ADHD Mums

Jane McFadden
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  • MENTAL HEALTH
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Being a mum is hard enough. Being a mum with ADHD — or raising neurodivergent kids is a whole different level. ADHD Mums is the unfiltered, science-meets-reality podcast hosted by Jane McFadden, educational neuroscientist, advocate, and mother of three. This isn’t another polished parenting show with 'ten easy tips.' It’s real stories, confessions we’re not supposed to say out loud, and the research that explains why so many of us are running on empty. Every week you’ll hear: 🎙️ Confessions — raw, anonymous truths from mums navigating rage, burnout, and survival. 🧠 Expert insights — from neuroscientists, clinicians, and policy leaders on ADHD, autism, and mental health. 💬 Advocacy in action — exposing ADHD medication shortages, NDIS red tape, and the hidden costs mothers carry. With over 1 million downloads already tuning in from across the world, the podcast has already influenced ADHD reforms in Australia, been featured in national media, and pushed politicians to answer the questions mothers are asking. If you’ve ever screamed in the car, forgotten every form until the night before, or wondered if you’re the only one falling apart — this podcast is your proof that you’re not broken, you’re just telling the truth.

  1. He'll Eat When He's Hungry.' Three Years Later My Son Was in Hospital on a Feeding Tube with Tracy Jewel Constable

    1 DAY AGO

    He'll Eat When He's Hungry.' Three Years Later My Son Was in Hospital on a Feeding Tube with Tracy Jewel Constable

    You take your child to the doctor. You tell them this isn't fussy, this isn't a phase. They tell you he'll grow out of it. Maybe it's his tonsils. Maybe you're anxious. Maybe your boundaries aren't strong enough. You leave the appointment knowing something isn't right, and starting to wonder if the something is you. What We Cover Why ARFID gets missed for years while professionals chase tonsils, grommets, and dental workWhat happens when every silver bullet surgery makes zero difference and the grief that followsThe cruise ship that didn't work, the buffet that didn't work, the Woolworths smuggling run that came too lateRefeeding syndrome — when your malnourished child's body goes into shock from being fedThe PEG surgery, the six-week wait that should've been six months, and a five-year-old dancing in the lounge room for the first timeThe cognitive impact of three years of malnutrition and the guilt of not pushing harder, soonerWhy mum's intuition keeps being right while siloed specialists keep passing the buckThe mental load of cooking the same crepe, the same rice mound, the washed meatballs — every single dayWhat it costs to keep advocating when no one believes you More About Tracy Free Resource Facebook Group — for parents in this loop who need other mums who get it: https://facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast External Support Tracy Mentions Eating Disorders Families Australia (EDFA)Butterfly Foundation Paid Resource The Meltdown & Shutdown Guide for Mums & Children https://adhdmums.com.au/product/navigating-meltdowns-strategies-for-parents/ Episodes on ARFID & Tracy's last episode S3 EP58: Things That Look Like Bad Parenting But Are Actually Neurodivergence (Tracy) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-58-neurodivergence-and-parentingS2 EP81: You've Tried Everything… They Still Won't Eat: Real Strategies for ARFID at Home — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-81-youve-tried-everything-they-still-wont-eat-real-strategies-for-arfid-at-home/S3 EP46: ARFID, Eating Disorders & the Neurodivergent Body: What We Got Wrong (Marie Camin) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-46-arfid-eating-disorders-the-neurodivergent-body-what-we-got-wrong/ 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    30 min
  2. I'm Gentle With My Daughter for Ten Minutes. Then I Tell Myself to Stop Being Such a F*cking Embarrassment

    6 DAYS AGO

    I'm Gentle With My Daughter for Ten Minutes. Then I Tell Myself to Stop Being Such a F*cking Embarrassment

