What Is Mother-Centric Care - and Why Does It Matter?
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In pregnancy and postpartum, so much attention naturally turns to the baby. But in the process, the mother herself can quietly disappear from view.
This phenomenon is so common that scholars in motherhood studies have a name for the alternative: matricentric care. You may not hear the word often, but when it comes to perinatal mental health, it matters.
Matricentric — or mother-centric — care simply means care that centres mothers: their health, their needs, and their voices. Because when mothers are supported, the whole family benefits.
What is Matricentric Care?
Matricentric care — also known as mother-centric care — is an approach to pregnancy and postpartum support that centres the health, needs, decisions, and wellbeing of the mother.
While the word itself isn’t one many of us hear in everyday conversation, the idea behind it is simple: mothers deserve to be seen, supported, and prioritised within the systems designed to care for them.
At its most basic level, the Free Dictionary defines matricentric as “centering around the mother or mothers.”
But scholars working in motherhood studies take the idea further. In her 2016 book Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, and Practice, Professor Andrea O’Reilly explains that matricentric feminism:
"Begins with the mother and takes seriously the work of mothers."
And I couldn’t love a definition more.
In your words.
“The focus just shifts at lightning speed from you - as the vessel that’s carrying the baby - to the baby. And it’s almost like you’re left behind…”
Contrary to what some might assume, centring mothers does NOT mean we care any less about what is best for our babies.
It means the mother is not treated as an afterthought in the systems designed to care for her. To me, it simply means we aren’t putting the mother last.
And in a world that so often focuses on the baby, centring the mother is not indulgent — it is necessary.
What Does Mother-Centric Care Actually Look Like?
Mother-centric care can take many forms. At its core, it means recognising that a mother’s wellbeing matters just as much as her baby’s — and supporting her decisions without judgement.
In practice, this might include:
supporting a mother’s birth choices
supporting a mother’s feeding choices
supporting a mother’s sleeping arrangements
supporting a mother’s decisions about childcare or returning to paid work
providing advice and recommendations that allow a mother to prioritise her own health and wellbeing
Ultimately, mother-centric care respects mother as a whole person, not simply as caregivers responsible for everyone else. It acknowledges that mothers have physical, emotional, social, and practical needs — and that meetings those needs benefits both mother and baby.
In practice, this means supporting mothers to make the decisions that work best for their lives, without shame or pressure when those decisions take their own wellbeing into account.
Why is Mother-Centric Care Important in Pregnancy and Postpartum?
When it comes to pregnancy, postpartum, and perinatal mental health, mother-centric care is essential.
What’s best for every mother is different. Mother-centric care recognises that what’s “best” is not one-size-fits-all. Mothers need our health, care, and support systems to accommodate these differences.
In your words.
“[My GP] didn't identify breastfeeding as a trigger for me and something that was actually detracting from my mental health. She was saying to me, 'Oh, well! You should continue to breastfeed for the bond with your baby.' It was actually working against that! It was actually working against the bond with my baby…”
We all enter pregnancy, birth, and early parenting with different health histories, cultural contexts, support networks, financial circumstances, and personal values. When care systems assume that all mothers need the same type of care, support, or advice, they risk overlooking these differences and failing to meet mothers’ actual needs.
Research consistently shows that when mothers feel heard, respected, and involved in decision-making, they experience better physical and psychological outcomes, including improved mental health, higher satisfaction with care, and greater confidence in parenting.
Yet it can feel like many care providers still prioritise the baby while overlooking the mother’s needs.
Let’s explore this scenario: a mother experiencing severe sleep deprivation after birth is considering combination-feeding so her partner can share overnight feeds. In some models of care, she may be encouraged to continue exclusive breastfeeding despite feeling physically and mentally overwhelmed, encountering guilt or pressure. A mother-centric approach, however, would recognise her exhaustion as a serious health concern, support her decision, and explore all options with her — such as mixed feeding, additional support, or rest strategies — rather than prioritising a single ‘ideal’ feeding recommendation above her wellbeing.
Understanding mother-centric care can help mothers recognise the kind of support they deserve — and advocate for care that honours both their wellbeing and their role as parents.
