WEBVTT 00:00:00.820 --> 00:00:02.919 Often when I'm talking to moms, especially a 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:05.599 new mom, and they're sharing about their labor 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.620 and delivery, especially if they've had a C -section, 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:09.400 there's a lot that they need to mourn. Often 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:11.699 this is a very traumatic event and something 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:14.320 that is not exactly what we planned. Or even 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:17.079 if it was a planned C -section, we still mourn 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:19.120 what could have been had we had a different type 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:21.059 of delivery. So I want to dive into this topic 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:23.039 a little bit today and talk about some new research 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:25.059 that's super exciting and hopefully can help 00:00:25.059 --> 00:00:28.500 dissipate a little bit of that mama guilt. Welcome 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:30.800 to Health and Hormones. I am Rita Johnson, your 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.399 host, and here we talk about all things health, 00:00:33.579 --> 00:00:35.880 hormones, natural living, and how to take care 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:38.100 of that amazing body God has given you. We've 00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:40.259 all been there, especially those of us that are 00:00:40.259 --> 00:00:42.780 already moms. We've gone through a situation 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:45.520 with our child where we just wanted it a different 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:48.560 way, and very often it's a very selfless desire. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:52.159 We desire for more for them, for their long -term 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:54.679 health, and for them to have the best chance 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:57.679 and start at life, right? And oftentimes this 00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:59.939 comes into play when we're talking about how 00:00:59.939 --> 00:01:03.200 our baby was delivered. We know now that a vaginal 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:05.299 delivery is really when baby's getting their 00:01:05.299 --> 00:01:08.859 first inoculation of a gut microbiome. Ideally 00:01:08.859 --> 00:01:11.180 it's a healthy one. If we've been able to support 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:13.480 our own gut during pregnancy, whether that's 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:16.099 by taking probiotics, eating lots of fruits and 00:01:16.099 --> 00:01:18.219 vegetables, you know really supporting things 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:20.560 that are going to support a healthy microbial 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:22.780 balance in our own gut, then we can pass that 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:25.040 along to our children. Well maybe you did that 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.609 hard work and then you ended up with a the STD 00:01:27.609 --> 00:01:31.569 section or perhaps you weren't able to focus 00:01:31.569 --> 00:01:34.049 on that at the time and afterwards you learn 00:01:34.049 --> 00:01:36.150 all of these things about the importance of a 00:01:36.150 --> 00:01:39.230 healthy gut microbiome to help baby in and through 00:01:39.230 --> 00:01:41.819 the infant years and beyond. Well, there's this 00:01:41.819 --> 00:01:43.859 really cool company that I've recently been exposed 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:46.939 to called Tiny Health, and Tiny Health specializes 00:01:46.939 --> 00:01:51.200 in gut microbiome testing for little ones, ideally 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.439 zero to three years old, because this is such 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.280 a formative time for our gut microbiome's overall 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:01.980 health. A lot is kind of not dictated because 00:02:01.980 --> 00:02:04.079 it's not set in stone. It doesn't mean that it's 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.439 completely inflexible, but a lot of that foundation 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:09.699 is laid in those formative years at zero to three 00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:12.550 year old time. Well, what I think is so interesting 00:02:12.550 --> 00:02:15.689 and in a lot of ways very hopeful. I am a mama 00:02:15.689 --> 00:02:18.509 that has had two C -sections. Two of my six kids 00:02:18.509 --> 00:02:21.310 were born cesarean and they were both emergency 00:02:21.310 --> 00:02:25.289 C -sections. And my first one was back in 2008 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:27.990 and we didn't know what we know now about the 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:30.330 importance of the gut microbiome. And so a lot 00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:32.889 of times what happens now, it's a little more 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:35.210 common for this to be standard operating procedure, 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:38.210 is that when a baby is born C -section, they 00:02:38.210 --> 00:02:41.430 will actually take a swab. of the mother's vaginal 00:02:41.430 --> 00:02:45.990 canal and swab baby's face with it because the 00:02:45.990 --> 00:02:48.810 