    You can talk your daughter down in two minutes. Then you turn around and tell yourself to stop being such a f*cking embarrassment. Same brain. Same mum. Two completely different voices within minutes. 🧠 What we cover in this episode: Why you can co-regulate a child in two minutes and tear yourself apart for the rest of the dayThe "good girl" reflex and how we absorbed an inward voice between six and twenty-sixWhy co-regulation is a directional skill — and most ADHD mums have only built it pointing outwardWhy the inward channel isn't empty — it's full of RSD running threat assessment on youWhy "be kinder to yourself" has never worked (and isn't going to)Why gratitude journals, affirmations, "filling your cup," and "talk to yourself like your best friend" don't fix thisWhy softness towards yourself can feel like a threat to the structure holding everything togetherThe identity layer — being "the regulated one," the calm mum, the one who handles itThe one thing that actually works — and yes, you'll feel ridiculous doing it 💭 This episode is for you if: 📥 Free Resource: ➡️ Energy Accounting Guide — for when you've worked out the cup isn't empty, it's got a hole in the bottom of it. A free guide to figure out where your energy is actually going. 👉 Download here 📓 Want to go deeper? The ADHD Values & Planner is for when you realise being "the regulated one" has become an identity, not a choice — and you want to find your way back to what actually matters to you. 👉 Get the planner here 🎧 Related Episodes: S1 EP9: An RSD Story — Taking My Own Advice 👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/an-rsd-story-taking-my-own-advice-s1-ep9/S3 EP35: You Were the Good Girl. That's Why You're Falling Apart Now. 👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-35-you-were-the-good-girl-thats-why-youre-falling-apart-now/S3 EP53: QUICK RESET: Self-Care Feels Nice. Self-Regulation Keeps You Alive. 👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-53-quick-reset-self-care-feels-nice-self-regulation-keeps-you-alive/ 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    19 min
  3. 104. When a Neuroscientist Says iPads Cause ADHD — And You Wonder if You've Damaged Your Kids

    11 MAY

    104. When a Neuroscientist Says iPads Cause ADHD — And You Wonder if You've Damaged Your Kids

    Sometimes the only thing that got you through the day was the iPad. And then you scrolled past a clip telling you screens are rewiring your kid's brain. Causing ADHD. Making them socially broken. And your stomach dropped. You weren't being lazy. You were trying to regulate yourself before you said something you'd regret. But the guilt arrived anyway. Right on cue. This week, Amanda Moses — senior psychologist, ADHD and autism assessor, the woman who actually trains other psychologists in this space — sits down to go through the Osher Günsberg clip line by line. The one with the neuroscientist claiming 'digital ADHD' is now the majority of cases. The one your mother-in-law sent you. The one that made you feel sick. Amanda brings the receipts. None of them say what he said they said. What We CoverThe 'digital ADHD' claim — and what the actual heritability research says (74-80%, by the way)Why your phone notification is not going to give you a heart attack, no matter how many amygdala fight-or-flight diagrams someone drawsThe 'still face' babies story — what the research actually shows about distractionWhy online connection counts — especially for autistic women, regional mums, and anyone who can't just 'turn up to playgroup'Why this kind of content hurts the women who can't afford a psych session and are already running on guilt About Amanda:Check out Amanda's Management Strategies for ADHD.Check out Amanda's social media here Amanda's References from this episode: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11472914/ https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306910 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1441191/full https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-022-02130-3#Sec25 Check out Related Episodes S2 EP82: ADHD or PTSD? Why So Many Women Are Misdiagnosed (Amanda Moses) https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-82-adhd-or-ptsd-why-so-many-women-are-misdiagnosed-with-amanda-moses/S3 EP34: Is It Social Anxiety — or Is It Autism (Amanda Moses) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-34-is-it-social-anxiety-or-is-it-autism-with-amanda-moses/S3 EP4: The advanced ADHD + Neurodivergence Myths.. Busted — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-4-the-advanced-adhd-neurodivergence-myths-busted/ 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    30 min
  4. 103: When You Say 'I Don't Mind, Whatever's Easy' for Mother's Day — And Spend Sunday Cleaning Up Your Own Gifts

