Baby care brand Frida recently expanded its product line to help new moms as well as newborns. The new breast care products are meant to help women navigate the postpartum period, which can be both physically and mentally grueling as they try to balance caring for their child and caring for themselves.
Chelsea Hirschhorn, Frida CEO, said she started the company after her first son was born because she ran into many unexpected challenges that no one prepared her for.
The brand's line of products started with the infamous "boogie sucker," called the NoseFrida. Hirschhorn said the simplicity of the tool created in Sweden, compared to the suction-based bulb that hospitals provide to clear a baby's airway, pushed her to bring it to the mainstream.
"I was shocked that this wasn't on every corner in America," Hirschhorn told Cheddar. "More importantly, why didn't anyone tell me that when a baby gets a cold, they can't breathe because they are obligatory nasal breathers, they can't breathe out of their mouth?"
During the 2021 Golden Globes, Frida ran a breastfeeding commercial that wasn't intended to paint a rosy picture of postpartum. Instead, it examined the reality of breastfeeding that moms face every day.
"Our objective really is rooted in the mission that we have as a business which is to prepare and educate new moms or expecting moms for the realities of what they're going to go through, as unfilterable and un-Instagram-worthy as they are," she said.
Hirschhorn said some of the most notable challenges new moms face is adjusting to the physical changes that birth brings, including changes to the body, lack of sleep, and steps to take for successful breastfeeding. She noted that prepared women make for better mothers.
After the spot aired during the awards ceremony, the Frida CEO noted that the response was profound, with women thanking the Frida team for speaking on issues not often addressed in public spaces. Hirschhorn hopes by bringing attention to moms' challenges, it will help bring systemic change so the not-so-pretty parts of postpartum.
"One of the core insights that we were committed to unveiling is that preparation and knowledge create confidence for women, and for moms in particular, and a confident mom is generally a happier mom. And happier women are better parents," she added.
