ADHD Mums
by Jane McFadden
Latest episode
44. AuDHD in Women: 'Classic ADHD' Gets a Laugh. 'Classic Autism'…
44. AuDHD in Women: 'Classic ADHD' Gets a Laugh. 'Classic Autism'…
About this podcast
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.
🧠 Expert insights — from clinicians, researchers, and policy leaders on ADHD, autism, and mental health.
💬 Advocacy in action — exposing ADHD medication shortages, NDIS red tape, and the hidden costs mothers carry.
With over 1 million downloads from around the world, the podcast has influenced ADHD reforms in Australia, been featured in national media, and pushed politicians to answer the questions mothers are asking.
If you've ever screamed in the car, forgotten every form until the night before, or wondered if you're the only one falling apart — this podcast is your proof that you're not broken, you're just telling the truth.
New episodes weekly. Join the Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
Episodes
The newest 50 of 323 episodes
- 44. AuDHD in Women: 'Classic ADHD' Gets a Laugh. 'Classic Autism' Gets Silence. · 23 min · Season 4 Episode 44It’s Sunday night. You’re in bed reading a list of what autism looks like in women, and every line is you. Rehearsing the phone call in the car. Needing three days to recover…
- 43. Kids and Chores: ‘It’s Easier to Just Do It Myself.’ Why We Keep Asking the Easy Kid (with Gen Muir) · 40 min · Season 4 Episode 43‘It’s not fair!’ You’ve heard it so many times you could scream. And the worst part? Sometimes they’re right. You keep asking the kid who says yes. The one who does it properly…
- 42. ADHD and Screen Time: Why Taking the iPad Away Won’t Fix Homework · 26 min · Season 4 Episode 55‘If you can focus on that, you can focus on this.’ You said it standing at the bench, and he looked at you like you’d said it in another language. He’s just died fifteen times on…
- 41. PDA and Low-Demand Parenting: When the Demands Don't Disappear, They Land on You · 52 min · Season 4 Episode 41Have you ever done everything right — dropped the demand, softened the ask, delivered it the one way that works — walked out of the room for two minutes, and come back to a child…
- 46. ADHD Medication: ‘You Want to Give Him Speed?’ He Read the Label Out Loud at the Kitchen Bench · 19 min · Season 4 Episode 55The script sat in your handbag for three weeks. Not because you’d changed your mind, but because you didn’t know what you’d say when he found it. Then you told him over the…
- 45. Parenting ADHD Kids: You’ve Made a Rod for Your Own Back · 31 min · Season 4 Episode 55Have you ever been to a friend’s house where the kids walk around like they’re in a library, and yours are running like it’s a race car track? And on the drive home you’re…
- 44. Does Social Media Make ADHD Worse? You’ve Saved Hundreds of ‘That’s Me’ Reels and Nothing’s Changed · 20 min · Season 4 Episode 44Only 5% of the most-watched ADHD videos tell you what to do next. The misleading ones get millions more views. You’ve saved hundreds of them. They all say the same thing: that’s…
- 43. ADHD Siblings: The Background Child Who Grew Up Beside a Brother Everyone Worried About (with Emily Jade O'Keeffe) · 30 min · Season 4 Episode 43Have you ever looked at your two children — one whose needs are loud, out front, impossible to miss, and one who just gets on with it — and quietly told yourself the second one's…
- 42. You Decided It for Them: RSD, Mind-Reading and the Rejections That Never Happened · 12 min · Season 4 Episode 50She mentioned a friend called Kel. That was it. That was the whole thing. Twelve seconds, and you'd filed her under no vacancy, decided your kids didn't match, and worked out she…
- 41. RSD and Masking: Why Criticism Sticks and Praise Slides Straight Off · 15 min · Season 4 Episode 55Nine good comments in the performance review. One 'area for growth'. Three days later you can still quote the one, word for word. You couldn't name a single one of the nine…
- 40. ADHD Hyperfocus or Real Passion? 3 x Tests to Tell the Difference (Before You Buy the Pilates Reformer) · 24 min · Season 4 Episode 55You did Pilates every week for a year. Then you bought the reformer so you'd never have to drive there again. You haven't done Pilates since. Now there's a new idea that won't…
- 39. Mum Hacks: It Feels Like Cheating. It's Worked for Six Months. · 14 min · Season 4 Episode 55You rolled forty identical socks into pairs the night before your mum arrived. Then unrolled them all on Monday. The hack works. It's worked for six months. So why does it feel…
- 38. Mum Hacks: 'I Forgot My ADHD Medication Again.' The Pill Box Is Right There. · 12 min · Season 4 Episode 38A nurse who gives out meds all day found May's script in her glove box in July. Still in the chemist bag. She bought the pill box with the days on the lid. Put it next to the…
- 37. The Grief After the Diagnosis: Why You Felt Flat When You Expected Relief (with Erica Lee) · 24 min · Season 4 Episode 37Have 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…
- 36. Mum Hacks: 'I Wasn't Consistent Enough.' It Lasted Eight Months. · 11 min · Season 4 Episode 36Have 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'…
- 35. ARFID and Lunchboxes: Why It Comes Home Untouched (with Dr Rachel Zabel) · 18 min · Season 4 Episode 35You 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…
- 34. ADHD and Team Sports: Why the Sideline Is Embarrassing for You, Not Just Hard for Him · 31 min · Season 4 Episode 34The 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…
- 33. Hormones and Neurodivergence: Why You Have a List of Random Symptoms and No Answers (with Dr Ceri Cashell) · 28 min · Season 4 Episode 33You'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…
