Author: Jeanne Sager

Millions Of Women With This Condition Are Being Misdiagnosed: Here’s What To Know About Vulvodynia

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 14, 2018

Imagine putting your feet up in the stirrups of your OB-GYN’s office and saying “My vulva hurts.” Now imagine your doctor peeking back over that gown and saying, “Sorry, but I just can’t figure this one out.” Welcome to the world of vulvodynia.
Defined by the National Vulvodynia Association (NVA) as “chronic vulvar pain without an identifiable cause,” vulvodynia affects some 16 percent of women. And just as the definition indicates, it’s a condition that has left doctors stumped. The NVA estimates 60 percent of sufferers will see at least three different doctors before finally being diagnosed with vulvodynia.
“I have patients who actually start crying when they hear their condition has a name,” says Nancy Phillips, MD, associate professor at the Women’s Health Institute at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Finally, they tell Phillips, they’re not being brushed off or treated like the pain in their vulva is all in their head. Finally, they know what’s going on!
When we go to the doctor’s office and say “This hurts,” we expect answers, not a run-around that sends us seeking a second, third, or even fourth opinion. And yet doctors like Philips, who specializes in vulvodynia, say it’s common for their patients to come to them after a long series of visits with other practitioners who couldn’t help them. So what’s going on?

What is vulvodynia, anyway?

Vulvodynia is defined by the National Institutes of Health as “chronic pain (lasting at least 3 months) of the vulva that does not have a clear cause, such as an infection or cancer.”
If you don’t remember health class or that handy Orange Is the New Black anatomy refresher the vulva is pretty extensive. The term covers the outer parts of the female reproductive system, including both the labia majora and labia minora, the clitoris, and the opening of the vagina (typically called the “vestibule” to differentiate it from the rest of the vagina).
That’s a whole lot of area to cover, so doctors break out types of vulvodynia based on where someone is feeling pain.
Localized vulvodynia is felt in just one spot. For the majority of sufferers, that’s the vestibule, Phillips says, but localized vulvodynia can occur anywhere in the vulvar region. The pain just has to stay in that one spot in order to fall under this classification.
Generalized vulvodynia, on the other hand, tends to be felt all over the vulvar region. It’s less common, but no less serious for sufferers.
Once doctors determine where the pain is, next comes another set of classifications. If you’ve got vulvodynia, doctors want to figure out if it’s “provoked,” or “unprovoked.” In other words, is there something that happens that sends pain signals to the brain, or are you in pain or discomfort all the time, without a trigger?
Provoked localized vulvodynia is the most common type, says Ryan Sobel, MD, clinical assistant professor and benign vulvovaginal disease specialist in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. When a sufferer tries to put in a tampon, ride a horse, have sex, or even wipe after urinating, touching the area of the vulva that’s affected will trigger the feelings of pain.
And those feelings can be intense.
When provoked, the pains can be sharp, Sobel says, and they make sex impossible for most patients. Other times, patients report burning or a raw, chafing feeling in their vulvar area.

Myth Buster

Like most chronic pain conditions, vulvodynia can’t be seen by the naked eye, and there’s no blood test that doctors can run, pulling out numbers that they can point to, confirming “Yup, you’ve got vulvodynia.”
In fact, when it comes to diagnosis, the bulk of what practitioners are doing is ruling out other conditions. They’ll look for yeast, for cancer, for STDS…for all common vulva-related conditions that could cause pain in the area. They’ll test the pH levels in the vagina, check for discharge, and run through a variety of tests.
Because its definition is pain that does not have a clear cause, diagnosis of an STD, an autoimmune condition, or any other disease will generally allow doctors to rule out vulvodynia, but even there things get tricky. Some patients can have what Sobel calls co-morbidities, which means two conditions that exist together. A patient may have a yeast infection, for example, that’s gone untreated for a lengthy period of time. Once the infection is finally treated, inflammation and pain may remain, pointing to vulvodynia.
Not surprisingly, diagnosis is tricky according to Phillips, who says vulvodynia makes for a lot of confusion in the medical community.
“It is very often misdiagnosed,” Sobel adds, “because we don’t understand it well.”
In fact, many practitioners are unfamiliar with vulvodynia. Others are dismissive of patients’ complaints. Because the pain can’t be seen, the symptoms are dismissed as psychosomatic, as is the case with many other pain conditions.
Even the experts struggle to pinpoint the best course of treatment because the very definition of vulvodynia entails that the pain doesn’t have a cause, which leaves doctors debating about the best course of action.

