Recent Articles
Your Partner’s Role in Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding can be one of the most beautiful experiences. The closeness between mother and child, the sense of meaning and purpose, the continuation and the strength of life, the most natural and pure experience - words fail to describe what it means to us. But what about the partners? How can we get them to share these precious moments of bliss and wonder?
Thriving as a Working Mom
We are constantly plagued by the popular notion that mothers must work like we don't have children and raise children as if we don't work. As a mother, nature designed you to put the needs of others above your own. As female employees, society has placed enormous pressure on us to prove ourselves worthy and deserving of the previously male-dominated corporate world.
Enjoy the Journey
We live in a world where the norm is to be driven by our constant quest for the ultimate state of happiness. However, happiness is different for different people. So how do we define happiness? Some would say that happiness is defined by the goals we set for ourselves and our ability to achieve them. These could be related to our careers, our families, or even material gain. Across the board, though, the common denominator is a constant endeavor to reach those goals.
How You Can Change Your Experience of Pain
Pain is a survival instinct. It tells the brain to switch on our fight or flight response. The brain processes this message and sets in motion all the necessary physical and chemical responses, such as activating the correct muscles or increasing the heart rate to cope with the crisis. The transition of the high alert message that something is wrong from the point of injury through the nervous system to the brain is the biology of pain. If we didn’t feel pain, we would land up impaled on a knife or frozen to death within days.
Done is Better Than Perfect
Perfectionism, as defined in psychology, is the desire to be without any flaws or to achieve exceedingly high standards in everything you set out to do. At a first glance, it should be a positive characteristic, shouldn’t it?
Why New Moms Are Not OK
Being a new mom hard because there is nothing out there that can truly prepare you for what you are about to experience. The transformation from being a young adult to a young parent is one of the most difficult challenges of our lifetime.
Parenting During A Pandemic
There are many ways to sum up the pandemonium that was the year 2020, but top of the list is “change”. It changed the way we think about the world, the way we feel about others, the way we work, and most importantly the way we parent. For those of us who usually wake up, put on our business hats (suits), and drive a few miles to our office, one of the biggest upsets was the transference to teleworking. It effectively fused those two different facets, our work life, and our home and parenting life, into one very messy and muddled blend of benefits and challenges alike.
Postpartum Body Changes
When you’re pregnant, it seems as if all you’re focused on is making sure that your baby is healthy, and is growing according to all the expected milestones. However, your body has also gone through an enormous transformation during pregnancy and after delivery, but your health often gets put on the backburner as you worry about caring for your new baby and trying to navigate life on very little sleep. Many women struggle postpartum because they feel so unprepared to deal with all the new changes to their physicality, and end up anxious, depressed, and overwhelmed.
Sharing the Parental Load
We are still in the grips of the historically imposed rules where women (no matter their career status) are in charge of the domestic duties, while men are free to prioritize their jobs. Furthermore, all the "behind the scenes" work, crucial in raising a child, is barely recognized and appreciated by the general public or those on the receiving end. Read on to find out more about how parents can share the parental load.
Lower Back Pain During Pregnancy
Pregnancy and lower back pain are almost synonymous. It is common to experience stiffness and aching that sometimes refers down into the buttocks, hips and legs. Back pain usually starts in the second trimester of pregnancy and sometimes only remits once your baby is born.
Diastasis Recti Exercises
During pregnancy, our bodies do a lot of incredible things to accommodate our growing baby. Our abdomen muscles expand and separate as the linea alba (or connective tissue between the abdominis recti muscle) stretches. After giving birth, you may notice an indentation in the middle of your belly, in the region of your “six-pack” area. For some moms, this separation is excessive and is known as diastasis recti.
Postpartum Exercises
After the birth of your baby, there’s a good chance that you are keen to get moving again but are feeling overwhelmed with all the new challenges the postpartum period presents. You may be reeling from pregnancy hormones, swelling in your feet, excess weight, and a heavy feeling in your pelvic floor, never mind recovering from a C-section, diastasis recti, or postpartum depression.
Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Prolapse is a common condition where the pelvic organs (such as the bladder, uterus, and sometimes bowel) drop down into the vaginal space. About a third of all women are affected by prolapse or similar conditions over their lifetime. It can be a devastating condition that affects one's emotional health and causes social discomfort and isolation. The good news is that in most cases, it can be successfully treated.
Guided Meditation
Life can be overwhelming and stressful, especially when we are projecting stress from the past into the future. Meditation is a powerful practice that can bring you back to the present moment and allow you to objectively view your mental and emotional processes. This has the effect of creating new neural pathways that increase your empathy, compassion, self-awareness, and improve your ability to learn, plan and make clear decisions. Guided meditations are especially useful for beginners, and can help direct you to develop an effective meditation practice.