Do Prenatal Vitamins Help? 10 Tips for Healthy Pregnancy

I stood paralyzed in the health food store with a mountain of products in my basket.

“Is a natural prenatal vitamin better than a prescribed prenatal vitamin blend?”

“Will my baby react if I overeat spinach?”

“Am I certain I’m eating properly to nourish my growing baby girl fully?”

“What pregnancy supplements help, and which supplements should I avoid?”

These were some of the many questions constantly running through my head as I embarked on my first journey with motherhood.

PRENATAL VITAMINS, PREGNANCY SUPPLEMENTS, AND NATURAL PREGNANCY NUTRITION… WHERE TO START?!

While I was pregnant with each of my daughters, I was learning about health.

For me, one of the most challenging aspects of this experience was finding reliable sources of information about how to have a natural pregnancy that is as healthy as possible.

For my first two pregnancies, I relied on my intuition and the mountain of research I had done to heal my own body. For my third baby, I was a client of Anthony William, the Medical Medium ® at the time, and he graciously helped to guide me in a direction that supported my health so deeply.

After my third birth, I had no problems with fatigue, and my daughter had no digestive issues or colic and slept 22-23 hours a day. Babies are supposed to be happy and peaceful. When they are not, something isn’t right.

For this reason, I was thrilled when Anthony spent over an hour talking with my friend and super mom, Kimberly Van Der Beek (@vanderkimberly), about all things pregnancy.

In this Facebook live (link here!), Anthony and Kimberly discuss how Anthony’s guidance helped shape Kimberly’s pregnancies successfully. They provide a wealth of helpful information for both new and repeat moms.

As wonderful as many books on pregnancy are, when mothers desire to take an approach focused on natural pregnancy, there is much confusion about supplements and food. It’s especially hard for vegan mothers due to social stigmas around plant-based diets.

I’ve collected highlights from this live, which I also combine with my insights and experience as a mother, former childbirth educator, and experienced health practitioner.

Have you heard? I’ve created a powerful EIGHT-WEEK program to educate and empower women on every stage of their life cycle. 

Click here to learn more about REVIVAL: AN 8-WEEK PROGRAM TO SUPPORT WOMEN FROM FERTILITY TO POSTPARTUM & BEYOND

TIP ONE: PRENATAL VITAMINS ARE NOT THE ANSWER

Prenatal vitamins are recommended to nearly all pregnant women by their doctors. We accept this without dispute because we are told that multivitamins effectively support our health. Unfortunately, this is a myth.

Multivitamins with dozens of ingredients from suboptimal sources mostly leave our bodies in our urine. Nutrients are not all created equal.

When it comes to supplements, quality matters. Read the details in my blog, Affordable Supplements: A How-To Guide.

The vitamin C you get from an orange differs from a non-bioavailable source synthesized in a lab.

A high-quality vitamin C supplement that does not mix dozens of other nutrients, like Micro C from Vimergy, has a very different impact on health than a small amount of low-quality vitamin C found in a blend of 60 other ingredients.

A multivitamin is often a waste of money due to how little of each ingredient is present in the multivitamin. The greater the number of nutrients in a multivitamin, the fewer the amounts of each nutrient are present and the less overall impact they have on your health.

This is no different with prenatal vitamins, which, in most over-the-counter cases, are simply multivitamins marketed to pregnant women.

Many manufactured prenatal vitamins also come with questionable additives that work against your and your baby’s health, so it is critical to become educated.

For example, Women’s One A Day Prenatal 1 multivitamin from the German behemoth pharmaceutical company, Bayer, has soy and tuna in its formula (ingredients here).

Another example is the gummy version of Bayer’s Women’s One a Day Prenatal contains toxic citric acid and natural flavors, wheat (a common allergen and source of troublesome gluten), and palm oil, which is horrible for the environment. See ingredients here.

In both cases, the nutrients in these products are almost certainly manufactured in a lab and are not bioavailable, meaning they offer the body little to no actual nutrition.

While it’s true that many of the nutrients listed by the American Pregnancy Association are essential for the health of both mom and baby, when all of these nutrients are combined and manufactured, they are barely beneficial to either (if at all).

