206: The First 40 Days According to TCM: Nourishing Traditions Postpartum
44:12 Share

Welcome back to the Ancient Health Podcast, where we educate you on real health solutions that will help transform the way you live, feel, and overcome disease naturally. I'm your host, Courtney Bursage, along with Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Chris Motley. We're so happy you've joined us. Let's dive into today's episode.

Hey friends, welcome to the Ancient Health Podcast. Here are your hosts. This is Courtney Bursich, Organic Blondie. I am Dr. Chris Motley. And today we are going to talk about postpartum, postpartum health. Yeah. And it's something that's very dear to Courtney's heart and many of my patients. I work with a lot of patients that are postpartum. What grounds, what information are we going to cover today with the postpartum? Okay. So we're going to talk about, you've

You may hear a lot of information about postpartum because there's a lot that's out there. And I actually, it wasn't until the most recent child. So last year, you know, there's a gap there between the first two and the third. It was a totally different experience with the third because I had a different attachment.

kind of a different belief system around postpartum care. And now I know even more. I wish that I maybe had done a few things even more differently. But what we're going to focus on on this episode is really how to nourish the mother, like really focusing on it's actually called it's called The First 40 Days. So there's a book that is that was written about this. And so we're kind of going off of some of the principles from it.

But it's called sitting the month in and this is really like been coined from I don't know, you know,

decades ago. And it's what's interesting. What I kind of started to find out is that there's a lot of cultural differences between, you know, where, where people live and reside and how they handle, how they treat the postpartum period in the U S and it's why, I mean, we're like, nothing stops. It's, it's like hustle culture all the time. Like, okay, mom's going home, you know, go to the hospital, have your baby, go home two days later.

you know, dad's back at work, kids are, other kids are running around. And so it's just crazy that they're really, we don't honor this period of time that is really short in the big scheme of things. Like the first 40 days goes by really fast. It's kind of a blur to be honest. I don't really remember it and I was very tired, but every mom will, she'll, she'll attest to that as well. So we're going to kind of talk about what practice is

have been done for, you know, centuries and they, it has really allowed the mom to heal in a way that is different than what we see right now. Because to be honest, I've worked with a lot of women that, you know, they seem fine six months out and then they get that six, nine months, baby starting to sleep. And all of a sudden they're just tanking. I mean, everything. Yeah. It's, it's, uh,

Amazing how much information through the body's own nutrients, the body's own vitamin and mineral levels that are actually passed on to the child. And you're right. In certain cultures, it is, to me, really, really alarming that you can have a certain time or amount of time that they say that you're off of work. But in American culture, it's about how fast can I get back to work? Yeah. How fast can we improve efficiency? Yeah.

And that's not really rebuilding for the mother. And in fact, it's, I think that usually I find with most patients that I would suspect that if they're on a really good nutrient plan, they could probably recover very well within a year or maybe a year and a half. But honestly, two years is really a good mark in my book to see like letting somebody to heal. I'm not saying that to stay away from work for two years, but having another child and then

The whole idea of rushing to make sure I get back to work quick enough. To me, it's integral. You said the first four days. I want to hear about this because my point of view, it's really, really important because when the body wants to absorb new nutrient uptake, it is there to actually help your liver and your whole body basically start to rebuild even faster.

But if you don't do it necessarily, say quickly, if you don't start doing it right after you have the baby, it's going to drain quite a bit out of your own muscle tissue, out of your, I mean, literally all your reserves. So I think this is really important for all those who have gone through postpartum depression, who've gone through all of these injuries after. This is going to be a good one for us. And we're going to, guys, this is going to be a great, great podcast for us to learn. Yeah. Yeah. There was something interesting. I actually want to read it because this came out of the book itself. And I thought that this really addresses like,

To me, it encapsulates what the premise is behind it, because we're kind of looking at the postpartum period from a Chinese medicine perspective. And we talk about that a lot because it's not something that is the norm, especially for us in the United States. So this quote says, and this is an entire chapter, and it's called, the chapter itself is called, Do You Deserve the First 40 Days? Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. And then it goes on to say, the biggest obstacle to preparing for your first 40 days may be your belief system.

