Postpartum
Jul 9, 2025
Q & A: I’m a Neonatologist and a Mom — Here’s what I wish every parent knew about the first 120 days
A conversation with Dr. Ilana Shein, co-founder of Phia Health
Jocelyn Tsai
After we published our manifesto on why the first 120 days after birth deserve urgent, structured care, we knew the next step wasn’t data—it was voice.
Dr. Ilana Shein was previously an Attending Neonatologist at CHOP and is now a co-founder of Phia. She’s spent her career caring for medically fragile infants in one of the most advanced NICUs in the country. She also became a mom herself. That experience changed the way she thinks about postpartum care—not just for babies, but for the people raising them.
We sat down with Ilana to talk about what happens after the NICU, what most families don’t realize about those early days at home, and why she believes postpartum care should start where most systems stop.
Q: You’ve spent your career in the NICU. But what surprised you after becoming a mom yourself?
A: Honestly? I was shocked by how invisible I felt. I had access, education, a support system—and still, I felt alone. You leave the hospital and suddenly the entire spotlight moves to the baby. You might be physically recovering from surgery, losing sleep, bleeding, leaking, worrying constantly—and yet no one is really checking on you. It made me realize just how many cracks exist in postpartum care, especially for people without resources.
Q: How do you see the first 120 days now, from both a clinical and personal lens?
A: Clinically, I always knew it was a fragile window for babies—especially NICU grads. But what hit me after becoming a parent was how fragile it is for parents. Moms are at real risk: preeclampsia, infection, hemorrhage, depression. But most of those don’t trigger care unless they become emergencies. There’s no structured, proactive system. You don’t get therapy unless you ask. You don’t get feeding help unless you know it’s a benefit. You’re discharged from care at the moment you need it most.
That’s why we framed the first 120 days as a unit of time worth protecting. It's not an arbitrary number. It’s when most readmissions happen. It's when feeding problems can snowball. It’s when postpartum depression often first shows up. If you design around this window, you catch things before they break.
Q: What made you want to build Phia?
A: Because I was tired of seeing families leave the hospital and walk straight into uncertainty. In the NICU, you build this intense relationship with parents. You guide them through the scariest moments of their lives. But then they leave. And there’s no system designed to hold them afterward.
Phia came out of that frustration. We wanted a model that didn’t just wait for crisis. One that offered proactive, compassionate, evidence-based care to every parent and baby—not just the sickest ones.
Q: What do you think the medical system still gets wrong about postpartum care?
A: It separates mother and baby. Clinically. Financially. Logistically. But their needs are deeply linked. If a baby isn’t feeding well, that affects the mother’s mental health. If the mother’s in pain or depressed, the baby’s development suffers. We treat them as two different stories, but they’re the same narrative.
The other big failure? Assuming that access equals care. Just because someone has insurance or a hotline doesn’t mean they’re getting support. You need to make care effortless, continuous, and personalized. Otherwise, people fall through.
Q: What would you tell a parent reading this who’s just starting the 120-day journey?
A: You’re not failing. You’re adjusting to an entire new reality with very little scaffolding. It’s okay if it’s hard. It’s okay if you feel overwhelmed. You’re not supposed to do this alone.
This season is one of the most physically and emotionally intense stretches of your life. You deserve to be held through it—not just with kindness, but with real systems that watch, intervene, and support you when it counts.
Q: What happens after 120 days? Should care end there?
A: Absolutely not. The 120-day window is a starting point. It’s when we prevent the biggest risks, but it’s not the end of the story. Month 5 through 12 is where you rebuild: your body, your identity, your relationships.
This is when we start to see early signs of postpartum depletion, chronic mental health issues, developmental delays in babies. It’s also when most people feel like they should be “back to normal,” but they’re still recovering. That’s why Phia doesn’t just cut off care—we offer extended support: mental health, physical recovery, feeding and speech, developmental therapy, coaching.
Because motherhood isn’t an event. It’s a system. And systems need infrastructure.
Final note from the team:
We started Phia because too many mothers were falling through the cracks of a system that stops watching after birth. Dr. Shein's perspective—both as a physician and a parent—is what grounds our approach. The first 120 days are just the beginning. And we’re here for the long haul.
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Mom's the word
From day one, we’ve designed our platform with the highest security standards and rigorous privacy practices, guided by engineers with deep expertise from leading digital health companies. Their knowledge of building securely in regulated industries is woven into everything we create.
Mom's the word
From day one, we’ve designed our platform with the highest security standards and rigorous privacy practices, guided by engineers with deep expertise from leading digital health companies. Their knowledge of building securely in regulated industries is woven into everything we create.
