Zen Journey - Maternal Nutrition, Birth & Postpartum Support

04/21/2022

04/07/2022

04/02/2022

We all have those foods we won't buy for various reasons...⁠
- price⁠
- taste⁠
- logistics⁠
- ethics⁠
- religion⁠
- culture⁠
- health ⁠
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Which is fine! But there are other people who do eat those foods. How do we talk about those foods we don't eat, so we're not demonizing other people? ⁠
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I've heard various foods referred to as evil, poisonous, dirty, etc. We know food is a part of people. So it's not hard to understand why kids (and adults) often think if a food is "bad", so are the people who eat it. ⁠
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I don't buy soda. I have my reasons (I have a "soda" highlight with some of them), but I don't think my kids are ready for the nuance that goes along with all of my reasons yet. They are getting there, and we are starting to have conversations to build on, but it will take some time. ⁠
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When they are little though, it's simple enough to just say "that's not on the list." Sometimes we need to give reasons - for safety (allergies) or cultural (this is our identity) reasons - but most of the time we don't. ⁠
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Then as they get older we can have more in-depth conversations. Is there something you don't buy?⁠

01/25/2022

One of my favorite ways to help clients get into cooking at home is to come up with a menu like this one! The classics include all dishes that you know how to make by heart or are your go to, and I have a build your own section that makes it easy to keep track of your macros.

11/10/2021

Love this

I’m really not a fan of the whole “foremilk-hindmilk” chatter…
I think the reason I really dislike it is because it puts the blame on the mother as if something is wrong with your milk. It’s not - your milk is perfect. This isn’t what is going on 🙅‍♀️
First off, you only make one kind of milk! But it’s not “homogenized” so the fat naturally separates out *in your breast*
👉🏻The fat sticks to the sides of your milk ducts and further up near where milk is made
When a baby starts a feed, they initially get this “watery” milk that’s sitting right there at the ni**le. As the feed continues, the fat comes down too. Massaging your breast before and during a feed can help your fat come down, and a letdown especially helps.
So there is just one milk - your breastmilk. So why do we hear about this whole “too much foremilk, not enough hindmilk” stuff?
WELL I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!
When a baby is not feeding well, they are not going to get the fat to come down. They primarily get this “watery” milk… cue:
💨 gassy, fussy baby
💩green, frothy p**ps
📉 possibly not growing well
But the root cause of those issues has NOTHING to do with your milk. It’s your baby struggling to get your milk out.
📣 It’s a *feeding issue* 📣
You can do all the things that the internet tells you to about “getting the hindmilk”, or “making your milk more fatty”, but if you don’t fix the feeding issue, the problems will just start to stack up.
Your milk is more than just fat. Your baby uses EVERYTHING in your milk to grow ❤️
**p

10/26/2021

Yeah you bet I did the math on how much of your kids’ chocolate stash is safe to eat when you’re breastfeeding?
However much they let you 🤣
The main reason chocolate gets brought into question when it comes to safety in breastfeeding is because of the caffeine.
Let’s assume you’re a blonde roast kinda gal, so your cuppa joe has about 150mg caffeine ☕️ (I’m more of a dark roast mama which actually has less 🙃)
You’d need to eat 46 mini Hershey’s, 22 mini Aero, and 19 mini boxes of Smarties. If you’re wondering - yes that’s how much is in the picture lol. Oh and eat it all in one sitting. Not spread out throughout the day (because our bodies are always breaking caffeine down). It works out to 750g (or 1.7lbs) of milk chocolate 🍫
PLUS the recommendation is to keep it under 300mg of caffeine. So then you could technically have twice that!
But then you ask - “I heard it’s not the caffeine, it’s something else...”
That would be theobromine (a close cousin of caffeine, but they are not the same). It’s in *higher amounts* in chocolate, but it is *more weak* when it comes to comparing nervous system effects to caffeine.
The ONLY research we have is a single case report of a breastfeeding mother who had a newborn baby who was jittery and irritable. They figured it was because she ate 250g of chocolate EVERY DAY during her pregnancy AND while breastfeeding.
For perspective, that would be 25 mini Hershey’s. Every day for 9+ months.
Given the symptoms, we aren’t even sure if it was the theobromine or the caffeine in chocolate.
So eat however much chocolate feeds your soul, mama! The amount that even maybe would cause problems is A LOT. Watch your baby, and if you’re noticing problems - **check any feeding issues before jumping to food 🍫 **
Okay favourite chocolate bar, everyone - GO IN THE COMMENTS! 👇🏼

