Mothering & Family Resources: Prenatal to Postpartum and Everything In Between

Photo taken this past week,
entering into my third trimester
with my third child.

As I am approaching the last few weeks of my third pregnancy, I thought it helpful to share some of the resources I use and have written about in my own journey through motherhood. Here are some helpful resources for you eco-saavy mothers and readers:


Pregnancy

• Optimal Maternity Care: A Human Rights Initiative
• Eating to Improve Heredity 
• Prenatal Yoga That Fits You
• Treating Nausea Naturally
• Treating Headaches Naturally
• Sleep Better 
• Ina May's Guide To Childbirth
• Born In The USA - How A Broken Maternity System must be fixed...This book educates mothers about their rights, options, and the research that supports better birth outcomes.
• Finding the Right Doctor or Midwife 
• Finding the Right Hospital For Your Birth
• Free Birth Plan Template Download  - Creating A Birth Plan - Hint: I have done this with all three of my children, and childbirth expert Penny Simkin and others report having one of these decreases your risk of PTSD after childbirth.
• Our Babies, OurSelves: How Biology and Culture Affect the Way We Parent.  This book shaped my views on parenting as I learned that the "American way" is often not just atypical of parenting across the globe, but also not beneficial for parents or their babies.
• The Birth Partner: An excellent book written by physical therapist Penny Simkin. I recommend this for all expectant mothers and their birth partners. 
• Easing Labor Pain Alternatively

There are other texts that offer methods for labor and delivery coaching that I have used in the past, including Birthing from Within and Natural Childbirth (Bradley Method).  Although they are wonderful texts I found that the relaxation method(s) taught in them, if used exclusively, can hinder the process of active participation in birth.  Combining my own yoga poses and breathing methods (which will eventually be available in my new book Fit and Fearless Birth) with the Bradley technique and and methods suggested in Peggy Simkin's book can allow a mother to actively participate in the birth process.

Postpartum

• Ina May's Guide To Breastfeeding with American authority in midwifery, Ina May Gaskin
• The Breastfeeding Book by Martha and Dr. Sears
• Birth and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Pain, Suffering, and Trauma in Labor - Written by physical therapist and authority on childbirth, Peggy Simkin PT, CCE, DONA.
  Part One
  Part Two
• Yoga and Breastfeeding: Staying Healthy and Painfree
• Getting Your Body Back After Baby
• Postpartum Back Pain: Baby Carrying and Strolling Hazards
• The Baby Book - with Dr. Sears

Unfortunately support and resources after childbirth tend to dwindle rapidly and are more difficult to find.  The incidence of postpartum depression (PPD) in American women is at its highest ever, with some reports being as high as 20% (Josefsson et al 2001).

Most texts available on the postpartum period center around recognizing and treating, rather than preventing postpartum depression.  However, it seems that we could do better by new mothers to offer more care and support in the days, weeks, and months preceding and proceeding childbirth - by helping mothers physically - with community based support, sound advice on being fit and ready for birth, and the like.  Oprah has even stated that the most common problem reported on her show centered around parenting and "how-to" do it.  In a suggestion to Dr. Mehmet Oz, she said perhaps American youth need more structured learning about parenting, since we have less familial network and support due to our highly mobile lifestyles.

In addition, America's lack of a maternal or paternal leave policy is thought to greatly contribute to the lack of support and high rates of PPD. As a developed nation the US ranks at rock bottom for maternal support.  Out of 160 nations in 2010 as reported in the Save The Children Mother Index, Nordic countries place first, followed by several other developed countries.  Several poorer countries, including the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania rank higher than the United States. The European states of Croatia and Slovenia also ranked higher than the US.

Factors that influence the US ranking are its high maternal and infant mortality rate and lack of maternal (or paternal) leave.  At 1 in 4,800, the US has one of the highest mortality rates in the developed world, according to the report.  “A woman in the Unites States is more than five times as likely as a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece or Italy to die from pregnancy-related causes in her lifetime and her risk of maternal death is nearly 10-fold that of a woman in Ireland,” the report said.

However, the resources provided, in addition to future ones, such as Fit and Fearless Birth, are a start in providing more resources for new mothers to help lower PPD rates, improve their health, and increase their sense of well being.

Green Parenting & Family Life
Green parenting can go a long ways toward improving the health of America's mothers, families, children, and of the entire planet.  I encourage all parents to reduce, reuse, and recycle (The 3-R's) when they can.

Simple strategies include ridding the home of unnecessary chemicals like cleaners, pesticides in the yard and garden like weed killers and fertilizers, adopting a "No Shoes" policy in your house, avoiding use of all plastics, and using cloth napkins and cloth diapering (and wipes) systems whenever possible.  Lastly, we make a point to grow our own organic food (we have limited space but make great use of a small raised box and container gardening) when we can and when we can't - we shop local, organic, and stick to a mostly plant based diet. My own family has adopted all of these 3-R policies, and we are healthier and happier for it.

