About New Mama Project

New Mama Project is a place for new moms who are feeling overwhelmed, guilty, anxious, or alone because they’re finding their postpartum days to be harder than they expected. We offer stories, information, ideas, planning and wellness tools, and connection to other moms who are in the same boat.

We are on a mission

to break the silence and share the truth about what life is like for new moms. We strive to help new moms understand that their experiences and emotions are common and that they’re not alone.  We provide support to help new moms navigate the postpartum time and have the most gentle transition to motherhood possible.

We believe

  • It’s normal and OK not to love motherhood right away
  • Self-care is crucial to a healthy postpartum period
  • Supportive community and connection to other new moms is crucial to a healthy postpartum period
  • New moms are strong – especially when they seek and accept the support they need so they can listen to their instincts and become confident in their innate mothering ability

It all began

during the first year of Fiona’s daughter’s life, when we lived next door to each other. We had been friends for years and our connection deepened during this time. Taylor was Fiona’s birth doula and she checked in on Fiona often during her early postpartum days. Fiona shared her struggles with Taylor.  While caring for a newborn was challenging, caring for herself was even harder.  Fiona shared that she had no idea the physical, emotional, and psychological impact that birth and motherhood would have on her.  Taylor reassured her that it was normal for it to be hard (while also, of course, watching for signs of true postpartum depression). Taylor helped Fiona brainstorm ways to ease her transition into motherhood. Taylor also simply listened.

Eventually Taylor began to open up about how hard the postpartum days were for her after her first child was born 3.5 years before.  Though we’d known each other for almost two decades we’d never shared as much of ourselves as we did that year. Through our many supportive conversations, a theme began to emerge.  We both kept dwelling on why we were so blindsided by becoming moms.  We wondered why we weren’t prepared for our postpartum challenges.  We also kept wondering if we were the only people who had gone through such a challenging transition.  Of course on some level we knew we weren’t, but we began to challenge the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that our mainstream culture seemed to be operating on.  We became upset and worried about the pressure new moms feel to “bounce back” fast and to appear as if it’s easy and wonderful from the start.

We began making postpartum care kits for friends and family and reaching out to friends that were new moms to share our experiences as a way to let them know it was OK to have a hard time.  About a year after Fiona’s daughter was born, we hosted a postpartum wellness workshop in our community. We wanted to demystify and normalize the postpartum period for pregnant women. We loved planning and leading the workshop and it was successful beyond expectations. We were ready to share our message and support with a wider group of mothers.  We now live a few hours apart from each other, but have been inspired to combine our expertise and passion for helping new moms to reach out to newly postpartum women through New Mama Project.

Before that

Taylor Davis, CD(DTI)

It’s hard to remember life before my children were born, but I know the birth of my first child put me on the path towards doing this work. My postpartum time with him was so very hard and I spent many days feeling guilty and ashamed for not loving every second of it. When he was 12 months old, I knew that daycare wasn’t working for him, so I finally tuned in to my instinct and quit my job as a teacher to stay home and be with him. A year later I had another child and shortly after that I attended a 3-day doula training with Doula Trainings International.  During the 9-month doula certification process I dove into as much reading as I could about birth and postpartum.  I worked with families, wrote about and reflected on my experiences, and worked closely with my mentor to attain certification.  I have attended various birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum workshops and I opened and currently lead a chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) in my community.   As an active birth professional, I have had the honor of working with many families throughout this significant life transition.

Fiona Griffin, MS

I first knew that I wanted to to be a counselor after working as a summer camp counselor back in NJ when I was a teenager.  I loved listening to kids and helping them solve their problems. After the birth of my daughter, I found my passion for working with new mothers.  I am a clinical mental health counselor and have been working in the mental health and education fields for over a decade.  I’ve completed a post-graduate training program through Postpartum Support International on Maternal Mental Health. I’ve worked with families in settings from pre-school readiness to ADHD afterschool program, substance misuse counseling, family therapy, and school social work. I’ve supported many families through challenging transitions, serious mental health crises, and worked with individuals from very diverse backgrounds and life circumstances.

But enough about us! We’d love to know about you. Share your postpartum story with us and we’ll post it on our blog (if you give us permission). You can also sign up to receive our 2 free resources: an interactive Social Supports Guide and a New Mama Self-Care Quiz.