IDGAF is in the dictionary. Matrescence isn’t.

That’s the line behind a global campaign by Peanut and Tommee Tippee, calling on lexicographers to officially recognise matrescence - the word that describes the physical, emotional, hormonal, and social transition into motherhood.

Because somehow, IDGAF made it. Rizz made it. But not the word that captures one of the most life-altering experiences a woman will go through.

And yet, every mum knows exactly what it feels like. Motherhood doesn’t just change your sleep or your priorities. It changes you. Your identity shifts, your brain rewires, your sense of self stretches in ways you never expected.

But here’s the thing, so many of us go through it without ever having the language for it.

Did you know the word matrescence before you became a mum? Maybe this is the first time you’re even hearing it. And that’s exactly the point.

Because when we don’t have language for something this big, this consuming, this life-altering, it becomes harder to understand it. Harder to talk about it. Easier to feel alone in it.

I didn’t know the word when I became a mum four years ago, and yet it perfectly described the most important transformation of my life.

The first time I heard, and started to truly understand it, was from post-partum doula, Kate Richardson of Holding Mum, who spoke at our cbrmamas first birthday event. I had a five-month-old baby at the time and the moment she explained it, everything clicked. It didn’t just describe motherhood. It validated it.

Matrescence is the push and pull between who you were and who you’re becoming. It’s the grief, the growth, the love, the overwhelm, all existing at once. And for something so universal, it’s been largely invisible.

Matrescence isn’t new. It was coined in 1973 to describe the transition into motherhood, much like adolescence. And yet, so many women are living it without ever knowing the word exists.

The team here at The Mama Collective wanted to get behind the work of Peanut and Tommee Tippee and bring more attention to this word, helping push it into the spotlight where it belongs. Because naming something gives it weight.

And this is where it gets even more important…. not just knowing the word, but using it.

Lexicographers look for frequently used words when they suggest additions to the dictionary, so let’s help out with that.

Matrescence isn’t meant to sit quietly in thoughtful conversations between professionals. It’s meant to be spoken. Out loud. Often. In messy group chats, at the kitchen bench, in the school pickup line, in your mothers’ group, at work, with your friends and your family.

The more we use it, the more we normalise it. And the more we normalise it, the less alone mums feel.

So if you didn’t know this word before today, now you do. Use it. Share it. Bring it into your conversations. Because the moment you have language for what you’re experiencing, everything shifts.

And next time a mum says, “I just don’t feel like myself lately”, you can tell them there’s a word for that!

It’s matrescence, and that changes everything.

Check out the GAF about mothers campaign here https://www.peanut-app.io/make-matrescence-mainstream.

By Krissy Stores