“I feel you must have some time when you are in difficulty. Rather than calling on help from friends and prayer, call the Maha Shakti and see what happens. When India and Indian woman knew this mantra, it dwelt in the land of milk and honey. When they forgot it, it became a hell. Only the forgetting of this mantra has given birth to MTV… But when a woman knew this mantra she was a living goddess. Without Maha Shakti, God cannot Manifest anything. This is the mantra.” –Yogi Bhajan
The time between the 120th day and the seventh month is the most important period during pregnancy because it forms the fundamental personality of the child. If the mother is incredibly reactive, the child will likely be too. Any neurosis or glitches in the mother’s system will be passed on to the baby especially during this period of time. The people and personalities she is with, emotions she feels, and her environmental surroundings all matter.
I personally struggled with an eating disorder for many years in High School. It started when I was around the age of sixteen while living in a dysfunctional family situation. I used binging on foods and purging to maintain a sense of internal control over my chaotic environment. At my worst, I was doing this several times daily in my teenage years. In between these episodes, I hardly allowed myself to eat a single item with any nutritional value. The disorder left me emotionally and physically exhausted. I was depleted, swollen from fluid imbalance, desperate, and unhappy. Carbohydrates, sugars, and an inner need for peace were all triggers. Once I had a bite, the guilt was too heavy, so I just kept going and would often consume much more than the normal person could. I would then take relief in the bathroom and leave with bloodshot eyes and deep shame.
Many women share this story, and it took me long time to heal, as it does for everyone. There is hardly a single woman I know who does not look at their body and want to change something about it. We live in a society where it is accepted to think we are not enough, and lack of self-love is rampant. The best way to weaken the strongest group of people on the planet is to make them hate themselves through propaganda and massive advertisements from the time that they can understand English. The thought form that we are not good enough has been programmed into our subconscious from the time we are in the womb onward. Our mothers, commercials, books, and mass media all portray an image that distorts our view of reality of what we should look like.
“The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.” –Thomas Edison
For some new parents, picking a pediatrician is a daunting task. Your family needs a pediatrician who you can trust, who will listen, and will help support you through the transition into parenthood. It is important to be prepared and ready to ask the right questions in order to find a good match. The search for the right practitioner varies depending on where you live, the amount of time you have, whether you carry insurance, and your belief systems toward medicine.
When I went through the pediatrician search, I was completely shocked by the process, but I also lived in San Francisco where women sign up for preschool while they are still pregnant. True story! I knew there was competition for schools in San Francisco, but I had no idea there was also a lot of stress and very long waiting lists for doctors. It was so competitive that some offices have drawings for new patients, but that is another story. It was important for me to begin searching early and know what type of doctor I preferred.
According to Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, a cell’s life is controlled by its physical and energetic environment with only a small portion managed by its genes. He discovered this while working with cells in petri dishes. When he created a healthy environment for cells they thrived. When he did not they struggled. By readjusting the conditions for the cells in his petri dishes he could make sick cells well again. This ultimately means that cells are responsive, and change according to their environmental signals.
Understanding this is critical before you become pregnant because it means that the cells within your growing fetus, which are quadrupling and massive rate every second, can be programmed. This is something that the ancient yogis have always known, but now science is catching up. Environmental signals that affect cells are thoughts, beliefs, emotions and nutrition because all of these things are a form of energy. Bruce Lipton’s discovery was a game changer because it was the beginning of the merge between the fields of science and Spirit.
“Imagine that the world had created a new ‘dream product’ to feed and immunize everyone born on earth. Imagine also that it was available everywhere, required no storage or delivery, and helped mothers plan their families and reduce the risk of cancer. Then imagine that the world refused to use it.”
–Frank Oski
From my own experience and background in helping many women learn to breastfeed, I have created a “go to” list for new and experienced mothers with the best tips on breastfeeding. This list includes all the information I wish I had been given prior to the birth of my children and has been very valuable to the patients I have worked with and my friends. Despite my background in medicine, when I had my children, I had a lot of unanswered questions, because it takes time and effort.
Below you will find information on breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, pumping, growth spurts, and how to handle your baby’s fussy periods. Breastfeeding is a sacred time that allows you to bond with your baby. It also provides the very best nutrients for your baby’s growth and immune system. If you are on the fence about breastfeeding, attempt it for as long as you possibly can to see how it feels, and then make your decision after researching both the pros and cons.
Poor utero nutrition can contribute to childhood obesity. This applies to both women who do not eat enough nutrition and those that eat too much of unhealthy foods such as junk food. Children born to overweight mothers are epigentically programmed to build adipose tissue at birth because in both cases the babies experience nutrient deficiencies. When the mother is not getting enough of the right nutrients for health the child inside is programmed to feel that there is not enough. If the intrauterine environment is lacking when the child comes out he or she will always be feeling that scarcity on a cellular level and consistently be desiring more food. The mother actually programs the child to be overweight because in utero the child never had enough.
Many of the women who are eating fast food in pregnancy could actually be significantly harming their child. Research showed that a high level of endotoxin, a word that means inner poison, was found in individuals after eating McDonalds. When endotoxin is found in the body the immune system immediately believes that a foreign invader has arrived which results in a significant amount of inflammation. Inflammation in turn negatively effects your microbiome and thus the DNA of your cells affecting your entire health. One in four Americans eat fast food regularly and reducing this high carbohydrate, sugar and trans fat diet during pregnancy could be as critical to pregnancy as stopping consumption of alcohol or drugs.
