Woman smiling and drinking coffee while seated at a round wooden table with notebooks and a pen; large window and indoor plant in background.

MamaBabyCcino

Letters for new mums learning how to be fully themselves, in a country that's still becoming home.

It began with a Sunday coffee. In May 2024, when my daughter was two weeks old, I started taking her out for coffee every Sunday morning.

I wasn't supposed to be drinking coffee. Postpartum dietary restrictions in our culture are specific, and mine said no to coffee. But I needed something that was mine. So Sunday mornings became my thing. Me, my baby, and a hot cup that I'd been waiting for all week.

When she turned one, I ordered her a babycino. That's where the name comes from.

Becoming a new mum brought things I wasn't expecting. I went through postpartum depression after a traumatic birth. I navigated identity loss, that quiet grief of not knowing who you are anymore. I had my mum living with me, which I know makes me lucky, and still I felt completely alone.

My values, my culture, my religion and the maternity system here in Australia were pulling in different directions. I had to figure that out while barely sleeping, while setting up a cot, while filling out Centrelink forms, while breastfeeding, while being handed cold vegetable sandwiches as my hospital meals as a vegetarian.

I started The Psych Plus six weeks after my daughter was born, not because I had it together, but because I wanted to build something that could support mums the way I wished I'd been supported. MamaBabyCcino is part of that.

— Bhargavi Desai, Founder and Principal Psychologist, BSc Psych (Hons), MPsych Prof, MAAPi, EMDR Trained for Complex Trauma

Women smiling during a meeting in an office with large windows and a potted plant.

A real, physical letter, from one mum to another. MamaBabyCcino is a community initiative from The Psych Plus for CALD new mums, and their mums, based in Australia. It's simple:

  1. You register.

  2. Bhargavi writes to you, a real, physical letter, delivered by post.

  3. Inside: honest reflections on motherhood, cultural nuance, and practical insights.

  4. Sometimes there are extra things too, a resource, a sticker, a note, maybe a snack or a coffee voucher. Whatever I can source to be helpful.

Close-up of a white Rx pill capsule on a black background.

Bhargavi B Desai, Founder and Principal Psychologist, BSc Psych (Hons), MPsych Prof, MAAPi, EMDR Trained for Complex Trauma

A real, physical letter, from one mum to another.

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