Being a mum is hard enough. Being a mum with ADHD — or raising neurodivergent kids — is a whole different level. ADHD Mums is the unfiltered, science-meets-reality podcast hosted by Jane McFadden — an Autistic and ADHD mum with a Master's in Neuroscience and Psychology and certification as an ADHD and Autism assessor. This isn't another polished parenting show with 'ten easy tips'. It's real stories, confessions we're not supposed to say out loud, and the research that explains why so many of us are running on empty. Every week you'll hear: 🎙️ Confessions — raw, anonymous truths from mums navigating rage, burnout, and survival. 🧠 E...
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Sep 28, 2026 · 23:07
Have you ever fought for years — the waitlist, the referrals, the appointments where nobody believed you — finally got the diagnosis, and then sat in the aftermath feeling…
Sep 23, 2026 · 10:14
Have you ever found the old laundry basket in the garage, full of paint tins, and couldn't say when it stopped being the laundry basket? Have you ever said 'I fell off the wagon'…
Sep 21, 2026 · 17:16
You packed it at 7am. The safe food, the same as always, because the sandwich comes home untouched and it feels like putting money in the bin. At 3:30 you open the lunchbox and…
Sep 16, 2026 · 30:28
The whistle's gone, they've lost by three, and he's standing in the middle of the pitch with his socks down and his shin pads on the grass, not moving. He walks off past the…
Sep 14, 2026 · 27:07
You're bendy. You get dizzy when you stand up. Your periods are heavy, the headaches are worse the week before, you're constipated, you're exhausted, and your mood falls off a…
Sep 9, 2026 · 24:27
You were fine at 9am. Genuinely fine. Then it's school pickup, the gates open, there are dogs and toddlers and a teacher walking towards you, and one kid starts up with let's go…
Sep 7, 2026 · 42:06
Have you ever been told your bloods are fine, it's just busy mum life, and walked out still dizzy, still flat, still carrying a headache you've had for so long you forgot it…
Sep 2, 2026 · 13:43
Have you ever bought the perfect birthday present weeks early, felt properly pleased with yourself, and then lost it before the birthday? Filled in the form, folded the flap, put…
Aug 31, 2026 · 25:59
You might be the bendy one. Or the dizzy one, the one with the headaches that never really stop, the one who reacts to food nobody else reacts to. Tired in a way sleep doesn't…
Aug 26, 2026 · 25:10
There's a mum at pickup you really like. Ninety seconds every afternoon, one of those chats where you both go 'yeah, exactly' — and then the kids spill out, someone's swinging a…
Aug 24, 2026 · 29:14
From the outside, she's on top of it. Then something small happens — a cold, a bad night, one extra thing — and the whole thing collapses. And she decides the collapse is the…
Aug 19, 2026 · 28:18
Your best friend leaves a box of tampons on your doorstep on the worst day of your fortnight — no fuss, no waiting around, just quietly handling the piece of the nightmare nobody…
Aug 17, 2026 · 25:19
Have you ever answered a simple question with the whole real answer — and watched the room go a particular kind of quiet? Have you ever lain awake at 2am running back one thing…
Aug 12, 2026 · 17:30
For thirty years, ADHD has had one wanted poster. Loud, can't sit still, disrupting the class, talking back — a boy. And you weren't him. So you walked past every checkpoint in…
Aug 10, 2026 · 28:16
In the Facebook group there's a pattern that comes up again and again: the mum grows. She gets the kids assessed, she starts to recognise herself, she does the reading and the…
Aug 5, 2026 · 23:25
The mental load starts as the thing you can laugh about — the admin, the medal for mowing the lawn. And then, somewhere underneath it, it stops being funny. It's the sentence…
Aug 3, 2026 · 33:28
**This episode is general information only and is not medical advice. If any of it applies to you, please talk it through with your own GP or psychiatrist** Have you ever walked…
Jul 29, 2026 · 23:55