08/29/2021

08/03/2021

Partners, do you not know how to help? Here's a way to support breastfeeding that only takes a few minutes but has huge payoffs.
My breastfeeding class students often say they didn't expect the class to address their partners, as they just expected us to talk about the baby and breast only. But the biggest part of breastfeeding (once you get the initial connection addressed) is the lifestyle of caring for your baby. And how to keep up with everything you need while also making milk, serving it up multiple times a day, and still getting yourself fed.
So this is my 3 bowl rule:
Partners, get 3 snack bowls and fill them with food you could live on in the wilderness. Nuts, seeds, dried fruit, or veggie sticks and dip, whatever you have available. 3 different things, but only something that is nourishing. (and preferably something your pets won't nibble on or take).
Then make sure those 3 bowls are filled any time you walk away from the breastfeeder. When you run out for an errand. When you take the dog for a run. Even when you shower or p**p (we know you stay in there awhile sometimes).
Because breastfeeding moms forget to eat, and they need to eat 500 extra calories a day to maintain milk supply. And when they remember to eat, they are usually sitting down to nurse their baby, stuck somewhere they can't get food and feel like they are starving.
So if you fill the bowls, they will instantly have nutrition that they didn't have to think about themselves.
This is sharing the load. Supporting the breastfeeder. Caring for baby by caring for the caregiver.
Partners, we appreciate your help through the hard work of breastfeeding.
Happy World Breastfeeding week!

07/04/2021

The Breech Tilt is an inversion technique using gravity to help a breech baby flip to head-down. It is done by pregnant parents after 30 weeks gestation.

06/25/2021

06/25/2021

Why the heck does it matter what shape your ni**le is?⁠⁠⁠
Well the shape can tell us a lot about what the latch looks like on the INSIDE. Because that matters more than what the latch looks like on the outside.⁠⁠⁠
Whenever you see:⁠
💄 "lipstick" shaped⁠
💄 creased⁠
💄 flattened⁠
💄 wedged⁠
💄 slanted⁠
💄 or legit any shape that's not the same as when your ni**le went in...⁠
This tells me that the ni**le is not getting drawn far back enough.⁠⁠⁠
The result? Ineffective feeding. Maybe pain (depending on your tolerance and actually where your ni**le is hitting in your baby's mouth). But ineffective feeding is reason enough to fix it, because effective feeding (i.e. demand) is the ultimately controller of your supply once the hormonal push wears off.⁠⁠⁠
What do you do? Tweak your baby's positioning, do the "flipple", compress your breast - whatever you need to get your ni**le further back in your baby's mouth. I have videos of these tips in my reels/feed too 🎥⁠⁠⁠
Didn't work? Reach out to a lactation consultant for help! We can help you explore every tip and trick out there, and rule out anything underlying preventing your ni**le from being drawn back. Because sometimes, it's not something you are doing wrong. Like ... Hang in there!⁠⁠⁠

06/03/2021

Pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum can be life changing events. Things like research, childbirth education and preparation, taking necessary precautions, and trusting your OB and/or midwife are all important. AND... Your intuition is important too! Pay attention to that inner voice and trust that your gut feelings are coming from a primal and vital place, rather than from fear and panic. 🥰

05/27/2021

Making up a new image for my breastfeeding class. Does this fit your experience?
What I often see is that parents think 8-12 feedings in 24 hours means feedings 2-3 hours apart. Except babies are much more likely to have feedings all over the place in the first 3 months when exclusively breastfeeding. (Bottle feeding lends itself more to a schedule, but still can range considerably.)
And by the time they are past the 4th trimester, the feedings change again to a more spread out time frame, particularly at night (thankfully). And than dramatically again once they start taking solid feedings and reduce the breastfeeding frequency.
What I really want my families to know is that what it looks like in the early days is not how it continues to be...so when it seems overwhelming at first, to hold on for the easier parts to come!
If this doesn't get the point across, what would you like to see to show what breastfeeding patterns can look like? I'm always working to improve the class to include what is most important to new parents.

04/28/2021

Did you know that when you are pregnant with your child, you are also pregnant with you grandchildren if you have a female child? Her eggs form inside the mother and could one day be your grandbaby! What we do during pregnancy makes a difference for generations.