    6 MAY

    103: When You Say 'I Don't Mind, Whatever's Easy' for Mother's Day — And Spend Sunday Cleaning Up Your Own Gifts

    There's a script around Mother's Day that doesn't account for any of us. You're meant to want a candle, a coffee, a sleep-in, and to look visibly grateful at the end of it. If you can't name what you want, you're ungrateful. If you do name it, you have to manage it. If you stay quiet, you spend Sunday night cleaning up the wrapping paper from your own gifts. This episode is the one underneath that script. The maths nobody's saying out loud. The reason your brain blanks. And one small thing to try this Sunday — not to fix the year, just to notice what the silence is actually doing. This episode is for you ifHe asks what you want and your brain just stopsYou always say I don't mind, whatever's easy and then feel a bit hollow when Sunday's overYou've spent Mother's Days managing other people's mothers and have nothing left for your ownYou're a single mum and Sunday is just another Sunday, except this one's worseYou're grieving — your own mum, the version of motherhood you wanted, or bothYou've been telling yourself for years that you're just too sensitive Related episodesS2 EP88: I Made the Lunches, Booked the Table, and Still Felt Invisible (Mother's Day) S3 EP35: You Were the Good Girl. That's Why You're Falling Apart Now. S3 EP18 Quick Reset: Why You're Bad at Asking for Help and What to Do Instead 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    18 min
  5. 102. When You Stop Calling Your Friend and Start Talking to ChatGPT — And You're Not Sure What It's Costing You

    4 MAY

    102. When You Stop Calling Your Friend and Start Talking to ChatGPT — And You're Not Sure What It's Costing You

    Half the conversations about AI are men in San Francisco telling you it'll change everything. The other half are people telling you it'll destroy the planet and your children's future. Neither of those people are doing the school run, the NDIS application, the lunchboxes, or holding it together at 9pm. This episode is for the mum in the middle. The one who's curious but hesitant. The one who's already using it but feels weird about it. The one who tried it once, got a creepy answer, and shut the tab. Leticia Andrack has worked in AI since 2014. She's autistic, ADHD, PDA, dyslexic, French, and a mum of two neurodivergent girls. She's not selling you anything. She's just telling you how to use the tool without it using you. This episode is for you ifYou've used AI to write the email you couldn't face — and felt a bit guilty about itYou're worried about the data, the environment, your kids' futures, and you can't tell which fear is realYou've vented to ChatGPT and it agreed with you so hard you almost did something you'd regretYou don't know the difference between Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or which one to even openYou feel behind, and behind feels like another thing on the listYou're sick of being mansplained to about technology RESOURCES & REFERENCESTo connect with Laetitia Andrac - check her out here Understanding Zoe platform - check it out here 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    38 min
  6. 101. RE-RELEASE: When You Stop Your ADHD Meds for the Baby — And the Pram Rolls Across the Car Park

