Dr. Kristy Christopher-Holloway

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Dr. Kristy Christopher-Holloway Dr. Kristy Christopher-Holloway is a well respected speaker, counselor, educator, and supervisor.

On National Grief Awareness Day, we recognize perinatal bereavement—a profound loss that remains one of the most silence...
08/30/2026

On National Grief Awareness Day, we recognize perinatal bereavement—a profound loss that remains one of the most silenced and misunderstood experiences families face.

When a loss occurs through miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss, or Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR), the grief is frequently disenfranchised. Because reproductive loss lacks traditional societal mourning rituals, parents are often expected to return to routine life as if nothing happened.

Well-meaning friends, family members, and even healthcare professionals often resort to clichés in an attempt to offer comfort:
• "At least you can try again."
• "Everything happens for a reason."
• "At least it happened early."

These statements inadvertently minimize the parent's pain and isolate them in their mourning.

Trauma-informed support looks like:
• Sitting with uncomfortable feelings without trying to "fix" them.
• Using the baby’s name and acknowledging their identity.
• Validating that reproductive loss reshapes a person's emotional and physical landscape long after the event itself.

Healing begins when we create environments where perinatal loss is acknowledged with dignity, compassion, and continuous support.

Save this post to keep these trauma-informed frameworks close for your community, practice, or organization.

Providing great perinatal care is not about memorizing a checklist of cultural traits—it is about practicing genuine cul...
08/30/2026

Providing great perinatal care is not about memorizing a checklist of cultural traits—it is about practicing genuine cultural humility and respect.

Standard healthcare checklists often assume everyone expresses sadness or anxiety the same way. In reality, culture, family dynamics, and lived history deeply shape how a person experiences and talks about postpartum distress.

What culturally congruent care looks like in practice:

1. Listening for Physical Signs of Stress: Emotional pain doesn't always show up as tears. In many communities, stress and anxiety are voiced through physical feelings—like heavy fatigue, hot sensations, tension headaches, or stomach upset.

2. Honoring Postpartum Traditions: Practices like extended resting periods, eating specific warm foods, or leaning heavily on extended family are powerful forms of healing. Supportive care honors these practices instead of brushing them aside.

3. Acknowledging Medical Mistrust: When families are hesitant to engage with healthcare systems, it is often based on historical harm or past dismissal. Building safety means listening actively, validating their concerns, and sharing decision-making power.

One-size-fits-all care leaves families behind. Meeting parents where they truly are creates better outcomes for everyone.

Save this post to guide your clinical practice, team discussions, or community support work.

When we picture postpartum depression, many of us picture someone who is crying, visibly sad, and struggling to get out ...
08/30/2026

When we picture postpartum depression, many of us picture someone who is crying, visibly sad, and struggling to get out of bed.

That can happen.

But postpartum depression can also present as anger, irritability, emotional numbness, guilt, loss of pleasure, difficulty concentrating, exhaustion, withdrawal, or feeling disconnected from the baby.

Some parents may even appear to be functioning relatively well on the outside while experiencing significant distress internally.

That's why asking only, “Are you feeling sad?” may not give us the full picture.

We also need to ask:

- Have you noticed changes in your mood or behavior?
- Are you enjoying things you normally enjoy?
- Do you feel connected to the people around you?
- How difficult is it to make decisions or complete everyday tasks?
- How are you feeling about yourself as a parent?
- Have you had thoughts that your family would be better off without you?

Perinatal mental health assessment requires us to look at the whole pattern, not just one emotion.

And for families: struggling to connect with your baby, feeling angry more often than usual, or not feeling like yourself does not automatically mean you're a bad parent.

It may mean you need support.

The goal isn't to judge the experience. It's to recognize it.

Up to 1 in 5 individuals diagnosed with Postpartum Depression (PPD) are actually experiencing Perinatal Bipolar Disorder...
08/29/2026

Up to 1 in 5 individuals diagnosed with Postpartum Depression (PPD) are actually experiencing Perinatal Bipolar Disorder.

