Ciara and Kelly Rowland Get Real About Their Parenting Village

The stars are raising awareness for the maternal health crisis with Baby2Baby.

Fact checked by Sarah ScottFact checked by Sarah Scott

Ciara and Kelly Rowland have a few things in common: successful music careers, acting credits, and being moms with a mission.

The stars joined forces to support Baby2Baby, a nonprofit that aids children living in poverty across the nation, for its Maternal Health and Newborn Supply Kit program. The program, which is now in 10 states, provides supplies to mothers and babies in need to play a part in combating the maternal health crisis.

For the famous moms, it’s deeper than just giving back. 

“We're supposed to do this for each other—as women, as mothers—and be supportive of each other,” Rowland shares with Parents. “I just always say, this could be me; we have to have enough humility to be able to say that.”

Ciara agrees, saying, “I have a very big heart and a very soft heart for any mom in this world who is trying to figure it out because it's not the easiest job in the world—it takes a village.”

They are also shining a light on the very real and serious hardships mothers around the country are facing.

Highlighting the Maternal Health Crisis

New parents are faced with a variety of challenges, such as learning to take care of a newborn and recovering after childbirth. They are often left to do it without adequate support because of issues we've long been discussing here at Parents.

The U.S. remains the only industrialized nation without a federal paid maternity leave policy. There are inequities in health care and the costs of child care are increasing at unprecedented levels. And, as the U.S. Surgeon General pointed out in his 2024 advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents, one in four U.S. parents do not have money to pay for basic needs, including food and rent or mortgage.

On top of that, the U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality—death during pregnancy or up to a year after giving girth—among wealthy nations. It’s more than doubled in the last two decades and it’s disproportionately impacting Black mothers.

“The maternal health crisis is an extremely complicated and devastating crisis in our country that needs to be addressed,” says Norah Weinstein, Baby2Baby's co-founder. “Baby2Baby is proud to be just one part of a very robust solution where the government must do its part and for-profit companies must do their part.”

About Baby2Baby

The organization, which launched in 2011, was chosen in 2023 by The White House, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to pilot a program to deliver essential items to babies and their mothers in hospitals.

“We wanted to distribute them immediately after giving birth to meet the needs of the mom so that the stress of not being able to provide for their baby or take care of themselves [decreases],” says Kelly Sawyer Patricof, Baby2Baby's co-founder. “It's meant to help with the mental health struggles of a new mother.”

The kits contain various items, such as nursing supplies, hygiene and postpartum care products, educational resources, and diapers. The latter is critical as one in two families in the U.S. struggle to pay for them.

“Diaper need is the number one need, and it's what low-income families pay for after rent, utilities, and food,” says Weinstein. “They're one of the top four items that families struggle to afford every day, and then they also struggle to afford all of the basic essentials.”

Ciara and Kelly Rowland Share Their Postpartum Experiences

Conversations about the reality of the postpartum experience also pave the way for change. Rowland and Ciara aren’t shy about being honest and vulnerable and letting moms everywhere know it’s OK to ask for help. 

Fostering mental health

If there’s one thing the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory made clear it’s that parents are stressed. In fact, 33% of parents reported high levels of stress in the past month in 2023, compared to 20% of other adults. That stress comes from various factors, including financial strain, time demands, children’s health and safety, and cultural pressure. What’s more, chronic or excessive stress can impact a parent’s mental health. That can trickle down to their children too.

Finding ways to care for your mental health is critical.

Rowland, who is mom to Titan, 9, and Noah, 3, with husband Tim Weatherspoon, says she sees a therapist weekly. “I’m very proud of it,” she shares. “I have so many things going on in my brain, and sometimes they just need to be filed and sorted properly. It's the best thing ever and I feel great.”

She also wants to change the narrative that seeking therapy is a negative thing or that it correlates to trouble. She says it's more about finding extra support to get parents through the day.

Carving out time for self-care can also alleviate some of the stress.

“I do think, as moms and women, we put ourselves second,” says Ciara. “So, I do my best to maximize the moments when I do get my alone time because that's healthy too—being able to just think in peace. Oftentimes, when you have kids, you don’t really have that time for yourself.”

Ciara is mom to Future Zahir, 10, whom she shares with ex-fiancé and rapper Future, as well as Sienna Princess, 7, Win Harrison, 4, and Amora Princess, 9 months, with husband and NFL quarterback Russell Wilson.

“So much happens with four kids—it's literally, ‘Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy,’ and back around, 40 times in a day,” she says, adding that self-care for her can be getting her nails or hair done, hanging with friends, or even just spending 20 minutes in her car alone.

Embracing changes

There are so many changes that can occur after having kids. Both Ciara and Rowland say learning to accept the physical changes that came with giving birth wasn’t easy.

“Looking in the mirror, going, ‘I don't know what happened to my 20-year-old self. She's gone,’” says Rowland. “I hope it doesn't sound shallow, but I started to pick myself apart.”

She began to put things into perspective after giving birth to her second child.

“I realized, like, ‘Girl, you carried a child full term; he’s healthy, you're healthy, and you get to walk away—shut up,’” she says. “After I had my second baby, Noah, I looked at my body in the mirror and I said, ‘Oh girl, you're just a little bit thicker but in all the right places. I thanked my body because it really did the job and it got me through.”

It was only after Ciara’s fourth pregnancy that she felt happy in the skin she was in too. “This go around, I didn't press as hard to lose all my baby weight,” she says. “I actually kind of liked holding on to a little bit more hip than I maybe have in the past.”

They are far from alone: research shows many people experience negative feelings toward their bodies in the postpartum period, and dissatisfaction with one’s body is higher in this period than at other times in life. Feeling this way can also harm a new parent’s well-being.

Finding your village

For Ciara, having a reliant and supportive partner has made all the difference. “I gotta thank my husband because he's amazing,” she says of Wilson, whom she wed in 2016. “Doing this parenting journey with him is such a blessing because he's so in it. He likes to know every detail like I do. I'm so grateful that I do life with him every day, and we get to raise our beautiful children together.”

It doesn’t end there. She gets help from Grandma and child care. “I always have a soft spot for the nannies and the baby nurses in the world because they're some of the most passionate, caring individuals, and they love my kids like they're their kids, which I love,” shares Ciara.

And it helps that her older kids are at an age where they can lend a hand when needed too. “From the siblings, top down, they all look after the baby, and I try to tell them to look after each other,” she says.

Rowland says having a village to turn to for parenting advice also guides her in raising her kids. “I can ask any woman around me that's either a mom, or a stepmom, or god mom, or whatever, and I can learn something from them,” she says. “We can all learn something and take something from each other and be able to be a bit more well rounded and enlightened.”

Accepting help when you need it

It’s not always easy for new parents to ask for help. It can be fear of judgment, guilt, shame, or a pressure to feel like you should be able to manage all on your own, but that’s unrealistic.

“There are so many women around this world that are so capable, and all they need is a place like this to reach their hand out and say, ‘I want to help you,’” says Ciara. “Organizations like Baby2Baby really do help make change in people's lives to allow them to go and excel and be everything that they're destined to be.”

Remembering to give yourself grace goes a long way too. Rowland’s parenting motto is “one day at a time because every day is going to give you something new.”

As for Ciara’s best parenting advice: “Every day is not perfect, but I think the greatest thing I can say to any other mom out there is embrace the journey. No, it's not gonna be perfect along the way, and that's OK. There's perfection in the imperfection.”

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