In our society today, we don’t quite learn how to breastfeed by observation as we once did in the past. You might think that it is completely natural for you and your baby, which it is to some extent. However, without coming into contact with the techniques involved with breastfeeding, it can truly be a foreign concept to most of modern society. And the unknown can often be scary! This is why it’s always beneficial to take a breastfeeding class prior to giving birth.

LaShanda Dandrich, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and co-founder of the Lactation Learning Collective, joins us today to talk about all things breastfeeding. LShanda talks about the significant mental and physical aspects involved in breastfeeding “success” and what “success” even means in this situation. She dives into topics like latching, clogged ducts, mastitis, yeast infection and more. She discusses how lactation consultants can help people with under or over supply of milk due to hypothyroidism, diabetes, breast surgery, etc. LaShanda advocates for creating your “village” of people to help you stay nourished and take care of you and your home so that you can focus on breastfeeding. Especially in the early days, breastfeeding can be a round-the-clock activity as newborns have tiny tummies and need to feed often. 

After the birth of her daughter in 2009, LaShanda’s passion for breastfeeding and supporting mothers and families in the postpartum period blossomed. She became a trained postpartum doula while pursuing her IBCLC credential. LaShanda currently provides lactation support prenatally and postpartum via virtual visits and in person support groups. She has supported families of all diverse, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds throughout NYC. She also works closely with other perinatal professionals, teaching lactation support for doulas to mentoring those on the Pathway to IBCLC. She currently resides in Harlem with her daughter, and they continue to travel the world together!

Connect with her:

IG: @LactationLearningCollective

When it comes to sexual health for women, there always seems to be a “hush hush” about it. But what might seem to be a quiet topic or a funny joke to some, for others it can be crushing and life altering. Today we have Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus joining us to talk about how important it is to clinically look at women’s sexual health closely and provide actionable tools to make people feel more empowered in their lives. She discusses how hormones and psychological issues of pain can affect low desire. She dives into how vibrators and fantasies work and why she advocates for women to become more aligned with themselves through various strategies.

Dr. Bat Sheva Marcus, a certified sex therapist, is the author of Satisfaction Guaranteed : How To Have the Sex You’ve Always Wanted. She has spent her life helping women reclaim pleasure in their bodies and spirit and her career has been dedicated to bridging the gap between the medical and the psychological in women’s sexual health. For nearly 25 years she served as the clinical director of one of the largest sexual health centers in the US. Dr Marcus earned a master’s in public health as well as a Ph.D. in Human Sexuality at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. She also holds master’s degrees in social work from Columbia University and a masters in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. In addition she is a certified bariatric counselor.

In the past Dr Marcus has served as executive director of not-for-profit institutions and corporations, medical practices, and laboratories. She has lectured internationally on women’s issues, has given frequent Grand Rounds to health care providers, as well as lecturing to sex therapists around the world. She has been a guest on numerous radio and television shows, including CNBC, CBS News, Huffington Post Live, and NPR and been profiled in the New York Times Magazine, Time Magazine, and Westchester Magazine, among others.

Connect with her:

Drbatsheva.com

TikTok: @TheDrBatSheva

IG/FB: @DrBatSheva

Maternal mental health cannot be stressed enough folks. Sometimes it’s just referred to as “postpartum”, which is sad because it emphasizes how common perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are.

We have a riveting episode here for you today with the wonderful Dayna Kutrz, LMSW, CPT. Dayna is a psychotherapist and author with a subspeciality in perinatal mental health. She touches on how birthing individuals are not supporting in America the way they should be from a political standpoint. She pulls from her years of experience working with families of all kinds to emphasize that TIME and SPACE are two important factors in getting to a better place with your mental health postpartum. 

She dives into the “Motherhood Spectrum,” a term she coined to describe the psychological and physiological impacts of maternity, including contemplating motherhood, the decision to become or not to become a mother, and the transition to being a mother. She also touches on how to parent with a partner and the impact on marriage and domestic partnerships in your postpartum journey. 

This podcast has had a few episodes highlighting this topic and it will never have too many because PMADs are one of the biggest reasons for maternal mortality in the US. Don’t be a “Mother Martyr” and reach out to a professional if you need help.

