We all get it: postpartum and the years after having a baby is no walk in the park. But you know what? It isn’t just about depression or anxiety either.
Hey, my friend, I’m Maranda Bower, a homesteading mama with four wild kids. My life’s passion and education is all about supporting mothers and providers in understanding the science, the art, and the sacredness of healing after birth. What we know as common sense in the postpartum years has many women feeling just plain awful. It’s time to bring back the truth and get you the tools you need to heal and thrive in motherhood and beyond.
Hello, my friends. I am so excited that you are here with me today. It is a gorgeous day here on my homestead. The sun is shining so bright through the windows right now, and I feel like it hasn’t done that in so long. Spring is finally upon us; the Alaska winter has finally ceased, and it feels like it has been forever. So, I’m so grateful to be doing this episode with you, especially on the topic of postpartum hormones.
It’s a topic that I am incredibly passionate about. So much so, that I had just done a season-long episode in my postpartum circle group on Facebook. A lot of what I’m going to cover with you today, I go into even deeper detail in there. You can go to that group, and I will have it linked in the show notes where we’ll be talking about this a little bit more. But I’m going to share with you some really important information here on this podcast.
Hormones are responsible for everything, right? These little signals in your body are constantly sending out messages and controlling so much of what you experience in this world, no matter if you’re postpartum or not. But in pregnancy and postpartum, our hormones take the front seat, and we become even more aware of their existence for two reasons. First, they bring your body into a heightened state so that you can care for your baby and keep your baby safe. And second, because most of the time in postpartum, they’re not supported and become so out of balance that it messes with everything. You experience weight gain, milk production issues, major hair loss, lack of libido, brain function deterioration, night sweats, and, of course, your mood. And by mood, I mean fluctuations and quick shifts. One minute, you’re okay. The next, you’re crying. I’m talking about depression, anxiety, anger, rage, feeling guilty about everything, feeling terrified when someone touches or cares for your little one, or when you walk close to a balcony, right?
Now, knowing how your hormones function within your body is extremely helpful, but I’m not going to get into all of that here because that would take a lot of time. Really, I want to focus in this show about how to balance your hormones and why we experience hormone fluctuations. So, I am going to dive into that component alone.
Here’s the thing. Not only do most people not understand how hormones function during pregnancy and postpartum, but how you support those hormones is even lesser known. It’s practically nonexistent. We’ve got to ask the question here: why are so many women experiencing imbalances during postpartum? I mean, one in seven will experience depression, and that’s not including those who never say anything or don’t know they’re in the fog until they’re coming out of it. And that’s not including the other mood disruptions like anxiety, OCD, bipolar, postpartum rage, and so much more. So, why is this happening? Obviously, our society isn’t doing something right. Obviously, our women are not being cared for and nurtured, and this begins with some of the very basic misunderstandings about how our hormones work.
The first thing that you need to know is that your postpartum hormones are not naturally out of control. They are in a biologically normal shift. They’re in a state of flux. Going from pregnancy to postpartum, this change is definitely big, but it’s not the cause of hormonal issues. And I know, bear with me here, because I’m telling you something that is so different than what you’ve probably heard. But I want you to really listen into this. This is the beginning of a shift and a change, but it is not a hormone imbalance. Okay? This is again a biologically normal shift. It’s not associated with feelings like you’re going insane, feeling depression, anxiety, angry, tearful. Those are not a normal experience from this. Okay? And I know you’re looking at me probably thinking, “What in the world am I listening to?”
But here’s the thing. If you were healing in postpartum in a way that was also biologically normal, the symptoms of imbalance would not happen. Take that in for a minute. If you were provided with what you needed in postpartum to heal your body, the symptoms of hormone imbalance would not happen. Our society knows nothing about healing the body during this sacred, raw, and vulnerable time, and that’s not our fault.
We get stuck having to deal with birth traumas, with returning back to work with very little help and sleep because we’re all expected to do it ourselves. Plus, not a single soul told us it was going to be like this. Nothing really prepares you for this. We know that postpartum is life-changing, but how vague is that? It’s cliché, and you may have been able to do everything you need to, like buy the right stroller and find the right provider and make all the decisions. How overwhelming are those decisions, right?