    29 APR

    101. RE-RELEASE: When You Stop Your ADHD Meds for the Baby — And the Pram Rolls Across the Car Park

    This podcast episode is not a replacement for individual medical advice and is general education only. You go to the mother's group, you don't put the brake on the pram, and it rolls across the carpark. Baby is fine. You are not. You're already the mum who decided — quietly, without asking anyone — that you wouldn't take your ADHD meds while breastfeeding. Because that's what good mothers do. This is the episode about what happens when 'just push through' stops being a plan. What we cover Why your prescriber freezes the second you say the word 'pregnant' and what to actually say backWhat the research actually says about traditional stimulants in pregnancy, and the gap between that and the kickback you've been gettingWhy pregnancy and breastfeeding aren't the same conversation, even though everyone keeps lumping them togetherThe Infant Risk Center, the resource your psychiatrist probably hasn't looked at that pharmacists rely onTrying to conceive, IVF, egg collection, and where ADHD meds actually sit in that timelineThe quiet self-sacrifice that tells you a thinking, regulated mother is somehow worse for the baby than an unmedicated, exhausted onePMS, perimenopause, antidepressants in the mix, and why ADHD is rarely just one medication, one decision, one answerMedication breaks, weekend breaks, and why being told to take them on the busiest days of your week isn't advice, it's a generic scriptIron, thyroid, glucose, constipation, and the unsexy stuff your wellness actually hinges on while you're carrying everyone else's Why this episode matters There is a whole layer of women who stopped their meds the day they saw two lines on a test, never asked the question out loud, and have been white-knuckling it ever since. Not because the evidence said to. Because nobody safe was available to talk to. Rodney has spent thirty years being that person on the other end of the phone, and most mums have never been told he exists. This episode is for you if You stopped your meds the second you found out you were pregnant and never asked anyone if you had toYou've been told 'we don't know enough' so many times you've started saying it to yourselfYou're breastfeeding and Googling at 2am because no one in the room will give you a straight answerYou feel guilty for wanting to be medicated, focused, and present, like that's the selfish versionYou're trying to conceive and quietly terrified that staying on your meds makes you a bad mother before you've even startedYou're the one who'd rather suffer than risk it, and you've been suffering for a while now Related product ADHD Medication Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/a-guide-to-adhd-medication/ External links mentioned Infant Risk Center — www.infantrisk.comJean Hailes — https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/Better Health Channel — https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    35 min
  7. 100. When You Know School Isn't Working — And You're Still Waiting for Permission to Leave

    27 APR

    100. When You Know School Isn't Working — And You're Still Waiting for Permission to Leave

    You've spent more time on drop-offs, pickups and meetings this week than your kid has spent actually learning. You keep telling yourself the routine is good for them. They come home flat anyway. You can see it isn't working. You just can't picture what else looks like. So you stay on the fence. Another term. Another meeting. Another 11pm google. What we cover Why most homeschoolers in Australia didn't plan to homeschool — and what 'accidental homeschooling' actually meansThe two competing fears keeping you stuck — and which one usually wins in the endWhat 'enough is enough' really looks like (it's rarely one big moment — it's bankruptcy logic: slow, then very fast)What a homeschool day actually looks like when you're not running school-at-homeThe legal stuff schools won't tell you — you don't need their permissionWhy $50k a year still doesn't fix this, and what you might actually be paying forHow to take a term off without making a forever decisionWhy bullying gets reframed as 'resilience-building' at school but is illegal at work Why this episode matters The fence is the hardest place to live. Most parents sit there longer than the kid can afford. Rebecca has spoken to hundreds of families about why they finally jumped — and the answer isn't 'they were ready.' It's that the fear of staying finally outweighed the fear of leaving. This episode names the decision underneath the decision, and hands you a permission slip you probably didn't know existed. This episode is for you if You've tried two schools, maybe three, and nothing's stuckThe meetings have started to outnumber the actual learningYou keep saying 'maybe next term' and next term keeps not comingYou're more scared of Uncle Ned's questions at Christmas than you'd like to admitPart of you knows it isn't working, and part of you can't picture what else looks likeYou've already googled 'homeschooling Queensland' at 11pm and closed the tab For more about Dr. Rebecca English https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/r.english Jane's Related Episodes S1 EP63 — The Episode That Led Jane to Choose Homeschooling (Nicki Farrell, Wildlings) 👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/63-episode-that-led-jane-to-choose-homeschooling/ S2 EP7 — Raising Strong Children: How to Support Without Always Solving Their Problems (Emma Rose Parsons, Spectrum House) 👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-7-raising-strong-children-how-to-support-without-always-solving-their-problems/ S2 EP33 — Autistic Burnout: Self-Awareness Part 2 (Jane solo) 👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-33-preventing-autistic-burnout-practical-tips-for-neurodivergent-mums-and-their-children/ S3 EP20 — SCHOOL SERIES: How to Choose a School That Won't Break Your Kid (or You) — Millie Carr https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-20-how-to-choose-a-school-that-wont-break-your-kid-or-you/ 📬 Check out my Free Resources on Schools: Choosing the Right School https://adhdmums.com.au/product/the-school-choice-kit/ The School Complaint & Escalation Guide for Parents https://adhdmums.com.au/product/school-complaint-escalation-guide/ 📬 Check out my Paid Resource on Schools: When School Looks Fine But Isn’t Understanding Burnout, Masking & School Can’t Making School Work: A Parent’s Guide to Neurodivergent Kids and the System School Advocacy Hub of Resourceshttps://adhdmums.com.au/advocacy/ 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question (written) https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    38 min
  8. 99. When the Teacher Asks ‘What Can I Do to Help? But You Don’t Know What to Say

