropriate. But mental health care should also create space to talk about the foundations that impact emotional wellness — sleep, nutrition, stress, nervous system health, support systems, boundaries, recovery, and the realities of modern motherhood.

At Rooted Postpartum Care, I want mothers to feel:

• heard

• safe

• supported

• educated

• empowered

• nourished

• and deeply seen

  
  

I want women to know they are not failing because motherhood feels hard.

Postpartum anxiety is real. Postpartum depression is real. Intrusive thoughts are real. Maternal mental health matters.

And mothers deserve support before they reach complete burnout.

Whether someone is navigating anxiety during pregnancy, postpartum depression after birth, intrusive thoughts, emotional overwhelm, or simply feeling disconnected from themselves in motherhood, my hope is that Rooted Postpartum Care becomes a place where healing feels possible.

Not rushed. Not minimized. Not reduced to “just hormones.” Not treated as something women simply need to push through.

But approached with compassion, education, evidence-based care, and support that honors the whole person behind the motherhood experience.

Because mothers deserve care too.

Because healing does not end at six weeks.

Because mental health and physical health are deeply connected.

Because the mother matters.

You deserve to feel rooted in yourself again.

Welcome to Rooted Postpartum Care.

Whole Mother. Wholehearted. Rooted in You.