And I can say for a fact that is the biggest thing for women. It was for me because I tell you what, you are tired of being pregnant. And towards the end, you're like, get this child out of my body. I want my body back. I want to sleep on my stomach. It's hard in the end. And so you just want to be over it. And then when the baby's born, you

you you're ready to like, you know, get back in the game. And so you feel like, especially, you know, where we live that the life is going on around you so fast and you're missing out. We have, we have FOMO because we see on social media, we see in all these different places, what everybody's doing all the time. And we feel like, man, I'm just sitting around like a bump on a log, you know, not doing anything. And, and it's, so the belief system has to be addressed. And

And it goes on and says, through postpartum recovery has a long history. Today, simply the thought of making time for yourself or asking for help may seem extravagant, luxurious, or even greedy. Gosh, I so resonate with that. Things like asking people to cook for you or cleaning the house, like none of us do this anymore, right? So the author of this book, and we'll link it in the show notes, but she just does a beautiful job of kind of adding just words and verbiage to

Really like the mindset behind it, because you cannot approach healing with this rushed mentality that, well, I just need to get through it. Because the goal is not to get through the first 40 days. The goal is to use that 40 days because you will never get it back. And it is so vitally important, not only for you, but for your baby.

And I'm telling you, I mean, you know, all you moms, like I'm with you. Like I do look at it now. I mean, in the thick of it, you're like, I'm never going to sleep again. My body will never look the same.

And, you know, you may be compromised on sleep for a while, but it does not last forever. You will actually sleep through the night again, but you've got to really honor that 40 days. And in other cultures, the entire family comes around to support and protect that window. Like mom does nothing. Other people are doing all the chores, the errands, the cooking of the food, the washing of the laundry. They're doing all of it because they know like mom has one role nobody else can do. And we've got to honor and protect that. So

That's what we're going to talk about a little bit today. And the other thing that I want to actually ask, and I can't wait to pick your brain on this, is that the conventional kind of Western way of approaching childbirth, like going into the postpartum is very, very different than more Eastern perspective. Oh yeah. Yes. And I mean, like, even when we talk about it, it's really crazy. Like, um,

I always use the term crazy. So you guys hear me say this over and over again. It's crazy. It's crazy. My mom's lineage is from China. And Korean culture is like they're very huge on bone broth and garlic, onions, ginseng. So they always make sure that the mother is on a steady diet of, of course, food. It's like culturally, it's like make sure they eat really well, but also make sure they have enough rejuvenation. And they'll do tons of bone broth and they'll do tons of garlic just to keep the liver flushed.

And then they always say like for bone broth is to build your iron sources because the marrow has like good iron source. So like in an Eastern culture perspective, we'll go through even more with that, but there is heavy differences, like especially how people recover. So one thing that was interesting in saying that is that I learned that, you know, now if you've had children in like the mainstream hospital sense, you'll know this, but they immediately want to apply ice. They think,

everything cold. And they look at it. I heard it in this book, there was a component and I thought it was so interesting. They, we really look at childbirth like it's a sports injury and we think of it as an external injury, not anything internal. So we're, I mean, birthing a human is like the most insane thing that your body will ever do. So to think that we can just slap an ice pack on it and take a couple aspirins and go on our way is like,

Yes. And, but that's how, that is how we treat it. If you go to a hospital, they will immediately start you on ibuprofen and then, and you'll get an ice pack and they're like, just ice your crotch down, you know, just handle it, drink some water. And, and that's it. And so, but in Chinese medicine, we don't want to do cold. Like we want, we want to warm, rejuvenate. And it's like, usually like with the areas around the uterus ovaries, especially when you have the placenta drops, it's like, you really want to make sure that you

heat up the triple warmer, which is like the fire element. So heat up and you want to make sure that the spleen is filtering all the lymph nodes. So depending on how much toxicity the mother received through childbirth and vice versa, you'd want to do things that would actually accentuate the spleen. So they would say like drink hot water with lemon. And they do that in a digestive manner to like help with your spleen. But like there's herbs that they want mother to take to actually heat them up. So you stimulate lymph flow.

And so we make sure that any time that we have any sort or any type of postpartum, usually in the office, I...

find that I make sure that the herbs I take have no contraindications, you know, just to be safe. But overall though, like I'm not surprised when I find things like ginseng, high amounts of ginseng, high amounts. But if you take any of those spices that you would actually think would be really warm to the body and maybe too hot, no, because you want to bring a little bit more blood flow to the lower areas to like heal up pretty well. And some people actually, you

We'll double up on these warmer herbs, which we can talk about here in a bit too. Yeah. So cold, stay away from. Cold, stay away from. And then the other thing is like dampness. And so, and I was reading in there, there's a difference. Like a lot of times you'll see a recommendation for a sitz bath.

And so they, they, you're like wet and like you, you're, you're wanting things to dry. Okay. So like, you know, you just birthed the baby. A lot of things, there's a lot of fluid. There's a lot, there's a lot going on. The last thing you want to do is sit in a sitz bath. Like, I mean, that's, we, we want to flush everything. And I remember it. So part of, part of this healing protocol is using steam. Like steam is actually really good. Wet is like not good. No, no. So you don't want to get too damp because it's,

If the exchange would be like there's too much dampness, like we always say, it's like again, it's like warm, dark, dampness usually means like mold and fungal and things like that could really build up.

