Herbs & Nutrition | Pre-conception, Pregnancy, & Postpartum

This blog post was inspired by a podcast with Wildly Well Mamas by the amazing Jamie Cooper. I felt called to share my notes as a follow-up to our discussion for anyone who needed more info. I link to some products and books that have really helped me in my oun journey.

~May this serve you along your path~

 

Trimester Zero: Trying to conceive (TTC) & pre-conception

• For someone TTC, what matters most nutritionally and energetically?

NUTRITION! When we’re asking our body to create a whole new human, we need to be giving our body the building blocks to do so. Food is also a signal of safety and plenty. When we eat we’re saying to our cells that the world is safe and there is enough food to go around. There for we are safe enough to procreate.

Focus on:

Nutrient-rich foods like dark leafy greens, oysters, sardines, eggs, steak, and beef liver. Mineral-rich herbs like oat straw, nettle leaf, and moringa. Healthy fats, like avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, butter, and tallow. Stabilizeblood sugar by eating complex carbs like sweet potatoes, wild grain rice, and quinoa. Lowering inflammation by removing highly processed foods, seed oils, corn, soy, and possibly wheat. Eat organic, local, wild-caught, pasture-raised, and grass-fed as much as possible.

Energetically, reduce stress. What messages are you sending to the cells in your body? Stress, worry, negitave self talk (internally and externally) all send a message to the body. Focus on what makes you feel good and relaxed. Feeling safe in your body is highly underrated!

• Favorite herbs that support fertility, hormone balance, or cycle regulation?

Shatavari, maca, and holy basil are my personal favorites for fertility and hormones.

It's important to eat well to support hormone balance, chosing whole foods, minimally processed like I mentioned above. But beyond that, herbs can be powerful allys. I have a tea and tincture blend formulated to support your body in regulating hormones. You can find them here.

If you're coming off contraceptives, I HIGHLY recommend this book: Beyond The Pill by Jolene Brighten

Tune into your monthly cycle and try to find appreciation for this beautiful thing your body does each month. Herbs to support menstruation: Nettle, red raspberry leaf, and ginger. I have a herbal tea blend to support women during menstruation, and you can read more about it here.

A book that really helped me find appreciation and love for my monthly cycle is Code Red By Lisa Liser

Some books to read before conception to support you in having a natural pregnancy: The Natural Pregnancy Book by Aviva Romm and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

• Any herbs you recommend avoiding while TTC?

Any uterine contracting herbs. So this is motherwort, mugwort, blue & black cohosh, high doses of red raspberry leaf. 

 

First Trimester: Laying the foundation

• What are the most common struggles you see in early pregnancy?

Nausea, constipation, bloating. As well as anxiety for some women. With nausea, it's important to never let your stomach become empty. Try and eat every few hours and choose foods that will not spike your blood sugar. Herbs for nausea: Ginger, peppermint, and chamomile. 

Whole-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, any meat you can stomach (steak, ground beef, chicken, salmon, sardines, turkey), pasture-raised eggs, and even some organic sourdough and avocado can be good. Making sure to add healthy sources of fat to each meal. Eating well-cooked (not raw) vegetables to support digestion will help any constipation. As well as supplementing with a high-quality magnesium, I love this brand. For constipation & bloating: Chamomile, dandelion roots, slippery elm, burdock roots.

Also, if you haven't already, this is a good time to start taking prenatal vitamins. There are two brands I love the most: Thorne and Needed.

Anxiety relief: Chamomile, holy basil, and oat straw.

• Many women experience fatigue in the first trimester. What can we do to help?

Not much. Lean into this if you can. Allow more time to rest, try walking to support blood flow. Nettle can help if low iron is the cause. Nettle leaf tea steeped as a long infusion (2+ hours or overnight) is fantastic throughout pregnancy. Your body is going through a HUGE shift in hormones so sometimes the best thing to do is NAP.

• What if we catch a cold?

It's very common to get sick early in pregnancy as the immune system is downregulated. The following can be used in short-term, low doses.
1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon ginger made into a tea, drink twice a day for 4 days. Echinacea, elderberry, and elderflowers are also great to support the immune system, along with some local honey.

I have an Elderberry Tonic that also contains cinnamon and ginger with Florida honey. Mamas can take 1 teaspoon twice a day, and kiddos love it too!

The book Rooted by Lyani Powers has SO many wonderful herbal recipes to support the body through pregnancy but especially the first trimester and all the ailments that come with growing a human.