What’s worse is that some ingredients in prenatal vitamins, like fish oil, are full of toxins like heavy metals rampant in our oceans due to industrial pollution. Even brands that claim they have removed the mercury from their fish oil still contain homeopathic levels of trace heavy metals, which are also unsafe.

Heavy metals are incredibly harmful to the mother and the baby and contribute to various conditions, from autism to anxiety and depression to OCD. Read more in my blog, Losing Our Minds to Toxic Heavy Metals.

Multivitamins of higher quality (possibly even organic and naturally sourced rather than manufactured) could be more effective.

It’s not that a high-quality multivitamin offers nothing to you. Still, the benefits you are receiving are likely minimal compared to receiving nutrients in single supplements that are higher quality and free from additives and filler ingredients.

Are you a new or expecting mom looking for customized support for your health questions regarding your health and your baby’s health?

Join my Intuitive Healing Community membership program to learn directly from me each month about how to optimize your and your family’s health! Ask questions directly to me and my team of experienced health practitioners who are there to support you every day.

Learn more here!

TIP TWO: TOP PREGNANCY SUPPLEMENTS

After learning the truth about prenatal vitamins, you’re probably wondering which supplements are effective during pregnancy. Keep reading to learn more

Important Note: For all pregnancy supplemental support, please seek the guidance of your healthcare provider, whether a doctor, naturopath, dietician, health coach, etc. Working with a trustworthy provider who can help you find dosages that work for you and your pregnancy is important.

Celery Juice

The first is celery juice. Celery juice is a miracle food (click here to learn more from the Medical Medium website, where the global celery juice movement started).

In addition to restoring the adrenal glands, which are essential for successful birth (read more in my blog, Pain-Free Birth here), celery juice also fights pathogens in the body, restores the liver, brain, and all other organs, and provides essential mineral salts to every system and cell in the body.

Spirulina

Next is spirulina. Anthony William says specifically about spirulina that if a pregnant mother takes it regularly, she does more for herself and her baby than by taking a prenatal vitamin.

It’s possible to get more nutrients from one-HALF teaspoon of spirulina than most people eat in an entire week. That’s how potent spirulina is as a health-promoting food! It is a premier food for combatting iron deficiency.

Spirulina is a restorer of the brain, a safe detoxifier of the organs, and a powerhouse of minerals and phytochemicals. It contains the brain-supportive omega fats EPA and DHA as well in a form that is easily converted and used by the body.

Be sure to get your spirulina from a high-quality source like this one from Vimergy.

You’ll notice I recommend Vimergy products across the board – they simply are the highest quality on the market for their supplements. If you’re curious about other brands I trust, check out my blog, Affordable Supplements: A How-To Guide.

Barley Grass Juice Powder

A partner to spirulina is barley grass juice powder, another powerhouse food. Barley grass is one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, and the extract in powder form offers powerful health support.

After spirulina, Barley grass juice powder is the next most important nutrient for combatting low iron levels.

If you’re concerned about consuming enough protein, look no further than barley grass juice powder, which contains 20 amino acids, including eight of the amino acids we receive from food.

For any moms who are sensitive or allergic to gluten, you don’t have to avoid barley grass juice powder. The mature barley grain does contain gluten naturally, but the powder of barley grass juice is harvested from young barley grass, which has not yet produced grain and therefore is gluten-free!

Spirulina is packed with protein as well. It is approximately 71% protein by weight in a form that is extremely bioavailable and easy to digest. Beef, which is 62% protein by weight, can sit for long periods in the digestive tract and is far more difficult to digest.

Barley grass juice powder removes multiple types of toxins from the body, helping to prevent the all-too-common case of a newborn coming into the world with inherited toxins from their mother and father (toxins like heavy metals are passed on through the sperm and egg, and a toxic liver in the mother often leads to a slugging liver in newborn babies).

We have consumed barley grass juice powder in our family for over 12 years.

Together, spirulina and barley grass juice powder help to safely and effectively remove heavy metals from the brain and body. In a time when autism, ADHD, OCD, and other brain-related conditions are increasing, this is a powerful way to protect your growing baby.