You know, anytime that you have the myconium you have when the baby comes out, I mean, there's always going to be a certain amount of bacteria and yeast that's going to be involved. So you don't want it to stay where it can culture that. And I mean, that's really the hardest part is to try to keep individuals or ladies like away from yeast or fungal infections too, and strep and staph. So you always have to make sure, like you said, steam it, you know, that area, and then try to make sure it's drying out and that you cleanse it really well. So that's a big

thing that happens in Chinese medicine is like, I always try to examine a patient and see if there's any indications of my top infections that I would want to check for a mother would be strep, staph, yeast. I mean, I checked mold, but those are some of my top that I will definitely check. And, um, and I think it's really, really good to get that even checked even from strep B because everybody says get a strep B test. But honestly, if you like, like

I'll use microgen DX. There's vibrant America. There's diagnostic solutions. But I even say even after because I don't necessarily think like a hospital or I don't think they're going to say, oh, let's go get another blood test. You'll get these infections checked. And I'm like, no, after you have the baby, it's not a bad idea to get some blood drawn, send it off, see if they come back in a few days and see if there's something you need to clean up. But I always go through that with a lady that's just had a baby. I start to just check and start cleaning the body of infections if they're there.

What are some blood building foods, herbs, things like that? I mean, because, you know, there's just a lot going on.

there's a lot that happens and then there's a lot that, you know, obviously physically and then hormonally, there's a lot of, of shifting. And this is where people can get into trouble. Like women can get into trouble because we push too hard. We're up moving around. We're like, how quickly can we get back in the gym? You know, or if you've got other kids and you don't have help, like I get that. I mean, who's watching them, you know, they're taking advantage. They're climbing the walls. Like, you know,

They're getting slime in your carpet. I know. I know how that could be. So, you know, what are some of like the nourishing broths? Obviously, it's so good.

And here's the thing. Okay. So little just side note, and then I'm passing the question. No, no, this is great. So one thing that's referenced in this book is talking about if you do not have the support, okay, like you don't have a village that that's fine. I didn't have a village either. You know, we've got great family and stuff, but everybody lives in different areas. So it's not like they can just, you know, move in with us for 40 days.

She talks about freezer meals and taking 40. I mean, she lays out how you can actually prepare these freezer meals and you can. They're very simple. You know, these are not like super difficult. You can have your spouse make them, but you freeze them and then you've got something that you can pull out. And a lot of people will just like door dash their friends stuff. But I mean, door dash is not going to cut it. No, no. Like don't be door dashing Chick-fil-A. Like it's, you know, I mean, we'll just leave that where it is. But yeah, don't I.

If we're referencing like the avenue of building blood, I think that what are some of like the best foods? I think that usually building blood would involve the spleen and involve the kidneys in Chinese medicine and the bone marrow.

So if you're going to build the spleen and stomach, so let me make it as simple as I can. I hope I'm doing a good job. Like those are called earth element. And so those are yellow in color. So anything that would help stimulate the stomach and spleen. So A, the stomach needs to actually digest the food and spleen would help you clean your lymph nodes. So I'd say things that have a yellowish tint to them.

So if you use any type of like some people have sensitivity to these, but like garlic and onions and even some like turmeric root or if you have any type of ginger, like in a broth.

So those are some simple spices and veggies to like actually put into a broth. And I would always say mix it with the bone broth because that'll help build the bone marrow to help with iron increase. Collagen is a really good source too if you want to make it just like a food source. I always try to incorporate, if you're not allergic to them again, mushrooms because mushrooms in themselves are...

are really building to the kidneys. - Yes. - Kidneys help stimulate your bone marrow to create more red blood cells. And then in kidney aspect, kidneys and the bladder are winter elements. They're basically like the water element, okay? So what that means is you wanna be blue or dark in color. So if you wanna build the kidneys, you're gonna do more blueberries or blackberries. You're gonna do more leafy greens that are purple in color. So try to find the colors for the kidneys and for the spleen in your food sources

and try to incorporate them. And if you need to use like a spice, if you don't really want to like cook a whole meal, at least use a spice that's associated with a fruit or veggie that has that color. Really too, with most patients that have had babies,

If you're a vegetarian, I understand. But really the aspect of building blood would mean like the certain B vitamins. So if you are vegetarian or vegan, I would really ask you to like work with a functional med doc or find a doctor that is really literate on B vitamin therapy. So not B sting, I mean B vitamins therapy. So the B's like B1s, B2, B3, B6 and B12 are really, really necessary to build your bone and build, I mean, build the bone marrow and build the blood system.