In the meantime, postpartum comes at you like a freight train. All the emotions, nutritional issues, and imbalances, all of that from pregnancy and even into your childhood on top of your previous life before becoming a mother, and having to mourn what you are no longer able to experience in that life through the exhaustion and the typical diets that we eat in the Western world. You know, if you’ve been following me for some time, how awful salads and smoothies are for you in postpartum. All of this, all of these components create that hormone imbalance. That’s a spiral effect that we have to unwind.
And although those things are critical immediately in early postpartum, we are now beyond that point for most of us. Most of us mothers are beyond that initial six-week phase of postpartum. And we need to discuss how you get your hormones back in the months and years after this initial postpartum time. Nobody’s discussing that. And let me tell you, fixing it with pills, herbs, or essential oils are not the answer to this. Often those are only making it worse because it’s masking the problem at hand. And you’re only simply skating by for a longer period of time without addressing the root issue. The root issue of the problem needs to be addressed.
So let’s talk about this. I have created a chart called the “postpartum hormone cycle.” And you can find this, this is actually in the postpartum circle group on Facebook. Again, I’m linking that you can go there. There’s information on the postpartum hormone cycle, as well as the entire series that I was sharing with you at the beginning of this episode. And so you can look at that there. But this cycle is something that works together with your hormones. And there’s four components of this. So just envision this before you go and look up the group. But you have nutrition on the top. And then that ties into sleep. And then that ties into emotional support. And that ties into stress and trauma.
All of those four pieces all work together. They are all deeply intertwined, right? If you’re not getting the nutrients that you need, you’re gonna have a harder time sleeping. You’re gonna have a harder time finding that emotional support and your body is going to be experiencing a level of stress that can’t be supported without the nutrients. If you’re not sleeping well, then you’re certainly not going to want to cook the great meals that your body needs. You’re gonna go for the easy, quick snacks or your leftover chicken nuggets from your toddler’s plate or the bag of chips, right? It’s going to take a toll on that. If you’re not getting the emotional support that you need, you’re going to experience the challenges and the stress that come with that. If you’ve experienced a traumatic birth or even a traumatic postpartum or pregnancy, which is rarely ever talked about these days, that creates your nervous system in a state of fight, flight, fawn, or freeze where it is in a heightened state of awareness and it’s energy-draining to live in that place.
So all of these components, we can get really deep into these topics and speak on these for days. And I do speak a lot about this in the postpartum circle group, and I encourage you to go listen to some of those things and explore those four components of this postpartum hormone cycle deeper. But it’s important to note that these four pieces, these four pieces are fundamental to healing your body, and you need all four of those to heal because they work synergistically together. If you only work on one component, you’ll feel a little bit better, but you’ll still be surviving. You won’t get over that hump that brings you to thriving.
And that, this is essentially my one-on-one program, right? This is everything that I do with a new mother in supporting her and healing her body through these four components: through nutrition, getting better sleep, emotional support, and supporting through getting less stress and dealing with trauma. And that is how you support yourself in healing your body after birth and not just the weeks but also the months and years because it truly takes time. It takes a lot of attention. You can’t just eat really well for a couple of weeks in the early postpartum period and then go back to your previous diet, right? You have to continue on because your body, especially if you’re breastfeeding, is in a state of fluctuations, in a state of change, a biologically normal shift that we are here to support by eating really well, right? By supporting our body really well, and it takes all of these components to do that.
So if you are looking at healing your hormones and if you’re feeling like you are experiencing imbalances, these are the components that you want to make sure you are addressing. And I encourage you to go to the group, listen to those videos and that training series, see the postpartum hormone cycle that I’m speaking on, and support yourself in deep, authentic healing because you absolutely deserve this. If you are experiencing imbalances, please, please, please reach out. Go find this group, listen to these videos, and see what others are saying and sharing on their experience as well. I know it’s going to help you tremendously. And if any of this resonates with you, I want to hear about it in the group as well. So come on over and share with us your thoughts, your experiences. Let’s get the conversation going. Let’s share this more with our friends and really get this out into the world because we women, we need a different way. We need to understand how our body’s functioning and be able to support it in these amazing ways.
Thanks for tuning in and taking the time to learn about how to support your body in deep healing. We don’t do this work just for us or for you. Your healing impacts your family, your children, and generations to come. This is a beautiful responsibility that we have, and I am honored to be a part of your journey. Remember, there is so much more that can be explored on this topic. So keep digging, keep searching, keep supporting yourself. And with that, I am wishing you all a beautiful day and take care.
