Mothering

Processing Your Birth Story with Nikki Shaheed

Everyone who gives birth shall forever carry their story imprinted deep within. For some, the memories brings joy, others unresolved feelings and for many, they are somewhere in between. Time will take someone further from the experience but what happens when your birth goes unprocessed? In this episode of Yoga|Birth|Babies, I speak with co-director of […]

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Preparing for Postpartum During COVID-19 with Grace Veras Sealy

Bringing home a baby during a pandemic has unique challenges. New parents can no longer rely on the help and support of family, friends, or a doula to share the workload and take the pressure off of learning how to care for a newborn.  For those expecting a baby during COVID-19, this special episode of

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All About Adoption with Rebecca Mendel

The path to creating a family can differ for everyone. For some it may require fertility assistance, others a surrogate, and others no assistance at all however for approximately 135,000 families it involves adoption.  In this episode of Yoga|Birth|Babies, I speak with adoptive and assisted reproduction lawyer, Rebecca Mendel. As an adoptive parent, Rebecca offers

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Community Birth Story: The Importance of Self Advocacy with Jessie Katz

Can you imagine the need to be the main advocate for yourself in the middle of labor and directly postpartum? Or being pushed into the situation to go head to head with the hospital staff just to see your baby? That is exactly what happened to Jessie Katz. In the middle of her labor and

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Parenting a Child With Special Needs with Bridget Tichar

What do you do when you realize your child has special needs and considerations? For some parents of children who have special needs, they may feel isolated and overwhelmed by living outside “the norm.” In this episode of Yoga| Birth|Babies, I speak with Bridget Tichar. Bridget is the mother of Teddy, her 2 1/2 son,

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MotherSHIFT: Supporting Women Through the Identity Shift of Motherhood

Few experiences in life create such a sudden shift on so many deep levels like entering parenthood. In this episode of Yoga|Birth|Babies, I speak with writer, women’s mentor, doula and founder of MotherSHIFT, Jessie Harrold about embodying the rite of passage into motherhood. Jessie helps guide women through the transition into parenthood through her program

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Community Birth Stories: Overcoming Disappointment & Embracing the Uncontrollable

I reached out to Hannah Sarah Faich Dini to be a guest on Yoga | Birth | Babies because chatting with her and simply knowing her is a true delight. I also, in my many years of working with the pregnant population, have not encountered three pregnancies quite like hers. For all three pregnancies, Hannah

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Improving Birth & Health Outcomes for Black Moms & Babies.

The C.D.C. reports that black mother in the U.S. are 3 to 4 times more at risk of maternal mortality regardless of socioeconomic status and education than white women. These statistics are just the beginning of shining a light on the racial disparity seen in the birthing world. In this episode of Yoga|Birth|Babies, I speak

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Embracing The KonMari Method to Declutter Your Life & Home

I’ll admit, I got a bit of zig when my husband and I went shopping to fill our baby registry. It was thrilling to see all the baby gear start to arrive. That is until we realized that our small one bedroom was not equipped to accommodate all the equipment baby’s require! Soon bottles, bibs

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The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles and Optimize Your Fertility

How amazing is it that the documentary, #Period. End of Sentence, a film about menstruation just won an Academy Award! For years talking about periods was a closed subject. But now tides are turning and many people consider menstruation the “5th Vital Sign.” Disruptions in one’s cycle can predict potential health issues, give us insight

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Healing After Birth: Recovering from Birth Trauma

Between 25 and 34 per cent of women report that their births were traumatic. Given this staggering number, how many of these people have the support or tools to safely heal and recover from their birth experience? In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak with childbirth educator, doula and author, Jennifer

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Practical Advice on Caring for Your Newborn with Ayelet Kaznelson

Bringing home a newborn baby for the first time is perhaps one of the most daunting tasks many people face in their life. I clearly remember the moment my husband and I were alone with our new baby. All we could think about was, “when is our postpartum doula going to arrive and could help

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Rainbow Babies with Jessica Mougis

Approximately 10-25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. With such a high percentage of pregnancies naturally terminating, why is this subject often talked about in whispers behind closed doors? When any personal loss is experienced, support is often desired and needed and subsequent pregnancies may be approached with more apprehension then joy. In this episode of