Be sure you’re purchasing barley grass juice powder, not barley grass powder. This is an important distinction to be sure you’re receiving the most nutritious supplement possible!

Barley grass juice powder is made from the dehydrated JUICE of barley grass. Barley grass powder is made from dehydrated leaves of barley grass. The former is FAR more concentrated and nutrient dense than the latter.

Vitamin B12

Next up in our top pregnancy supplements is vitamin B12. We are all deficient in this essential vitamin in today’s high-stress world. Vitamin B12 supports the production of every cell in our bodies and is crucial for liver and nervous system health.

As a woman’s body is restoring itself with B12, imagine what it’s doing to build the body of a growing fetus! Vitamin B12 keeps the body’s ability to generate healthy cells and is completely safe during pregnancy.

Again, I recommend the Vimergy brand because they use two forms of B-12 in their product: methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. These are both highly absorbed by humans and the methylated form reduces the work the liver has to do to convert it.

Vitamin B12 is only found abundantly in untreated foods grown in Nature (our bodies cannot utilize the B12 found in animal meat), which almost all of us do not eat enough of, so supplementing is imperative.

Iodine

Another great supplement during pregnancy is 1-2 drops of nascent iodine to protect the thyroid of expecting mothers. Iodine also supports the immune system and helps remove radiation in the body, which we are all exposed to daily through technology.

For mothers concerned about battling pathogens during pregnancy, iodine is a great tool without relying too much on antiviral herbs.

Methyl-Folate

Methyl-folate in the form of 5-MTHF is another essential pregnancy supplement. Many women are familiar with folate as a critical nutrient to support the formation of a growing baby’s brain, spine, and cardiovascular system.

Please note folic acid is not the same as folate. When choosing supplemental support for folate, please choose a high-quality folate like 5-MTHF rather than folic acid, which is methylated (easier on the liver) and easily absorbed into your cells. Folic acid should be avoided as it is actually quite toxic.

A high-quality 5-MTHF provides a mother’s body with the most bioavailable form of this crucial nutrient, as it also supports her liver and the body’s production of vitamin B12.

Magnesium

Magnesium glycinate is an excellent magnesium supplement during pregnancy and can be taken safely in small dosages (please consult with your practitioner about what dosage is right for you).

For many pregnancy concerns like cramps, constipation, headaches and migraines, high blood pressure, and “Charlie’s horses,” including high-quality magnesium can help to counteract and even prevent these symptoms across the board.

Evening Primrose

It is important to include evening primrose oil later in pregnancy, about 6-8 weeks prior to the due date. This oil contains prostaglandins that help soften the cervix and prepare the body for birth. Including evening primrose oil can help avoid medical induction if desired.

About four weeks prior to giving birth, you can use the oil for perineal massage (if you have capsules, just open the capsules and collect the oil), which helps to prepare the perineum for birth.

Nettle Leaf, Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, and Elderberry

Finally, nettle tea, red raspberry leaf tea, and elderberry are wonderful healing gifts from nature that benefit both mother and baby and are safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Nettle leaf is a uterine and reproductive tonic and a miracle worker for hormone balancing because it supports the adrenal glands and the entire endocrine system. It helps to rid the body of harmful plastics and radiation while remineralizing bones, teeth, hair, nails & skin.

Nettle leaf supports the production of bone and hard tissues in a growing baby. Nettle leaf tea, capsules, and alcohol-free tincture are wonderful ways to bring in this supportive herb. Nettle is also high in bioavailable iron and helps mothers maintain iron levels during pregnancy to combat anemia.

Nettle leaf tea, capsules, and alcohol-free tincture are wonderful ways to bring in this supportive herb.

Red raspberry leaf tea is another reproductive tonic and overall pregnancy support and is preferred to a red raspberry leaf tincture.

Elderberry is a gentle but strong immune builder and can be taken during pregnancy if an expecting mother comes down with a cold, flu, or virus. It’s also pleasant in taste which is a bonus!

Elderberry syrup is available to buy, or you can make your own at home!

TIP THREE: WHAT TO AVOID WHILE PREGNANT

One of the most common questions I get is what to avoid during pregnancy regarding food and supplements.

