Taking Care of Yourself After Baby – Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Can Help!
Hey new moms, after giving birth, your body and mind need some extra TLC.
We get it – That’s where Chinese medicine and acupuncture come in, offering a helping hand during the postpartum period. Let’s break down how these ancient practices can make a difference:
Bouncing Back Physically
Chinese herbs and acupuncture aren’t just for pain relief; they’re your buddies in the physical recovery game. They help manage those post-birth aches, reduce inflammation, and get your body back on track. Imagine them as your postpartum superheroes!
Emotional Pick-Me-Up
Hormones after childbirth can play tricks on your mood. Enter Chinese herbs and acupuncture, swooping in to balance those hormones, kick stress and anxiety to the curb, and give your emotional well-being a boost. It’s like a mood makeover!
Breastfeeding Support
Got questions about breastfeeding? Chinese herbs and acupuncture might have the answers. They can lend a hand in boosting milk supply and making breastfeeding a success. No wonder studies show that acupuncture can up the milk game!
Recharging Your Batteries
Postpartum life is a real energy-drainer. But fear not, because Chinese herbs and acupuncture are here to recharge your batteries. They tackle fatigue, support your body’s natural healing, and help you regain that post-baby pep.
Meet Almond Wellness Centre
At our acupuncture clinics in Melbourne, we’re all about tailor-made care. Whether it’s suggesting herbal goodness or crafting acupuncture treatments, we’ve got your back. Plus, we’re not just about needles – we’ll throw in some diet tips and lifestyle advice to make sure you’re on the path to a healthy postpartum recovery.
Still wondering if acupuncture and Chinese medicine are your postpartum pals? Everyone’s different, and we get it.
Ming Ho, 1 Tsai-Chung Li, 2 and Shan-Yu Su 3. The Association between Traditional Chinese Dietary and Herbal Therapies and Uterine Involution in Postpartum Women. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011;
Wei Li, 1 , 2 Ping Yin, 1 Lixing Lao,corresponding author 3 , 4 and Shifen Xu. Effectiveness of Acupuncture Used for the Management of Postpartum Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Biomed Res Int. 2019; 2019: 6597503.
Shuaishuai Wang etc. Efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine Zengru Gao to promote breastfeeding: a multicenter randomized controlled trial. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2018
Is maternal caffeine intake associated with neonatal anthropometry?
Findings
In this cohort study of 2055 women from 12 clinical sites, measures of caffeine consumption (plasma caffeine and paraxanthine and self-reported consumption) were associated with neonatal size at birth.
Increasing caffeine measures were significantly associated with lower birth weight, shorter length, and smaller head, arm, and thigh circumference.
A study has found that caffeine consumption during pregnancy, even in amounts less than the recommended 200 mg per day, is linked to smaller neonatal anthropometric measurements.
The longitudinal cohort study in JAMA Network Open concluded that compared to women who drank no, or very little caffeine, women who drank the most caffeine (a plasma caffeine level of ≤ 28 ng/mL) had neonates who weighed 84 g less, were 0.44 cm shorter in length, a 0.28 cm smaller head circumference, a 0.25 cm smaller arm circumference, and a 0.29 cm smaller thigh circumference.
“Most of the research on caffeine and neonatal size at birth focuses on birthweight and length, while relying on self-reported measures of caffeine consumption.,” said senior author Katherine Grantz, MD, an investigator in the Epidemiology Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland.
The current study analyzed data from the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies–Singletons, which enrolled 2,055 nonsmoking women at low risk for fetal growth abnormalities with complete information on caffeine consumption from 12 U.S. clinical sites between 2009 and 2013.
“In the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies, we have rich data on multiple measures of neonatal anthropometry to more specifically characterize neonatal size, as well as objective measures of plasma concentrations of caffeine and its primary metabolite, paraxanthine,” Grantz told Contemporary OB/GYN.
The two main sources of caffeine were coffee and soda, which accounted for 35% and 41% of caffeine intake, respectively.
Caffeine was evaluated by both plasma concentrations of caffeine and paraxanthine and self-reported caffeinated beverage consumption measured/reported at 10 to 13 weeks gestation.
Caffeine metabolism was defined as fast or slow, based on genotype information from the single nucleotide variant rs762551.
“Prior caffeine studies have observed lower birthweight after consumption of higher amounts of caffeine — usually 200 to 300 mg, or 2 to 3 cups of coffee, daily,” said Grantz, who served as a co-principal investigator of the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies.
Before starting their analyses, the current authors knew that the average consumption in the sample was much lower, about 35 mg/day, and only 16 women reported drinking more than 200 mg/day.
Because of this low consumption, we were uncertain we would see any significant results, so it was surprising that we still found that increasing caffeine consumption, even at low levels, was associated with some smaller anthropometric measures in the offspring,” Grantz said. “Also, the finding that the decreases in birthweight were manifested by decreases in bone and muscle measures, but not skin folds and fat mass, were unexpected. These findings may indicate decreases in lean tissue as caffeine consumption increases.”
The clinical implications of the study are unknown, considering there were only small reductions in some neonatal anthropometric measures, Grantz said. “Other evidence suggests that even small amounts of caffeine intake during pregnancy (50 mg/day) could be associated with a higher risk of excess growth in infancy and childhood that could put children at higher risk of later cardiometabolic disease,” she said.
“Therefore, our results could indicate some disruption in normal fetal growth patterns, but will require more research to confirm.”
Although the study authors are unable to make recommendations based on the results of their single study, “we encourage pregnant women to talk to their providers about caffeine consumption, and suggest that caution may be warranted,” Grantz said.
The next step for the investigators is to evaluate the serial ultrasounds and fetal volumes conducted throughout pregnancy by the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies to determine when changes begin in fetal growth in relation to caffeine measures, and how these changes may be manifested in fetal volumes.
Disclosure
Grantz reports no relevant financial disclosures.
Reference
Gleason JL, Tekola-Ayele F, Sundaram R, et al. Association between maternal caffeine consumption and metabolism and neonatal anthropometry: a secondary analysis of the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies–Singletons. JAMA Network Open. Published online March 25, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.3238
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