The mental load is not the doing. Everyone thinks it's the doing. It's the buy now, pay later maths you run when your partner tells you to rest — the hour you lie down and spend…
Jul 27, 2026 · 39:51
Someone sent you the clip. Or your friend messaged about it. Or your mother-in-law forwarded it without comment and you sat there for a minute knowing exactly what she meant by…
Jul 22, 2026 · 27:14
The mental load is the thing you couldn't name for years — the invisible mental load that means one adult in the house knows when library day is and one adult keeps asking. The…
Jul 20, 2026 · 29:27
You know good girl conditioning because you've lived it. The self-editing. The 'whatever you want.' The 'I don't mind.' You spent your twenties in the wrong careers and your…
Jul 14, 2026 · 20:18
It's 10:15 on a Sunday night. You've come out to the kitchen to rinse one pot. One. And now you're just standing there, not touching it — because the second you stopped moving,…
Jul 13, 2026 · 23:37
Have you ever stood at the sink at nine o'clock at night, kids asleep, house finally quiet, and had a friend text you how are you going? — and found nothing there? Not sad. Not…
Jul 8, 2026 · 15:47
You did the envelope early. You had the cash inside. You booked the babysitter. You had three adults on deck for one soccer game. And by the time you got to the car park, you…
Jul 6, 2026 · 27:47
Have you ever made a deal with yourself at the end of a really bad week — that's it, I'm not doing it anymore, I'm only doing what he does — and then washed up three times by…
Jul 1, 2026 · 16:06
Have you ever been on medication, done all the things, prepped, pre-scheduled, and still lost the plot completely — and then spent the drive home wondering if the medication is…
Jun 29, 2026 · 14:07
Have you ever told yourself you'll finally do the thing when it's quiet — and then the quiet came and you reorganised a drawer? Have you ever promised yourself the school…
Jun 24, 2026 · 18:16
It's 11:00 PM. You sit up in bed with your chest tight and your heart going. Nothing happened. You went to sleep fine. You lie there trying to work out what's wrong with you, and…
Jun 22, 2026 · 28:59
📬 Listener Questions & Community It's 5:45 PM. I'm cooking three separate dinners on not enough burners. My six-year-old is crying about the green spoon. My eight-year-old is in…
Jun 17, 2026 · 27:15
A psychologist told me to do a body scan. I was lying on hard yellow grass in 38-degree heat with three kids screaming inside and ants on my arms, trying to feel my body. I felt…
Jun 15, 2026 · 46:07
The principal told you to contact region. Region told you to contact the principal. You're sitting in your car wondering if you're going quietly insane. You're not — and neither…
Jun 10, 2026 · 22:09
A friend came over the other day. She'd just done a week on the Sunshine Coast with her three kids, the whole pack-up by herself. We were sitting at my kitchen table doing that…
Jun 8, 2026 · 25:04
I picked up the kids in my husband's car the other day. The youngest said something. The next one waited until they finished, then said something back. There was a pause . I…
Jun 3, 2026 · 22:18
You're at the dinner table you fought to make happen. Your phone lights up — school app, swimming's been moved, the bag has to be packed tonight. You know in your bones that if…
Jun 1, 2026 · 44:49
Listener Question Episode: Bec drops the kids at school, the kitchen's a mess, and she can't let herself eat breakfast until it's clean. Loads the washing on too — wouldn't want…
May 27, 2026 · 18:04
The cafe moment. A waiter. Six seconds of blank silence. I've ordered for everyone in my life for 40 years and when someone asked what I wanted, there was nobody home. Season 4…
May 25, 2026 · 22:16
The birthday of ADHD Mums came and went and I didn't celebrate. I'd spent a whole season demanding a seat at the table. By the end of it I was in bed, couldn't walk, getting…
May 20, 2026 · 31:19
Sorry I'm late. I have ADHD. So does my friend. She's sitting at the coffee shop halfway through her first one, watching me sweat through the door twenty minutes late. Same…