passing through of the vaginal canal is really 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:52.930 when we are given that first inoculation of our 00:02:52.930 --> 00:02:56.219 gut microbiome, right? And so now they start 00:02:56.219 --> 00:02:58.780 to do that, but in 2008 they did not, which was 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:01.639 when I had my first C -section. And as I learned 00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:04.419 about that, I was so sad. I didn't feel guilt 00:03:04.419 --> 00:03:06.860 because it's been a long time and there wasn't 00:03:06.860 --> 00:03:08.800 a lot in my situation that I could have done 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:11.759 other than having a better advocate at my side 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:16.280 in the presence of my physician. But I was young, 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:19.539 I didn't know better, and so I've let that go. 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:22.360 But I talked to a lot of moms that struggle with 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:26.550 letting that go. You if if this is where you 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:28.689 are This is really what I wanted to talk about 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:31.030 today because this is something that is so near 00:03:31.030 --> 00:03:33.009 and dear to our hearts our children And their 00:03:33.009 --> 00:03:35.189 best chance at life and when I read this article 00:03:35.189 --> 00:03:38.689 I was just so happy for the mama that has stressed 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:41.430 that has worried about that So what this article 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:43.449 is saying and I'll link it up in the show notes 00:03:43.449 --> 00:03:45.750 if you want to read the whole thing I'm just 00:03:45.750 --> 00:03:47.650 gonna highlight a few parts of it. But basically 00:03:47.650 --> 00:03:50.550 what I was saying was that you know, we have 00:03:50.550 --> 00:03:54.659 these factors that play a bigger part for our 00:03:54.659 --> 00:03:58.599 baby's gut microbiome, things that happen during 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:03.129 pregnancy and beyond. delivery method, although 00:04:03.129 --> 00:04:07.689 there is an initial six months time, that initial 00:04:07.689 --> 00:04:11.569 six months where they see a very different subset 00:04:11.569 --> 00:04:15.050 of types of bacteria that they're noticing in 00:04:15.050 --> 00:04:18.250 the gut microbiome, it starts to fall off around 00:04:18.250 --> 00:04:20.730 six months. So some studies are saying that by 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:23.709 six months of age, there's essentially very little 00:04:23.709 --> 00:04:26.050 difference in the gut microbiome of a baby, whether 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:28.490 they were born C -section or vaginally, which 00:04:28.490 --> 00:04:31.519 I think is super cool. But the other the rest 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:34.600 of the research is actually saying that, so some 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:38.420 studies say that by two, it's definitely no different 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:40.699 in terms of if the baby was born vaginally or 00:04:40.699 --> 00:04:44.079 C -section. So if you are someone who has held 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.360 on to this after your experience with the C -section, 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:49.199 take a deep breath. Oh my gosh, what wonderful 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.180 news. How fabulous that even though things couldn't 00:04:52.180 --> 00:04:54.240 work out the way that you wanted to, that the 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:57.199 Lord still has you in the palm of his hand as 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.910 well as your little one. Also, breastfeeding 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:01.949 is going to make a much bigger difference, right? 00:05:02.110 --> 00:05:04.610 And so they dive into that, the difference in 00:05:04.610 --> 00:05:06.930 the gut microbiome of breastfeeding versus... 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.279 formula fed babies. We know that breast milk 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:14.079 actually has carbohydrate sources in it that 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:17.519 are only broken down by the gut microbiota. It's 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:20.779 so beautiful that our body is continuing to tailor 00:05:20.779 --> 00:05:24.120 make what our babies need. You know we know so 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:26.680 much more now about the benefits of breast milk 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:28.959 and the way that it changes if your baby is sick 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.660 and in so many other ways but I just thought 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:33.519 that that was really beautiful to see when we're 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:35.939 only looking in context of the gut microbiome 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:39.060 that we can really see a difference here and 00:05:39.060 --> 00:05:41.220 things that do matter a lot more that I think 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:43.759 sometimes we forget are taking a probiotic during 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.519 pregnancy even if you didn't have to take an 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:48.959 antibiotic at any point taking a