In this deeply honest conversation, Dr. Jennifer Reid speaks with cartoonist and author, Becky Barnicoat, about her graphic memoir, Cry When the Baby Cries, inspired by a massively popular cartoon she created for The New Yorker. Together they explore the messy, beautiful, and often isolating experience of modern motherhood—from IVF struggles and miscarriage to postpartum transformations and the bittersweet joy of watching children grow and change.

On Drawing Her Graphic Memoir

"The drawings that I did sort of started to kind of suggest a kind of wild, maybe slightly unhinged mother home alone with her baby... maybe refusing to conform to social expectations, maybe not being able to conform, you know, because of tiredness, because of mental distress and isolation."

IVF and Fertility Struggles

"I struggled to confide in anyone for a long time. The only person that knew was my husband and I felt so alone... I think I started to become really quite depressed and the way that that manifested for me was that the world started to feel unsafe and quite hostile."

The Shock of New Parenthood

"It's just one of the most kind of beautiful but painful experiences available."

Postpartum Bodies and Society's Expectations

"Kids and like bodies that have given birth are not very welcome in society. And I think that's a real shame and it's to all of our detriment."

Becky Barnicoat is a cartoonist and writer for The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Grazia, BuzzFeed and more. Before becoming a full-time cartoonist, she spent 10 years working as an editor and writer at The Guardian. She is the author of the graphic memoir Cry When the Baby Cries, a darkly funny account of her first years as a parent. She lives in the UK.

Warning: episode mentions sexual assault and graphic images of childbirth

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