May 18, 2026 · 30:17
You take your child to the doctor. You tell them this isn't fussy, this isn't a phase. They tell you he'll grow out of it. Maybe it's his tonsils. Maybe you're anxious. Maybe…
May 13, 2026 · 19:03
You can talk your daughter down in two minutes. Then you turn around and tell yourself to stop being such a f*cking embarrassment. Same brain. Same mum. Two completely different…
May 11, 2026 · 29:53
Sometimes the only thing that got you through the day was the iPad. And then you scrolled past a clip telling you screens are rewiring your kid's brain. Causing ADHD. Making them…
May 6, 2026 · 17:52
There's a script around Mother's Day that doesn't account for any of us. You're meant to want a candle, a coffee, a sleep-in, and to look visibly grateful at the end of it. If…
May 4, 2026 · 38:21
Half the conversations about AI are men in San Francisco telling you it'll change everything. The other half are people telling you it'll destroy the planet and your children's…
Apr 29, 2026 · 35:29
This podcast episode is not a replacement for individual medical advice and is general education only. You go to the mother's group, you don't put the brake on the pram, and it…
Apr 27, 2026 · 37:43
You've spent more time on drop-offs, pickups and meetings this week than your kid has spent actually learning. You keep telling yourself the routine is good for them. They come…
Apr 22, 2026 · 14:00
If your child looks ‘fine’ at school… but falls apart the second they get home — this episode is for you. 🧠 What We Cover in This Episode: What masking really looks like in a…
Apr 20, 2026 · 23:09
If you’ve ever sat in a school meeting hearing what’s ‘expected’… and thought ‘this feels like too much… too early’ — this episode is for you. Because sometimes it’s not subtle.…
Apr 15, 2026 · 9:06
If you’ve ever said ‘can we just talk about something?’ and it escalates before you’ve even said the thing — this episode is for you. Because it’s not the conversation that’s…
Apr 13, 2026 · 15:58
If you’ve ever stepped away for five minutes… come back… and everything has already escalated — this episode is for you. Because it’s not just the moment. It’s the feeling that…
Apr 6, 2026 · 14:34
In this episode, we unpack the invisible load of trying to do something simple inside a day that won’t hold it. The interruptions, the split attention, the constant restarting —…
Apr 1, 2026 · 11:07
In this episode, we unpack the very real (and very common) experience of showing up already stretched… masking it with humour… and then internalising the entire thing as a…
Mar 30, 2026 · 14:03
If you’ve ever left a group chat replaying everything you said… and everything you didn’t… and somehow landed on ‘that felt off… was that me?’ this episode is for you. Because…
Mar 25, 2026 · 9:21
If you’ve removed the pressure… stepped back… even taken a break… and you still feel on edge — this episode is for you. Because this is the part no one explains. When nothing is…
Mar 23, 2026 · 25:53
There’s a moment when you realise it’s not just a ‘bad term’ at school. It’s mornings that feel impossible. A child who won’t go. Or can’t go. And suddenly the question changes…
Mar 18, 2026 · 16:55
There is a moment at a family barbecue where your child isn’t sitting at the table. They’re walking. Talking. Eating on the move. And someone says it. 'We didn’t have this ADHD…
Mar 16, 2026 · 21:26
Somewhere in almost every ADHD conversation, someone eventually says it. 'There weren't kids like this when I was at school.' Or the slightly more polite version: 'Why are there…
Mar 10, 2026 · 34:25
School systems are built to notice disruption. The child throwing chairs. The child refusing to sit down. The child who can't stay quiet. But there is another group of kids. The…
Mar 9, 2026 · 46:10
You're told your child is doing great at school. 'Wish I had more like her' 'No issues here.' But every afternoon at 3pm something else happens. The car door shuts. And the child…
Mar 4, 2026 · 34:39
You’ve sent the emails. You’ve attended the meetings. You’ve tried to be calm, collaborative, reasonable. And nothing changes. Then suddenly something serious happens — a…
