MADRES, LLC is a maternal mental health and birthing collective grounded in community and guided by its director/founder, a highly experienced doula, lactation educator and perinatal nurse with a passion for perinatal mental healthcare.

Born in Northern California to an immigrant mother, Silvie is fully bilingual and a certified Spanish medical interpreter. She received her doctorate in nursing from the Valley Foundation School of Nursing at SJSU and is a graduate of the Duke University School of Nursing in North Carolina and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. She is dual certified as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner an in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) by Postpartum Support International.

She is currently pursuing psychoanalytic training in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy (PIP) at Columbia University.

Lactation and breastfeeding support is available both virtually and in-person (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties only), delivered by IBCLCs, CLEs, CLCs and/or perinatal nurses.

We support mothers in meeting their feeding goals by preparing for lactation during pregnancy, including providing education that empowers mothers, like when to anticipate possible delays to lactation as well as possible impacts to milk supply. Education and support focuses on where it’s lacking whether it is latch, positioning, pumping and storage of breast milk to meet breastfeeding/lactation goals.

We also provide support and education to those who plan to bottle feed their babies, or who didn’t but must do now unexpectedly, in a space that is without judgment and centered on individual circumstances and preferences.

Doula support in the antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and newborn care is available, during the day or overnight, to promote the physical healing and mental health well-being of the dyad.

Doula services and newborn care includes lactation and breastfeeding support, newborn care including feeds, diapering and soothing techniques for baby as needed. Each of your baby’s feedings are logged for you, including the number of wet and dirty diapers, and baby’s behavior (i.e. fussy, sleepy) to assist each family with maintaining a feeding schedule as baby grows. Light household tasks are possible like watering plants, feeding your pets, folding clothing/laundry and washing baby’s bottles (if any).

If we are unable to assist you with doula support due to scheduling conflicts, we can provide you with resources and recommendations available in the community.

We recognize the challenges of parenting and mothering in the peripartum when navigating mental health needs. We also recognize the bureaucracy and lack of accessible perinatal mental health care that exists for many. To eliminate these barriers, we provide peer-led therapeutic support, in both the virtual space and in-person, without the burden of access barriers or cost for low-income mothers, single mothers, immigrant mothers and student mothers. Please reach out to enquire about upcoming dates/times.

The evidence supports a complementary and skilled intervention, like peer therapeutic support, as one that can benefit mothers in recovering from perinatal mental health symptoms and overall improvements in wellbeing (McLeish, J., Ayers, S. & McCourt, C. , 2023).

Reference

McLeish, J., Ayers, S. & McCourt, C. (2023). Community-based perinatal mental health peer support: a realist review. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth23, 570.