When standard postpartum screening tools only look for sadness, anxiety, or low energy, hypomanic and manic episodes get missed completely. The result? A unipolar depression diagnosis and an antidepressant prescription.

Why this misdiagnosis is dangerous:
When standard antidepressants (SSRIs) are prescribed without a mood stabilizer, they can destabilize the nervous system—triggering rapid mood cycling, severe agitation, hypomania, or full mania.

Key differences to pay attention to:
• The Sleep Clue: Someone with PPD is deeply fatigued and craves sleep. Someone in a hypomanic state may sleep only 2 hours and feel energized, productive, or "wired."
• The Thought Pattern: PPD tends to bring heavy brain fog and sluggish processing. Perinatal bipolar states often involve racing thoughts, pressured speech, and sudden bursts of goal-directed multitasking.
• Medication History: A past history of feeling irritable, wired, or worse on antidepressants is a major diagnostic signal.

Thorough psychiatric history-taking and screening for lifetime hypomania are vital before starting medication.

Drop a comment below with your thoughts on how healthcare teams can improve perinatal mood screening protocols.

When we think about postpartum mental health, we usually picture tears, exhaustion, and sadness. We rarely talk about th...
08/29/2026

When we think about postpartum mental health, we usually picture tears, exhaustion, and sadness. We rarely talk about the sudden, burning anger known as postpartum rage.

Postpartum rage often blindsides parents. A minor interruption, a crying spell, or a partner's simple question can trigger an immediate, overwhelming wave of irritation or explosive anger.

Here is what is usually happening beneath the surface:

1. An Overloaded Nervous System: When you are chronically sleep-deprived, constantly being touched, and listening to hours of infant crying, your brain registers those inputs as danger and triggers a "fight" response.

2. Anxiety in Disguise: For many parents, perinatal anxiety doesn't show up as trembling or panic—it shows up as quick-fuse irritation and frustration when things feel out of control.

3. Unmet Fundamental Needs: Rage is often the body's loud alarm bell signaling that rest, nourishment, and physical breaks have been delayed for far too long.

The most damaging part of postpartum rage is the crushing cycle of guilt and shame that follows every episode. Recognizing rage as a legitimate physiological and mental health symptom allows parents to step out of self-blame and get the practical relief they need.

Save this post to normalize the conversation around postpartum anger, and share it with someone supporting a new family.

Telling an overwhelmed parent to "take a bubble bath" or "get more sleep" when they are facing deep systemic stress is n...
08/28/2026

Telling an overwhelmed parent to "take a bubble bath" or "get more sleep" when they are facing deep systemic stress is not care—it is a distraction from the real issues.

Individual coping strategies, like grounding exercises and mindfulness, are valuable tools for managing daily stress. However, framing perinatal distress entirely as a person's failure to "manage self-care" ignores the heavy structural barriers families face every day.

The real drivers of postpartum burnout and mental health struggles:

• No Guaranteed Paid Leave: Forcing parents back to work weeks after giving birth prevents healing and drives exhaustion.

• Healthcare Access Barriers: Specialized perinatal mental health services are frequently out-of-network, unaffordable, or entirely unavailable in many areas.

• Maternal Health Inequities: Black, Indigenous, and Brown parents face documented systemic bias and obstetric racism that actively compromise their physical safety and emotional well-being.

• Childcare Deserts: The lack of affordable, trustworthy childcare leaves parents isolated without a sustainable support network.

True perinatal advocacy means moving beyond individual fixes. We must demand policy changes, institutional accountability, and community infrastructure that actually support growing families.

Share this post to keep the focus on systemic reform and community-centered maternal care.

Birth trauma is not defined by the medical chart alone—it is defined by the birthing person's subjective experience of f...
08/28/2026

Birth trauma is not defined by the medical chart alone—it is defined by the birthing person's subjective experience of fear, helplessness, pain, or the loss of bodily agency.

