PHI’s Dana Sherrod Discusses Matrescence in Black Mothers

“These days, welcoming a baby often comes with creative gender reveals, endless onesie shopping (do we ever have enough?), and debates over the perfect stroller. And let’s not forget the unsolicited advice about sleep schedules, swaddles, and whether you’re using the “right” baby bottle.

Meanwhile, there’s a whole other transformation happening—one that’s not getting nearly enough airtime. The one where you—the mother—are going through this massive life change. That feeling of losing pieces of your old self while trying to figure out this new role. That confusing space where you’re not quite sure who you’re becoming, either. That realization that motherhood isn’t the full-on glow up you thought, but more like a complete overhaul you didn’t expect.

Yeah, that part. It’s something that many moms can relate to. That experience has a name: matrescence. And honestly, it explains so much.

What’s matrescence, anyway?

Matrescence is the transformative process of becoming a mother, Victoria Trinko, MA, a matrescence educator and co-founder of Seed Mother, tells Well+Good. It’s an experience many mothers share, even if it’s a term you’re just now hearing for the first time.

By “transformative process”, we’re not just talking about learning how to care for a tiny human. Matrescence is a full-body, full-life shift that can touch every part of your identity as a mother. It involves physical, hormonal, emotional, psychological, relational, and even spiritual changes that occur throughout the transition into motherhood, explains Trinko. (More on this below.)

Matrescence typically kicks off during pregnancy, but it’s not like flipping a switch. It can ebb and flow through postpartum, early motherhood, and well beyond. And unlike the cute baby phase that seems to be over in a blink, matrescence can last months, years, or, honestly, as long as you’re evolving in your role as a mother. (Yeah, that’s kind of a lifetime.)

Matrescence in Black mothers

Matrescence can be challenging for anyone. But for Black mothers, this transition often comes with extra hurdles.

Yet too often, Black women are managing matrescence within systems that fail to protect them, support them, or even acknowledge them, she says.

Take maternal mortality, for instance. In 2022, pregnancy-related deaths among Black women in the U.S. were about three times higher than those of white women, Sherrod points out.

This gap isn’t always due to lifestyle, health history, education, or income. Even when all those factors are the same, Black women still face worse outcomes than white women, often due to racial bias in healthcare, Sherrod explains. That bias can show up as being dismissed, misdiagnosed, or not taken seriously, forcing many Black moms to constantly advocate for themselves just to be heard, she notes. “That constant worry—for ourselves and our babies—can make an already tough journey even harder,” she adds.

Plus, generational trauma and cultural expectations to “stay strong” can make it difficult for Black moms to ask for the support they need, Sherrod adds. Despite this, there’s a growing movement of Black women choosing home births under the care of a midwife, taking back control of their experiences, she explains.

So, where do we go from here?

First, we need to talk about matrescence more—a lot more. Too many mothers are blindsided by the identity shift of motherhood, and too many healthcare providers still aren’t familiar with the matrescence framework.

But the responsibility shouldn’t just be on current or expecting mothers either. Future parents and non-parents can help by pushing for better education, better care, and better conversations around motherhood. Through awareness, we can create space for moms to feel understood and validated.

And Black mothers deserve the same thing every mother does: to feel seen, heard, and supported through every step of matrescence. That means moving beyond blame and fixing the broken systems that continue to fail them, says Sherrod.”

Click on the link below to read the full article.

Originally published by well+good