freemom, conversations for modern mothers

I read an article recently that brought a lot of new mom insecurities flooding back to me and I’m honestly a bit ashamed to admit it. I was one of the last of my group of friends to have a baby and as helpful as their advice and wisdom were in so many aspects of pregnancy, I often found myself in the late-night company of Instagram, Amazon, and Google trying to decipher which gizmo, gadget, and “must-have” product I absolutely had to buy for the little human being that I felt completely underprepared to welcome into our family.
Now I am a planner and a minimalist and I’m also a gosh darn marketing professional. And even with those to-the-core personality traits and a career of experience, I still found myself drenched in the anxiety of not having the right “stuff” for my bub. Luckily, I was able to fight off most of my impulses but it was so easy for me to flash back to those moments of the unknown, where having the best strollers, sleepers, and sound machines would somehow make me a better mom.
So what is the deal with the consumer compulsion that grips us moms? Are we easy targets - hormonal, hapless, and armed with a financial treasure trove better known as the baby registry? How can we kick these insecurities and learn to trust our gut a bit more with regard to real needs versus wants or even worse - influencer projections? Let’s find out.
With me today is Annie Midori Atherton, a writer and mom based in Seattle, WA. Her work focuses on parenting, culture, and any question that seeks to explain why we are the way we are. You’ve probably stumbled across her work in Romper, The Everymom, Business Insider or The Atlantic, and if you haven’t dialed into her stuff yet, you should.
From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

I don’t know about you, but the journey through motherhood often has me dreaming up business ideas and solutions to the everyday issues that make being a parent so gosh darn hard. From gadgets that I wish existed to support solutions that I’ve spent late-night hours scrolling the internet for, I have more than once found myself wondering, “why doesn’t that exist yet?”

I am in awe of the mamas who feel the same way and actually do something about it. It’s incredible that there are women who take on a problem and create a solution while juggling kids and an existing career. They are real-life superheroes and I am excited to introduce you to one here today.

Amanda Gorman was a mom like most of us. With two young ones, she struggled with breastfeeding and felt constantly frustrated by the non-existent support she received from her pediatrician. They say “breast is best” but what if it doesn’t come as easy as we’re led to believe it should? Was there no one else other than Doctor Google to offer help?

Now I should mention that Amanda was at the time a Board-Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, so she found herself in a unique situation where the system that she was a part of was letting her down. Why couldn't women have on-call support - a lactation specialist who would be there to guide them through the impossible nights and exhaustive days of early motherhood? Where was that resource?

Amanda is one of those women who couldn’t ignore the problem and had to create a solution, even without any business experience. Her company, Nest Collaborative, is now a network of International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants who conduct online, video appointments to help guide moms through the breastfeeding process all over the country and around the world. When moms need breastfeeding support, the help is only a Zoom call away and it’s almost always covered by insurance.

From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

I don’t know about you, but back when I was in school, lunch was a bit of a free-for-all. I was lucky enough to have parents who educated us pretty diligently on making good food choices, but sometimes those crunchy, salty french fries with thick chocolate milk were just too good to pass up. There wasn’t much thought put into nutrition in schools back then. I realize now that unless kids had parents who had instilled food wisdom into their brains early, they probably didn’t think twice about eating junk for meals. In fact, the freedom was kind of fun.

Fast forward to 12 years ago when Michelle Obama spearheaded the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 which allowed the USDA to radically change the way school lunch (and breakfast) was considered for the first time in 30 years. By changing nutrition standards and making healthy food options more widely available, food in schools finally got some of the attention that it deserved. So what’s happened since then and what’s going on now? What can we as moms and teachers do to support these initiatives and bring them home? Let’s find out.

With me on today's episode is Karen Spangler, Policy Director, at National Farm to School Network, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that works to increase access to local food and nutrition education across all 50 states. Their goal is to improve children’s health, strengthen family farms, and cultivate vibrant communities through a unifying focus on food.
We also wanted to include a few direct resources for you freemoms, so here you go:

• Benefits of Farm to School programs fact sheet
• More information on a racially just food system
• Benefits of Values-Aligned Universal School Meals

From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

I started freemom because I wanted to create a platform that gave women a chance to explore the big issues facing mothers today. I don’t think there is an issue bigger than the hijacking of our reproductive rights, right here and right now.

So what can we do about it?

Donate to the ACLU or the Center for Reproductive Rights or your local Planned Parenthood. If you don’t have the money, donate your time. If you don’t have that either, put a sign in your yard or a post on your Instagram feed. There are so many ways to get behind the people fighting for this cause. Energy alone goes a long way.

Call, email, and write to your local legislators - especially if you’re in one of half of the United States that would either ban abortion or limit access to the procedure if Roe v. Wade is overturned. If you live in a pro-choice state, say thank you to the people who are fighting for your neighbors and friends.

Hit the streets. If you’re in a city, join a rally. If you aren’t, start your own. If a rally isn’t your thing, find a way to make your voice heard your way. Your local mom group or school is a great place to start brainstorming.

Every single person in this country should have the ability to decide their own future, make their own decisions, and put themselves and their health first. If we can’t teach our children these basic principles, who will?

We will be back next week with another great conversation for you, but until then, if you’re here, you’re a freemom - and that is the only way it should ever be.

From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

Having children means that you can always expect the unexpected. One of my first big surprises becoming a mother was just how confusing it was to have kids in the first place. There were decisions to make that I didn’t quite understand, options that I didn’t know I had, and ways of doing things that I look back and wish I knew.

Here in the U.S., the vast majority of babies are delivered by an obstetrician, one of the hardest working doctors in the field. But it wasn’t always that way. Babies used to be birthed without the need for medical intervention, in the company of other women. As healthcare became more sophisticated, midwives dominated the delivery scene. But now, obstetricians, who are trained surgeons, have become primarily responsible for bringing babies into the world - or into the United States at least.

So why is that? What has changed that has led birth to become so medically focused and less about the force of nature that is giving birth? Let’s find out.

On the show today is Dr. Cara Delaney, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Practicing Physician with UCONN Health. Cara received her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine and trained in Chicago and Boston. She works as an academic OBGYN alongside residents, medical students, and patients, specializing in complex family planning, early pregnancy loss, and miscarriage management. She’s passionate about reproductive justice and patient-centered care and we are thrilled to have her here on the freemom podcast this week.
From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!

From mental health and managing relationships to raising changemakers and advocating for support, freemom is a podcast dedicated to ensuring that every mom feels heard. You can find us on the gram at @freemomcast or on the web at www.freemomcast.com. You can also support the show and help fund production with a sweet little five-dollar donation right here. Thanks for listening!