After Battling PPD, This Mom Created The First Postnatal Retreat In Atlanta

Amid ever-growing concerns about maternal health in the United States and near-constant legislative attacks on birth autonomy, many mothers-to-be are seeking increased pre- and postnatal support during pregnancy and postpartum.

Perhaps as a direct response to bubbling uncertainties surrounding childbirth, postnatal retreats have risen in popularity in the U.S. over the last few years. Although common practice in other parts of the world, particularly in some Asian countries, the relatively new and somewhat unconventional practice of taking extended time away from home post-birth to rest, reset, and acclimate to new motherhood has piqued the interest of thousands of moms entering their fourth trimester.

One of the newest facilities offering help in that effort has brought a personalized, luxury care experience to moms in the South for the first time. Haven Postnatal Retreat, which opened its doors in midtown Atlanta in October 2024, is a luxury postpartum care center designed to provide new mothers up to 12 weeks postpartum with an opportunity to rebalance and rejuvenate after childbirth, delivering necessary support to foster resilience for the journey ahead of raising a child.

Located inside Atlanta’s Four Seasons hotel, Haven is not only the first facility of its kind in the city, but the first in the South. To founder Brittany Starobin, her retreat is far more than a luxury pampering experience for new moms – it’s a necessity for maternal health that she believes more moms deserve access to.

“There’s this lack of support that currently exists in America,” Starobin says. “We understand that when the baby gets here, the baby needs a checkup this many days after discharge, and then at a month, and then at two months. Yet, for the person that’s had the baby, there is no true support nor constant checkup on her.” 

A mom of four having given birth on three occasions herself, Starobin became interested in postpartum care when she began seeing the popularity of similar retreats on social media. Having suffered intense bouts of postpartum depression with each of her pregnancies and experiencing what she describes as gaps in her own postpartum care, all she could wonder was, “Where was this when I was having my babies?” So, she got to work.

“[Haven] came from wanting to be that agent for change and thinking of how I can make an impact in this industry, especially within Georgia, where we have a high maternal mortality rate,” she says. “Many people associate that with women dying during pregnancy. That is true. But there’s also a piece of that figure including women who are dying around 42 days postpartum due to suicide.”

Starobin decided to apply her background in healthcare management to create a sanctuary for moms, offering personalized comprehensive care and emotional and mental support, with amenities such as 24-hour care from nurses and doulas, daily classes and workshops, spa access, gourmet meals, high end baby products, and massages, to name a few. Rates for a visit start at $790 a night, with amenities offered varying based on the package booked.

But beyond providing a luxury experience for mothers at a time when they’re most deserving, the founder seeks to create a safe space for this community when they are at their most vulnerable.

“During our postpartum period, especially early in postpartum, we’re often misunderstood,” she says. “Your hormones are fluctuating, and sometimes you just need to be extended some grace to be heard and met where you’re at.”

Starobin is just getting started, with her sights set on making an experience like this accessible to mothers from all socioeconomic backgrounds. She is currently devising ways to partner with major corporations in Atlanta to make the Haven Postnatal Care experience accessible to any mother in need, providing a strong, healthy start to their parenting journey.

Watching the mothers and babies that have come through the doors of Haven in its seven months of operation, she feels a part of her that didn’t have the access and support she needed in the earliest days of her motherhood experience is also being healed.

“Seeing those other women get the support and the direction and the guidance that you maybe didn’t know that you needed, yet you still desired – it has been amazing,” Starobin says. “It’s pure joy.”