March 17, 2026
Pregnancy Brain Fog and Perinatal Wellness: Podcast Episode #334
Is “pregnancy brain” real—or is there more going on beneath the surface?
In this episode, we’re joined by Becky Gleed of the Perinatal & Reproductive Wellness Group to unpack the very real experience of brain fog during pregnancy and postpartum . From forgetfulness and mental fatigue to the emotional load of motherhood, Becky shares what’s normal, what’s not, and when to seek additional support.
We dive into how hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, and mental health all play a role in cognitive changes—and how perinatal wellness support can make a meaningful difference for moms navigating this season.
This conversation is a must-listen for expecting and new parents who want to feel seen, supported, and empowered with tools to care for both their minds and bodies.
Because when mothers are supported, everyone benefits.
This episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth. Use the code GOLDCOAST to receive a discount of up to 20 percent off.
Hello, hello! This is Kristin Revere with Ask the Doulas, and I am thrilled to chat with Becky Gleed today. She is the CEO of Perinatal and Reproductive Wellness Group and a licensed marriage and family therapist in Virginia, New Mexico, and Hawaii, with extensive clinical training and practice. Her mission is to help individuals excel in all areas of their lives. She specializes in women’s issues, operating from feminist-informed and evidence-based models. Becky’s areas of expertise include perinatal support. She is a certified perinatal mental health professional. She supports families on fertility journeys, throughout pregnancy, and certainly in the postnatal area as well.
Becky works with ambitious women who navigate careers or life transitions and the societal demands on women, especially mothers. She also helps couples maintain healthy relationships. She is the host of Perinatal and Reproductive Perspectives Podcast and the author of multiple books on motherhood and careers. Our topic today is the pregnancy brain or mom brain and the forgetfulness that we sometimes suffer from, not only in pregnancy but in early motherhood. I swear that mom brain – I still have those days where I struggle with forgetfulness, and my kids are teenagers now!
Welcome, Becky!
Thank you so much for having me! I’m so happy to be here.
You have so much, as far as your background, that could be interesting to our audience. But as I chatted with you before the podcast, we haven’t really dived into the pregnancy brain or the mom brain, and I know a lot of my students and doula clients talk about the forgetfulness in that time. So I would love to address that. You do have a book on the topic, which I would love to hear more about, as well.
Of course, yeah. So I see this a lot in my practice. It’s no secret. Even the term “mental load” is something, especially in the States, that culturally we could do so much better around. But yes, absolutely, let’s dive in.
I do agree that invisible labor that women do, even in pregnancy, of making all of the appointments and finding the balance between work and family – and you do specialize in ambitious women, career driven women. I feel like that mental load almost becomes something that needs to be addressed before baby versus waiting until after the baby is born, to have help, whether it’s professional support, like a doula or a therapist, or asking your partner or family members, because we do tend to just take it all on ourselves, especially in American culture of don’t ask for help and we are strong women; we can do it. And whether it’s baby one or baby five, there is still a lot that we have to navigate in our head to get everything done.
Yeah. And I love the idea of a doula as part of the holistic model because we can’t see a working mom just in the vacuum of the work environment. We have to see that birthing individual as a whole person living in systems. Something I love to incorporate in addition to doulas are so many other supports, such as, like you talked about, the therapist, the OB on board, the partner, friends, family, reproductive acupuncture, massage. Those adjacent, complementary pieces that not everybody knows about.
Exactly. And I talk to my clients about the fair play method and that card deck as a way to get conversation going about the tasks and the mental load that is carried in pregnancy. There are so many appointments, between the provider or if you’re taking prenatal yoga classes, meeting with a doula if you’ve hired one. Even navigating those appointments, I love it when partners call and do some of that mental load work and start researching doulas, getting some basic information about what that support includes. It’s rare, but when I get a partner call in, I’m like, oh, yes, it’s already starting! They’re separating tasks! I love to see partners involved even very early on in helping that pregnancy task load to be reduced a bit.
I agree, and I typically see individuals who didn’t use that prevention or didn’t have the support and then it ends up becoming a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, and those can be anything from postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety, OCD. Sometimes I even see folks with some psychotic features. But this idea of prevention – because if your brain is going, eventually it’s going to shut down, and the biology piece – it’s sustainable for only so long, and so I say invest in the prevention. Invest in the doula, so you don’t end up spending several thousand dollars in therapy and psychiatry and having to self-medicate in other ways. It’s kind of a mindset shift around really looking at the benefits of prevention and holistic measures so you don’t end up in Becky’s office.