In general, healing foods, like fruits, vegetables, spices, and culinary herbs are very helpful for expecting mothers. If moms want to reduce certain healing foods during pregnancy out of personal choice, for easy preparation, or for aversions they are experiencing, that’s fine.

However, spinach soup, wild blueberry juice, fresh fruit, and leafy greens are all fantastic nutrient-rich options for moms and babies.

Some mothers experience food aversions, and if you cannot handle leafy greens, for example, you can use the supplemental forms of spirulina and barley grass juice powder instead.

If you are sensitive to certain foods, avoiding them during pregnancy is no problem. What’s important is to avoid foods that take away from your health.

High-fat foods like eggs, pork, peanut butter, cheese and dairy, ice cream with fat from any source, and processed oils are all best consumed in minimal amounts during pregnancy for optimal health.

If you crave certain unhealthy foods, eat lots of glucose first, and perhaps try the Medical Medium Cravings Shifter shot before indulging.

It’s ok if you give in to your cravings here and there. Being gentle with yourself is important, especially during pregnancy.

We recommend reducing your supplement dosages during pregnancy and encourage you to speak to your healthy practitioner to help find the right dosages.

Important Note

We avoid most herbal tinctures and use very low dosages of supplements for pregnancy because there is no way to fully know how these supplements affect the unborn baby in utero. Caution is advised. Read below for a supplement tip for sensitive moms.

It’s best to avoid all herbs during pregnancy except nettle leaf, red raspberry leaf, and red clover. The tea forms will also work well if you are sensitive to tinctures.

Herbs are powerful in the body, and certain ones may be disruptive to a pregnant woman’s body and that of her baby. It’s important to specifically avoid goldenseal and cat’s claw when pregnant, as both are associated with miscarriage risk.

Another example is chamomile, which can act as a uterine stimulant and is best avoided while pregnant.

Collagen Supplements for Pregnancy

It’s also essential to avoid harmful supplements. One example is a collagen supplement, which is never healthy, especially during pregnancy.

The body produces collagen on its own; it cannot use collagen that is consumed – this burdens the liver. Another to avoid is activated charcoal, which can block nutrient absorption and create deficiencies for mom and baby.

Caffeine During Pregnancy

It’s best to consider avoiding ALL caffeine (chocolate, coffee, black and green tea, matcha, and kombucha tea) during pregnancy. Consuming caffeine floods the body with adrenaline, which produces the caffeine energy boost.

During pregnancy, a growing baby is also jolted with adrenaline from the mother’s body which can lead to caffeine addiction as the child grows.

Furthermore, chocolate or cacao contains a neurotoxin that hurts the baby’s brain development. There’s more to chocolate cravings than taste! It’s often tied to an addiction that forms in babies during gestation.

TIP FOUR: HEALING FOODS FOR PREGNANCY

We know the usual suspects to avoid, including alcohol, raw meat, high mercury fish, soft cheeses etc. But what about learning about the most powerful & supportive foods for pregnancy?

The number one most powerful type of food for pregnancy is fruit! I find inspiration from the quote from Life Changing Foods by Anthony William below.

It sounds a little cliched…to compare a woman’s reproductive system to a flower, and yet that’s really the case. If you’ve ever studied botany, then you know that flowers have an ovary, and that the ovary contains the ovules that become fertilized and eventually form fruit. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s very similar to human female anatomy.

You were once a tiny egg that became fertilized and formed into a miracle of a person.

When you eat fruit, which was once a tiny egg that became fertilized and formed into the miracle of food, you join forces. The fruit’s wisdom and life-giving properties become a part of you.”

Vegetables are great for pregnancy support, especially potatoes, sweet potatoes, summer and winter squashes, asparagus, mushrooms, cruciferous veggies, and leafy greens, all containing a wealth of easily digested nutrients for mom and baby.

Cumin, turmeric, coriander, paprika, ginger, and other spices contain powerful healing properties that you can incorporate into your daily cooking.

Wild foods like seaweeds, chaga, aloe vera, nettle leaf, mulberries, and coconut are also very powerful for pregnancy support.

Why is it so important to eat foods packed full of nutrition during pregnancy?