levels. One of the biggest things you need to really work on, in my opinion, would be like, you got to make sure that your red blood cells have enough nutrients to create protein and

and that's your B vitamins, B6, and then they can attach to iron. So you need enough iron and that way you can get enough oxygen. So we're talking about infrared saunas. We're talking about being outside, getting enough air. And I mean, grounding it very well and being as you can, as you heal to get enough interchange with like the organic elements, like the water and rocks and dirt and such. But that's, I hope that's in a nutshell. So guys, don't make it complicated. If you are a meat eater,

grass-fed beef and bison and such will have tons of proteins. They'll have good types of B vitamins in there. So yeah, that's some suggestions. I think those are really helpful. Those were some of my go-tos and I didn't have a lot of different variety because we were just, we were really trying to be simple, you know, because it's just a lot. It was a busy season last summer. You know, one thing that

What's interesting to me too is that, you know, a lot of women get right back into coffee and like caffeinated beverages and it's like, oh good, you know, I'm not pregnant anymore. And they're breastfeeding and things like that. And what was really helpful for me was using reishi mushroom as a replacement. And I noticed that as I started using that, Marley, the baby, she, cause she had like some gas bubbles, like some weird stuff going on. She'd wake up kind of like screaming and it was really just gas.

But the more I started incorporating some of these mushrooms, I think that it really helped her gut because I was able to drink it without it disrupting her sleep because caffeine, obviously, like that's going to end up in your breast milk. And let me tell you, when you're tired, like the coffee may help you. But then four hours later, when you're ready to go take a nap, you are that baby's getting that shot of espresso. And it's not a good it's not a good situation. So maybe incorporate swaps for things that, you know, maybe you

would have preferred or were in your pre-pregnancy, you know, regimen and look into some of those because they do have an adaptogenic nature and they have the ability to modulate the gut and the immune system, which gets passed on to baby. The other thing that you'll notice too is obviously when your milk supply is coming in in those first

few days, your increase in thirst is insatiable. I mean, I was just guzzling water. But one of the things we'll do like a large jug, they'll bring you the big old thing with all the ice chips in it and having all this cold water and it actually can dilute your breast milk. So that was one thing that I read about and it was like, you actually don't make as nourishing and as satiating breast milk because it's actually more diluted.

So one of the things that she talks about in the book is by using things like broths and stews and having them more frequent, it actually helps you. One, you're getting all the minerals, which is going to hydrate your cells better. But your breast milk is going to be more nutrient dense, which will keep the baby full longer. Because if you notice a lot of babies, they can't go more than like two, three hours, but they can start to build those long nighttime stretches by if they've got breast milk that is really rich in nutrients.

So instead of just water, like ice water, again, you don't want that cold, right? We want things that can be warm for the body. So the stomach, everything, you know, you've got, you're building energy. You're not shocking the system with cold.

But by incorporating more frequent meals that have more liquid component, like the gelatin, collagen, broths, and things like that, you're getting amino acids, you're getting all the gut nourishing benefits, and immunoglobulins, and all of that stuff, but you're going to make better breast milk. And better breast milk means a better sleeper. Wow, that's a great point, because I think now that I look back at it, it's...

the patients who did on their own incorporate quite a bit of collagen, they did report to me that I remember a few patients said that they more than increased collagen, like putting a powder into their, into their like stew or their soups to thicken it up. They said that the baby actually calmed down quite a bit more. And that would make quite a bit of sense though, because if you're heating up the system and I say heating up in a nice stew or a good broth, you remember you're stimulating the spleen and you're stimulating the stomach, but they also say, okay,

If you put enough amino acids and enough B vitamin, what you're really trying to do too, and we talked about this in another podcast, is really getting the active portions of the liver to really detoxify properly, but also build a lot of DNA and RNA. We're not trying to sound complicated, but really it actually helps your body build, you yourself, the mother.

If you rebuild, that will easily transfer to the baby as well. Like if you're getting nutrients, then your breast milk will get nutrients. So it's always like the mother needs to recover and that will naturally go to the baby. I think that amino acids, that's a good point.

I used to have patients that they did broths and then we'd put amino acids with electrolytes and we'd get like a little frother and just say, just stir it and do a shot of it in the morning. Like do a cup of warm water and put it in there and just chug it. And most times the cramping

Yes. The lower abdominal cramping was hard. Like the leg cramping, the feet cramping. Even after having a baby, you put electrolytes plus amino acids. And usually that would like knock it loose. They'd be like, okay, I don't have it anymore. Yeah. And so nourishment, it's just like, remember, I always say when you're having the baby, the bigger the baby, the more you take care of yourself. I had a behemoth of a baby that life. You need to take care of yourself more.