Just make it go away.

Despite the confusion, experts in the field do have options for those suffering from vulvodynia. The condition can be treated, and the best approach depends on what is going on down there for the patient.
As part of the testing phase, doctors will look at hormonal imbalances, Phillips says. Sometimes correcting those issues with treatments—testosterone treatment, specifically—may relieve vulvodynia as the vulva responds to testosterone.
For some sufferers, neuro-modulating agents are pulled into the mix, Phillips says. Medicines such as Cymbalta or Lyrica—typically used to treat other chronic pain conditions—can work for some vulvodynia sufferers too. These medicines affect the nerves that are sending pain signals to the brain, quieting the messages so patients can go the bathroom or have sex without screaming pain.
Other patients may benefit from physical therapy, where they can learn pelvic floor exercises that will help relax tight muscles in the vulva. For some sufferers, Phillips says, muscles in the vestibule can become tight, causing pain when touched, and a combination of exercises and trigger point massage can loosen those muscles.
For vulvodynia patients who don’t see success with these less invasive treatments, Sobel says acupuncture or even surgery may be an option. A “vestibulectomy” can be done on patients with localized vulvodynia, literally removing the area where the patient feels pain. Success rates after these operations vary from 50 to 90 percent of patients experiencing noticeable reductions in pain.
Like the pain itself, success in treating vulvodynia varies from patient to patient. Some may never be pain-free, but Phillips says even a 70 percent reduction in pain can be the key to significantly improving quality of life.
Phillips says, “When it comes to a cure, you have to ask, Is a cure pain free or is it functional?” The good news for women suffering with vulvodynia? “Most people can get to functional.”

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Health x Body Wellbeing

Sciatic Nerve Pain Making You Nervous? The Real Deal With Sciatica

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 12, 2018

If you’ve been feeling pain in your lower back or numbness in your legs, your friends might be throwing the words “sciatic nerve pain” or “sciatica” at you and telling you it’s time to hit the doctor’s office.
Any time the nerves come up, we get, well, nervous! But is a little pain in your rear end actually sciatic nerve pain? And even if it is, do you really need to visit a doctor?
Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
The truth is, most of us suffer from low back pain at some point—we’re a nation of people who spend long days sitting in uncomfortable office chairs that offer little lumbar support and plenty of problems for the back. A 2015 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine estimates that more than half of the average person’s waking hours are spent sitting between computer work, commuting, and TV watching. In turn, all that time on our collective tuchases is linked to everything from an increased risk of heart disease to an increased incidence of lower back pain.
But for an estimated 10 percent of us, low back pain isn’t just low back pain. It’s a problem with the sciatic nerve, the biggest nerve in the whole body, which travels directly through our middles, down the spine into our rear ends and then down our legs.
So how do you know when it’s just regular old aches and pains or when it’s something more? Let’s go nerve deep, shall we?

Sciatic Nerve Pain or Sciatica?

