Rattled: When New Parenthood Shakes You

A few weeks after having a baby, a lot of new parents land on the same quiet, scary thought: something feels off, and I don't really recognize myself. Is it postpartum depression? Anxiety? Or something no one warned you about? Dr. Becky sits down with Dr. Lucky Sekhon, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist, to make sense of what's actually happening in your body and brain after birth. Dr. Sekhon calls it hormonal whiplash: your estrogen climbs to a hundred times its normal level in pregnancy, and then the moment the placenta leaves, you fall off a hormonal cliff. Dr. Becky turns it into an image you won't forget: you were driving 6000 miles an hour, and then you hit a wall -- and now there's a baby in the back seat. Together they walk through the thoughts that rattle new parents most: I don't feel like myself. I don't feel bonded to my baby yet. What's wrong with me? And they keep coming back to one reframe: so much of what you're blaming on your character is really just chemistry. They also get into the questions people are quietly Googling at 2am: how long to wait between pregnancies, why breastfeeding is not reliable birth control, and secondary infertility, the thing that makes it harder to get pregnant the second time. Dr. Lucky Sekhon is the author of The Lucky Egg. * Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Little Spoon: Get 50% off your first order at littlespoon.com/rattled with code RATTLED LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside Frida: Shop Frida’s bath time collection at Amazon, Target, and Walmart today Oso & Me: Use the code OSOGOOD15 for 15% off clothes newborn through age ten Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your baby is finally asleep. So why are you standing over the crib for the fifth time in a minute, checking that they're still breathing? If new parenthood cranked your anxiety to a setting you don't recognize, this one's for you. Dr. Becky sits down with psychologist Dr. Nicole Pensak, author of the book Rattled, and grabs a whiteboard to map the anxiety that quietly runs the show in early parenthood: the middle-of-the-night checking, the "if I feel it, it must be true" spiral, and the slow drift of avoiding more and more until your world gets small. Together they draw three cycles (reassurance, emotional reasoning, and avoidance) and, more useful still, the one small move that breaks each one. You'll walk away knowing which loop is yours, and something you can actually try today. One heads up: this episode has a whiteboard, and that's kind of the whole point. Watch it on YouTube to see the cycles drawn out. That's where it all clicks. In this episode: postpartum anxiety, intrusive thoughts, the checking cycle, emotional reasoning, avoidance, and why anxiety after a baby is more common (and more survivable) than anyone tells you. Dr. Becky wrote up the explanation to each of these cycles on the Good Inside blog.  * Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Ergobaby: Use the code DRBECKY20 for 20% off for support at every stage LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside Little Spoon: Get 50% off your first order at littlespoon.com/rattled with code RATTLED Frida: Shop Frida’s bath time collection at Amazon, Target, and Walmart today Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if someone handed you a map before you started down the hardest road of your life? That's what Dr. Becky does in this solo episode — breaking down five data points every new parent needs to know. Not to scare you. To prepare you. Because the thing that spirals most new parents isn't the difficulty itself. It's being completely blindsided by things that are entirely predictable. The five numbers:  66% of births don't go according to plan. 8 to 12 feedings in 24 hours.  2 hours for a cluster feed.  1 in 5 mothers experience postpartum depression or anxiety.  Zero — the number of guaranteed postpartum home visits in the United States (and yes, we're the only wealthy country where that's true). If you're pregnant, newly postpartum, or supporting someone who is — this episode will change how you talk to yourself when it gets hard. * Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Oso & Me: Use the code OSOGOOD15 for 15% off clothes newborn through age ten Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20 Little Spoon: Get 50% off your first order at littlespoon.com/rattled with code RATTLED Frida: Shop Frida’s bath time collection at Amazon, Target, and Walmart today Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sabrina Rudin grew up expecting motherhood to come naturally to her. She was raised holistically, she ate well, she meditated, she had manifested the pregnancy. She had the nursery. She was ready. She left the hospital and felt nothing like she expected. In this episode, Sabrina shares the story of her postpartum OCD — the intrusive thoughts that flooded in, the terror of thinking something was fundamentally broken in her, and the moment she told her husband she thought she'd "become a murderer." His response changed everything. Dr. Becky and Sabrina move through the full arc: the version of herself she expected to be, the night things fell apart, eight months of therapy, and the realization that landed years later — that a thought is a thought, and she gets to choose which ones she believes. If you've ever had a thought that scared you after your baby arrived, this one's for you. Read Dr. Becky’s blog post about postpartum intrusive thoughts. And if you’re looking for additional support, take a look at The Motherhood Center’s list of resources. If you are in crisis, dial 988. * Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Thank you Airbnb for making this episode possible! Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb. Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Kevin Maguire became a dad for the second time, he experienced something few new fathers are screened for or even warned about: paternal postpartum depression. His son wouldn't stop crying, and Kevin couldn't make it stop. He took the dog out, sat on a bench, and started bawling himself — because he didn't understand what he was experiencing. Kevin is the author of The New Fatherhood, a Substack he started after his own experience with PPD, as well as a book by the same name. He and Becky talk about why new fathers are largely unscreened for postpartum depression, what the symptoms actually look like in men, and what Kevin built after being completely broken open by fatherhood. If you're a new dad, a dad-to-be, or you love one — this episode is worth sending to someone. Dr. Becky & Kevin get into: why becoming a parent can feel like a demotion, and why that framing is more useful than it sounds; the video game that gave Kevin something his baby couldn't: a sense of control; what it means to sit in the mess when you've spent your whole life fixing things; the line Kevin keeps coming back to: "If you don't deal with your demons, your demons will raise your kids." Kevin has a free, anonymous online PPD screening tool designed with UK psychologists. He also funds direct access to therapy for dads through his newsletter. Read the list Dr. Becky put together of things that the non-birth parent can do when the baby arrives.  * Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Bobbie: Learn more about Bobbie’s organic formula and support for every feeding journey at hibobbie.com Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20 Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hannah Bronfman thought getting pregnant would be easy. She'd spent a decade in wellness, she was healthy, she was young. Then came two and a half years of trying, a miscarriage, failed cycles, and eventually IVF. Ten days after finally giving birth to their son Preston — in the middle of a pandemic — she virtually interviewed Barack Obama. She was wearing an adult diaper. Hannah and her husband Brendan Fallis join Dr. Becky to talk about the parts of new parenthood that don't make the highlights reel: what fertility struggles actually feel like from the inside, the maternal health fears that don't go away even when you have the best care, and the specific kind of panic that hits the moment you leave the hospital with a baby and realize no one is coming with you. They also talk about a parenting philosophy they both arrived at early: their kids were going to live their life, not the other way around. Why that's not selfish. And why it might be one of the best things you can do for a child. Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Pipette: Get 15% off Pipette’s line of SPF products with the code GOODINSIDESPF at pipettebaby.com LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Becoming a dad can bring up a surprising thought: “What if I become my father?” Dr. Becky talks with writer Aymann Ismail about the emotional reality of early fatherhood — the parts men are rarely encouraged to say out loud. Aymann opens up about wanting to be a different kind of dad than the one he grew up with, the panic and shame he felt during those first exhausting weeks with a newborn, and how quickly parenthood forced him to confront old patterns, identity shifts, and fears he didn’t expect. Together, they explore partnership strain, emotional inheritance, and the complicated grief of losing parts of your old life while trying to build a new one.Aymann Ismail is a staff writer at Slate and the author of Becoming Baba. Dr. Becky put together a list of resources for non-birthing parents who want to feel helpful in the days and weeks following baby's arrival. You can read those on the Good Inside blog. * Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Once Upon a Farm: Use the code GOODINSIDE for 40% off your first subscription Pipette: Get 15% off Pipette’s line of SPF products with the code GOODINSIDESPF at pipettebaby.com LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/goodinside Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You love your baby more than anything. So why does it sometimes feel like your baby… doesn’t like you? In this episode, Dr. Becky talks with therapist, author, and mom of two Erin Schlozman about the moment early motherhood cracked open everything she thought she knew about competence, control, and what it means to be “good” at something. Erin came into motherhood as someone who always hit the milestones: good grades, grad school, career, marriage. Then came a one-month milestone photo with her newborn son — and instead of the sweet picture she imagined, both she and her baby ended up crying on the nursery floor. Together, Dr. Becky and Erin unpack the disorientation of new parenthood: the feeling that your baby’s crying is somehow a reflection of you, the pressure to “get it right,” and the clarifying realization that motherhood doesn’t follow a linear path. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Once Upon a Farm: Use the code GOODINSIDE for 40% off your first subscription Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20 Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood.   Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Morgan Radford thought she knew herself before becoming a mom: adventurous, ambitious, always chasing novelty and new experiences. Then motherhood arrived — along with postpartum pain, brain fog, fear, comparison, and the shocking feeling that her body and mind no longer belonged to her. In this deeply honest conversation NBC News anchor and author Morgan Radford talks with Dr. Becky about the parts of new motherhood nobody prepared her for: the physical recovery, the mental disorientation, the pressure to “bounce back,” and the panic that the hardest parts might last forever. But this episode is also about what emerges on the other side: creativity, connection, healing, and the realization that the parts of ourselves we fear we’ve lost may still be alive underneath — just taking a different shape. If you’ve ever wondered, “Will I ever feel like myself again?” this conversation is for you. Learn more about Good Inside Baby.  Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Pipette: Get 15% off Pipette’s line of SPF products with the code GOODINSIDESPF at pipettebaby.com Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/goodinside Once Upon a Farm: Use the code GOODINSIDE for 40% off your first subscription Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Myleik Teele thought she’d thrive in new motherhood. She was organized, capable, ambitious, and great at figuring things out. But after her baby arrived, she found herself feeling something she never expected: bored. In this episode, Dr. Becky and Myleik talk honestly about the monotony of early parenting, the loss of spontaneity and identity, and the shame so many parents feel when reality doesn’t match what they imagined. Together, they explore why the newborn stage can feel especially hard for people who are used to moving fast, solving problems, and finding meaning through competence. If you’ve ever thought: “Why am I not enjoying this more?” “What’s wrong with me?” “Why does this feel so repetitive and isolating?” …this conversation is for you. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Once Upon a Farm: Use the code GOODINSIDE for 40% off your first subscription LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/goodinside Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if you don’t feel that immediate rush of love after your baby is born? In this episode, Dr. Becky sits down with writer and mom Ruthie Ackerman to talk about something many parents experience—but almost no one says out loud: what if the bond doesn’t come right away? Ruthie shares what those early weeks actually felt like for her—watching her husband connect easily with their baby while she wondered, Will I ever feel this? She opens up about the quiet fears, the self-doubt, and the stories she told herself about what it meant. Together, they unpack: Why bonding doesn’t always happen instantly (and why that’s more common than you think) How anxiety and expectation can make it harder to feel what’s already there The pressure of “natural” parenting—and what happens when things don’t feel natural at all How connection can build slowly, in small, everyday moments This conversation is a reminder that there is no single “right” way to become a parent—and no timeline your feelings have to follow. Ruthie Ackerman's book is called The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us. Learn more about Good Inside Baby.  Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Pipette: Get 15% off Pipette’s line of SPF products with the code GOODINSIDESPF at pipettebaby.com Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20 Once Upon a Farm: Use the code GOODINSIDE for 40% off your first subscription Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the early days of new parenthood, there are moments no one really prepares you for. For Dr. Becky, it was 4pm. Every day, as the light started to fade, a wave of dread would roll in—heavy, confusing, and hard to name. Along with a thought that felt even harder: “I can’t do this.” In this deeply personal solo episode, Dr. Becky shares her own early postpartum experience—the identity shift, the crash from “I can handle anything” to something entirely different, and the quiet reframe she wishes she had back then. If you’ve ever had a moment that made you question everything, you’re not the only one. And what feels forever… isn’t. Learn more about Good Inside Baby. Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:  - Once Upon a Farm: Use the code GOODINSIDE for 40% off your first subscription  - LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/goodinside - Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if I hurt my baby? If this question has ever run through your head — even once — you are not the only one. Dr. Becky sits with writer, executive coach, and mom Leah Smart, who opens up about living with perinatal anxiety and the intrusive thoughts she didn't know had a name. They unpack what intrusive thoughts actually are, why they happen, and the reframe that changed everything for Leah: your fears are almost always about what you love most. Plus, a therapist assignment she almost couldn't bring herself to follow through on, a laundry moment she'll never forget, and why getting help isn't about how bad things have to get first. Rattled is a new podcast from Good Inside, made for the third trimester, the foggy newborn weeks, and the thoughts new parents don't say out loud. Each episode starts with one of those thoughts — and ends with you feeling a little less alone. Thank you to our partners for making this episode of Good Inside possible!  - Pipette: Get 15% off Pipette’s line of SPF products with the code GOODINSIDESPF at pipettebaby.com  - Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay (and get groceries delivered!) on Airbnb  - LMNT: Get a free sample pack at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside Learn more about Good Inside Baby.  Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

My whole life has changed, and nobody even told me this would happen. If you're feeling this way after the arrival of your child, you're not alone. In the first episode of Rattled from Good Inside, Dr. Becky sits with writer and mom-of-four Caro Chambers — author of What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking — who walks her back to the 6:30 morning when her life quietly, completely shifted. They talk about the body you don't recognize, the hyper-vigilance no one warns you about, the partners who somehow know how to just read the paper, and the wisdom it took Caro four babies to land on: when things are okay, let them be okay. Rattled is a new podcast from Good Inside, made for the third trimester, the foggy newborn weeks, and the thoughts new parents don't say out loud. Each episode starts with one of those thoughts — and ends with you feeling a little less alone. Good Inside members get a 30 day free trial of What to Cook with Caroline Chambers!  Thank you to our partners for making this episode of Good Inside possible!  - Little Words Project: Shop the Good Inside collab and use the code GOODINSIDE for 15% off  - Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20  - Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay (and get groceries delivered!) on Airbnb Learn more about Good Inside Baby.  Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“Rattled” is a podcast about the moments when new parenthood shakes you. It’s for new, expecting, and first-time parents navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a newborn — parents who are second-guessing themselves, their choices, and their identity. In each episode, Dr. Becky and the Good Inside team will slow things down, tackle one honest yet difficult question, and hear from listeners about the emotional reality of the transition into parenthood. Learn more about Good Inside.  Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Learn more about Good Inside. Follow Dr. Becky on Instagram. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.