Crunchy Mama Podcast

For this episode I sit down with one of my best friends, Lucy Brooking, who is about to have her first baby. We dive deep into the lack of tradition, ritual and knowledge that our society holds around the importance of the postpartum period, especially the first forty days. Our conversation stems from two main books - Golden Month by Jenny Allison & The First Forty Days by Heng Ou. Learning more about this is helpful whether you’re pregnant yourself or someone close to you is and you want to know how best to support them. We share about the importance of rest, warmth, support, nourishment and massage, as well as how to ask for and accept this sort of help. You should be treated like a queen during this vulnerable time and come out the other side feeling strong and healthy, physically as well as mentally and emotionally.

Fern has been eating food for a long time but we have continued to breastfeed as well. When I was ready for this to end I found it really hard to find information that aligned with my parenting style, so I hope what I share in this episode is helpful. There were a few tricks I found along the way that I share, as well as how the journey looked for us and things I would have done differently in hindsight. We started with night time weaning, then day and finally stopping the bed time/going to sleep feeds.

In this final episode of the natural health series I delve into the natural medicines that I’ve found helpful to support myself and my family when sick - high dosage vitamin C, elderberry, homeopathy, rongoā, traditional chinese medicine, breast milk, skin on skin etc. I also discuss fever and why it’s best to let it run rather than suppress it, along with a basic step by step guide of how to best nurse a sick child. To finish I share our experience of when Fern had the common childhood illness pertussis (whooping cough) and how we got through it.

In part two I share about the importance of prevention when it comes to health. This episode contains a lot of information on how the diet you feed your kid/s for the first few years of their lives has a MASSIVE impact on their health, both now and as adults. I also touch on the after effects of giving your child synthetic medicines, including vaccines. I end with sharing my own personal reasons for not vaccinating my daughter from the research I’ve done.

I wanted to share my knowledge on what I’ve learnt about helping to maintain your baby or child’s health in a natural way. I believe that modern medicine should be a last resort or just for use in emergencies. But the rest of the time, our extraordinary bodies are very much capable of healing themselves, if we simply allow them to.

In part one I share how I came to view health in this way, and talk about why mindset is so important when it comes to natural health.

Life has changed significantly since my last episode, with Covid19 having a huge effect worldwide. Here in Aotearoa we’ve been in full lockdown for almost a month now. So I wanted to share an update on what that’s been like for us, and also finish by telling an unexpected story.

RIE is an educaring approach based on respect, that was brought about by a wonderful woman called Magda Gerber. It has completely changed the way I interact with Fern and has resulted in our relationship flourishing and our days flowing much more slowly and easily. Some of the principles of RIE I talk about are communicating openly and honestly, acknowledging her emotions and letting them be expressed, importance of care moments and filling up your child’s cup, independent and uninterrupted play time, natural development of movement, allowing problem solving and so much more!

In the parenting world this word is something that has caused all of us a lot of frustration, sleep! In this podcast I share my tips and tricks around how, when and where to get your baby to sleep. But more importantly, some shifts in your perspective and mindset that can make a huge difference.

Have a listen to find out what we’ve been up to lately! Including moving house, setting up a new baby friendly space, Fern starting to eat again, baby sign language, Fern’s first words and more info on RIE. I also share my advice on how to own minimal baby items and what we found most useful.

I discovered throughout my pregnancy and birth that when it came to making decisions, there was often more than one option or side to the story. It was really important to me to make an informed decision, as it was my child’s health and well-being at stake. So I want to share with you what I learnt along the way.