Healing Our Mother Hunger with Kelly McDaniel

Sober Curious

In this episode, you will hear me in conversation with Kelly McDaniel, a therapist and author, whose latest book, Mother Hunger, examines the impact on women specifically of having lacked the proper nurturance, protection, and guidance from their primary maternal figure in early life.

The reason I wanted to speak to Kelly in the context of “women without kids,” is that it seems obvious to me that living with mother hunger can’t NOT have an impact on how one feels about becoming a mother, or about the experience of being a mother after having had a child. In the episode we discuss:

-Kelly’s definition of “mother hunger” and how she came up with the term.

-Why 50% of the population experience mother hunger and how it manifests in issues around food and love.

-What causes mother hunger - and why this is often the result of an epigenetic inheritance.

-Why structural issues make it harder for mothers and babies to bond - and the lifelong attachment issues that can result from this.

-How mother hunger impacts our procreative choices and how we may feel about becoming mothers ourselves.

-The links between mother hunger, anorexia, and being “a-reproductive” (i.e. having no desire to reproduce).

-The impact of a lack of paid parental leave on mother hunger

-Why choosing not to have a child can be the most “loving” choice if we are aware that our capacity to mother is being compromised.

-Why our materialistic, consumer culture is just another substitute mother - and a way we seek to soothe our mother hunger.

Learn more about Kelly and her work HERE and check out Mother Hunger HERE.

You can get your copy of Women Without Kids: The Revolutionary Rise of an Unsung Sisterhood HERE.