To Make a Mother

Apparently I seem very calm online. Which is lovely, but I am not always a calm mum.

I get frustrated. I get short. I have raised my voice. And sometimes I am outwardly holding it together while internally I have 47 tabs open and one is playing loud music at me.

Which is partly why I keep talking about the nervous system. Not because nervous system regulation is the latest wellness trend, but because so many mothers (like me!) are living in a state of too much, for too long. And the solution we are usually given involves waking up at 5am and probably becoming a person who makes her own almond milk.

I do not need another ten step routine to fail at. And neither does your nervous system.

This episode is the practical follow-on from episode one. Small repeatable things that fit into the life you already have.

This week's question is what I am actually like when I lose it with my kids and my recco is a book I have really fallen in love with that is also fitting!

In this episode:

• Why your nervous system needs rhythm not intensity
• Why looking after your nervous system is one of the most impactful things you can do for your whole family
• Morning light - don't worry, it isn't a 6km sunrise hike
• Breathwork you can do at the traffic lights

• Why humming in the supermarket is professionally recommended
• Movement as regulation, not punishment
• Nature - the dose that actually matters
• Reducing the sensory load - yes, including the uncomfortable undies
• Micro-moments of pause
• When this goes beyond nervous system rituals and what to do next

If you need support there is so much help out there. Here are some great free resources:

• PANDA: 1300 726 306
• Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636
• Lifeline: 13 11 14

Links mentioned:

• At Home in Every Season by Courtney and Michael Adamo:
• Book a 1:1 consult

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you followed the show and left a review. It helps more mothers find this conversation.

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

Morning sickness sounds like "oh, I felt a little queasy before breakfast". How cute.

Actual morning sickness: feel sick when you wake up. Feel sick because you haven't eaten. Feel sick when you eat. Feel sick because someone mentioned chicken. Feel sick because the fridge apparently has a smell now.

And somehow you are expected to continue functioning normally while growing a human being and an entirely new organ simultaneously.

I had what I would call moderate to severe morning sickness in all three of my pregnancies. Not hyperemesis - I was not hospitalised - but it was incredibly debilitating for the first half of each pregnancy, both physically and mentally. So this episode comes from personal experience as much as clinical knowledge.

If you are currently horizontal with an assortment of potato-based foods nearby - you are allowed to be in survival mode. This is not the trimester for nutritional perfection. But there are things that can take the edge off, and that is what this episode is about.

In this episode:

• Why "morning sickness" is one of the most misleading terms in medicine
• What is actually driving nausea in early pregnancy and why we still do not fully understand it
• Why an empty stomach makes nausea worse and what to do about it
• The cracker on the bedside table - this is not an old wives tale
• How to eat when eating feels impossible
• Vitamin B6 - the evidence, the clinical reality, and why I have mixed feelings about it

• Acupuncture - my personal number one recommendation and why it is dose-dependent

• Why rest is not indulgent, it is biologically necessary

• Sensory triggers and practical tips
• A clear distinction between morning sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum and when to seek medical care

Links mentioned:

• You're Pregnant. Now What? course
• Book a 1:1 consult

• Hydramama from Mini + Me
• P6 acupressure point

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you followed the show and left a review. It helps more mothers find this conversation.

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

Apparently everything is perimenopause now.

Tired? Perimenopause. Irritable? Perimenopause. Can't remember why you walked into the kitchen? Obviously perimenopause.

But sometimes it is perimenopause. And sometimes you are sleep deprived, iron deficient, chronically stressed, dealing with subclinical thyroid dysfunction, or enjoying a delightful combination platter of all of the above. And that is why the investigation cannot stop at the first answer that sounds plausible.

This is the woman I increasingly see in clinic. Late 30's or early 40's. Exhausted in a way that more sleep does not fix. Reactive. Foggy. Achy. Her cycle has changed. Her body does not feel like hers anymore. She has googled it, Instagram has gotten involved, and within approximately fourteen minutes she has perimenopause. She might be right. But I don't want the investigation to stop there.

