Blog
From cord stump to belly button: postnatal care
Almost all first-time mums ask the same question about the cord stump: What do I need to do with it? Does it hurt my baby if I move it? Can I get it wet? Can I take that hard, plastic clamp off?How long does it take to fall off? Is that colour normal? Here’s everything I tell them.
Are your heavy periods a red flag for a thyroid issue?
Heavy periods are a symptom of a hormone imbalance. The key is identifying where this imbalance is stemming from and/or what’s driving this imbalance in the first place. This triad: the OVARIES ~ ADRENALS ~ THYROID axis works together. Each influence each other and are constantly communicating with each other.
Low magnesium in pregnancy: the potential complications
Ensuring optimal intake of magnesium during pregnancy is essential. In fact, having low levels of magnesium in pregnancy has been linked to the complications for both mum and baby.
How Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism can effect your digestion
Up to 40% of those diagnosed with the autoimmune, underactive thyroid condition (Hashimotos hypothyroidism) have low stomach acid. This can result in symptoms including ‘reflux’, gas, bloating, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), feeling full or tired after meals and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). It can also contribute to low iron or vitamin B12 and/or anaemia.
Pregnancy: the ‘ultimate stress test’ for the thyroid gland
A mother’s thyroid gland in pregnancy needs to increase its hormone production by at least 50%! This is for her own need for thyroid hormones, and to supply her baby with thyroid hormones. For up until 16-20 weeks, the baby relies completely on the mother’s thyroid hormones until it’s own gland is mature enough, in the 3rd trimester.
How a mother’s Vitamin D status influences her breastmilk levels
The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in breastfed babies differs vastly between studies and nations at 0.6% - 91.1%! Breastfed babies are (or can be) ‘particularly vulnerable’ because breastmilk doesn’t naturally contain high levels of Vitamin D. Combine this with a mother having low Vitamin D levels herself, it further reduces the amount that passes through breastmilk.
Could low magnesium be contributing to your hormonal woes?
There's not a week that goes by in The Mamawise Naturopath online clinic where I don't seem to prescribe magnesium! It's indicated for countless functions of our body; our nervous system, our energy levels, our muscles, our sleep, our mood and our hormones. It really is the backbone of women’s health.
Postpartum hair loss: what’s normal and what’s not
If you’ve been pregnant you’d probably remember the lusciousness of your hair; thick, shiny, long. This was thanks to the high amounts of circulating oestrogen and progesterone, this helps keep our hair in the ‘growth’ phase compared to the ‘loss phase’. Then we arrive at postpartum and enter a new hormonal state - and the shedding begins.