A Canadian study I found showed that over 400 toxic chemicals were present in umbilical cord blood taken at birth (read an article about a similar discovery in over 40 countries from The Guardian here).

I panicked. “How can we protect our babies?” I said to my husband. I later learned how powerful healing foods could be, especially those which detoxify everyday toxins like heavy metals, industrial chemicals, and plastics.

For this reason, many women worldwide consume the Medical Medium heavy metal detox smoothie daily to remove heavy metals from their bodies, contributing to countless neurological and “autoimmune” conditions.

This smoothie is perfectly safe to consume during pregnancy, as it is explicitly designed to safely remove these toxins from the body without dropping them along the way internally or moving them into a growing baby’s body.

I consumed this smoothie regularly during my third pregnancy, and my daughter and I were only supported by this healing meal. An added benefit to this smoothie after birth is that it safely removes heavy metals from being passed on in a mother’s breast milk.

In addition to the heavy metal detox smoothie, foods high in glucose hugely support breast milk production. I’ve seen clients of mine restore their ability to produce breast milk simply by bringing steamed potatoes, a glucose-rich food, into their diets and reducing fats!

Other options for breastmilk-stimulating glucose include bananas, papaya, mangoes, steamed squash and pumpkin, steamed or raw peas, raw honey, maple syrup, dates, peaches, nectarines, oranges, and apples.

All fruit is stimulative for reproductive health in all senses. Consuming the fruit of plants and trees is a deeply supportive way to help develop and care for the literal fruit of our bodies – our children.

A significant consideration while pregnant is eating to support the adrenal glands. During his chat with Kimberly, Anthony William shares that the level of adrenaline needed to push a baby out during birth is at the superhuman level – that amount that allows a mother to pick up a car to save her child who is trapped underneath.

To have a successful birth, a woman must have strong adrenals (many prolonged births are related to adrenal weakness). The most crucial habit you can maintain to strengthen adrenals is to eat foods rich in glucose, potassium, and mineral salts together every 1-2 hours between meals.

I’ve created a free download with several delicious energy-boosting snacks that support the adrenals and stabilize your system, especially if you’re an expecting mom approaching birth.

Download my Energy-Boosting Snacks guide here!

TIP FIVE: FOR SENSITIVE MOMS

If you experience nausea during pregnancy, a fantastic support is ginger, which is safe to consume. Make a stress-relieving and warming cup of Medicinal Ginger Tea, a shot of fresh ginger juice, or take a ginger capsule to relieve your nausea.

An excellent tip for sensitive moms taking supplements is to swish liquid supplements like vitamin B12 and immune-boosting zinc in the mouth and then spit them out.

The supplements will go directly into the mother’s lymphatic system through the mouth and won’t reach the baby. This also works for nettle leaf tincture and elderberry syrup.

Some moms struggle with autoimmune symptoms while pregnant, and working with a knowledgeable practitioner is advised in these cases. Other tools and supplements can help these moms, but they must be evaluated case-by-case.

TIP SIX: POST-PARTUM SUPPORT

Postpartum support can be a challenge for many new mothers. There is a lot of confusion from doctors regarding the cause of postpartum depression, for example, and very little guidance that supports the body to recover from the intensity of birth.

What the body needs after birth is glucose. Large amounts of adrenaline burn away glucose in the bloodstream and body, deactivating toxic adrenaline released during times of stress, fear, or intensity.

The actual cause of postpartum depression is a lack of glucose in the brain after giving birth, combined with issues related to adrenaline fatigue. A terrific healing meal immediately after giving birth and for several days after is coconut water consumed with steamed potatoes mashed with avocado.

Postpartum protocols that recommend increasing protein and reducing carbohydrates are sadly misguided and will often worsen postpartum depression and reduce a mother’s milk supply. Reducing fats and increasing healthy carbohydrates is crucial – the exact opposite.

The brain, liver, and body run on glucose, after all – a medically-documented fact. Many medical journals, like the one linked here, include this vital information doctors must remember to share with patients.

Rather than adopting a paleo or keto (both high in animal protein and high fat), which many mothers adopt, believing these diets will help them lose pregnancy weight, focus on whole-food healthy carbohydrates, and lowering fat intake.