When Mothers Are Overlooked: The Cost of Non-Mother-Centric Care
When care during pregnancy and postpartum fails to centre the mother, the consequences can be profound.
In your words.
“We have this gap, I think, in our understanding of postpartum mental health, where it's defined by whether your baby is cared for or not. And he was. He wanted for nothing. But I wasn’t okay.”
Many mothers describe feeling dismissed, unheard, ashamed, or invisible within healthcare systems — particularly when their concerns are minimised or when their wellbeing is treated as secondary to the baby’s needs. Experiences like these can contribute to stress, anxiety, trauma, delays in help-seeking, and reluctance to seek further care.
When mothers are repeatedly given generic advice or asked to ignore their own needs in order to meet idealised expectations of ‘good motherhood’, the pressure can become overwhelming — especially for those already navigating perinatal mental health challenges.
Over time, this dynamic sends a damaging message: that a mother’s health, autonomy, and experience matters less.
Mother-centric care challenges this narrative. It recognises mothers not simply as caregivers, but as people whose needs, identities, and limits matter within the care they receive.
Why Mother-Centric Care Is Often Missing From Perinatal Systems
If centring mothers is so important, why does it so often feel absent from perinatal care?
In your words.
“I think it comes down to the messages around ‘all that matters is a healthy baby.’ And I just think, why is this the standard?! Because in the name of a healthy baby, we're butchering mothers and dismissing mothers, and there is no care or support for mothers. Where in actual fact, if mum is well, it has ripple effects through families and communities. So I think we need to restructure our standards or refine our standards because a healthy baby is not the standard!”
Part of the answer lies in how pregnancy and early parenthood are commonly framed within healthcare systems. Care during this time understandably emphasises the health and safety of the baby. But in practice, this can sometimes lead to the mother being viewed primarily as a means-to-an-end of supporting the infant, rather than as a patient with her own needs.
Cultural expectations around motherhood can reinforce this pattern. Many mothers are encouraged — explicitly or implicitly — to subvert their own needs and prioritise their baby’s needs above everything else, including their own health, rest, or recovery.
When these expectations intersect with busy healthcare systems, limited consultation times, and rigid guidelines, mothers’ individual circumstances can easily be overlooked.
A mother-centric approach does not reject the importance of infant wellbeing. Instead, it recognises that supporting mothers is one of the most powerful ways to support babies.
Centring Mothers Benefits Everyone
Mother-centric care is not about choosing mothers over babies. It is about recognising that the wellbeing of mothers and children are deeply connected (see: the mother-baby dyad).
When mothers feel supported, respected, and able to care for their own health, the benefits ripple outward — strengthening bonding, family relationships, and long-term wellbeing for children. When we truly centre the needs, voices, and wellbeing of mothers, we create healthier outcomes for families as a whole.
Caring for mothers is not separate from caring for babies — put simply, caring for mothers is part of caring for babies.
Support for mothers during pregnancy and postpartum is far from indulgent — it is part of what allows mothers to care for themselves while learning to care for someone new.
Seeing the Mother in Perinatal Care
In your words.
"I continuously say to women: you need to get good health advice. If you're not getting mother-centric, evidence-based, modern advice and balanced advice, you're not in the right room."
At its core, mother-centric care recognises something that is often forgotten: mothers need care too. Pregnancy and early parenthood can stretch a woman’s emotional and physical resources in ways so few of us could ever anticipate.
Thoughtful maternal mental health support, considerate advice, practical help, and systems that truly see mothers can make this transition far less isolating.
Every mother deserves care that sees her — not as an afterthought, but as a person whose wellbeing matters too.
Sources
matricentric. (n.d.) The Free Dictionary, Farlex clipart collection. (2003-2008). Retrieved March 4 2026 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/matricentric
O’reilly, A. (2016). Matricentric feminism : theory, activism, and practice. Bradford, Ontario Demeter Press.
This blog is informed by lived experience and is not intended as medical advice.
If you or someone you know needs support, Perinatal Stories Australia encourages you to reach out to Lifeline (13 11 14), 13YARN (13 19 76), or Suicide Callback Service (1300 659 467).