Right. When it’s at that point when you can’t – where you’re not preventative; you’re addressing the root issue, and it’s built up – and of course, in the postnatal phase, lack of sleep also leads to an increase in perinatal mood disorders. If you’re not getting support with overnight care or if you had a very long induction and then all of a sudden you are sent home from the hospital with your baby and you are overwhelmed because you’re not sleeping and – yeah, and then without household help, whether it’s family members doing the dishes and cleaning – we’re not resting when baby is resting. So it is this cycle, if you don’t talk through it in pregnancy. You’re setting yourself up for potentially, as you mentioned, perinatal mood disorders, needing to see a therapist now versus seeing a therapist focus more on preventative measures only. It certainly isn’t talked about enough.
In my book, too, I talk about this idea of internal and external expectations. For example, the external may be, well, you’re expected to bounce back after six weeks according to Hollywood or the internal dialogue of, I should be fill-in-the-blank, and really using some of this internal soundtracking and dialogue to say, hold on here. What narrative really is aligned with my values? What narrative is aligned with my emotional, physical, financial, spiritual health, to be able to be the healthiest version of myself? And that’s – I really am a big proponent of doulas because let’s say even there’s a sibling. There’s an adjustment with an older sibling. A doula can even play a role of helping the family – at least, some of the folks I refer to, they can do the sibling work. It’s not just postpartum or L&D planning or prevention or even that postpartum support. But there’s a real holistic piece here that I hope if anything comes out of today, it can be to highlight the different holistic supports that are available to you, and it’s okay to use them. It’s not this nebulous thing that only a few people can access. This is something that can be so helpful and supportive in prevention. That’s really the name of the game.
So as far as the pregnancy brain, mom brain, what can our listeners and doula clients do to help navigate that? Obviously, a list can be something that you can start so you’re remembering. I always tell my clients before their meeting with their OB or midwife, to jot down questions they have, because again that mom brain, pregnancy brain, might happen, and then that ten minutes you have is up, and then you have to wait a whole additional month if you’re early in pregnancy for the next appointment.
Oh, definitely. I always tell birthing individuals, moms, be kind to yourself and be patient with your body. This is so huge, for the human body – the hormone shift. And there’s different shifts postpartum. Remember to be kind to your body, that some of this is biological. Some of it is overdrive of your executive functioning, the prefrontal cortex of your brain. Some of this is just mental recovery. Maybe you are suffering from a PMAD. First and foremost, you can look at what do I really think is going on here, and then matching that with, okay, can I talk to my – I’ve had so many clients, for example, take just an extra week of leave, or they’re very mindful of how they go back to work and how they create a new system of how they’re going to approach a high cognitive demanding work project. So then when they do leave the office or log out for the day, they have some capacity left for their family. It’s really so deeply personal and individualized. But you’re right, there are some hacks. I’m a big fan of task management systems, and the reason for that is because you can include other people such as partners, or maybe you have some in-home support, or maybe there’s a grandparent that it makes sense to add them to the task management system so you can communicate. It’s not just all on the mom.
Right, and not all in their head. Like you mentioned, we can reference – whether it’s an app that you’re using or a log or a notepad on your phone, whatever it might be, that you can share. But a lot of our postpartum doula clients do share a log with us, and then we record diaper changes and feedings and everyone is on the same page. If a grandparent is caregiving during the day or a nanny, then everyone is communicating with the same log, and it is fully transparent and not up to the mom to know everything.
Yeah, I really like the idea of these logs because it allows for this kind, gentle transition. If you’re buzzing, for example, from your commute and you’ve got a million things floating into your head, how do you, for example, use that commute as a transition period? Maybe you’re coming down from a busy workday for ten minutes, but you use the last ten minutes to breathe, to visualize how you want to reenter the home. And then debriefing with the childcare provider. For you to them and them to you, of hey, this is how I’m coming into this transition period. I really want to breastfeed my child, or whatever is needed at that time, and then they can also give you a debriefing of, hey, naps were a little bit bumpy today or here’s how they did in the afternoon witching hour – whatever you want to call it.
I love that. There are so many different tools, as you mentioned, and it is so helpful to communicate your needs. And I know those conversations can be uncomfortable with family members, with partners. But it’s so important, and as you mentioned, that communication with employers, if more time is needed or maybe that first week or two back, it’s part-time and then transitioning to full-time. I love that you focus a lot on the careers. We don’t want to be set back as working moms, but there has to be some transition. And obviously, navigating illness, how an employer might feel if you can’t take your child to daycare. Are you able to have so many additional work from home days if something comes up?
Absolutely, and I like to tell moms, remember, this is a positive contribution. You have undergone something transformative. You are an expert in fill in the blank, whether it’s multitasking or more empathy or more connection with parents and community, that you bring something to the table. I hear this so often, of why would my employer want me back when my brain is at 50% capacity? I’m tired. I don’t want to be here. And there is an opportunity to reframe it with, what do you bring? How does motherhood transform you in a positive way? And I also use the Gottman method, which I think is such an incredible evidence-based practice, and what I like about it, it’s not just for couples, but it can be such a helpful relational model. So anyone who’s interested can go to the Gottman Institute. The bread and butter of this communication, which I hope your audience can take with them, whether it’s in their partner or with a friend or with an employer, is this formula of, I’m feeling – and put in the feeling. It’s very hard for someone to become defensive when you’re expressing a feeling. And then about what. Share what the situation is. And then what you’re needing. So that formula of I’m feeling; about what; and then what you need. It can be a really nice format of communication if maybe you’re a little anxious or you’re having a hard time finding the words. That can be a helpful road map for communicating feelings and needs.