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Q & A: I’m a Neonatologist and a Mom — Here’s what I wish every parent knew about the first 120 days
Q & A: I’m a Neonatologist and a Mom — Here’s what I wish every parent knew about the first 120 days
A conversation with Dr. Ilana Shein, co-founder of Phia Health
A conversation with Dr. Ilana Shein, co-founder of Phia Health
A conversation with Dr. Ilana Shein, co-founder of Phia Health
Jocelyn Tsai
Published in Fintech
Postpartum
Image credit by Yum Yum
After we published our manifesto on why the first 120 days after birth deserve urgent, structured care, we knew the next step wasn’t data—it was voice.
Dr. Ilana Shein was previously an Attending Neonatologist at CHOP and is now a co-founder of Phia. She’s spent her career caring for medically fragile infants in one of the most advanced NICUs in the country. She also became a mom herself. That experience changed the way she thinks about postpartum care—not just for babies, but for the people raising them.
We sat down with Ilana to talk about what happens after the NICU, what most families don’t realize about those early days at home, and why she believes postpartum care should start where most systems stop.
Q: You’ve spent your career in the NICU. But what surprised you after becoming a mom yourself?
A: Honestly? I was shocked by how invisible I felt. I had access, education, a support system—and still, I felt alone. You leave the hospital and suddenly the entire spotlight moves to the baby. You might be physically recovering from surgery, losing sleep, bleeding, leaking, worrying constantly—and yet no one is really checking on you. It made me realize just how many cracks exist in postpartum care, especially for people without resources.
Q: How do you see the first 120 days now, from both a clinical and personal lens?
A: Clinically, I always knew it was a fragile window for babies—especially NICU grads. But what hit me after becoming a parent was how fragile it is for parents. Moms are at real risk: preeclampsia, infection, hemorrhage, depression. But most of those don’t trigger care unless they become emergencies. There’s no structured, proactive system. You don’t get therapy unless you ask. You don’t get feeding help unless you know it’s a benefit. You’re discharged from care at the moment you need it most.
That’s why we framed the first 120 days as a unit of time worth protecting. It's not an arbitrary number. It’s when most readmissions happen. It's when feeding problems can snowball. It’s when postpartum depression often first shows up. If you design around this window, you catch things before they break.
Q: What made you want to build Phia?
A: Because I was tired of seeing families leave the hospital and walk straight into uncertainty. In the NICU, you build this intense relationship with parents. You guide them through the scariest moments of their lives. But then they leave. And there’s no system designed to hold them afterward.
Phia came out of that frustration. We wanted a model that didn’t just wait for crisis. One that offered proactive, compassionate, evidence-based care to every parent and baby—not just the sickest ones.
Q: What do you think the medical system still gets wrong about postpartum care?
A: It separates mother and baby. Clinically. Financially. Logistically. But their needs are deeply linked. If a baby isn’t feeding well, that affects the mother’s mental health. If the mother’s in pain or depressed, the baby’s development suffers. We treat them as two different stories, but they’re the same narrative.
The other big failure? Assuming that access equals care. Just because someone has insurance or a hotline doesn’t mean they’re getting support. You need to make care effortless, continuous, and personalized. Otherwise, people fall through.
Q: What would you tell a parent reading this who’s just starting the 120-day journey?
A: You’re not failing. You’re adjusting to an entire new reality with very little scaffolding. It’s okay if it’s hard. It’s okay if you feel overwhelmed. You’re not supposed to do this alone.
This season is one of the most physically and emotionally intense stretches of your life. You deserve to be held through it—not just with kindness, but with real systems that watch, intervene, and support you when it counts.
Q: What happens after 120 days? Should care end there?
A: Absolutely not. The 120-day window is a starting point. It’s when we prevent the biggest risks, but it’s not the end of the story. Month 5 through 12 is where you rebuild: your body, your identity, your relationships.
This is when we start to see early signs of postpartum depletion, chronic mental health issues, developmental delays in babies. It’s also when most people feel like they should be “back to normal,” but they’re still recovering. That’s why Phia doesn’t just cut off care—we offer extended support: mental health, physical recovery, feeding and speech, developmental therapy, coaching.
Because motherhood isn’t an event. It’s a system. And systems need infrastructure.
Final note from the team:
We started Phia because too many mothers were falling through the cracks of a system that stops watching after birth. Dr. Shein's perspective—both as a physician and a parent—is what grounds our approach. The first 120 days are just the beginning. And we’re here for the long haul.