The problem with being a ‘holistic mom’ is that we want to send our grown-up kids out into the world with everything they could possibly need! The best college first aid kit addresses the most common small stuff in a general way and contains familiar, easy-to-use items.

Natural remedies such as therapeutic essential oils, homeopathy, and herbs can offer a gentle correction or rebalancing for the body/mind system before things reach a crisis. Homeopathy is a safe, gentle, and natural therapeutic method that uses highly diluted natural substances to relieve symptoms. The active ingredients in homeopathic medicines are highly dilute properties from plants, animals and minerals that relieve the same symptoms they would cause at full strength (i.e., a micro-dose of coffee bean helps nervousness). Instead of masking symptoms, the medicine sends the body a signal to help it rebalance and heal.

Homeopathy is wonderfully effective remedy approach to those who dread the fireworks’ season, and it’s safe for everyone including infants, elderly, pregnant, those with PTSD, those on anxiety medications, and even pets. Look for the best symptom match, and it’s fine to use more than one. It’s not unusual to have family members, including 4-legged ones, who find fireworks distressing. The noise may be overwhelming to fearful small children or anxious adults, or trigger former military members with PTSD memories. And as a midwife, I’ve often counseled pregnant women to ‘let their babies know’ what to expect if they are attending a fireworks event, so they will be less alarmed by the explosive noises.

I recently did an Instagram reel about (medicinal) weeds in my yard, and it led to being flooded with prostate questions! I know, LOL, that’s what I thought too! This is a very interesting incrimination of state of our health care system, that a midwife would seem like a great person to ask about men’s prostate health…but that’s a blog for anther day. So let’s take a look at how to help our men by helping their prostate, because nourishing and preventing is always a lot easier than solving a problem that builds for years! The prostate is a donut-shaped, walnut-sized glad that is wraps around the male urethra near the bladder. It produces the nutrient-rich fluid that nourishes and transports sperm (semen). The most common of prostate problems tend…..

“The imitative nature of the baby and young child is so obvious and so all-pervasive that we tend to be blind to it, unaware of its implications for parenting,” opens a 1987 Mothering Magazine article by author Rahima Baldwin. “Your child learns everything through imitation - walking, talking, toilet training, tying shoes, endless tasks. And imitation manifest in expressions and gestures, as when we see and hear ourselves in our children’s play. “ I’d add that while parenting is now extremely child-centered, none of these actions are learned better from a screen or app. “The most effective way to correctly behavior in the young child is to provide an example in movement rather than to reason it out….”

In an impersonalized health care system, the professional doula has become a tremendous asset for modern birth in any setting. Doulas are experienced, trained, sensitive, labor-support privately hired by families to be with them during the labor and birth of their babies. They provide continuity of care, share knowledge of the normal process of labor and birth, and use their experience to ease the mother/baby’s birth process.

Informed consent is legally and morally mandated throughout ALL health care in the United States. This important process is to educate you about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or intervention. And that you have the protection to freely decide what course of action, or if no action, is in your best interest. In spite of ACOG’s clear definition of autonomous informed consent, it is still alarmingly absent from maternity care.

My watch stopped. At just the right time.

Sometimes we ask, “What would you do if you knew time was limited?” I’m asking, “HOW would we do time?” With even an extra deep breath or two, our brainwaves start to slow down or become synchronized. Moving towards this relaxed state of mind (the opposite of fight/flight/freeze), means being fully in the present moment becomes more possible. And we can experience the same busy day with a greater sense of calm and clarity. Even when getting the kids ready for school.

It's probably no surprise that joy and love are the emotions linked with the heart. Here are some natural approaches to nurture the hearts in your family, whether you are concerned about a family history of heart disease, or you’re comforting with a teen with their first broken heart.