On a late May afternoon before a polar vortex dusted New York in soft flurries that didn’t stick to the ground, Letham Thomas’ soft, warm voice cut through the receiver.
Thomas, founder of Mama Glow, the New York-based maternity lifestyle brand, talks about motherhood amid the global COVID-19 pandemic — specifically an aspect of motherhood that’s often not discussed even in kinder times.
"Maternal mental health is important because if it doesn't get treated, it doesn't go away,” she said. “If we don't make sure to protect and support moms in need during this time, then there is no way for them to heal, there's no way for them to recover."
Between 60 to 80 percent of women will experience the baby blues, a change in mood that starts omne to three days after delivery with symptoms that include sadness and fatigue, but these symptoms typically disappear after two weeks postpartum.
But 10 to 20 percent of new mothers experience postpartum depression and 1 to 2 percent experience postpartum psychosis, according to the Postpartum Resource Center of New York.
"Motherhood can be extremely isolating in the beginning periods when we're in the postpartum period alone," Thomas said. "And now, being shut in and not having the access to friends and family makes it even more isolating for people, and more challenging to adjust to new motherhood and the demands of it."
Partners and family members are usually the first to recognize signs of postpartum in new mothers, according to the National Child & Maternal Health Education Program.
But, the best practices to stop the spread of COVID-19 significantly reduce a mother’s access to her community of support.
But Thomas says one of the biggest things mothers and new parents can do is to plan what they need for their mental health in advance.
"In many cases you have anticipated your needs and that means thinking in advance, in advance of the situation, in advance of [the] birth," she said. "It's a practice that is integrated and integrative, right? Not something that you just do because it's Mother's Day and it's self-care Sunday."
Examples of anticipating those needs are researching and finding a mental health provider early into the pregnancy, researching maternal mental health online or scheduling time for you to recharge.
"The main thing that we should be thinking about when it comes to self care is that it is a practice and it is something that we tune into on a moment-to-moment basis," Thomas said.
The New York Office of Mental Health is hosting virtual discussion this week with Dr. Claire Brandon, the assistant medical director for adult services at NYOMH who specializes in Reproductive Psychiatry, to talk about postpartum and maternal mental health.
Thomas stresses that an important part of maintain mental health is creating unique rituals that help the individual — that can be going for a walk, reading a book, a Zoom call with your girlfriends or working out to Beyoncé.
“Creating some rituals for yourself that aren't just for Mother's Day, but that for every day is really important like setting boundaries around like time for yourself," Thomas said. "It's not ever going to be one of those things that like here's a prescription right, and here's what you should do.”
In addition to creating self-care rituals addressing maternal health as a whole during the pandemic requires a systemic approach. New York created a COVID-19 Maternity Task Force that looked into how to address maternal health during the pandemic.
On April 29, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo adopted the recommendations of the COVID-19 Maternity Task Force, which included diversifying birth site options and allowing doulas to be present during labor and delivery.
Mama Glow offers several different types of doulas to help through the different stages of pregnancy.
"Working with a postpartum doula can also be very helpful in managing the emotions and the sort of wave and rollercoaster of feelings that people have as they move into the new motherhood phase," Thomas said.
But Thomas stresses that motherhood is different for each woman and that there are larger systemic issues in maternal health care.
"It's an invitation for all of us to look at the dysfunction in the system, the dysfunction in the way that we have approached motherhood as this singular experience that's perfect and beautiful and know that there's many facets to it,” she said. “It's different for many women, and that we need to be there as a community, but also as a nation in terms of the policy gaps."
One of those policy gaps is a national paid family leave law.
While New York state has a comprehensive paid family leave law — which was enacted in 2018 — the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act only provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, but job-protected leave per year.
One in four mothers return to work 10 days after giving birth according to the national campaign PL+US (Paid Leave for the United States).
And while paid family leave laws are expanding at the state level, not all industries (like education, health, transportation and hospitality) and the women who work in them are equally protected, according to a PL+US report.
"We have to look at a system that asks a mother to return to work 10 days after having a baby, it means we have to examine so many things," Thomas said.
Maintaining positive mental health for mothers and mothers-to-be requires not only systemic changes, but also cultural changes — like building self-care into the day-to-day lives of mothers.
"[Self-care] is not just something that we do only when we escape the lives that we've created,” she said. “It's actually something that we do so that we don't have to escape the life that we've created."
If you have a friend or family member looking to support the new parents and mothers in your life during COVID-19, NYOMH created a tipsheet.
To learn more about Letham Thomas and Mama Glow, click here.
To learn more about resources in the community and how New York is addressing maternal mental health, visit our community guide.
New York State Paid Family Leave Hotline: 844-337-6303