I love it. I know a lot of nannies and newborn care specialists use the Gottman method. It’s talked about at a lot of conferences I attend.
Yeah, I really like it too because in the last phase of their work, before they’re off to retirement, they’ve given a special space to the perinatal community. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Bringing Baby Home, but that’s a communication model to help parents – well, become parents and transition to that major life transition.
I agree, and again, these things aren’t talked about enough, and it is a major life transition. Giving birth is, and certainly with the hormone fluctuation – it’s discussed a bit, like pregnancy brain and forgetfulness during that phase, but after, when you have the hormone fluctuations with breastfeeding or drying up supply, and I even talk to my clients about when you’re weaning baby or food is introduced and the feedings slow down a bit, then there are also hormone fluctuations, and you might be feeling baby blues at different times, not just within that first six week window.
Absolutely. And in my book, I have the chart that kind of outlines some of these shifts. So check it out. There are different shifts. And it’s interesting, too, of being mindful of the different transition points. It’s not uncommon for a mom to be going back to work three months postpartum or six months, during those notorious sleep regressions. And oh, my gosh, it’s like double whammy. You’re trying to go back to work and you’re dealing with a sleep regression all in the same week. It’s really, really hard.
Yes. And that is something that we have sleep consultants that help with some of those phases because just when you think you have it down as a parent, you’re going through teething or a sleep regression, and you think you have structure and systems, and baby tells you otherwise. Having that support from a partner or flexibility – I do love that there are more options to partially work from home or be able to have some out of office time where you’re not getting penalized.
Yeah, I hope that organizations and employers can really listen to this. The data that we have does not show that productivity goes down with working from home. So just to highlight, if there can be a hybrid model or more flexibility, that productivity is not actually affected.
Right. I agree. And certainly if you have a nanny or a postpartum doula there, then you’re not tending to childcare other than the need to feed, which if you’re in the workplace, you’re pumping anyway and taking that time that you’re able to take by law to be able to feed your baby with your own milk.
Yeah. Or imagine being able to fit in a pelvic floor PT appointment. The amount of pain relief or improvement in functioning or the mom feeling well is going to translate to better work. And I think that’s something to remember. It’s not always that it needs to be this rigid 9:00 to 5:00, but viewing the individual as a whole person can benefit everyone.
Agreed. So as far as how our listeners can connect with you, Becky, you’ve got a very comprehensive website. But fill us in. I know you’re licensed in multiple states, but what does that look like, to work with you?
Yeah, so I am licensed in multiple states, and we also have clinicians on the team who serve Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania. So keep us in mind. But also we are here if you need a touchpoint of hey, do you have a referral in this area? Our mission is to help birthing individuals and their partners. That is all that we do. We offer group therapy. We’re very well connected through the podcast. I’ve been in this space for a very long time, as I know you have, too. I’m happy to help in whatever capacity I can. Our books are widely available – Barnes and Noble, Amazon. Our podcast is free. It’s going to continue to be available on all platforms, just in the spirit of serving and helping provide education, advocacy, and support for the perinatal community.
Excellent. And you’ve got blogs. You are on different social media networks. What is your favorite? Where can our listeners find you on social media?
They can find me @employedmotherhood. They can also find me at my website, which is Perinatal Reproductive Wellness. Feel free to call me, text me. I’m very easy to reach. All of my information is available on my website.
Excellent! Any final tips for our listeners, Becky?
I think just a lot of self-compassion. The folks that I see are either coming years after and wishing they had called a doula, had gotten some holistic support. Don’t wait. Don’t wait until you’re feeling in an SOS situation. Get the help in advance. It’s okay, and we frame some of that thinking of, well, I’m not clinically depressed. Don’t wait until that point. It’s okay to build the prevention and the support early on and to do it in a way that’s personal and individualized.
Excellent advice, and I agree. It’s so important to reach out early, whether it’s a doula or a therapist or getting a support group. There are so many options now that employers cover, including the fertility benefits that cover doulas. I know there are different mental health benefits now compared to when I started 13 years ago.
I agree. I’m very hopeful that this work is going to continue, even with licensure and reimbursements for doulas. I’m just crossing my fingers and toes it keeps going.
Well, thank you so much, Becky! We’ll have to have you back on again in the future.
Thanks, Kristin!
IMPORTANT LINKS
Perinatal and Reproductive Wellness