Second Trimester:

• Nutritional or hormonal shifts in this trimester - 

You will probably start wanting to eat more and crave some foods. Lean into the craving for the most part. Craving sugar? Eat more protein. Cravings are signs, often it's the body saying, "Hey, I really need a vitamin or mineral that's in that food." Keep eating foods and herbs high in minerals, as I mentioned in Trimester Zero. 

Now is a good time to start NORA tea (nettle leaf, oat straw, red raspberry, and alfalfa). You don't have to seek out NORA specifically, but it's a great blend. Any one of these herbs is great for boosting vitamin & minerals and helping with the tone and strength of the uterus. You can add trace minerals to your water, which is great for the growing baby inside you and helps to properly hydrate your body. I feel like in the second and third trimesters, I COULDN'T GET ENOUGH WATER. Check out this brand.

Keep walking, doing pregnancy-safe yoga and stretches, and see your chiropractor. Eating well to maintain balanced blood sugar is SO VITAL from here on. Check out the book Real Food for Pregnancy By Lily Nichols

 

 Third Trimester + Birth Prep

• What’s most important nutritionally in the final stretch? 

Keeping your blood sugar balanced. Eating enough healthy protein, fats, and carbs. The order in which you eat your macros can actually help keep blood sugar balanced! Start with fiberous food (non-starchy vegetables), then proteins and fats, and lastly your starchy or carbohydrate-heavy foods. This can help reduce the potential for GD (gestational diabetes). Eating nutrient-dense foods often, such as omega-3s in wild-caught sardines, salmon, and walnuts. Pasture-raised eggs and chicken, grass-fed beef liver, steak, and other red meats. Mineral-rich dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, and collards.

Keep taking your prenatal vitamins. At this point, you can increase the amount (or start taking) red raspberry leaf tea, 2-3 cups of a long infusion.

• Ways to ease tension

Chamomile is so gentle and soothing. Taking a warm bath with Epsom salt. Keep seeing your chiropractor and maybe get a prenatal massage. This was so helpful for my personal pregnancy journey. I tried to get a massage once a month starting around 6 months.

• How to prepare for birth, mentally & emotionally 

The best advise I was ever given about birth is that it is 80% mental and 20% physical. If your body were in a coma while pregnant and it was time to give birth you would be able to have that baby without any outside interventions! AMAZING! Your body knows EXACTLY what to do... it's your brain that gets in the way. Hypnobirthing tracts and affirmations can really help to bypass the thinking mind and tap into the spiritual self that allows the unfolding of natural birth to take place. I think it's vital to feel safe so give birth where ever you feel safest. Whether thats at home with a trusted midwife, at a birthing center, or at the hospital. Heck, you can give birth outside in the forest if that’s where you feel called to.

The birth course I did was Built To Birth by Bridget Teyler. She also had so much free info on her YouTube page.

Doing some meal prepping is very helpful in the early postpartum period. It's important to be eating warm, well-cooked foods while you're healing (more on that soon), so having a freezer stash or lining up friends and family to bring you food is great!

·        Safety guidance: what’s appropriate vs not in late pregnancy

Absolutely no uterine contracting herbs. Such as mugwort, motherwort, yarrow, blue and black cohosh.

 

Birth Support

• What herbs did you lean on most when it came time to give birth?

MOTHERWORT! It's important to note that you should not take motherwort unless you are confident you're in active labor. I drank a tea with motherwort, red raspberry leaf, blue & black cohosh and some other herbs, when I was past 5cm dilated and in active labor. These herbs help the uterus through contractions and supported me with anxiety both in my mind and tension in my body. It was the grounding I needed. I also took a tincture of motherwort.

Staying grounded and present in the moment is helpful. I listened to a playlist I made on loop. Artists like Beautiful Chorus, Peia, and Ayla Schafer. Any mantra music that helped me relax and surrender.

Staying fed and hydrated can be a challenge. Earlier in my pregnancy, I prepped a bone and herb broth for me to drink postpartum but I also enjoyed it during labor. It gave my body the minerals, proteins, fats, and hydration I needed to keep going through this marathon.

Bone & Herb Broth Recipe:

1.     Save any leftover bone (chicken carcasses, rib bones, ect) or buy beef marrow bones. Add them to a crock pot and fill with filtered water, enough to completely cover the bones.