• Simplifying Family Life
• The 411 on Cloth Diapering
• The Five Stereotypes of Cloth Diapering
  
• Managing Weight and Feeling Great
  
• Decoding Organic Food Labels
• Choosing Real Food
• Why Plastic is Bad for your Health -  Over 10 years ago - I went plastic free - and stored everything in glass. When M and W came along - I used glass and stainless steel bottles and sippy cups- then somewhere along the way - I believed the industry when it said you could use BPA free products and those labeled 2, 4, or 5 on the bottom. Turns out - I should have stuck to my original plan. This house is going plastic free - Round Two. (for good)
• Safer Eating: Going Non-GMO (genetically modified organisms)
• Shopping Non-GMO
• Creating A Paperless Kitchen - Hint: I did this about 10 years ago and it's been one of the best life simplifying (and eco-friendly) moves I've made.
• Everyday Chemicals That Harm Children
• The Yoga of Compassionate Parenting 

 

Sources:
Josefsson A, Berg G, Nordin C, et al. Prevalence of depressive symptoms in late pregnancy and postpartum. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2001;80:251-255. Abstract
Women on the Front Lines of Health Care: State of the World's Mothers 2010. Save The Children May 2010.  

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Motherhood: Recognizing the Signs

With my son, at the beginning of our own
healing process, in 2008.

This week's post on Breathing In This Life is from Michelle Rosenthal, of www.healmyptsd.com

Being a mom is a wonderful, magical and inspiring identity. But what if the birth experience – or some other trauma – leaves you feeling less than covered in fairy dust? What if your parenting skills are being interfered with by symptoms and behaviors you don’t understand?

Real or perceived traumatic experiences during childbirth or any other part of a mother’s life can lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Post-Partum Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PP-PTSD). 

Here are a few facts about PTSD before we define symptoms and what to do about them:

·         70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives.

·         Up to 20% of these people go on to develop PTSD.

·         An estimated 5% of Americans have PTSD at any given time.

·         An estimated 1 out of 10 women develops PTSD; women are about twice as likely as men.

·         Among people who are victims of a severe traumatic experience 60 – 80% will develop PTSD.

·         Almost 50% of all outpatient mental health patients have PTSD. Somewhat higher rates of this disorder have been found to occur in African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans compared to Caucasians in the United States.

·         PP-PTSD affects 1-6% of women who have difficult births.

The good news is: PTSD is an entirely treatable condition. Because PTSD and PP-PTSD can be frequently misdiagnosed as Bi-Polar Disorder or Post-Partum Depression, it’s helpful to recognize PTSD symptoms, and even have tools to begin diagnosing yourself. The more self-empowered and proactive you are about your experience the more quickly you’ll find help, and relief.

Signs of PTSD

Symptoms of PTSD are divided into three categories:

1 – Re-experiencing: This cluster of symptoms includes intrusive thoughts (you can’t stop thinking back over the traumatic experience), feeling like the event is happening again in real time, nightmares and flashbacks.

2 – Arousal: These symptoms focus on a constant need to ensure safety, including heightened sensory activity, hyper vigilance, insomnia or difficulty falling asleep, outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating and exaggerated startle response.

3 – Avoidance: This behavior includes avoidance of people, places, things, conversations and experiences that remind you of the traumatic event, plus a feeling of detachment, the inability to have loving feelings, and a diminished interest in participating in important activities.

How do you know if these PTSD symptoms accurately apply to you? Take this PTSD Self-Test to begin forming a picture that you can share with  your physician or mental health professional.

The most important and immediate action is to talk about what you are experiencing. Open up to someone close to you and explain what’s troubling you. The longer PTSD goes untreated the worse it gets; recognizing and treating it as soon as possible are critical to lessening your experience of it.

Treating PTSD

There is no single, universal treatment for PTSD. Modalities range from the traditional talk therapy and cognitive behavior therapy, to the alternative, including somatic experiencing, information processing, hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Trauma leaves an enormous imprint on the subconscious mind. Because of this, most survivors find it helpful to combine traditional PTSD treatment modalities with alternative PTSD treatment techniques in order to find relief.

While there is no set procedure and no standard recovery period, the opportunity to overcome PTSD exists for everyone. The process usually involves trying different therapeutic techniques to find what resonates and feels most comfortable with you. The most effective healing work will be achieved in a modality that feels safe, guided by a practitioner with whom you feel confident and secure.

Michele Rosenthal is a Self-Empowered Healing Coach and the founder of www.healmyptsd.com, a site for PTSD information and support. A trauma survivor who healed after more than 25 years of PTSD, Michele now devotes her career to helping others learn to clarity, verify and strategize their PTSD recovery. Her PTSD memoir, BEFORE THE WORLD INTRUDED, will be published in September 2011. Currently, she is launching the very first live virtual PTSD support groups.