Hey, that's where I didn't. I maybe missed the mark. There wasn't enough. Well, it happens, though, because you took care of yourself during the pregnancy. You're doing the right things, taking good vitamins, nutrients, prenatals,

And then you have a baby that's got like, it's a super baby. The baby's got so many nutrients. Like Marla, she can like stand up already and do stuff and pick up stuff and pick up boulders and, you know, but really, right? I mean, that's what happens. Yeah, it is. And, you know, it seems counterproductive, right? Because we think of productivity by being up and doing things, but you really put yourself in a position of being compromised because your body will compromise and

So you may think that, well, I feel okay. I can go to the gym. I can like go do that two mile walk or I can do the dishes. And, but I'm telling you, you may feel like in a moment you can do it,

But then you may just end up feeling terrible like days later because you just push the envelope too much. And hey, your body's going to show up when there's demand, but it's compromising along the way. So you've just got to be really careful about that. And that's where just going into it, really changing your mindset. And I mean, I recommend there's so many recipes in this book and a lot of things just to really consider that will help you

just have a different experience, like a different perspective about the postpartum experience, because I cannot, I can't state enough how important it is. Your body is so depleted. It is so depleted. I mean,

It's insane. Like if you didn't see your placenta when that came out, like when you look at that thing, you're like, oh my gosh, my body made that and a human. I mean, it's truly remarkable. But just think about how in a moment your body changes everything. You just delivered a human that your body built along with the whole support system of the placenta that basically fed that baby all that nourishment.

You have to be able, you have to be intentional to prioritize those first 30 to 40 days because it will pay it forward for you. The women that I see when they are having postpartum depression, you know, they're back in the gym two weeks later and they're like, well, I feel okay. I got to get back to it. I met a girl. Mm-hmm.

This was not long after I had Marley and I was looking at different gyms. I was like, "I think I'm going to, when I go back into working out, I'm going to maybe do something different." And this girl had a baby with her and she was getting ready to work out and I was just there checking the place out. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, that baby is so tiny." I was like, "How old is your baby?" She was like, "Oh, he's 10 days old."

And she was in there slinging kettlebells and doing burpees and stuff. And I just I mean, I just cringed a little bit because I thought I know that she feels really like she can conquer the world. And, you know, hey, I just deliver this baby and look at me. I'm back doing it. But like your body is not ready for that.

I would always say that there's that form of respite because I always try to say, imagine, I mean, when I work with pregnant ladies, it's like the placenta and they're going to go back quickly. I'm like, how much did you contribute to the placenta? Because the placenta, you know, you're connecting to the baby through umbilical.

And I think it's really a matter of how much shock the body goes through when this big source of, you know, has irons and minerals is naturally just depleted. And then, you know, you could freeze dry or freeze your placenta and take them in capsules for the iron. But I'm with you. I think that there's going to be a time whenever that drops out of the system, it would be like I had a whole reserve of something and all of a sudden it was just gone. And so I always suggest that we had to bump up minerals, bump up vitamins.

But going back and starting something too quickly, like you really did a lot of work through labor. That's, I can't imagine the amount of calorie burn and the amount of muscle use in the sense, like, I would love to see how much it would be compared to like a person going through childbirth as somebody who ran a marathon and then try to say, well, how long would you have to recover from that? And so we're saying, give yourself grace. So like, if you're doing kettlebells, like I knew some,

I've known some that have like ran, you know, they used to run marathons. They'd run all the way up to almost their childbirth. They said, okay, then they would start running the next day. I'm like, you need to restore what you lost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So here's a couple tips that I'm just thinking in my mind right now, because we've kind of talked about like some different stuff. But I think some things that were super practical that I learned and this, you know, I didn't quite get it right the first or second time. Third time's a charm. But, you know, having cooked foods. So not only just the meal preparation, but make it easy for your gut.

Like don't do cold, don't do raw, don't do things that are really difficult. They're going to involve a lot of enzymes and energy. It actually, it takes your body, it takes energy to metabolize and break things down. So having things that are, uh, I think it was Jade Tita and I, like he makes things so easy. We've had him on the podcast before and, and he, it was, he talks about things, um, soups, stews, smoothies, and, uh, or shakes. I don't know. They were all S's, but I was like, that

That's what you need. Oh, and scrambles. And he was like, those are the ones you stick with because they're easy for the body. It delivers a high level of nourishment in an easy, uh, kind of a, like an easy presentation for your body to basically be able to break down and utilize the nutrients. So stay away from all the things, even though you may be like, well, I'm going to juice and do like all that. Like your body really needs easy nourishment. It doesn't need to work. So rice, uh,

Kitchari is a really good dish. I love to make in kitchari because you can get some of the turmeric in there, which has anti-inflammatory components. So I love using some of those spices that help bring down inflammation. You're inflamed because your body just went through something very traumatic. So think about the things that are going to help naturally boost, you know, copaiba is a great oil. So I took some copaiba orally. I also use it a little bit topically. It's kind of like a woodsy smelling type of oil, but I love copaiba for inflammation.

