It was April 2020, and I had just given birth to my second child, in the middle of a global pandemic. I had spent months preparing for pregnancy, and my entire pregnancy preparing for everything baby.
I had experienced pregnancy and childbirth before, and thought I knew what to expect.
My laboring experience progressed relatively quickly, with little complication, and I gave birth to a healthy, baby girl, in my home, with the help of my midwife, doula, and husband. I was awestruck by my birth experience, and felt so empowered and grateful for it.
However, the days, weeks, and months following giving birth drained me greater than I expected. While my birth experience was nothing short of amazing, I found it more difficult to walk, sit-up, and recover my prior physical functioning in the weeks after giving birth, than after my first pregnancy. In addition, my second child didn’t feed or sleep as well, as my first, and I faced more challenges with her health.
Considering it was the early days of the pandemic, I had zero in-person support from extended family or friends, and I relied on my husband and older daughter to help me as much as they could. It felt so ridiculous how much help I needed, 24/7, and I tried to pick and choose what to ask for, but I felt myself seeming extremely needy, but not asking for everything that I needed, at the same time.
At the end of my first year postpartum, I felt more depleted than I had ever felt. This is not how it was supposed to be. I had a one-year-old now-- wasn’t everything supposed to be back to normal by now?
Slowly, but surely things started to improve, for me, in the second year postpartum, but during those months of struggle, a new idea had sprung inside of me: Why not offer postpartum nutrition counseling?
As a nutritionist, I knew that nutrition could play a significant role in mood, energy, healing, and other relevant topics for postpartum mothers. Obviously, there is a lot of emphasis on prenatal nutrition, in our society, but I didn’t know anyone who was talking about postpartum nutrition.
I also knew that I wasn’t the only mother struggling, and that there were lots of women out there, like me, that were not feeling great after having a baby.
Within a few months, my convictions about the importance of postpartum nutrition grew and I decided to shift my entire nutrition practice to supporting postpartum mothers in recovering and healing from pregnancy and childbirth, and helping them flourish in the first year postpartum.
I’ve spent many months learning the research-based, evidence-based, science relevant to postpartum nutrition and am equipped to help mothers thrive in their first year postpartum, with nutrition and breastfeeding support, and support for many of the common challenges mothers face in the first year after giving birth.
I am so honored to support mothers during this amazing and challenging time in their lives.
Much love,
Claudia