Dayna is the former Director of the Anna Keefe Women's Center in Manhattan. She has facilitated psycho-educational support groups at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center and The Hospital for Special Surgery. She earned her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University, and her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University, and completed postgraduate studies at The Training Institute for Mental Health. Dayna is the author of Mother Matters: A Holistic Guide to Being a Happy, Healthy Mom (Familius Press) and The Total Body Cure for Women (Hearst,) and is a contributor to The Doctor's Book of Natural Remedies (Rodale). Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post and The Huffington Post and she has been an expert-consultant for media outlets including The Boston Globe, The Today Show and Sirius XM radio. She lives in New York City with her family.

Connect with her:

daynamkurtz.com

Ayurveda is an age-old tradition originating from India around the 2nd millennium BCE (a very very long time ago!). “Ayur” in Sanskrit means “Life” and “Veda” means “Science” or “Knowledge”. The Vedas, or Hindu scriptures, are one of the oldest pieces of text on the planet that contain scientific knowledge that is gradually only now being proven by modern empirical methods. Ayurveda is a practice that is deeply studied by scholars, scientists, and practitioners today and is rooted in the spiritual philosophies of balance and how to optimize your life force.

We are honored to have Shweta Parmar join us today to chat about this incredible science and explain the ancient cultural wisdom of Ayurveda and how it relates to spirituality and energetics. As an Ayurveda practitioner at GutsierLiving, Shweta supports wellness freaks and disembodied spiritual seekers who feel they are doing all the "right things" but still feel shitty. 

On the show she discusses how to shape one’s day and life with wisdom of longevity and not just prevention of disease states in one phase of your life. She excavates the missing links for lasting energy, hormonal harmony, and joyful living. After an assessment of one's own unique mind/body constitution to embody higher consciousness, specific diet, lifestyle and herbal plans are created via Nature-based principles of Ayurveda, Yoga, Tantra Ancient Wisdoms.

As a birthworker at Mama The Baby/Baby The Mama, Shweta specializes in “wombens wellness” - from hormonal harmony, infertility, conscious conceiving, complication-free pregnancy, easeful labor/postpartum, and subconscious repatterning for babies before/in/after the womb. She strongly feels that the root of injustice and war is due to a lack of consciousness of the Divine Creation Energy at the individual, community and society levels.

Connect with her:

www.gutsierliving.com

@shweta.parmar.ayurveda @gutsierliving 

What is birth justice anyway? Sometimes it might feel like there are too many voices in that room and the birthing individual’s wants and needs aren’t heard. It may seem at times like it’s medicine vs. parent. But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Today we talk to Janel Feliz Martir, a AAPI birth worker who has both medical school training in obstetrics as well as holistic prenatal wellness training that makes her one of the best birth doulas in all of New York City. Janel specializes in evidence-based birth education and lactation support and has attended over 350+ births in the US and abroad. She draws upon her vast experience in medical education, clinical training, and movement as a prenatal yoga teacher to support families in the birth space. 

Janel shares with us how care centered around the birthing individual should be the main focus in all births while discussing the intricacies of medical risk, cultural expectations, personal beliefs, and more. Having seen births in various hospitals, birth centers, and home births from people of all cultures, along with her unique experience with births in Uganda, Janel shares her experiences and thoughts on what birth justice means. She highlights how even different hospitals a few blocks away from each other have different cultures that they are unaware of because they think every hospital works that way! Janel’s personal experience with loss and seeing other patients experience loss of all kinds drives her to do the work that she does daily.

Connect with her:

janeldoula.com

Hello folks! Today's episode is a bit unique as it's my birthday and I'm 34 weeks pregnant! On the show I share a little bit about my journey over the last few months experiencing pregnancy after treating pregnant people for years and learning so much from all of the guests here on Fit As A Fiddle.

Here’s a bold statement. Dancers, while extremely great at moving their bodies, sometimes don’t actually know how to do it optimally. Getting injured on and off the stage is not uncommon for dancers. Oftentimes these aches, pains and sometimes broken or torn tissues are directly a result of improper, overused movements.

Our passionate and incredible guest today is Jesse Barnett, a New York City-based dancer, Pilates instructor, and Personal Trainer. He talks about how to prevent injuries in the first place and how cross training is crucial for every performing artist. Jesse busts some myths by highlighting how stretching is not the only important part of training and how repeating the same asymmetrical movements can lead to overuse injuries. 