In this episode:

• What perimenopause actually is and why it can start earlier than most women realise
• Why perimenopause is increasingly colliding with active motherhood, and why the timing is tricky to make a diagnosis
• The full symptom picture, including the ones nobody warned you about
• What else can look exactly like perimenopause
• Why I don't want us to replace "of course you're tired, you have kids" with "of course you feel terrible, you're in perimenopause" - you deserve a more thorough answer than that
• What I actually investigate in clinic before landing on a diagnosis
• The boring stuff that really helps
• Why protein becomes particularly important at this stage and what target I work towards
• The soy conversation, what the evidence actually says, and why she has been wrongly accused of several crimes
• Why resistance training specifically matters for muscle mass, bone density, and metabolic health
• Where HRT fits

If you want to check out Hydramamma for yourself, you can use the code KATEHOLM for 20% off. Check it our HERE

Links mentioned:

• Book a 1:1 consult

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you followed the show and left a review. It helps more mothers find this conversation.

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

I used to think I had a really good immune system.

Turns out I was just really good at avoiding snotty toddlers.

Then I had kids!

Can we actually build more resilient immunity in our kids and ourselves? Yes. But probably not by panic buying fourteen immune supplements the second someone sneezes.

The boring stuff matters. A lot. And then the supplements sit on top of that. And then there are the things I do that have no clinical trial behind them and I do them anyway. For the price of an onion, I am not concerned.

I recorded this one while my entire family was down with suspected influenza A. So this is coming to you very much from the trenches (apologies in advance for my voice!)

This week's question comes from a listener asking which of my children is most like me. Bowie said something that stopped me in my tracks. My recco is one of my favourite books of all time - I have bought at least ten copies and I have not got a single one back!

In this episode:

• Why susceptibility matters as much as exposure and what immune terrain actually means
• Sleep as the most evidence supported immune intervention that exists - and why annoyingly even one bad night affects immune function
• How childhood stress adds to their physiological load and what you can actually do about it
• The gut immune connection and why more plant diversity and less ultra-processed food is more useful than you think
• Why getting outside and getting dirty is doing more for their immune system than most supplements
• Vitamin D, probiotics, zinc, vitamin C, elderberry, echinacea, and medicinal mushrooms - what the research says

• The things I do that do not have a double-blind placebo-controlled trial behind them and why I don't really care!
• My full sick-day toolkit including what has research behind it and what is clinical and personal experience
• Fever - what it actually is, why we do not need to panic at the first sign of a temperature, and the red flags that mean you need medical attention
• The Family Immune Essentials protocol - linked below

Seek medical attention immediately if:

• Any fever in a child under 3 months
• Fever above 40 degrees
• Fever lasting more than 3 to 5 days
• Difficulty breathing, persistent chest pain, or any bluish discolouration
• Severe headache, stiff neck, or sensitivity to light
• A child who is inconsolable, extremely lethargic, or not responding normally
• Rapid deterioration at any point

Links mentioned:

• Family Immune Essentials protocol
• Book a 1:1 consult
• The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer

• Breathwork resources for kids

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you followed the show and left a review. It helps more parents find evidence-based, compassionate health information for their families.

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

Antibiotics save lives, but they also change your child's gut microbiome.

In this episode of To Make a Mother, we're exploring what antibiotics actually do beyond treating infection, why the effects on the gut can last far longer than most parents realise, and the simple, evidence based ways you can support your child's microbiome during and after a course of antibiotics.

