Advocate for Yourself
What to Push Your Doctor for After Baby
with Ricki Pollycove, MD
Mothers get world-class care during pregnancy — and then vanish from the medical radar.
In this conversation, Ricki Pollycove, MD – a veteran OB-GYN – unpacks why postpartum women so often push their own health to the bottom of the list, and what it costs them years down the line.
She gives clear tips on how to advocate for yourself with a time-pressed doctor without feeling difficult, the specific labs and symptoms tired moms should ask about (iron, thyroid, hormones, vitamin deficiencies), and what to say when your bloodwork comes back “normal” but you still feel terrible.
Plus: she shares how to rebuild energy through iron, movement, and daily habits; the long-term issues moms wrongly accept as “just part of motherhood”; what to prioritize at your annual visit; when mammograms and in-person exams still matter in the at-home-test era; and why sex and intimacy deserve a real place in the OB-GYN conversation.
A practical listen for any mother — and anyone who loves one.
Ricki Pollycove, MD, MS, is a nationally recognized expert in OB-GYN, caring for women through all stages of their lives. She is passionate about helping to optimize health and inspire self-care despite multiple demands in a complex world. She is a mother and grandmother, having delivered babies while also raising her own daughter from age 3 as a single mom. In active clinical practice for over 40 years, she authored The Pocket Guide to Bioidentical Hormones and has appeared on national TV, radio, podcasts, and YouTube videos on fertility, motherhood, nutrition, hormones and mood, breast cancer, perimenopause, and healthy aging. She has authored scientific papers on testosterone, female sexual dysfunction, osteoporosis, and every aspect of menopause. Dr. Pollycove continues to provide medical education to doctors and clinicians worldwide.