Jesse grew up studying dance in his hometown of Yorktown, Virginia, and moved to NYC to attend Marymount Manhattan College where he graduated with a BFA in Dance. After graduating, he completed his Pilates certification through The Kane School, a contemporary Pilates program including movement anatomy, biomechanics, touch techniques, and special populations training. He then completed his personal training certification through the NSCA as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). Jesse has also completed training programs in pre/post natal fitness and TRX Suspension Training and has experience working alongside physical therapists in a post-rehab facility.

Connect with him:

@jessetbarnett

You might think a strong core is the most important thing when it comes to physical fitness. You might also think that age dooms you to weakness and that there’s not much you can do about it. Think again! Our guest today, Irene Donahue, a fitness expert and personal trainer in NYC, teaches us that the whole body needs to work together throughout life to make us feel supported and empowered in our movements. 

Irene starts off with her personal story of pelvic floor dysfunction, which was unfortunately and unethically brushed off by her obstetrician 15 years ago. Since then she has been able to understand how her own core and pelvic floor functions along with all her other body systems to allow her to live a fulfilling life. She trains others to do the same.

Irene is deeply passionate about bridging exercise, athletics and core health. Her experience with pelvic organ prolapse and core issues postpartum led her to a deep dive into core-pelvic health education. This informs her work with clients whom she helps navigate fitness through the profound transitions of pregnancy, postpartum, peri-menopause/menopause and post rehab.

Connect with her:

www.irenedonahue.com

instagram.com/irenedonahuenyc

Some people think physical therapy is all about getting massages. Others might think it’s about doing a few exercises. Still others (SADLY!) think it’s about getting a hot pack and ultrasound to their knee. Oof!

Although my guest, Dr. Julia Rosenthal, and I are both physical therapists, we are not biased in knowing the truth that physical therapy is one of the only therapeutic professions that addresses physical and mental resilience, mindfulness, capacity building, trauma, pain management, and lasting changes to quality of life without the use of any kind of pill or invasive technique.

Dr. Julia Rosenthal is a pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist and founder of Empower Physical Therapy in DUMBO, NYC. In our discussion today, we touch on how important it is to show our patients how strong they really are and how moving is safe since everything we do as physical therapists affects the nervous system. Julia helps people build habits, and movement habits promote longevity. She also bridges the gap between strength/fitness and pelvic PT. 

Julia has extensive clinical experience in treating people with both orthopedic and pelvic conditions in a variety of settings including multiple outpatient physical therapy practices in New York City, backstage on Broadway, and with multiple professional dance companies. She earned her Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) at Columbia University, and went on to complete an orthopedic residency through NYU, where she specialized in Dance Medicine at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. Following her residency, she obtained board certification as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties and became a certified Pelvic Health Practitioner through the Herman and Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute. Julia is also an RKC and DSPCC certified kettlebell coach, and a certified pregnancy and postpartum strength coach through Girls Gone Strong. Julia is completing a certification in functional nutrition coaching and plans to launch those services spring 2023. 

Connect with her:

www.empowerpt.nyc

@empower_physical_therapy

The ambiguities and the “gray space” of birth and parenthood can often make it difficult for people to process and articulate emotions. But while you would think to enroll your toddler into art class and not yourself, it might be worth it to consider the power of art therapy.

Our guest, Sharon Itkoff Nacache ATR-BC LCAT PMH-C, is a Perinatal Mental Health Certified Art Psychotherapist. Sharon chats with us today on what creative resilience means and how art therapy can address reproductive mental health. She touches on how powerful the brain-body connection is and how one might underestimate the use of art initially until they truly experience it themselves. She writes, “whether it's through verbal psychotherapy, an active creative process, or combination of the two, the lens through which we explore concerns is focused on self discovery, healing, and empowerment.”

Sharon supports those who identify as caregivers in cultivating creative resilience. Her psychotherapy approach is grounded in principles of cultural humility, humanism, and the healing power of an empathic creative process. She has a special focus on maternal, parental, and reproductive wellness using creative clinical approaches grounded in principles of cultural humility, humanism, and the healing power of an empathic creative process.

Connect with her:

@cocreatearttherapy

Cocreatearttherapy.com