Brie Wieselman: Postpartum Recovery Plan – A Functional Health Approach For Athletic Mamas and Baby’s Wellbeing

April 3, 2020

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We’re joined by Brie Wieselman, a functional medicine practitioner from Santa Cruz, CA, who runs a successful online clinic with other clinicians serving patients all over the world, where she specializes in gut health, hormones, and female health. Brie is also a new mama, who gave birth around the same time as our host, Tawnee! They both had difficult journeys to ultimately welcoming their daughters, and they are also taking extra good care of their bodies in the postpartum phase with research-based, functional health methods that benefit mom and baby. For more about Brie’s services and inquiring about hiring her, click here. As mentioned in the show, if you’re curious about Brie’s experience with gestational diabetes, you can read more here. Also dive into her full postpartum recovery plan, which we discuss in length on this episode.

This is Brie‘s third appearance on EP, the other two shows can be downloaded and listened to here: Foundations of Functional Medicine and Applications to Reach Optimization and Functional Healing For Endometriosis – The Role of Diet, Hormones, Gut Health and More.

Also, if you’re interested in supplements mentioned during this show, check out Fullscript where you get access to over 15,000 quality supplements from over 300 trusted brands like Nordic Naturals, Pure Encapsulations, and Designs for Health. Fullscript guarantees their products are never past expiry, counterfeit, or stored incorrectly. Make sure to sign up using our link.

 

On this show:

• Timeline for the postpartum phase
  • Around 1 year
  • On average, the relaxin hormone remains in the new mother’s body for up to 6 months minimum, but longer in women who continue to breastfeed.
• 100% of women who give birth will have diastasis recti to some degree
  • Every woman who has delivered a baby should see a pelvic physical therapist.
  • In France, every woman who has delivered a baby gets a prescription for PT sessions.
  • Evidence-based app for resolving diastasis recti: Every Mother
    • Study: Every participant who completed the workout program fully closed their diastasis recti gap
• Brie is passionate about breastfeeding through the first year as there are many health benefits for both mother and baby:
  • Breastfeeding and Autoimmunity: Programming Health From the Beginning
  • A Breakthrough in the Mystery of Why Women Get So Many Autoimmune Diseases 
  • Breast-Feeding and Diabetes: Long-Term Impact on Mothers and Their Infants
  • Breastfeeding may help prevent type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes
• Self-care for athletic moms
  • Respect and trust your body. Your journey is unique to you! Be patient and gentle to yourself.
  • Focus on strength before stretching and high levels of cardio.
  • Start slow/conservative and work up.
  • Make sure you adhere to a healthy, sustainable postpartum phase for yourself.
• Nursing and supply
  • Undersypply affects 20% of postpartum women.
  • Mother’s milk supply is largely determined by postpartum hormones in the beginning, but at a certain point (around 8-10 weeks), it becomes based more on supply and demand.
  • There are many different versions of tongue-ties. Have your baby properly checked for tongue-tie issues (it’s more common than we realize).
  • Don’t go low calorie thinking you need to jump weight loss because your milk supply may be affected.
  • No intermittent fasting; it’s too much stress on the body.
  • For some women with low supply, there are data suggesting that the keto diet can work well.
  • A New Study Reveals Important Role of Insulin in Making Breast Milk
  • Stress lowers milk supply/output
• Postpartum recovery for mom and baby
  • Link to Brie’s blog

Additional links for supplements mentioned on this episode:

Thorne Basic Prenatal

Magnesium glycinate

Thorne Cal-Mag Citrate powder

DHA

Liver and organ powder

Probiotic

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