And then, um, doing things like, uh, we, we did another podcast on, uh, Yoni steaming, and that's a really good practice because you can utilize some herbs. And again, that just helps kind of heal the wound aspect of delivering the baby, um, as opposed to doing things like ice packs and, um, sits baths. Um, so that, and that's really good. Yeah. And you can do, there's, there's so many different ways to kind of help support that, but then getting outside, if it's a

the time of year where you can be outside and be freezing, just getting in the sun can be so helpful. I'm telling you from the mood perspective, I mean, I'm still like this, I'm not pregnant, but just getting outside in the morning and get some sunlight. I mean, you don't need to do anything. Just go find a nice lounge chair or something or sit in a rocking chair on your front porch.

it will make you feel human again, because it's going to work on all of these different receptors and it's going to help your body produce energy naturally. I mean, vitamin D gets absorbed and utilized and made better. I mean, there's so many benefits to getting. So, you know, a lot of women just think, well, I got to lay in bed and I'm just going to lay there for 40 days and be miserable and tired. Well, yeah, if you just lay there, you're going to be

- Cranky, I would too. I don't want to sit in bed all day. So I would find different places, you know, but it was first thing in the morning, I'm like, I got to get up even though I'm tired and I don't feel rested and recovered. I'm gonna go sit outside and I'll watch everybody else, you know, mow the lawn, drive off to the gym, whatever. But I'm going to just sit here and, you know, get some fresh air and some sunshine. So hopefully those are some good tips. - Definitely. I really love the fact of like taking the warm foods

and giving your body a rest because the amount of heat you have to produce naturally to break down, especially foods that are raw and nothing wrong with raw foods. I'm just saying like, but you have to produce a lot of heat.

And so like dairy is really hard on the system. It gets really, really cold. So a lot of people say, well, I'm going to hate some like, you know, ice cream with lots of sugar and coldness, but if it's really cold, your body has to heat it up and then you're supposed to break it down. But that really draws away what they call from the internal fire, which is what the heart strength and the adrenal strength and like even the thyroid strength, because you have to produce a lot more energy for your stomach to break them down. So drinking the warm foods or broths and warm soups.

And I do appreciate the when we're talking about getting outside and getting more warmth, the more you can heat up your body. Most people would say, like, you really need to warm up your body, heat up your body. I'm like, remember.

You may have lost a lot of iron, especially if you've had any type of splitting, if you had any type of open wounds and you lost a lot of blood. When that occurs, remember your spleen and your bone marrow then have to kick up higher to produce more red blood cells for you to hold on to the actual iron.

So if that occurs, you need more air, of course. But I'm saying that you have to make sure that you give your body time to replenish that aspect of what you just lost. So when we talk about replenishing the organs for blood flow, we need to make sure that we do that. And remember, like the times when patients would come in and they would have times where they're extremely cold.

after they had a baby and I would talk to them and say well remember if the fire element of the heart and the adrenals are low your heart's not going to be more prone to beat harder to put the warmth back into your hands and your feet so if you're if that's occurring it's simple mechanics it means the heart's fatigued and tired so going out and doing a long run or doing a big exercise pay attention to the small telltale signs

Oh, my hands are cold. My feet are cold. I feel like I have a little numbness and tingling in my extremities. And, you know, our heart goes out to you. We don't want you having that. So remember, build the blood, stay warm on the inside at the beginning. And that would be one of the biggest things. And with the Yoni steaming, one of the things I found some of the patient is I don't suggest this for everybody, but there are a couple of supplements and we're not trying to tout these, but like what's called chemo guard supreme.

Hemo being blood, guard meaning blood guard. And it's by Supreme Nutrition, but it has like papaya in there with enzymes and it also has ginger root. Now, ginger is very warming to the system, but when we talk about papaya or any type of like natokinase or serrapeptase, but the hemoguard would actually clean the blood and actually...

dissolve naturally those old proteins like fiber, you know, like Fibergen and things that build up. So in the uterus, if the uterus and things around there literally have like caked blood up in the air, Yoni's sting is supposed to loosen it up to let it pull, you know, draw down because you don't want it to cake up against like any more endometrium or anything up in the reproductive area.

But I find that some patients would thankfully, like after they took it a bit, because you have to make sure it's good for the baby if you're breastfeeding, okay? So you need to find a good practitioner that could, you know, help you with that.

Ladies would drop certain extra clots throughout the time quicker. And they report back saying, you know what? A lot less congestion, a lot less cramping, a lot my stomach. Not that you're trying to get it flattened out quickly or anything like that, but I'm saying they would feel like less pressure. And then in Chinese medicine, we'd always say put them on chrysanthemum.