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Pregnancy, Parenthood, and Eating Disorders

One of the three pillars of Prenatal Yoga Center methodology is community, also knows as sangha. Feeling part of community, especially in such a transitional time like pregnancy and parenthood, can help assuage fears, feel supported and find a general camaraderie. In an effort to deepen our community connection, Yoga |Birth |Babies continues to share

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Plan To Support Yourself: The Necessity of A Postpartum Mental Health Check In

With the myriad of nursery decor, strollers and baby gadgets, it is not surprising the amount of time and effort new parents spend on preparing for the arrival of their new family member. Unfortunately, the check list of preparation rarely makes it to setting up support for the new parents postpartum. With the current rate

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Community Birth Stories: Getting Past A Bumpy Start with Soul Camp’s Michelle Goldblum

Not every entrance into parenthood is easy and joyful with a soundtrack of birds singing blissfully as you walk carefree through the park.  You may even mutter under your breath, “This is really f**king hard, what have I done?” In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak openly with co-founder of Soul Camp and Soul

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Matrescence

Matrescence, a seldom heard word that names the shift into motherhood, stemming from the word, adolescence. Funny that the metamorphosis into adolescence is socially viewed with compassion, support, and a general understanding of tremendous and uncontrollable change while the same slide into motherhood is often met with high expectations of “maternal instincts” and an innate understanding of

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Deserving of Better Care for Expectant and New Parents; The New ACOG Guidelines

In April 2018, ACOG, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, released a new recommended guideline for Maternal Care.  This new set of suggested protocols has the potential to vastly improve maternal health, which currently has a bleak outcome of 17.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2011, 2012 and 2013 with non- Hispanic black

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Racial Disparity and its Effect on Breastfeeding and Infant Mortality

In this episode of “Yoga | Birth | Babies,” I speak with accomplished author, health psychologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett.  We dive deeply into an important and timely discussion about racial disparity and the effects of breastfeeding and infant mortality.  Black babies are  more then three to four times likely

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Community Birth Stories with Emeline Foster

Today on Yoga| Birth|Babies I speak with PYC community member, Emeline Foster.  Emeline is a second time mother who openly shares her struggles with deciding if she should have a second cesarean or explore a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).  Emeline is open and honest about her experience and the challenges she faced along with

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Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders with Paige Bellenbaum of the Motherhood Center

In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak with licensed social worker and Program Director of the Motherhood Center of New York, Paige Bellenbaum.  This deeply honest and moving discussion needs to be heard and discussed with all expectant women, partners and support people. It is reported that 1 in 5 women

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Crunchy Radish founder Miranda Hammer on Nutrition for the New Mama

In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak with founder of the CrunchyRadish.com, registered dietitian, and natural foods chef Miranda Hammer.  We discuss nutrition, food preferences and aversions during pregnancy, and how to get optimal nutrition for mom and baby.  We also talk about the reality of finding a balanced and healthy

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“Our Babies, Ourselves” Author Dr. Meredith Small

In this episode of “Yoga | Birth | Babies,” I speak with anthropologist, Dr. Meredith Small, about how our biology, culture and history influence how we parent our children.  In this fun, lively conversation, Meredith and I discus and compare different cultures and their approach to child raring.  Some of the way we care for our children come from

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Taking Charge of Postpartum Health with Dr. Debra Bingham

In this episode of “Yoga | Birth | Babies,” I speak with founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Perinatal Quality Improvement, Dr Debra Bingham.  Recently in the news there have been articles discussing the study “Nurses’ Knowledge and Teaching of Possible Postpartum Complications” highlighting the wide range (often lack) of knowledge postpartum nurses

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Big Beings, Little Body: The New Parenting Paradigm with Carrie Contey PhD

Today on “Yoga | Birth | Babies,” I speak with internationally recognized coach, author, speaker and educator, Carrie Contey.  Carrie and I have a lively and enlightening discussion about why understanding your child’s brain will help you become a better parent.  A helpful episode for parents and caregivers looking for more tools to better understand

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