probiotic is 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.500 so beneficial as well as eating lots of fruits 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:53.660 and vegetables so if you're pregnant right now 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:56.240 Do what you can to increase those fruits and 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.180 vegetables. For me personally, I find this to 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:00.379 be a struggle in my first trimester. And so I 00:06:00.379 --> 00:06:02.319 really try to think in my second and third, how 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:04.680 can I do better? How could I make up for that 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:08.519 time almost lost, if you will. And the other 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:11.540 thing too is that there are times and seasons 00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:14.579 that we have to take antibiotics, whether we're 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:16.939 breastfeeding or we're pregnant or during delivery, 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:20.060 if you've been tested positive for strep B. And 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:22.819 so just taking that into account, I always think 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:24.699 first and foremost, just offer it back to the 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:27.699 Lord. You know, I had mastitis and a horrible 00:06:27.699 --> 00:06:31.120 ear infection in my postpartum season with my 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.160 baby number six who is almost four months old 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:36.339 now. And it was really hard for me to have to 00:06:36.339 --> 00:06:40.139 do that. But I also could lean on all the education 00:06:40.139 --> 00:06:42.680 I have about gut health in the way that I've 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:44.339 been able to help other people when they've had 00:06:44.339 --> 00:06:47.560 to completely remodel their guts. And we've seen 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.899 that happen with such beautiful results such 00:06:49.899 --> 00:06:52.000 beautiful fruit of them feeling so much better 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.579 that I was able to just take a deep breath and 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:57.980 say Lord I place this too in your hands and I 00:06:57.980 --> 00:06:59.860 know that it's going to be an uphill journey 00:06:59.860 --> 00:07:02.259 from here but that's going to be okay and that's 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:04.759 the path that you had me on so wherever you are 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:07.439 friend whatever your story is and however it's 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:09.959 been a heavy cross to bear I just really encourage 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:12.639 you give that back to the Lord because if we 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:16.079 hold on to these mental stressors in addition 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:22.399 to continuing to obviously impact our mental 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:25.920 health, it also does impact our gut microbiome. 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:29.220 They find that stress, women that are chronically 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:33.720 stressed when their baby was born have certain 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:36.100 prevalences of different types of negative strains 00:07:36.100 --> 00:07:39.370 of bacteria. So they're essentially... growing 00:07:39.370 --> 00:07:42.529 excess ones of those strains so it's impacting 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:47.269 our baby in utero when our mental stress is changing 00:07:47.269 --> 00:07:51.509 our gut microbiome and I even challenge you beyond 00:07:51.509 --> 00:07:55.089 that once we're no longer in your fertile years 00:07:55.089 --> 00:07:57.490 even maybe you're beyond childbearing at this 00:07:57.490 --> 00:08:01.810 point wherever you are just know that as we experience 00:08:01.810 --> 00:08:04.829 mental stress that's going to impact our gut 00:08:04.829 --> 00:08:07.209 health and it's going to do so in a negative 00:08:07.209 --> 00:08:09.730 way and tell our body that it's not safe and 00:08:09.730 --> 00:08:13.120 there's other things that we need to do. to counteract 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:15.379 that. And we can do those things, but I just 00:08:15.379 --> 00:08:18.060 challenge you don't overlook the importance of 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:20.120 your mindset and your mental health around your 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:22.740 physical and overall health. If you're curious 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:24.879 what this looks like to dive deep into your own 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.420 gut microbiome health or to look at that of your 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:29.579 child, I would love for you to schedule a discovery 00:08:29.579 --> 00:08:32.159 call with me. It's free. I love to do these functional 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.399 lab tests, but oftentimes I will tell you there's 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.740 a lot we can do without the expense of these 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.480 functional tests to really support and move you 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:41.940 forward in your gut health journey.