Distracted By: Pregnancy & The First Years
Recommended reads and resources across Substack, Books, TV and Podcasts. It's a BIG ONE.
If you are new here, hello and welcome to Distracted and welcome to parenthood.
Distracted is really about sharing the highs and the lows of motherhood honestly and without filters. Along with a weekly personal essay, I send out recommended reads every month and this is a bumper special edition about the first years of parenthood.
The first years are hard; everyone tells you that but in my finding it hard I sought people who were having similar experiences and found comfort in their articulation and their stories.
This isn’t parenting advice, that isn’t what Distracted is about but more a discussion on how parenting feels. Here we talk about identity, bodies, mental wellbeing, the balance of work, relationships and community.
When I had my first baby each time I had a question or I felt a certain way, I would google, and google until I found the comfort I was looking for, but with this handy compilation of links, I hope support can be found without going down a rabbit hole and without any unnecessary anxiety. If you have a friend who is expecting or is a new mum please do pass it on I hope they will find these links useful too.
On Substack
Pregnancy & Birth
Honest Mindset Shifts for Pregnancy from
Physical & Mental Health
An Owner’s Manual for Breasts from
Your Postnatal Body - a guide to caring for yourself after pregnancy and birth with
The Universal Needs of the Postpartum Mother with The Nettle Witch, MD
A hilarious look at parenting and becoming mum in Poised and Ready for Parenthood
Zoe Gardiner talks about the representation of post-partum depression in TV series, Sex Education
Meeting My Baby Made Me Feel Emotionally Numb with Libby Page
A love note to my real postpartum with
This is the Reality of Postpartum Life with
What what motherhood really looks like
Postpartum loneliness and how I tackled it
Matrescence - the transition to motherhood
From the other side of babyhood with - what to do when babyhood ends.
The Hidden Treasures that Arise Through Motherhood - with
Work & Mat Leave
Don’t ask for a promotion and other Lies We are Told about Maternity Leave with
Finding time for creativity/writing in motherhood with Julia
The Dance of Creativity and Motherhood with
Breastfeeding & Weaning
questions if we really make free choices when deciding how to feed our babies.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett talks formula milk and how parents should decide what’s best for baby
Pumping support can be found with Kristen Krahl and Tamari Jacob
On ending breastfeeding with
On Milk and Words
Sleep
Holly Bourne’s baby broke the sleep consultant and the follow up: Everything I have learned about sleep since…
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett talks baby sleep and the things we do to get our babies to sleep through
Nursery
Is Day Care Bad for Children? Emily Oster discusses what the research says.
How Often Do Kids Get Sick, another great piece from Emily Oster
The Village
discusses the Ways We Reject the VillageAlso from “The Village” is NOT your mothers group
Where are all the wise women?
Friendships
How to kid-proof your friendship with
Another Baby?
urges us to not waste our time worrying about only childrenThe Environment
A look at consumption when it comes to babies - Baby Gear and the Environment with Tatiana Schlossberg
The Day to Day
17 Things I Learned in my First Year of Motherhood,
What if I hate being a mom? In Ask a Middle-Aged Lady Mom
Getting it Wrong in Motherhood,
A fun take at time passing in the early years with Mom Math by
On contradictory feelings in motherhood with
Another article from Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s Republic of Parenthood - On Sharenting - sharing our children on social media.
Cooking in the Bathroom
The Unbearable Lightness of Bandit Fatherhood & a Blue Cartoon Dog with
Questions all the stupid things I nearly bought as a new mother
The myth of the whimsical child
Motherhood’s Inappropriate Feelings
The Unspoken Words series by
The impact of social media on parenting with
Books
This book had me in tears - I laughed, I felt seen…. it is the best book I have read on motherhood. Clover takes us through the feelings of being a mum of five (!!) in the year after the birth of her youngest son, as her eldest son becomes a teenager. The way she describes the birth is almost visceral - it is so similar to my own experience I feel like she was in my body and has done a way better job of describing it than I could have. She also has very relatable experiences of motherhood of more than one child - the split attention, the constant overwhelm and the chaos. It really is an absolute wonder of a book. Her writing is divine.
A Life’s Work, Rachel Cusk
Writing about early motherhood with a clarifying detail that really just took me back to those initial days and the true horror and joy of it. She asks thought provoking questions throughout about femininity and gender equality, which make it an essential read.
The Best Most Awful Job, Edited by Katherine May
Honest and unfiltered this book tells many different stories from varied angles of motherhood, biological or not, providing comfort in the shared experience in the same way an NCT group or NetMums forum can.
Books I haven’t read (yet)
My Child & Other Mistakes by Ellie Taylor
Momfluenced by Sara Petersen
Touched Out: Motherhood, Misogyny, Consent, and Control by Amanda Montei
Matrescence by Lucy Jones
Podcasts
Is it Normal (The Pregnancy Podcast) with Jessie Ware
Parenting Hell I have found Josh & Rob’s banter a welcome giggle in many a hellish parenting week.
You Still, with Ella Delancey Jones - I particularly enjoyed the one with
TV
Workin’ Moms, Netflix, 2017 and The Letdown, Netflix, 2017 - Old ones but I relied on these during my lockdown mat leave for relatable mum content. Both very funny.
Babies, Netflix, 2020 - factual and interesting - science follows a baby’s first year.
If you have found this useful and you have a friend who might find it useful too, please do share it.
To keep updated with Distracted make sure to subscribe. I collate links every month in Distracted by of useful reads like this and of course the relatable mum content will be sent to your inbox every Saturday morning.
Are there any resources/books/podcasts/articles that have inspired/comforted you in motherhood? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear from you.
Thanks so much.
What an amazing compilation of essays! Very grateful to be included. 😍
Thank you for the mention. What a great resource!