    22 APR

    99. When the Teacher Asks ‘What Can I Do to Help? But You Don’t Know What to Say

    If your child looks ‘fine’ at school… but falls apart the second they get home — this episode is for you. 🧠 What We Cover in This Episode: What masking really looks like in a classroom settingWhy ‘they’re fine at school’ can be deeply misleadingThe invisible work happening before the school day even startsWhy internalising kids are often missed entirelyWhat it costs to ‘look like you’re coping’ all dayWhy asking a child to self-advocate isn’t always realisticHow anxiety builds when expectations aren’t predictableThe difference between behaviour you can see… and effort you can’tWhy some kids nod, smile… and completely miss instructionsWhat actually reduces stress in the classroom (and what doesn’t) 💭 This episode is for you if: Your child holds it together at school but unravels at homeYou’ve been told ‘we’re not seeing that here’Your child doesn’t speak up when they’re strugglingYou can see the effort they’re putting in — even if others can’tyou’re trying to explain your child to the school and not being heardYou feel stuck between what you see… and what they report 📬 Check out my Free Resources on Schools: The School Complaint & Escalation Guide for Parents https://adhdmums.com.au/product/school-complaint-escalation-guide/ 📬 Check out my Paid Resource on Schools: When School Looks Fine But Isn’t Understanding Burnout, Masking & School Can’t Making School Work: A Parent’s Guide to Neurodivergent Kids and the System School Advocacy Hub of Resourceshttps://adhdmums.com.au/advocacy/ 📬 Listener Questions & Community 🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice) Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead. Send me a WhatsApp voice message here: https://wa.me/61403457313 ✍️ Ask a Listener Question https://form.jotform.com/251238118486864 👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group For community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast

    14 min
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About

Being a mum is hard enough. Being a mum with ADHD — or raising neurodivergent kids is a whole different level. ADHD Mums is the unfiltered, science-meets-reality podcast hosted by Jane McFadden, educational neuroscientist, advocate, and mother of three. This isn’t another polished parenting show with 'ten easy tips.' It’s real stories, confessions we’re not supposed to say out loud, and the research that explains why so many of us are running on empty. Every week you’ll hear: 🎙️ Confessions — raw, anonymous truths from mums navigating rage, burnout, and survival. 🧠 Expert insights — from neuroscientists, clinicians, and policy leaders on ADHD, autism, and mental health. 💬 Advocacy in action — exposing ADHD medication shortages, NDIS red tape, and the hidden costs mothers carry. With over 1 million downloads already tuning in from across the world, the podcast has already influenced ADHD reforms in Australia, been featured in national media, and pushed politicians to answer the questions mothers are asking. If you’ve ever screamed in the car, forgotten every form until the night before, or wondered if you’re the only one falling apart — this podcast is your proof that you’re not broken, you’re just telling the truth.

Information

  • Creator
    Jane McFadden
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    272
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Jane McFadden
  • Show Website
    ADHD Mums

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