Thrive after baby with Alex

Thrive after baby with Alex Hi, we're Sasha and Alex, the creators of Thrive After Baby. You may have read all the baby books (like us) out there.
(1)

Alex Steric LCSW, PMH-C

Helping moms feel like themselves again postpartum, ditch overwhelm, build confidence, strengthen their relationships

📍 Ventura, CA

Therapy for moms in CA & CO

alexstericlcsw.com We are 2 moms and therapists, each with over 10 years of experience helping individuals, couples, and families feel happier and more like themselves again. After we both had unexpected chall

enges with postpartum depression and anxiety, difficulty adjusting to coupleship after baby, and massive identity shifts neither of us were prepared for, we poured our heart and soul into learning as much as we could from some of the top experts and founders of this field and developed a course to help other parents feel better prepared, or feel more like themselves again after baby. These are great to learn how to care for your baby, but what if instead of reading 10+ books, you were able to watch or listen to our video course when it was convenient for you and complete our course in as little as 7 days! We're here to help take the guess work out of it and guide you with easy to use, trusted, evidenced-based tools to better prepare YOU for baby.

Postpartum motherhood is such a mindf**k sometimes. 😅You can spend TWO HOURS desperately trying to get your baby to slee...
09/11/2026

Postpartum motherhood is such a mindf**k sometimes. 😅

You can spend TWO HOURS desperately trying to get your baby to sleep, feeling overstimulated, touched out, frustrated, and like you might actually lose it if they don’t close their eyes soon


And then they finally fall asleep.

And 20 minutes later you’re looking at pictures of them on your phone thinking, I miss them. đŸ„ș

Then comes the guilt.

Why was I so frustrated?
Why couldn’t I just enjoy them?
Why was I wishing that time away?

But needing a break from your baby doesn’t mean you don’t want your baby.

It means you’re a human being with a nervous system and limits.

You can be completely maxed out AND completely obsessed with that tiny person.

You can desperately need bedtime AND miss them once they’re asleep.

Both can be true. đŸ€

Please don’t make yourself pay for the break you desperately needed by spending the whole thing feeling guilty.

Tell me I’m not the only one who has begged their baby to go to sleep
and then immediately missed them once they did đŸ‘‡đŸ»đŸ€

Birth trauma doesn’t only affect the person who gave birth. đŸ€Sometimes your partner watched the person they love hemorrh...
09/10/2026

Birth trauma doesn’t only affect the person who gave birth. đŸ€

Sometimes your partner watched the person they love hemorrhage, get rushed into an emergency C-section, scream in pain, become unresponsive, or have their baby taken away while they stood there feeling completely helpless.

They may have been terrified they were going to lose you. Or your baby. Or both.

And then everyone goes home and expects you both to just
 move on.

But two people can experience the same birth and walk away carrying very different trauma from it.

Partners deserve space to process what happened too.

AND their trauma shouldn’t become something the birthing parent has to carry while trying to heal from their own.

Supporting each other after birth trauma can look like making room for both experiences, validating what happened, getting curious about what each person needs, and sometimes getting support outside of the relationship too.

There doesn’t have to be a competition over who had it worse.

Sometimes the whole family needs healing after a traumatic birth. đŸ€

If you experienced birth trauma, what do you wish your partner had understood about what you needed afterward?

Postpartum rage can be really fu***ng confusing for the person experiencing it AND for the person watching it happen.Bec...
09/09/2026

Postpartum rage can be really fu***ng confusing for the person experiencing it AND for the person watching it happen.

Because from the outside, it can look like you’re losing it over the baby not napping, a question your partner asked, the dog barking, or someone leaving one more damn thing on the counter.

But usually? It’s not just about that one thing.

It’s the sleep deprivation. The overstimulation. The anxiety. The resentment. The constant decision-making. The lack of breaks. The feeling that everyone needs something from you when you already have absolutely nothing left to give.

And then comes the shame: Why did I react like that? What is wrong with me? I’m going to do better tomorrow.

Understanding what’s underneath postpartum rage doesn’t mean we excuse hurtful behavior. But it DOES mean we stop treating it like someone just suddenly became an angry person.

Sometimes rage is the loudest sign that a mom is really, really struggling.

Partners: if someone sent you this post, please don’t read it as an accusation. Read it as an invitation to understand what might be happening underneath the anger.

Instead of asking, “Why are you so angry all the time?” try asking:

“You seem completely maxed out. What can I take off your plate right now?”

And moms, if you’ve been struggling to explain your rage to your partner, send them this post. Sometimes “I need you to understand this” is enough đŸ€ Alex

09/08/2026

Register to join, booking link in bio.

At Illuminate Studios October 7, 10:30 am to 12:00pm.

