Motherhood Rising: In Conversation with Peony Lim
We’re proud to continue our editorial series in partnership with celebrated portrait photographer Susheel Schroeder, celebrating the resilience, renewal, and identity of mothers in the postpartum journey. Through intimate portraits and personal stories, Motherhood Rising captures the quiet power of motherhood and the beauty of recovery.
In this feature, we sit down with Peony Lim, English‑Chinese luxury lifestyle content creator, blogger, entrepreneur and mother of two, who speaks openly about the emotional realities of postpartum recovery, the support that carried her through it, and how she gradually rediscovered herself within the evolving journey of motherhood.
Was there a practitioner, therapist, or expert who made a real difference in your recovery?
After my second daughter I met by chance a therapist at a work event that ended up being so pivotal to my recovery and mental health. Ruth was the support I knew I wanted but didn’t know I would need until I was in the mist of post partum depression. Mine was relatively late onset. After getting my daughter through the worst of her milk allergy and reflux, my body and mind began to push back. I’m so grateful I already had the support of Ruth in place to recognise something was off. Everyone’s journey is different and I think everyone needs different support to help them through their own challenges, I decide not to medicate (for better or worse) and that made my journey to recovery very much about talking but I was able to recover slowly with her help. She’s a very special person.
If you could have had one type of expert on call after birth, who would it have been?
I absolutely swore by Alison Scott Wrights book “the sensational baby sleep plan”. She offers in person consultations but I never met her. I asked her questions on her instagram lives and her book was really my guiding force. It helped me to understand when I needed to seek help for my babies, as well as how to create positive routines when they were well. Our kids are still great sleepers despite reflux and milk allergies, which I totally credit to her system. I love our bath and bed routine. It’s joyful and familiar.
What helped you reconnect with your identity outside of being a mother?
It sounds silly but I had a leopard artipoppe baby carrier . The first time I got dressed and used it, I could feel a joy. Style had always been such huge part of my life and when I didn’t fit any of my clothes still I could wear the artipoppe and feel like me. I know they are more expensive than other brands but that feeling alone was worth so so much to me in that moment. When you can otherwise feel so at sea in newness.
How did becoming a mother affect how you saw yourself, both positively and negatively?
I was talking to someone about this recently. Becoming a mother for the first time can feel like starting a new job in a field you have no idea about. It’s like failing and learning and succeeding every day, over and over. Not to mention the physical exhaustion of your body recovering from pregnancy and birth, huge hormonal shifts and lack of sleep. For me it was one of the most challenging moments of converging pressures. It was easy to self critique and doubt myself as a person and a mother. But I believe being reborn after children takes time. It has taken be years to shed who I used to be and emerge as the version of myself for this next chapter. Sometimes I’m not enough and sometimes I worry I’m too much. Being a mother teaches me everyday to be comfortable in the uncomfortable.
How would you describe where you are in your motherhood journey right now?
I’m for the first time seeing a window into what life will look like with children instead of babies and toddlers. My eldest can do her own seat belt up in the car. That small thing feels huge in our little world. I’m holding on tight to the last moments of toddler in my youngest but also I know there is so much joy still to come. I still question what I do all the time but I think I have found my style and rhythm somewhere in amongst that.
What support (emotional, physical, or spiritual) did you find most meaningful during your recovery?
I was so lucky that my mum came to be with us after I had both our girls. She cooked so much healthy hearty home made food. She portioned it up and froze them in meals I could reheat for a month after. It meant I could eat well with no effort and it was such a gift. So comforting and healing emotionally and physically. She is my biggest supporter and most honest opinion too. But she has been so incredibly supportive of my parenting journey. She never criticises me, instead she always fills me with support and confidence in my skills, without which I think I would’ve been eaten up inside. I’m so lucky to have her.