High-fat diets can contribute to a loss of breast milk production and can cause mothers to struggle with fatigue and loss of energy after birth.

Immediately after birth, it’s helpful to take 4-6 dropperfuls of vitamin B12 to protect a new mother’s nervous system from the adrenaline of birth.

The homeopathic remedy, arnica 200, is also recommended if you have tears or need stitches. To prevent hemorrhaging, keep the homeopathic pulsatilla 200 on hand. If you start to bleed, one or two doses of pulsatilla can help immensely.

Another postpartum tip is to bring in 4-5 dropperfuls of a high-quality lemon balm supplement up to three times daily or three cups of lemon balm tea daily. Lemon balm is a nervous system superstar and will help to calm a woman’s body after the intensity of birth.

Sweet potatoes help to balance postpartum hormones and potatoes provide calories. The best leafy green to add in postpartum is butter leaf lettuce. Avoid strong foods like garlic, onions, spices, or hot peppers, as they can agitate a new baby’s digestion.

Say your baby is born with high levels of strep bacteria in the gut (this is very common and different from strep throat). These stronger foods can cause discomfort in digestion as they kill off strep. Early in breastfeeding, keeping your diet simpler is better.

If you are confused or surprised by strep being present in babies, please remember that while you were pregnant your doctor or midwife may have run a Group Strep B test for you.

Whether you tested positive or negative for Group B, please note that there are hundreds of varieties of strep that we are exposed to every day, so it’s common that our babies are born with some level of strep in their guts.

If mom has had a UTI, vaginal yeast infections, Bartholean’s cyst, bacterial vaginosis, etc, all these conditions are also caused by different varieties of strep that can transfer to the baby DURING a vaginal birth.

Finally, for postpartum uterine surges (otherwise known as contractions), bring in one capsule of magnesium every three hours to help the uterus muscles relax and rebalance.

If you choose to give birth in water, you can add Ancient Minerals magnesium oil, or flakes to your birth water. My midwives recommended this to me to prevent me from feeling exhausted during labor.

TIP SEVEN: HELP WITH COLIC AND INFANT DIGESTIVE ISSUES

Colic is a condition that doctors, midwives, and parents are often stumped by. The medical profession defines colic as “the prolonged episodes of crying or fussiness in a healthy baby,” yet reasons are not given as to the cause.

Medical professionals often lack insight into why colic occurs, and they cite everything from food allergies to baby migraines and anxiety. There is even a belief that colic is caused by nutritious foods like cauliflower, oranges, or broccoli, but this is not true.

By the way, broccoli, oranges, and sesame seeds (or tahini) are packed with highly bioavailable calcium – if you want to use calcium supplements for pregnancy, choose these foods instead.

Colic is caused by problematic foods (such as dairy, gluten, eggs, caffeine, or GMO foods like corn, soy, and canola) that the mother may have consumed during pregnancy and postpartum and can pass through her breastmilk.

A newborn baby’s intestinal tract is not yet fully developed, so it is hard for babies to digest such foods. Furthermore, these problematic foods burden the baby’s already burdened liver. This is due to our standard diets, which are high in fat and fried and processed foods.

I say this because many babies are born with burdened livers inherited from their parents. The constant crying associated with colic is from digestive and liver distress. A burdened liver in an adult can result in feelings of agitation and irritability, which can also happen to a newborn.

In my practice, what has helped relieve babies of mystery colic symptoms is to give the newborn 1 ml of celery juice and to have the mother also start drinking celery juice.

This helps to clean the breastmilk and relieve the baby of digestive distress. You can usually wait to give a newborn celery juice when they reach six months. But I do recommend minuscule amounts if your baby is distressed.

Babies need simpler foods for optimal digestion, and I recommend giving babies a long runway to introduce easily digestible foods.

I did not give solid foods to my daughters until they were past 9 – 11 months old. This allows the liver to prepare as babies digest food outside the womb. Grains and rice cereals for babies should be avoided until they are 1 -2 years old.

Sticking to whole foods like fruits and vegetables and moderate amounts of healthier animal proteins like wild salmon, sardines, and grass-fed organic beef or venison, if desired, will ensure that your baby does not suffer from prolonged digestive problems and colic.

