Christine Cui 2019-Apr-24

Having children can be such a blissful and miraculous thing for parents, but that doesn’t mean it will be all sunshine and rainbows. Parents, especially mothers, are vulnerable to stress, physical discomfort, as well as difficulties to recover from childbirth. In order to overcome all of these complications, it is important that new parents have a suitable post-natal support system. In this blog post, we would like to tell you how Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine can provide natural support for mothers, post-childbirth.

Lactation and Milk Quality:

According to research (Source: Click Here), breast milk is highly beneficial for the baby’s cognitive development and immune system as it decreases the risk of asthma, food allergies, Type 1 diabetes, and obesity. Breastfeeding is also helpful for new mothers, specifically childbirth recovery and decreasing the risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Despite its importance, many mothers often find themselves lack sufficient milk supply. Those who have experienced difficult childbirth, miscarriages, IVF treatments, or chronic stress might have difficulties lactating since the body hasn’t recovered and properly nourished.

Fortunately, the combination of Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicine may provide mothers with nutrients and nourish their body, prompting for more and better blood flow. A research conducted by Hanzhong Shanxi Hospital reported that women who received acupuncture treatment could their increase prolactin, a hormone that stimulates lactation, therefore, may increase milk production.

Post-partum Depression:

While it is normal to have the baby blues, it is not the same as postpartum depression. Sadly, post-partum depression is more common than we think and it could occur due to the dramatic hormonal changes the body went through from pregnancy to post-childbirth. This can make you feel extremely overwhelmed all the time with irritability, mood swings, loss of appetite which could lead to difficulty bonding with your child, guilt, shame, withdrawal from your loved ones. Considering the damning effect post-natal depression can have on you, it is important to know when professional help is needed.

Acupuncture is a natural method of dealing with the hormone fluctuation that's the main cause of postpartum depression. According to peer-review research (Source: Click Here), when combined with other psychological intervention like therapy or cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), acupuncture may have similar beneficial effects and success rates to anti-depressants and other oral medications.