So chrysanthemum is very safe for pregnant ladies and nursing mothers. And they put that in the lady on those in China. And they found out that actually raised their kidney chi.

raised all the nutrients they needed for the actual healing within the gut. So chrysanthemum, which is vital guard supreme, would be good too. That's a great one. Those are good recommendations. They actually really do warm the system up pretty well. And then they'll bring a lot of good energy and extra energy up into the uterus from my perspective. That's good. Yeah. I did a lot of goji berries. And yeah, goji berries are great for building blood. And it's easy to remember. Goji berries are red. You want to build blood. You just like

Like trees like. Like trees like. So that's an easy one to remember. But you can eat them. Like they're sweet. So I liked them. Or you could just drop them in some hot water and make a tea out of it. They kind of, you know, they'll turn your water red. But it adds like a little sweetness to them. And then you just eat the little goji berries at the end because they're all soft. And it's a little treat. It is like a little treat. Then you follow it with Twizzlers. They're red. That was a joke. Don't do that. Don't do that. I'm just kidding. Yeah. That's a hard no.

But that, you know, that's like a, that's a good swap. You know, maybe if you're addicted to Twizzlers, maybe try replacing it with. Oh my goodness. We're past that. Nobody's eating Twizzlers. I really like the first 40 days. We do like some good red colored, you know, even leafy greens that are reddish in color, the purple. And anything that says that as that red color, I mean, you know, when they say irons in the blood or there's some life in the blood.

But find the vegetables that have the red color because I guarantee you if you research them, they're going to build your blood. Yeah. And I think from a chiropractic perspective in Chinese medicine, I would go to a Chinese medicine practitioner. Yeah. I would have them check all the signals for the reproductive organs, all the acupuncture points, get regular acupuncture, I would say for at least six months. That's what I would do. Yeah. And then also to find if there's herbs that would actually help fight

for you particularly would actually build up the ovaries and uterus again because you know after you've pressed the baby out you have such high cortisol levels in your tissue and

that you have to like pull it out, you know, pull the excess cortisol out. So I'm also really, really a big advocate of you maybe doing some pelvic therapy, like make sure your SI joints are aligned and find a good kinesiologist. Make sure the muscles are really, really toned up underneath the abdominal because you don't want, you know, bladder prolapse. You don't want any of those types of conditions to occur. So I'd say find a good Mayan

abdominal massage or pelvic realignment those are crucial in my opinion to help with um with low back and helping the pelvis restore yep no those are great and there's some things you can do on your own too so if you don't have access to somebody i mean you can do some abdominal massage and some points and that will help move some of that stagnation because you you know you're swollen i mean it's and like you said like those clots and proteins and things like that that you may need to break down i did some systemic enzymes

and not a natokinase seropeptase i still am doing those but it is amazing how effective they are because they do circulate in the body for about 12 hours after you take them and did those first thing in the morning so that that's something also but doing a little bit of abdominal massage really helps work with the fascia because you you hold on to a lot when you're pregnant it's very stressful and actually like you can get what's called rib flare and so as the baby is um developing and you're growing and i had this happen so ladies if you notice this is just a total tangent but i'm gonna make it short

If you notice that your bra fits really tight around your rib cage, you may have what's called rib flare. And that's really because as the baby has grown and moved up, your ribs actually start to flare. And a lot of times women that have rib flare will have the diastasis recti. Oh, wow.

which I've had both and abdominal hernias and all the stuff. So I feel the pain, ladies. I am still working through a lot of it. And it's a year later after the last baby. But all that to say, there's a lot that your body has to recover from, and it does not happen in a week or two weeks. So really nurture and honor yourself. Even if you feel okay,

don't, you know, like your body is producing all this cortisol. Like that actually does numb out pain. That's, that's its purpose, you know, is, is to really cortisol steps in to kind of help manage the inflammation and the trauma that's

It can make you feel good, though. And then all of a sudden, when things start to come back to baseline, then all the hurting sets in. And you don't want to get to that point because then you're really you're really struggling. And that's that's not a fun place to be. No, I think that when you're on a heightened sense of fight or flight, I'm not saying you're afraid when you have the baby, but it's like amount of fight or flight when you're having the baby because you have high amounts of cortisol and you're pushing the baby out of it.

If you go work out right after or you've been through a lot of injury, I say injury in a way like you've pressed your muscles to the point of like exhaustion.

And I'm not personally experienced this. I'm not saying I know, you know, I'm talking to the most like from what I've experienced in the clinic. But if you push your body further into higher cortisol levels, you got to be careful because you don't want to like heighten your adrenal output of cortisol and adrenaline. You don't want to stay in that routine. So you have to give yourself a basically a bio balance in the sense that when the baby was with you, remember you had to supply for two. Now you need to train your program, your body for back for one.

