As naturopathic doctors, we have the privilege of supporting our patients through many milestones and stages of life, one of these being pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum. Naturopathic medicine offers a variety of tools to help support expectant mothers through the prenatal experience, to complement prenatal care they may be receiving from an obstetrician, midwife or other healthcare provider. Naturopathic visits may be conducted at the start of each trimester to provide support to help optimize health throughout a woman’s pregnancy. During these visit, we discuss issues that are pertinent to each trimester, conduct physical exams, review dietary guidelines, recommend supplements as needed, answer questions, and address specific concerns that may exist. Dietary counseling is provided to help identify foods that may help alleviate symptoms, as well as unhealthy or unsafe foods to avoid during pregnancy. Supplement counselling may include discussing the pros and cons of certain prenatal vitamins, reviewing current supplements for safety, and recommending safe supplements to help address common issues such as morning sickness, congestion, heartburn, constipation, hemorrhoids, and headaches. Some women may also choose to have an additional visit closer to their due date to review naturopathic support for labour and delivery. This may include homeopathics, hydrotherapy and other techniques to help manage pain and tissue damage. Naturopathic medicine also offers techniques, such as acupuncture, to help induce labour when it is safe and appropriate to do so. Following labour and delivery, we offer follow-up visits to assess postpartum health and to address issues such as mood disturbances, lactation issues as well as recovery from labor and delivery. Diet and supplementation may be used to help support a new mother’s milk production. All supplements are selected with breastfeeding safety in mind. And, of course, we are always honoured to offer naturopathic care to newborns at their very first stages of life!
