Mirjam – I agree there needs to be more representation among all backgrounds for mental health issues, particularly PPD. Thankfully I am in touch with myself enough to realize that this wasn’t normal, and marched myself off to a doctor, saving face be dammed! It’s such a taboo for moms to reveal any flaws, or thoughts or feelings about a subject that isn’t their children,” Jessamine said to me. The dystopian satire follows Frida Liu, who, after leaving her daughter unattended, is forcibly enrolled in a reformatory school for bad moms.

It was not until I came across Postpartum Progress that I was able to “diagnose” myself with postpartum depression because I learned about intrusive thoughts and postpartum anxiety. Hopefully women of all backgrounds will realize it's not just a Western thing, or just a white thing, or just a ____ thing. Although the loves sex, that part of her life has been put on hold preferring the nurturing of her college age son, Kenji, over the dating game. It wasn’t just that there was no fiction featuring Asian moms who looked like me; there was no fiction featuring dual-heritage girls who looked like her.

While many people seemed pleased with the competition, others seemed uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. However, despite some cultural barriers in getting support from my mother, my primary hurdle in getting help had little to do with my cultural background but more with poor education. Before I had my second child, my mom also told me “not to cry as much” because it was bad for my eyes (due to the tears affecting my hot/cold balance). Critics have swooned over the movie’s hot dog fingers, the butt plug fight scenes, the trippy zigzags through possible worlds, but stripped of its zaniness, the indie sleeper dominating the Oscars is essentially the story of an aging Asian American mom confronting her very real flaws to reach her daughter. Giving birth makes the body “cold,” so in the first postpartum month, new mothers are not supposed to drink cold water, go outside, or shower, all of which can make your body “cold.

The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. My mother-in-law stayed with me for the 'confinement' period just after I had my first, when I struggled with some PPD. Sleep-deprived, my stomach still aching from the C-section, I’d left my three-month-old baby and my six-year-old daughter with my husband to speak to Jessamine.

I thought of the times I felt bored babbling to my baby, how I tired of singing the same nursery rhymes, how my whole world had narrowed to the feeding, cleaning, and entertainment of my tiny child, and then the guilt that followed swiftly after. For Asian women, did you participate in the one-month sitting period, and if so, how did that affect your postpartum recovery (both positively and negatively)? While American Pie has made the idea of a MILF (you can look that term up if you don’t know it) a run-on joke since the 90’s, China seems to take this concept very seriously. When I was pregnant with my first child, I received all the standard prenatal care: frequent OB visits, lab tests, and ultrasounds.