- 32. ADHD Overstimulation: Why You Snap at 4pm When You Were Fine at 9am · 25 min · Season 4 Episode 32You 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…
- 31. Why Am I Always Sick? ADHD, Burnout and the Boom-Bust Cycle (with Bianca Comfort) · 42 min · Season 4 Episode 31Have 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…
- 30. ADHD and Losing Things: Why You Get It Ready Early and Still Can't Find It · 14 min · Season 4 Episode 30Have 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…
- 29. Hypermobility, POTS and MCAS: The Conditions That Cluster With ADHD (with Dr Jason Lam) · 26 min · Season 4 Episode 29You 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…
- 28. ADHD and Friendship: Why You Can't Send the Text (Even to People You Like) · 26 min · Season 4 Episode 28There'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…
- 27. ADHD and Survival Mode: How to Stop Trying Harder and Actually Thrive (with Rachel Few) · 30 min · Season 4 Episode 27From 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…
- 26. Why You Can't Accept Kindness: Masking, Surface Acting and the Wall That Blocks Love In · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 26Your 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…
- 25. When You Say Too Much: ADHD, Oversharing and the Room Going Quiet · 26 min · Season 4 Episode 25Have 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…
- 24. The 3 Types of ADHD in Women (And Why So Many of Us Go Undiagnosed) · 18 min · Season 4 Episode 24For 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…
- 23. ADHD and Marriage: We Separated for 18 Months. Then He Got Diagnosed. (with Emily Jade O'Keeffe) · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 23In 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…
- 22. Mental Load: 'I'm Just Tired of Being the Only Adult.' When the Kids Start Paying For It. · 24 min · Season 4 Episode 22The 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…
- 21. ADHD Assessment: What Actually Happens in a Psychiatrist's Appointment (with Dr Brendan Daugherty) · 34 min · Season 4 Episode 21**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…
- 20. Mental Load: He Mowed the Lawn Once and Wanted to Know If You Saw It. · 24 min · Season 4 Episode 20The 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…
- 19. Is Daycare Causing ADHD? Debunking the Diary of a CEO Episode. (with Amanda Moses) · 40 min · Season 4 Episode 19Someone 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…
- 18. Mental Load: 'Do We Have Parmesan Cheese?' He Was Standing at the Fridge. I Was Interstate · 28 min · Season 4 Episode 18The 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…
- 17. Good Girl Conditioning: Breaking the Pattern Before It Reaches Our Daughters — with Rachel Seiler · 30 min · Season 4 Episode 17You 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…
- 16. Anxiety or ADHD? Understanding the Two Types of Racing Thoughts and what to do about them · 21 min · Season 4 Episode 16It'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…
- 15. Should You Make Your Child Hug Relatives? Body Autonomy and the Kiss Goodbye · 24 min · Season 4 Episode 15Have 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…
- 14. ADHD Stress and Emotional Regulation: What Your Kids Notice That You Didn't. · 16 min · Season 4 Episode 14You 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…
- 13. The Invisible Mental Load: Why ‘At Least He Helps’ Isn’t the Win It Sounds Like · 28 min · Season 4 Episode 13Have 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…
- 12. MUM RAGE #4: 3 Reasons Your ADHD Medication Isn't Touching Mum Rage. · 17 min · Season 4 Episode 12Have 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…
- 11. ADHD Task Paralysis: Why You Freeze on the Day You Finally Have Time · 15 min · Season 4 Episode 11Have 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…
- 9. MUM RAGE #3: 3 Reasons Rage Hits Hours After the Thing That Set It Off. · 19 min · Season 4 Episode 9It'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…
- 8. ADHD and Transitions: Why ‘Just Find a Stopping Point’ Doesn’t Work for Your Brain · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 8📬 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…
- 7. MUM RAGE #2: 3 Reasons 'Just Breathe' Has Never Worked (and what does) · 28 min · Season 4 Episode 7A 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…
- 6. What Do I Do When Being Reasonable Hasn't Worked? The School Escalation Pathway Schools Don't Tell You About - with Sara Hocking · 47 min · Season 4 Episode 6The 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…
- 5. Screen Time Guilt and ADHD: They Took Away the Village and Handed Us the iPad · 23 min · Season 4 Episode 5A 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…
- 4. MUM RAGE #1: 3 Reasons ADHD Mum Rage Feels Like It Came Out of Nowhere. (It Didn't.) · 25 min · Season 4 Episode 4I 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…
- 3. ADHD Revenge Bedtime Procrastination: Why You Won’t Sleep When You’re Exhausted · 23 min · Season 4 Episode 3You'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…
- 2. 4 Reasons You Can't Eat Breakfast Until the Kitchen's Clean. Why Most Advice Won't Work — and the One Thing That Will. · 45 min · Season 4 Episode 2Listener 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…
- 1. Season 4 Launch Who Am I If I Stop Being In Service to Everyone in My Life? · 18 min · Season 4 Episode 1The 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…
- 110. 'Supportive of What?' The Year a Friend Asked Me One Question and Broke the Season 3 · 23 min · Season 3 Episode 110The 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…