2.    Add a splash of apple cider vinegar. 

3.    Add 2 tbsp moringa, 2 tbsp nettle leaf, and 2 tbsp oat straw

4.    Set on low for 8-12 hours.

5.    Let cool then strain into glass jars. Freeze for future use.

 

• What remedies or rituals did you personally use in labor?

I kept moving. It’s truly a marathon. Sipped bone broth, and an herbal tea with honey. Warm baths with Epsom salt and clary sage essential oil. My bigest saving grace: a COMB. Yes, a hair comb. I squeezed it in my palm for every contraction. You can find them here or just use any fine-tooth comb. It helps reduce pain by putting pressure on the acupoint in the palm and crates a distraction for your brain to focus on. Spiritually, I called on birthing women, past, present, and future, to be with me and give me strength. Birth is truly an otherworldly, psychedelic experience.

• Gentle guidance for women who want a more nature-centered birth 

It’s all about your mindset. Let go and allow. Call on spiritual help. And get a really good practitioner to walk with you. Be that a midwife, doula, or both. 

• Anything you recommend avoiding in labor? 

Fear, stress, worry. These emotions tense the body. Read the book Orgasmic Birth by Elizabeth Davis. This was so helpful for me to understand what is possible and how to support my body to have a pleasurable birth. Mine wasn't orgasmic unfortunanty (LOL) but not terrible either.

 

Fresh Postpartum (Fourth Trimester)

• First priorities for healing + restoration?

Nutrition! Mineral and vitamin replenishment. Drinking the bone broth I mentioned earlier, well-cooked foods, and always warm, never cold foods. This is rooted in TCM and Ayruvedic principals. The uterus needs to stay warm while healing. This includes beverages, sorry no iced coffee for now. I loved having a heated blanket on my legs and wearing fluffy socks. I felt like this helped when the PP shakes would come on.

I followed the 5-5-5 rule: 5 days IN BED, 5 days ON the bed 5 days AROUND the bed. Especially important if you tear or have a C-section. 

You will be bleeding for likey many weeks, so keep replenishing your vitamin and mineral stores. EAT well and keep drinking NORA tea, along with your prenatals. I think personally the best thing I did to support my healing and potentially prevent any hair shedding was drinking mineral-rich herbal teas.

My go to: Moringa, nettle leaf, red raspberry, and oat straw.

• Support for tissue repair?

Continue to eat a well-balanced diet high in vitamins and minerals. Keep drinking red raspberry leaf tea and motherwort to help your uterus return to its original size. For PP cramping, this is an amazing herbal suppliment. A sitz bath, once cleared by your healthcare provider, is great. I used this blend. You can use it for a sitz bath (just your bum) put it into a peri bottle, or add to a bath. Be causios is you have stitches!

• mood + emotional health

Your body is being flooded with hormones, so supporting the body in flushing these hormones is helpful. I like dandelion roots and burdock roots to gently support detox. Emotionally let your self cry and find comfort in a trusted family or friend. This is a hard transition. You’re doing so great mama!

For anxiety and sleep support, I love motherwort, passionflower, and lemon balm. They are breastfeeding-friendly. I have a tincture called Mellow Mama for all my stressed-out moms.

• digestion

Magnesium citrate helps get things soft and moving. 

• Why postpartum nourishment is essential before anything else 

Mama, you just built a whole human, birthed that human with your body, now have to heal, AND your body has to make breastmilk to feed this new human. That’s a lot of work that requires essential vitamins and minerals. You need to be eating the building blocks to rebuild yourself and keep this new human alive. Not to mention rebalancing your hormones and healing an internal wound. 

I’ve also heard that how you care for yourself postpartum can set the stage for menopause later in life. Fill your cup mama!

 

Breastfeeding

• Herbs that support milk supply, hydration, energy, and stress relief 

Moringa, nettle, shatavari, lemon balm, blessed or milk thistle, and fennel. I have a blend of herbal tea to help mamas with lactation but it's important to note you should also be eating and hydrating well. Event babys latch plays a huge roll in the production of breast milk.

• Herbs to avoid while breastfeeding

Horsetail, high doses of clove, sage, basil, parsley, oregano, and rosemary. Completely fine in culinary doses. Peppermint in high doses may reduce milk supply.

 

May this serve you along your TTC, pregnancy, and postpartum journey. Much love from your friendly neighborhood herbalist, Tricia.

Be Healthy, Be Happy, Be Hippie

 

Please note: this is for entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. No products linked are intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. Please talk to your doctor before taking any new herbal supplement. Especially when pregnant or breastfeeding.