This isn't an anti-antibiotics conversation. It's about understanding how these medications impact the developing gut and what you can do to help restore balance afterwards.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why the first few years are so important for your child's gut microbiome
• How antibiotics affect beneficial bacteria not just the bacteria causing infection
• Why microbiome disruption can last for months (or even years)
• The connection between repeated antibiotics and recurrent infections
• Whether probiotics should be taken during or after antibiotics
• The probiotic strains with the strongest evidence in children
• Foods that help nourish and rebuild the microbiome
• Practical ways to support gut recovery after antibiotics
• When probiotics may not be appropriate and when to seek professional guidance

Plus, at the beginning of the episode, I answer a listener question about navigating conversations with young children when they're curious about estranged grandparents, and I share this week's recco: Unwind Co. who create beautiful creative hobby kits designed to help busy mums reconnect with themselves.

Resources mentioned:

• Unwind Co.
• In My Clinical Opinion (personalised paediatric health reviews)
• Book a 1:1 consultation

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you followed the show and left a review, it helps more parents find evidence based, compassionate health information for their own families 🫶🏻

Last episode was about understanding the problem. This one is about what to actually do about it.

Rebuilding iron is not just take a supplement and hope for the best. It requires strategy, around what you're eating, when you're eating it, which form of iron you're taking, and what's happening in your gut. For most women who struggle to rebuild iron, it isn't because they aren't trying. They're often missing one or more of these variables.

This week's question comes from a listener who wanted to know the difference between shyness and social anxiety in children. I'm not a psychologist but I do have some personal experience with both. And my recco this week is a brand I've been using for years and love so much - Chief Nutrition and their protein powders (and everything else!)

In this episode:

• Why the form of iron you eat matters as much as how much you eat
• The meat factor - the under appreciated absorption trick
• Vitamin C as your most practical tool for non-heme iron absorption
• The inhibitors most people don't know about, including why spinach isn't the iron hero you've been told it is
• Supplement forms compared and what to avoid
• Iron infusions - when oral iron isn't enough, and my own experience with them
• Why taking iron every other day might actually get your ferritin moving faster
• The gut piece - and why it's getting its own full episode

Links mentioned:

• Free iron download
• In My Clinical Opinion
• Book a 1:1 consult
• Chief Nutrition - use code KATEHOLM10 for 10% off

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

More than a third of women under 50 are iron deficient. Most of them have been told their blood results are normal. This episode is about the gap between those two things.

Iron deficiency without anaemia is the stage most women are in when they come to see me, and the stage that standard blood testing isn't quite looking for. It's also the stage where women are experiencing very real, measurable symptoms and being told everything is fine.

This week's question comes from my lovely friend Sarah on parenting children differently - and yes, Immy does get away with everything as the third child. My recco this week is a podcast that is technically for children but that I am just as obsessed with as they are.

In this episode:

• Why iron deficiency without anaemia is chronically missed and what that means for you
• What iron actually does in the body - it's a lot more than most people realise
• The three stages of iron depletion and why most women aren't found until stage three
• Hepcidin - the master iron regulator most people have never heard of
• The fascinating relationship between hepcidin and your menstrual cycle and why having a period isn't inherently going to make you deficient
• Why the body's clever iron regulation system gets overwhelmed and what tips the balance toward deficiency

• The full symptom picture including the neurological symptoms that get dismissed most often
• The ferritin reference range problem and what number you're actually aiming for
• Who is most at risk
• Exactly what to ask your GP to test and why CRP matters

What to request from your GP:

• Serum ferritin
• Serum iron
• Total iron binding capacity (TIBC) / transferrin
• Transferrin saturation
• Full blood count
• CRP (C-reactive protein)

Links mentioned:

• In My Clinical Opinion
• Book a 1:1 consult

• Dreaming with Mikki podcast

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

Most children with ear infections are given antibiotics. Most don't need them. This episode explains what's actually going on and what you can do about it.

Ear infections are the single most common reason children receive antibiotics worldwide, yet most parents are never told that the majority of uncomplicated cases resolve without them, and that gut health, diet, and a few simple lifestyle changes play a significant role in how often they occur.

