'What if we radically prioritized the sleep of new mothers?'

My story of clawing my way out of postpartum anxiety, with Human/Mother creator Katrina Donham.

Joy V.

Apr 17, 2025

Hi cacti,

I recently “sat down” with Katrina Donham, author of the

Human/Mother

newsletter, to share my story of birth trauma and postpartum anxiety, as part of her excellent Human/Parents series.

One of my favorite lines from the interview is a quote I’ll take with me to the grave:

“I’m convinced that if we radically prioritized the sleep of new mothers, rates of postpartum depression, anxiety and psychosis would plummet.”

Human/Mother

Human/Parents Interview: Joy V. and PPD/PPA

Human/Parents is an interview series that explores and illuminates various mental health topics that some parents face while simultaneously performing the most important job on the planet: raising the next generation. Guests are Substack creatives who are also parents dealing with one or more of Human/Mother’s rotating monthly mental health topics…

3 months ago · 9 likes · 8 comments · Katrina Donham and Joy V.

(I felt even more strongly about prioritizing moms’ sleep after recently reading about South Korea sanhujoriwon, or postnatal centers, also known as postpartum retreats in the US, where they sadly remain rare. “Retreat” is a term that might be stretching it when your entire body is leaking, but you get the idea. Sleep is priority #1 in these places.)

Thank you for reading!

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