Mar 2, 2026 · 34:02
There is a particular kind of confusion that happens when your child likes their teacher. If you’ve ever thought, ‘But she’s so lovely… why isn’t this working?’ I explore this…
Feb 25, 2026 · 43:51
You’re sitting in a meeting thinking you’re here to talk about support. There’s a plan. There are ‘adjustments’. And yet your child is still escalating… and suddenly the school…
Feb 23, 2026 · 36:53
There is a moment in some school meetings where the language changes. You walk in expecting support. Adjustments. Solutions. But then different words start appearing. ‘Safety.’…
Feb 18, 2026 · 13:37
You’re not lying on the couch saying ‘poor me.’ You’re functioning. Packing lunches. Showing up. Holding it together. But quietly, inside, you’ve started believing: ‘This is just…
Feb 16, 2026 · 54:42
This episode is for ADHD mums who feel like they’re living inside a nervous system experiment. The kind where everything is technically ‘fine’… until the TV is on, someone’s…
Feb 11, 2026 · 27:57
This episode is for ADHD mums who have ever sat in a car park before an assessment and felt their whole nervous system start negotiating with the evidence. Because the paperwork…
Feb 9, 2026 · 27:29
This episode sits right in the space where mental load, motherhood, and neurodivergence collide. It’s about the exhaustion that doesn’t come from doing one hard thing — but from…
Feb 4, 2026 · 20:22
This episode is for ADHD mums who feel their nervous system spike over questions that look harmless on the surface. The kind of questions that arrive when the brain is already…
Feb 2, 2026 · 29:46
There is a kind of grief that mums are not supposed to name. It could be called ungrateful.. but a lot of us feel it. So it stays private, carried quietly while life keeps moving…
Jan 28, 2026 · 15:43
Responsibility’s already on me. If this tips, it’ll be because I waited too long. That’s how the morning starts. There’s a clock running. Shoes half on. Bags not where they…
Jan 26, 2026 · 11:27
You can feel it tipping before anyone else does. Everyone’s still chatting, still comfortable, and your body’s already tightening. You know if you stay, you’ll be the one dealing…
Jan 21, 2026 · 13:38
This episode sits in a very specific moment: when nothing has technically happened, but your whole system reacts as if something has gone wrong. A message goes unanswered. A…
Jan 19, 2026 · 14:32
If you’re standing at the edge of a new school year already feeling tight, alert, or on edge — this episode is for you. Not because you’re anxious. Not because you’re…
Jan 14, 2026 · 13:55
If you’ve ever been told you’re ‘too soft’ or that your child just needs firmer discipline — this episode is for you. Not because you need to learn how to parent better. But…
Jan 12, 2026 · 7:07
You’re not behind. And you’re not failing at life. If you wake up already tired — before anything has even happened — this episode explains why. Not in a ‘here’s what to do’ way.…
Jan 5, 2026 · 9:13
You’re not bad at relaxing. And you’re not doing rest wrong. If you’ve ever noticed yourself cleaning, tidying, or “finding something to do” in the very moments you’re supposed…
Dec 29, 2025 · 11:36
You didn’t fail your New Year’s resolutions. You survived a year that was heavier than the plans you made for it. I asked the ADHD Mums community how their New Year’s goals…
Dec 26, 2025 · 17:28
If you feel like you’re failing at parenting because you’re constantly exhausted, flat, or shutting down — this episode is for you. This isn’t about trying harder or fixing…
Dec 22, 2025 · 12:12
What if the calm you felt last Christmas wasn’t a fluke — but a clue? In this episode, Jane responds to a listener who accidentally lost her Christmas list… and felt calmer than…
Dec 17, 2025 · 6:53
I thought I was being polite. I thought I was keeping my options open. But somewhere between exhaustion, people-pleasing, and old survival habits, I abandoned myself — again. In…
Dec 15, 2025 · 18:55