When entering a subsequent pregnancy, the brain and body often recognize the setting before the conscious mind can rationalize safety. The nervous system shifts into survival mode:

1. Prenatal Hyper-Vigilance: Over-monitoring fetal movement or obsessively researching medical procedures to mitigate the fear of the unknown.

2. Somatic Flashbacks: Panic attacks, breathlessness, or dissociation triggered by standard clinic sights, sounds, or tools (like stirrups or monitoring belts).

3. Emotional Guarding: Struggling to connect with the current pregnancy as an unconscious defense mechanism against potential loss or repeat harm.

4. Secondary Tokophobia: A profound, debilitating dread of labor and delivery that can lead to medical avoidance or intense anticipatory anxiety.

Supporting a family through pregnancy after birth trauma requires moving beyond standard reassurance. It demands practical trauma-informed practices: honoring lived experiences, offering genuine agency at every exam, and developing care plans that prioritize emotional safety alongside physical health.

Save this post to your perinatal resource toolkit to guide your clinical practice, doula work, or client advocacy.

We talk a lot about “the village” during pregnancy and postpartum.But having people who care about you isn't always the ...
08/28/2026

We talk a lot about “the village” during pregnancy and postpartum.

But having people who care about you isn't always the same as having meaningful support.

Community care means showing up in ways that actually reduce the demands of the perinatal period—bringing food, providing transportation, helping with household tasks, protecting rest, supporting feeding choices, attending appointments, or helping care for older children.

It also means paying attention.

If a parent is becoming increasingly isolated, overwhelmed, anxious, irritable, or unable to function the way they normally do, we don't have to diagnose them to recognize that something has changed.

We can ask. We can listen. We can help them connect with support.

And we can do all of this without judgment.

A strong support system isn't simply a list of people someone can call.

It's people who are willing to share the load.

Because community care isn't just about saying, “I'm here if you need me.”

It's about being willing to show up.

One of the most persistent myths in perinatal care is that stopping psychiatric medication removes all risk for the baby...
08/27/2026

One of the most persistent myths in perinatal care is that stopping psychiatric medication removes all risk for the baby.

The clinical reality is that untreated severe anxiety, depression, or mood disorders carry significant, well-documented risks of their own. Chronic maternal distress increases the likelihood of preterm delivery, lower birth weights, elevated stress hormones, and severe postpartum complications.

Making an informed choice is never about judgment or shame—it is about balancing risks and benefits with accurate information:

• Look at Both Sides of Risk: Compare the potential effects of medication against the known physiological impacts of untreated illness using current reproductive safety data.

• Use Comprehensive Support: Combine therapy, community support, and medical treatments together rather than viewing them as mutually exclusive.

• Center Autonomous Choice: Every parent deserves evidence-based guidance from their care team that honors their personal values and health history.

When parents have clear, unbiased information, they can make the best choices for their overall wellness and their family's future.

Save this post to guide your next collaborative care discussion or clinical consult.

Military families are often called resilient—and they are. But resilience should never mean "they don't need support."Th...
08/27/2026

Military families are often called resilient—and they are. But resilience should never mean "they don't need support."

The perinatal period brings massive physical, emotional, and practical changes. Add deployments, frequent relocations, changing healthcare providers, and the demands of active duty, and that journey becomes exponentially more complex.

For parents navigating infant feeding and postpartum healing in the military, the daily questions are heavy:
• Where and when can I pump during my duty schedule?
• How do I rebuild my support system after another move?
• Who helps me manage when my partner is deployed?

These aren't issues of personal motivation. They are questions of access, workplace policy, and systemic support.

Supporting military families means moving past "They’re tough, they’ll figure it out" and asking: "How can our systems ensure they never have to carry it all alone?"

Resilience is a strength. It should never be the barrier to receiving real care.

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