It is a misunderstanding in the medical profession that nutrients consumed by moms don’t get to the baby through breast milk. They do get through and very quickly. I remember having a magnesium supplement post-birth and noticing runny stools in my daughter. I stopped the magnesium, and her stools became normal.

Another tip is to give your newborn 1-2 drops of lemon balm tincture no more than three times daily to support their system. This can help soothe them on a tough day. In addition, mom can take full doses of lemon balm, which will get into the baby through breastmilk.

Chamomile is another excellent natural remedy for colic. The homeopathic remedy, chamomilla 30 c, can be used effectively for colic support dissolved in breast milk.

TIP EIGHT: BREAST FEEDING & NATURAL BABY FORMULA

If you are a new mother struggling to produce breastmilk, you may need time to restore your glucose reserves to the point where your body begins to increase production. This means you need a formula to supplement whatever milk you can produce.

Thankfully, there is a beautiful whole-food option for you! Blending avocado, banana, and coconut water as a homemade baby formula offers a perfect balance of glucose, moderate healthy fats, and minerals to a growing infant, far superior to the highly manufactured baby formula products on the market.

Read more in my recipe blog post about this formula, which is as similar as possible to human breast milk in its nutrient balance! I also add a small amount of nutrient-rich and baby-safe barley grass juice powder for an added nutritional boost.

Another tip for breastmilk production is to drink raspberry leaf tea, a reproductive strengthener that promotes breast milk production.

You can also make this beautiful Mother’s Milk Tea that I have created, combining the herbal wisdom of my Eastern family ancestry with fennel and fenugreek with Western herbal knowledge incorporating raspberry leaf.

I also encourage rest and hydration to create an optimal breast milk supply.

TIP NINE: POST-PARTUM ENERGY SUPPORT

As we’ve explored, restoring the body’s reserves of adrenaline and glucose is important after giving birth. It’s also important to restore the electrolytes and mineral salts in the body, directly impacting energy levels.

Incorporating a healing diet of daily celery juice, coconut water, leafy greens, all sprouts (which offer perfect nutrition and energy boost to tired moms!), and glucose-rich foods will have new moms bouncing back far more quickly than they’re used to.

Please note that several websites recommend avoiding sprouts due to the risk of bacterial contamination, but that means telling pregnant women they cannot have salad or fruit due to the raw nature of those foods.

High-fat diets with processed foods will further exhaust the liver, circulatory, neurological, and immune systems, which is exactly what we don’t want after bringing new life into the world.

I love recommending the Medical Medium ® healing broth for postpartum recovery. This recipe calls for onions and garlic, but because it’s a cooked broth, both ingredients are in a far less potent form here, and babies can often handle healing broth just fine.

Other foods that support postpartum recovery include sweet potatoes, avocados, and potatoes. Rather than relying on adrenaline-containing bone broths, a popular practice among natural-minded mothers, choose a low-fat, highly mineralizing vegetable broth.

If possible, stay away from caffeine in the form of coffee and chocolate while recovering from birth and throughout the breastfeeding period. This ensures that mom (and baby by extension through breast milk) are not becoming addicted to this harsh substance.

A more sustainable source of energy comes from healing supplements like vitamin B12 and B complex.

TIP TEN: GET THE SUPPORT YOU NEED

Feeling safe and supported matters more than anything before, during, and after birth. I wrote in detail in my birth blog series about each of the three births I have experienced about how crucial emotional and physical support are for a woman to bring a child into the world successfully.

Check out each blog here: Pain-Free Birth, Techniques for Easy Birth, and Home Birth Without Fear.

This doesn’t stop after birth. If you can, ask your partner, family, or close friends to help you with grocery trips, purchasing supplements online, and caring for your newborn after birth.

Ensuring that you minimize the opportunity to feel overwhelmed will keep your body focused on preparing for birth, giving birth, and then recovering so that you can nurse and nourish your little one.

Women were not meant to give birth in isolation. Humanity has evolved in family and community units. Rely on the support system you have, or reach out to those around you to build a strong support system to care for yourself and your baby as priority number one.

To your health and peace,

Muneeza