Natural Health - Tips, Remedies and Solutions

Sharing The Wealth

Natural health is something most women strive for, especially when they are pregnant. They know that there is a real danger to taking certain drugs and there are toxins in most everything they use or even eat. That's where the help of a midwife is so valuable. She can share ideas, tips, and information about natural health remedies for pregnancy symptoms and provide natural solutions to help make the pregnancy, labor, and birth experience everything her client hopes it will be.

Many midwives use alternative medicine as part of their profession because it flows with their philosophy of support for birth without the use of medical interventions. Natural cures may take a little longer to be effective, but the woman's body doesn't take in harmful drugs or toxins that can hurt her or her baby. The midwife can provide natural health tips to help deal with cramping, sleeplessness, and bloating - and much of it can be done without ingesting anything.

Using Natural Remedies for Pregnancy Symptoms

Natural health remedies are as much about healing through movement and exercise as they are about herbs and vitamins. For instance, one of the most common pregnancy symptoms is nausea, also known as morning sickness (but it can strike at any time of the day). Even though it usually disappears by the end of the first trimester, experiencing it can seem like those first 12 weeks will never end. There are certain physiological things that irritate this condition - like low blood sugar or low blood pressure, the radical hormonal changes a woman goes through, emotional ambivalence, vitamin B6 or iron deficiency, or excessive amounts of grease or spices. To deal with this using natural health methods, the midwife may suggest relaxation exercises or deep breathing. A protein snack before bed is a great, natural way to deal with low blood sugar. Get up from the bed slowly - don't jump up - and take a long walk every day if at all possible. When it comes to using natural remedies, then anise, fennel seed, red raspberry or ginger teas all help with nausea. Ginger root, or just smelling ground ginger can put nausea at bay. Increasing the intake of iron-rich foods, like broccoli, is also a good way to help the symptoms decrease. Other natural remedies that can be obtained from the natural health store are slippery elm tablets (take two before each meal) and using aromatherapy oils of lavender, rose or chamomile for massage are also helpful.

Natural Remedies for Mother and Baby

Usually the midwife has lots of information and neat natural health tips to share that will not only help to maximize the mother's natural health during her pregnancy, but will keep the baby safe from the effects of drugs and other medications. Many natural health stores have their own newsletters and health magazines are available in any natural health outlet. Natural health news is available on the internet, of course, and besides being very interesting, a woman can learn a lot about dealing with various pregnancy issues in a natural fashion.

Natural remedies are also useful when it comes to caring for the baby after birth. Rashes, colic, gas, and irritability can often be helped with a natural remedy. In many places in Europe, natural remedies are used over any other type of medicines to treat babies. Sweden and the Netherlands are two of the more well-known users of natural remedies and healing methods - they also happen to be more congenial toward midwifery than many other countries.

Some Natural Methods That Are Questionable

Some methods of natural healing in foreign countries are considered to be unsafe in Western culture, sometimes with due reason. In the case of an umbilical hernia, where there is a break in the abdominal wall at the navel and a hernia causes a protrusion at the external site, African women tape a coin over the navel and wait for the internal wall to heal. This can work, but it can have adverse effects as well.

Working Together for Health

At the end of the day, natural health remedies are great for dealing with situations that are essentially manageable. If a health situation becomes extreme or does not respond to natural methods, then it is important to involve other medical help. As with nausea, if vomiting doesn't go away or is so violent that dehydration is apparent, then it is necessary to obtain additional medical help. One form of medical help does not preclude the other. Each has a place and a purpose. We're grateful for both.