The Mental Load: Sharing Parental Responsibilities from Pregnancy to Postpartum

Parenthood's invisible work begins long before birth. In this eye-opening conversation with Paige Connell (SheIsAPaigeTurner), we explore how the mental load of motherhood silently shapes women's experiences from conception through pregnancy, birth, and beyond.

Paige reveals how women carry unseen responsibilities even before pregnancy—tracking ovulation, researching prenatal care, planning for conception—while these tasks rarely fall to their partners. Once pregnancy begins, the disparity widens as women download apps, research birth options, investigate childcare, and make countless preparations while simultaneously growing a human. This invisible labor continues through labor and birth, where partners often lack the knowledge to properly advocate for birthing women without specific preparation.

We examine the societal conditioning that creates this imbalance, where girls are groomed for caregiving from childhood while boys receive minimal guidance about future fatherhood. Paige shares candid insights leading to her advocacy work helping couples communicate more effectively about sharing responsibilities.

The conversation also tackles systemic barriers facing working parents, from inadequate childcare to inflexible workplaces and insufficient family leave policies that force impossible choices, particularly for mothers. Paige offers practical strategies for couples to recognize invisible labor, redistribute responsibilities more equitably, and create healthier partnership models for themselves and their children.

Ready to transform your relationship and create more balance in your home? Learn how to understand how making the invisible visible is the first step toward authentic partnership in parenthood. Follow Paige for more resources, and watch her upcoming audio course, "How to Talk to Your Partner about the Mental Load," on having productive conversations about sharing the mental load.

Music Credit

https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/cupcake

https://uppbeat.io/t/bosnow/lucky-day

https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/that-groove

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the Maternal Mental Load
• 2:37 Understanding the Mental Load with Paige Connell
• 5:45 Mental Load Begins Before Pregnancy
• 11:00 Invisible Preparation and Research Work
• 16:12 Partners' Role During Labor and Birth
• 24:16 Addressing Mental Load in Relationships
• 30:23 How Society Fails Working Parents
• 36:20 Breaking Down Gender Conditioning in Parenting
• 43:54 Final Thoughts and Personal Empowerment