Matrescence: How Dana Raphael Defined the Transition to Motherhood
- Samantha Hall
- May 11
- 6 min read
Who Was Dana Raphael?
Dana Louise Raphael (1926–2016) was an American medical anthropologist and a pioneering breastfeeding advocate. Trained at Columbia University under anthropologist Margaret Mead, Raphael focused on how different cultures support mothers. After struggling to breastfeed her first baby, she began researching why breastfeeding was more common in some societies than in the United States (embryo.asu.edu) In 1973, she co-founded the Human Lactation Center in Connecticut (with Mead) to study motherhood and infant feeding around the world. Raphael’s research and advocacy helped normalize breastfeeding at a time when formula feeding was the norm in the West. She even introduced the term “doula” (from a Greek word for “woman servant”) to describe a supportive companion who assists a mother during childbirth and the postpartum period (embryo.asu.edu) In short, Raphael’s anthropological work centered on valuing the mother’s experience and support system during and after birth.
From Breastfeeding Advocacy to the Concept of Matrescence
Through her anthropologist’s lens, Raphael observed a blind spot in Western culture: we tend to overlook the profound transition a woman goes through when she becomes a mother (pbbmedia.org). In many traditional societies, new mothers receive structured support and recognition as they adjust to motherhood, but in the U.S. all the attention shifts almost entirely to the newborn babypbbmedia.org.
“In some cultures we say, ‘a woman has given birth,’ but here we say, ‘a child is born,’” Raphael noted, pointing out how our language itself centers the baby and makes the mother almost invisible (npr.org).This lack of cultural acknowledgment for the mother’s experience left women feeling pressure to “bounce back” quickly and made the emotional and physical upheaval of new motherhood an underappreciated phenomenon. Raphael’s breastfeeding research had already shown her that mothers thrive when given support; now she sought to name and draw attention to the developmental transition that a new mother undergoes (pbbmedia.org)
Coining “Matrescence” – A New Name for Becoming a Mother
In the early 1970s, Dana Raphael introduced the term matrescence to describe “the time of mother-becoming” – the transformative process a woman experiences as she transitions into motherhood (pbbmedia.org. She deliberately drew a parallel to adolescence, implying that matrescence, like adolescence, is a natural but challenging phase of development. Just as a teenager goes through dramatic physical, hormonal, and social changes on the path to adulthood, a new mother undergoes profound changes in her body, emotions, and identity on the path to becoming a mother.
Raphael defined this concept in her 1973 book The Tender Gift: Breastfeeding, writing: “Childbirth brings about a series of very dramatic changes in the new mother’s physical being, in her emotional life, in her status within the group, even in her own female identity. I distinguish this period of transition from others by terming it matrescence to emphasize the mother and to focus on her new life style.” (fourthtrimesterdoc.com). In other words, when a baby is born, a mother is born too and Raphael wanted society and science to recognize that the mother’s “birth” is a significant life event in its own right.
Crucially, Raphael saw matrescence as a normal developmental stage, not a problem to be fixed, but a phase to be understood and supported (bcmj.orgbcmj.org). The intense feelings of joy, exhaustion, anxiety, and identity shift that many new moms experience are the natural “growing pains” of adjusting to motherhood. By naming this process, Raphael aimed to give mothers (and those around them) a framework for understanding that what they feel in early motherhood is normal and expected, akin to the awkward yet necessary growth of adolescence (bcmj.orgresearchgate.net). This concept helps to normalize the mixed emotions and changes a mother goes through, distinguishing them from clinical postpartum disorders. (For example, feeling overwhelmed and ambivalent can be a part of matrescence, whereas persistent despair might signal postpartum depression, which is a separate medical condition bcmj.org.)
An Idea Ahead of Its Time, Reignited Today
When Raphael first proposed matrescence in the 1970s, the idea received little attention in academic or medical circles. At the time, topics like maternal psychology were not widely studied by a predominantly male research field, and Raphael’s focus on the mother’s experience was somewhat revolutionary.
As one scholar noted, Raphael “had to wait a few generations” for more women in science and medicine to take up these questions and treat motherhood as a serious subject of research (npr.org). Raphael’s term matrescence went unexamined for decades.
Today, however, Raphael’s once-forgotten concept is making a comeback. Starting in the 2000s, a new wave of experts rediscovered matrescence and expanded its meaning. Psychologists like Dr. Aurélie Athan at Columbia University revived the term and applied it to maternal mental health, exploring the multitude of bio-psycho-social changes women undergo in motherhood (fourthtrimesterdoc.comfourthtrimesterdoc.com). Athan describes matrescence as a “developmental passage” that can span from conception through postpartum (and repeat with each child), involving shifts in every domain of a woman’s life – physical, psychological, social, even spiritual (fourthtrimesterdoc.com). This holistic perspective echoes Raphael’s original insight that motherhood transforms the whole person, not just her daily schedule.
In the late 2010s, the concept entered mainstream discussions on motherhood: reproductive psychiatrist Dr. Alexandra Sacks popularized the term in articles and a TED talk, and others in the maternal-health community began using “matrescence” to help explain the emotional rollercoaster of new motherhood (fourthtrimesterdoc.com).
Modern maternal health advocates now credit Dana Raphael for giving a name to what countless women experience. By framing motherhood as a human developmental stage, matrescence validates the feelings of new moms and underscores the importance of supporting mothers, not just babies, during this time. Researchers are even calling for the medical community to incorporate matrescence into care for new parents. Embracing this concept can foster a more compassionate understanding that a mother’s ups and downs are part of a normal, expected journey of becoming a parent (researchgate.netbcmj.org). Rather than asking women to snap back to “normal” immediately after birth, matrescence encourages us to value the gradual growth of a mother alongside the growth of her child.
Why Matrescence Matters for Mothers Today
For modern mothers, especially those interested in values-based motherhood and maternal well-being, Raphael’s idea of matrescence is empowering. It reminds us that becoming a mother is not an overnight transformation but a gradual, significant growth process. There will be surges of love and joy, but also moments of loss, doubt, and rebirth of identity. Recognizing matrescence can help a mother be kinder to herself, knowing that it’s natural to feel that motherhood “changes you” in profound ways (bcmj.org). This perspective also encourages communities and healthcare providers to give new moms the same patience and support we offer to teenagers finding their footing into adulthood. As one psychiatry article put it, embracing the concept of matrescence may improve maternal mental health outcomes and help mothers truly flourish during this life transition.
Dana Raphael’s legacy goes far beyond breastfeeding advocacy; she gave a name to the inner journey of motherhood. Matrescence is now increasingly recognized as a key to understanding what women experience as they become mothers, a tribute to Raphael’s anthropological insight and her belief that a mother’s growth deserves to be celebrated and supported just as much as her child’s.
This language and knowledge changed my life entirely. I hope that by spreading awareness, it can help another new mom (or seasoned mom) make sense of her becoming.
To learn more, check out the links below or follow me over on Instagram @samthomsonhall.
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