So sitting back, you're not lazy. You're not doing what you need to do. But at least like Courtney's saying, the first 40 days, even the first two months, what about the first three months? Yeah.

Nourish your body and pay attention to it. Listen to it And of course, we all need to do some exercise and get out and move around a bit that way But don't neglect these other things we're talking about like with foods and nourishment and pelvic realignment I I tell people like one of the first things I always say to them is like go to a reproductive specialist traditional Chinese medicine or like chiropractor or holistic practitioner and

and see what their suggestions are because you would be surprised how much there are different herbs and techniques that will rebuild a lot of the tissue and help you drain those excess hormones out. - Yeah, so good. - This is good. - I know. - I mean, what else? Okay, so we've covered some structure, we've covered chemistry. Oh, and you say the tension in the fascia. Remember ladies, if you've had a traumatic birthing experience,

please consider and look into getting some types of emotional release. Like you may need to look into some emotional techniques that will help you heal the organs. Like, so we talk about EFT tapping. That's a good aspect. There's neurofeedback, which is called, there's one called lens therapy, L-E-N-S. And that's really good for help reprogramming the brain. And it's very easy and simple. It's just literally getting the currents to run properly through the top of the cranium. Yes.

But one quick thing I'd say like for a patient that are mothers, if you've had trauma, if you've had a hard time during your pregnancy, you had the baby, in EFT they'll tell you to tap.

acupuncture points. And this is what I'll stop talking after this, but they'll tell you to tap these little points and people say, what's the point? You're just trying to open up acupuncture points that were blocked and allowing the electricity to flow back through them. But what I want you to do is as a mother, when you're tapping points on EFT, emotional freedom technique, find the one that gives you a little bit of a smart. You're like, that kind of hurts. Then locate that on the acupuncture chart, like right here, Bikini 27.

So then you take that point and it says it's the organ. Find the organ, then find the emotion that's associated with it in Chinese medicine. You can look up at emotions organ chart. So if it says the kidney, that's usually associated with fear. Then as you rub the point out in the morning for like a minute, think about what made you fearful during your pregnancy.

At night, go at night before you go to bed, rub the point again out for a minute and then try to do the opposite. What are the thoughts that actually make you feel not afraid? What makes you feel secure? Because you're trying to reprogram the trauma that came up through the pregnancy. That's good. So you rub that one out, minute morning, minute night. And, you know, people say, I don't want to keep tapping all these points. Just find the one that's most tender for you. I feel like I'm going to start tapping.

Find those points. You'll be surprised if you do it enough, one point will start to go away and you will process the fears. You'll start to go, well, I'm not so anxious anymore. Yeah.

Find what's very and then or what's I say the problem and at the end of the day see what the opposite is and try to reprogram That's one good thing for emotions. That's a really good one. I just love tapping in general I always tap right here on my collarbone and it's like a heavy tap. I mean, I'm 27 I feel like I get really relaxed though like it. I don't know why but oh man, it's yeah You should see me with stomach points stomach 36 on outside my leg. I'm like you're up and I'll be like, oh

And stomach 12 is right near there too. It's right on the middle of the collarbone. Kidney 27 is right near the sternum. But if you hit these points here, I literally sometimes I'm like, I can feel my whole body just relax because stomach has to do with worry. Oh, which I had stomach surgery a long time ago. So yeah. Makes sense. Gosh. Well, this is really, I, I always learn so much when I do these. Same here. I'd be like, I was like, I've learned so much already about like

how to treat better patients that are postpartum. So guys, it's great. Well, we will drop a lot of things in the show notes. And then if you are interested in that book, it's called the first 40 days, the essential art of nourishing the new mother. And we're going to put that in the notes as well, because a lot of these ideas came from that book. And it was a really helpful book that a friend had actually gifted me before when I was pregnant last, it would actually be a great gift for if you've got any pregnant friends. So definitely look at that again. It's, it's a lot about retraining and,

and reframing the way you think about your postpartum experience and really respecting and honoring that window of time because it comes and goes pretty quickly. But I hope that this has given you some tangibles, some action steps, some ideas,

new things that maybe you didn't, you wouldn't have thought of before. Exactly. Even if you got a few little small tidbits from here and see if you can heal the body and just pay attention and don't, don't, don't neglect your body. Pay attention, listen, and we're here to help you try to listen. Yeah. All right. Thanks for joining us guys. See you guys.

Hey, Dr. Axe here. I want to say thank you so much for listening today. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like and subscribe to the show so you don't miss a thing. Also, if you're in search of more natural health content, you can follow us at Health Institute on Instagram or subscribe to our newsletter using the link in the show notes below. Hey, thanks a lot and have a blessed week.