December brings presents… and pressure. Family dynamics get loud, expectations get heavier, and suddenly you’re managing everyone’s feelings and your ADHD child’s reactions — all…
Dec 10, 2025 · 9:54
Silent rage at Christmas isn’t a personality flaw — it’s a nervous system collapse. In this episode, we unpack why ADHD mums hit overwhelm earlier and harder during December, why…
Dec 8, 2025 · 10:23
Christmas isn’t “cosy magic” for many ADHD mums — it’s a high-pressure, high-sensory, invisible-load marathon that no one else sees. In this episode, Jane breaks down why holiday…
Dec 1, 2025 · 13:50
If December already feels like you’re sprinting through wet concrete, this episode is your deep breath. Christmas asks ADHD mums to hold the magic and the mess — late-night…
Nov 24, 2025 · 26:05
Some days it feels like you need a medical degree just to parent a neurodivergent kid. The waitlists, the myths, the pressure to ‘get it right’ — it can all become overwhelming…
Nov 19, 2025 · 21:13
If you’re already running on caffeine and obligation — this one’s for you. December has a way of convincing ADHD mums that magic only counts if it hurts. But what if “good…
Nov 12, 2025 · 38:06
If you’ve already cried in a shopping centre car park — you’re not alone. In this raw and funny ADHD Mums Christmas episode, Jane breaks down why the season feels like an…
Nov 10, 2025 · 33:48
When a child melts down in public or refuses to eat, the world sees “bad behaviour.” But often, what looks like defiance or poor parenting is actually neurodivergence — and a…
Nov 5, 2025 · 20:21
Trigger Warning This episode includes mentions of intrusive thoughts and parental burnout. Please take care while listening. Episode Overview Have you ever gone from wanting to…
Nov 3, 2025 · 25:38
💊 Why do ADHD meds seem like a miracle one week… and stop working the next? If you’ve ever sat there wondering if you’re failing because the meds don’t seem to work anymore —…
Oct 29, 2025 · 14:29
For ADHD mums, school pickup isn’t chit chat — it’s performance. The smiles, the nods, the weather talk. On the outside you look friendly. On the inside, you’re collapsing. In…
Oct 27, 2025 · 35:23
💊 They’ll sell you $60 gummies and promise calm — while your child is still wide awake at midnight. If you’ve ever handed over cash for gummies that didn’t work — you’re not the…
Oct 22, 2025 · 12:45
🛁 Self-care feels nice… but self-regulation keeps you alive. Ever wondered why you feel calm after a walk but snap six minutes later? You’re not failing — that’s the difference…
Oct 20, 2025 · 42:04
⚠️ Content Warning: This episode discusses hormonal rage, burnout, and emotional overload that may feel intense for some listeners. Some days I don’t recognise myself. The rage…
Oct 15, 2025 · 18:19
🎂 The birthday invite never came — and the heartbreak broke us both. Because when your kid is excluded, you carry that wound too. In this raw confession, Jane shares the reality…
Oct 13, 2025 · 37:34
⚠️ Content warning: This episode contains a brief discussion of suicidal ideation at 17mins. 🚛 You survived pregnancy. You survived newborn chaos. You survived years of…
Oct 8, 2025 · 13:31
ADHD mums aren’t lazy — our homes just weren’t designed with our brains in mind. And no, piles aren’t proof of failure. In this episode, Jane unpacks why traditional…
Oct 6, 2025 · 44:22
❌ “Not disabled enough.” ❌ “Not lifelong.” If you’ve ever been told your child is “not disabled enough” for support — you’re not alone. And you’re not failing them. That’s what…
Oct 1, 2025 · 13:09
⚠️ This episode discusses disassociation and trauma responses. Please listen with care and step away if needed 🧘♀️ Meditation apps promised calm — but for many ADHD mums,…
Sep 29, 2025 · 40:09
⚠️ Content Warning This episode contains discussion of eating disorders, food restriction, and medical trauma, including misdiagnosis, inpatient treatment, and NG tube feeding.…
Sep 24, 2025 · 18:05
🤔 Are school holidays not what you imagined? You thought they’d be fun — but instead you’re tired, burnt out, and blaming yourself for not enjoying them. In this Quick Reset,…
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