I’m going to get my fan-girl-ing out of the way here, and just start by saying I love Stuff Mom Never Told You! Two intelligent, well-educated women talking openly about women’s issues that society doesn’t always spotlight. They focus on women’s empowerment is a way that is both educational and witty. It feels like listening to two of your very smart best friends chat.

A friend turned me on to SMNYT a couple of years ago. She was a big fan herself, and at the time I had a 20/25 minute commute to work. Listening to these podcasts quickly became a staple in my day.

After I had my son, I stopped listening to podcasts and opted for more mind-numbing sitcoms or pop music to underscore my daily routines. Then, one day, my friend made a comment about how she couldn’t imagine the struggle that new moms go through. They have to go back to work and deal with all of their hormonal and mental challenges at the same time. She said that she had listened to a great SNMTY podcast about maternal mental health, and it opened her eyes to “all of the stuff that you moms have going on up there.” She brought it up in a way that showed that she admired me and our other new-mama co-worker.

This conversation really sparked a range of emotions for me. Everything from “I’m glad that someone is acknowledging the reality of what I’m going through” to “yeah, that’s great that you learned about it…but you still can’t understand what this feels like.” The one thing I knew for sure was that I needed to listen to this podcast that taught her about what was going on inside of my mind and body.

I immediately listened to the Maternal Mental Health podcast in its entirety while I worked on a menial copying task. It helped me in so many ways to just let someone else – these unbiased, well-researched, young women – explain what was behind my recent angst and hardships. It helped me to know that all moms go through our own struggles, and to put a name to what I was feeling. This podcast was the first place that I heard the term “postpartum anxiety.”

I knew that what I was feeling wasn’t postpartum depression. I knew the symptoms and warning signs. They just didn’t fit. At the same time, I knew that I was processing stress and emotions in a way that was different than I ever had before. I am so glad that this podcast came to me when it did.

The ladies over at Stuff Mom Never Told You have some really great thoughts and insights on what moms in our society go through. While they are not moms themselves, their podcasts are well-grounded and really enlightening!

Here are a few Stuff Mom Never Told You podcasts that I think every mom should hear:

Maternal Mental Health

This is the podcast that really helped me to understand what I was going through as a new mom. Check it out for a look into what medical researchers now know about maternal mental health and mental health care.

Role Overload: Working Mothers

Raise your hand if you have ever felt the need to be a Pinterest-perfect Claire Huxtable-esque supermom. This podcast talks about why we feel that way and the benefits of finding places that you can drop the ball to help you find balance.

The Problem with a Pinterest Perfect Life 

To extend on the idea even further, this podcast dives into the problems that we create for ourselves and others when we strive for the idealistic “norms” that we see on social media. I don’t know a mom out there that couldn’t use a little break from that pressure.

America’s Maternity Leave Drought

This is a topic that America need sot discuss more and more until this issue is resolved. The policies and regulations regarding maternity leave in the US are absolutely inadequate given the huge number of working mothers in our workforce. I could go on and on about my personal experiences and feelings about our lack of maternity leave here…or we could all go and listen to some fact-based truths dropped by the ladies over at Stuff Mom Never Told You.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Stuff Mom Never Told You, any of these podcasts and their content in particular, or other favorite podcasts. The How Stuff Works staff is starting some really important conversations for moms with these podcasts, and I want nothing more than to support their efforts in educating us all.