Kids class available during the event.

I didn’t understand just how much of my experience of motherhood was being shaped by anxiety.I genuinely thought other ...
09/08/2026

I didn’t understand just how much of my experience of motherhood was being shaped by anxiety.

I genuinely thought other moms were better at this than me.

That they could handle the uncertainty and the lack of sleep and the crying and the constant decision-making
and something about ME just wasn’t handling it well.

So when I couldn’t relax, I blamed myself.

When I obsessed over sleep, I blamed myself.

When I needed control, I blamed myself.

When I felt angry and overstimulated, I definitely blamed myself.

And I think that’s one of the cruelest parts of postpartum anxiety.

The anxiety itself is hard enough. But then we can take the symptoms of it and turn them into evidence about who we are as mothers.

Too anxious. Too controlling. Too angry. Not grateful enough. Not enjoying it enough. Not “naturally” good at this.

When really, sometimes your nervous system is just working SO hard to keep everyone safe that there’s very little room left for anything else.

If you experienced postpartum anxiety, I’d really love to know:

What did it make you believe about yourself as a mom? đŸ€

09/08/2026

Mom anxiety doesn’t always look like anxiety đŸ€đŸ‘‡đŸ»

Sometimes it’s the scary thoughts you’re afraid to tell anyone about. Sometimes it’s Googling everything at 2am. Sometimes it’s checking, overthinking, second-guessing every decision, or feeling like you need to get everything exactly right.

I partnered with New Harbinger Publications to check out three books that speak to three different ways anxiety can show up in motherhood, and as a therapist who works with moms, these are resources I’d genuinely feel good about recommending.

📚 Hello Baby, Goodbye Intrusive Thoughts — for the scary, unwanted thoughts that make you question yourself.

📚 The Pregnancy & Postpartum Anxiety Workbook — for when you know anxiety is showing up and want practical tools for what to actually DO about it.

📚 Overcoming Parental Anxiety — for when the Googling, checking, second-guessing and need to get parenting “right” are quietly running the show.

Want to check them out? Comment BOOKS and I’ll send you links to all three directly in your DMs đŸ“šđŸ€

Paid partnership with New Harbinger

Postpartum anxiety is such a mindf**k because sometimes you know you’re doing it.You know you’ve checked the baby enough...
09/07/2026

Postpartum anxiety is such a mindf**k because sometimes you know you’re doing it.

You know you’ve checked the baby enough times.

You know the monitor is on.

You know your partner is perfectly capable of taking care of them.

You know Googling the same thing for the 14th time probably isn’t going to give you the answer that finally makes you feel better.

And yet your brain keeps saying:

But what if?

What if I miss something?
What if something happens?
What if I let my guard down and THAT’S when something goes wrong?

So you check again. You ask again. You stay awake. You take over. You try to control every possible variable because for a second, it makes the fear quiet down.

And this is the part I really want partners to understand:

She probably doesn’t need you to tell her she’s being irrational.

She probably already knows.

She needs you to understand how exhausting it is to live in a body that keeps sounding an alarm when there isn’t actually a fire.

Be curious. Be patient. Help her get support. Remind her she doesn’t have to carry all of this alone.

Because postpartum anxiety is treatable.

And she deserves to experience motherhood without feeling like something terrible is always one wrong move away. đŸ€

Send this to someone you wish understood what postpartum anxiety actually feels like.

09/06/2026

I love my kids more than anything.

And also
 motherhood is really fu***ng hard sometimes 😂

I want to be around the moms who aren’t afraid to say both. đŸ€

So tell me: what’s something about motherhood you love your kids too much to regret but still wish someone had warned you would be THIS hard?

If your baby seems to turn into a completely different human sometime between late afternoon and bedtime
 there may actu...
09/06/2026

If your baby seems to turn into a completely different human sometime between late afternoon and bedtime
 there may actually be a reason.

People often call it the “witching hour,” although hour is a pretty generous term when it can feel like it lasts half the damn evening. 🙃

But what I really want moms to know is that this isn’t only about what’s happening for your baby.

By late afternoon, YOUR nervous system may also be maxed out.

You’ve been touched, needed, interrupted, listening to crying, thinking about naps and feeding and bedtime, and potentially doing all of it on very little sleep.

So when the fussiness starts, it can feel almost unbearable.

Sometimes supporting yourself during this stretch matters just as much as figuring out the next thing to try with your baby.

Save this for the next afternoon when everyone in your house is losing their s**t at the same time. đŸ€

Address

5655 Lindero Canyon Road
Westlake Village, CA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Thrive after baby with Alex posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Thrive after baby with Alex:

Shortcuts

Share

Category