This week's question comes from a listener - my first one that isn't a friend or family member, which I'm quietly (ok not so quietly!) very excited about. And my recco this week is for the Newcastle and Hunter Valley locals - a farm delivering grass-fed, grass-finished beef that I cannot recommend highly enough.

In this episode:

• Why children are anatomically prone to ear infections and why most grow out of it
• The role of the adenoids, tongue ties, and the Eustachian tube
• When antibiotics are and aren't indicated and the red flags to know
• The gut-ear axis and why recurrent antibiotic use can drive recurrent infections
• Food sensitivities as a driver, particularly dairy, and what an elimination diet actually involves
• What to do in the acute phase to support your child's comfort
• Lifestyle factors you can start today
• Supplements with the most evidence for prevention and immune support

Links mentioned:

• In My Clinical Opinion - paediatric
• Book a 1:1 consult
• Submit a question or topic
• Allynview Farm
• NSW Healthdirect: 1800 022 222
• Silicon chewing device like Myo Munchee

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

If you've ever hit that 4pm wall, snapped at your kids, and then felt terrible about it this episode is for you. Spoiler: you're not a bad mum. It could be your biochemistry.

This week I'm talking about blood sugar stability, and why it's one of the most important and most overlooked things mothers can pay attention to fairly easily. This isn't a diabetes conversation. This is about the unglamorous, practical stuff that actually makes a huge difference to how you feel day to day.

I talk through why sleep deprivation does more damage than just making you tired, what's actually happening to your blood sugar when you're breastfeeding, and why skipping breakfast is the thing that makes everything harder.

Plus this week's question comes from my sister Ally, my recco is a Newcastle local I think you need to know about, and as always practical things you can actually do starting today.

In this episode:

• Why the 4pm witching hour might be your blood sugars, not your kids
• How sleep deprivation creates a metabolic state that looks a lot like pre-diabetes
• The cortisol-glucose-progesterone triangle and why it matters for your hormones
• What breastfeeding does to your blood sugar (and why hunger signals can't be trusted postpartum)
• No naked carbohydrates, what that means and why it is important
• Two supplements worth knowing about

Links mentioned:

• Book a one-on-one appointment
• In My Clinical Opinion
• Artefact Jewellery (and the gold recycling program)

Some overnight oats recipes:

• Baked brown butter oats
• Apple pie bircher
• High protein oats with flavour combinations

New here? Find me on Instagram (@kate__holm) or at kateholm.com. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode one. We're really diving straight in with this one.

I'm Kate Holm, naturopath, nutritionist, and mum of three, and this podcast is about the parts of motherhood that taste amazing, the parts that make a mess, and the parts you keep hearing are good for you but have no idea what to do with.

This week I'm talking about something that comes up in almost every appointment I have with my patients - stress and the nervous system during motherhood. Not in a "just meditate more" way. In a real, physiological, "this is what's happening in your body" way.

A lot of women come to me chasing a diagnosis, whether that's perimenopause, IBS, food sensitivities, thyroid issues, and a lot of the time, the nervous system is sitting underneath all of it. Sometimes causing it. Sometimes just making everything worse.

I also answer a deeply personal question from my friend Liz about how my own experience of being raised has shaped the mother I'm trying to be. We go there on episode one.

Plus a recco this week that I did not expect to love as much as I do.

In this episode:

• Why your body can't tell the difference between a stressful email and actual danger
• How chronic stress quietly depletes progesterone and starts to look like other conditions
• The gut-nervous system connection and why it matters more than most people realise
• Three things you can start doing today that don't require extra time or childcare
• A conversation about estrangement, re-parenting yourself, and the repair that matters most

Links:

• Book a one on one appointment with me
• In My Clinical Opinion - the consult without the consult
• Submit a question or topic for the podcast
• Hiild (my sister's handknitted clothing label)
• This YouTube channel for knitting tutorials
• Boob to Food podcast episode about Immy's birth!

New here? Find me on Instagram at @kate__holm or at kateholm.com