Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing -- Shafia Monroe, Paperback

A renowned midwife, doula trainer, and Master of Public Health celebrates the lost art of African American postnatal healing practices in this practical, essential guide to maternal health.

As a mother, grandmother, and traditional midwife, Shafia M. Monroe intimately knows about childbirth and the fourth trimester. For over forty years, she's helped thousands give birth, and has taught thousands more how to support birthing parents, all integrating the deep wisdom of African American healing traditions. Long suppressed by the white medical establishment, these practices--such as belly binding, heat, herbs, the lying-in period, and the "taking-out-of-bed ritual"--are powerful healing tools. Using them, we mother the mother through a healthy postpartum period.

While this framework will be powerful healing for all mothers, the information in this book can save Black mothers' lives; with African American women disproportionately suffering from maternal mortality and morbidity, there is an urgent need for an embrace of African American postpartum care that surrounds the new mother and her baby with community, love, and protection. Mothering the Mother is a resource for Black women and communities to reclaim their cultural traditions for a healthy postpartum recuperation.

Author: Shafia Monroe
Publisher: Balance
Published: 01/27/2026
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9780306835438

About the Author
Shafia Monroe is a renowned midwife, doula trainer, author, motivational speaker, cultural competency trainer, Master of Public Health, a wife and a mother of seven. She is a subject matter expert on African American birth and postpartum traditions with roots in rural Alabama, where her grandmother taught her that food was medicine. Monroe's work has been mentioned in The Portland Observer, MadameNoire, Oregon Historical Quarterly, Double Dutch, mater mea, and theAmerican Journal of Public Health.