The terms sciatic nerve pain and sciatica don’t just sound similar, they’re the exact same thing. The former tends to be used by physicians, while the latter is the word we tend to throw around when we’re sounding off with our friends, but at the end of the day, you can use them interchangeably.
No matter what you call it, sciatica is rooted in the sciatic nerve, one of 43 pairs of nerves in the human body, and the body’s biggest. It’s formed when the L4-S3 nerve roots merge together after exiting the spine, says Neel Anand, professor of orthopaedic surgery and director of spine trauma at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center in Los Angeles, California.
“Once [the sciatic nerve] exits the spine, it travels through the buttock and along the back side of the leg where it then divides into three branches,” Anand explains. “These nerve branches provide our lower extremities with their strength and sensation.”
If you’re scratching an itch on your thigh, the nerves will tell your brain you’re getting relief, for example, or it can help the body respond to some sweet, sweet deep tissue massage. But in instances of sciatica, the sensation in the lower extremities is uncomfortable or downright painful.
The sciatic nerve typically causes pain when there’s nerve compression, meaning something is pressing on the sciatic nerve itself, irritating it and causing it to signal to the brain that you’re in pain.
The leading cause of nerve compression is a herniated disc in the low back. That means that one of the spinal discs (or intervertebral fibrocartilage) located between the spinal vertebrae has pushed out, bulging between the vertebrae and putting pressure on the spinal nerves.
In other cases, sciatica can be ascribed to arthritis, pregnancy, or other mechanical irritants. “Sometimes the nerve itself can be irritated more distally in the pelvis,” says Daniel Resnick, MD, a neurosurgeon at the University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine & Public Health and the president of the North American Spine Society (NASS).
Sciatica isn’t a disease so much as a side effect of whatever condition causes it, be it a bulging disc or arthritis, which can result in sciatic nerve pain symptoms.
Speaking of symptoms, sciatic nerve pain typically involves sharp, searing, electric-like or shooting pains that lead from the buttocks down the leg. The pain can occur when sitting or standing, and especially when spending a prolonged time in either position. Sciatic nerve pain sufferers may also feel numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness, and the symptoms can occur anywhere along the pathway of the sciatic nerve. Typically the pain will radiate from the spine, through the butt, down one leg or the other, and all the way down below the knee. Sometimes the pain can be felt into the foot, although just how extensive the reach is varies from person to person.
Speaking of…

Who’s going to get sciatic nerve pain?

Sciatica can crop up in the elderly, and the vision of a grandpa or grandma standing up only to yelp, “My sciatica!” is fairly common. It’s also a bit of a misunderstanding. Sciatic nerve pain isn’t unique to the geriatric population.
“Though it is frequently believed that sciatica is a side-effect of aging, it can actually occur in people of all ages,” Anand says. “People in their twenties can experience it and in fact, the peak age at which sciatica as a result of disc herniation usually occurs is in the forties to fifties.”
Although men are three times more likely than women to suffer from sciatica, pregnancy is a common cause of low back pain in women, and at least 1 percent of those who have low back pain during pregnancy will encounter sciatic nerve pain during the nine months they spend carrying a baby.
That said, sciatica is not technically a pregnancy-related condition, either, according to Anita Somani, MD, an OB-GYN with OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio, so while it can happen, it’s not a given for moms-to-be. The weight of the uterus and the fetus pressing on the nerve can be to blame, but often pregnant women who suffer from sciatic nerve pain have other issues that are causing the problem.
“It can happen with a weak back, herniated disc, bone spurs, or spinal stenosis,” Somani says. “Anything that pinches the sciatic nerve can cause this condition.”
If the problem is the uterus and fetus bearing down on that nerve, the good news is that the pain can go away temporarily or permanently when the baby changes position and should be gone for good after delivery.
Not pregnant, but still feeling the pain? Other risk factors for sciatica are a mix of genetics and lifestyle.
In fact, Resnick shares that “bad luck” is actually on his list of reasons someone might be struggling with shooting pains down their rear end, but he also tacks on lack of exercise, aging, and even smoking.
Yes, smoking. Although researchers haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact reasons why smoking and sciatica might be linked, a number of studies have determined that smoking is a “modest risk factor for lumbar radicular pain and clinically verified sciatica.” According to a 2016 study published in the American Journal of Medicine, however, quitting smoking will reduce your risk, although it won’t eliminate it entirely.
As for lack of exercise, it stands to reason that excess weight puts stress on the discs of the lower back, which in turn can cause disc herniation, which—you guessed it—paves the way for sciatic nerve pain. While keeping your core tight and weight in line with medical guidelines isn’t a guaranteed fix, it will reduce your risk.

Treatment Talk

No matter the cause, if you’re suffering from any of the symptoms of sciatica, there’s typically good news on the horizon. Most cases of sciatic nerve pain will go away within three months, if not sooner. Ninety percent of the time, Resnick says, it will actually go away without any treatment at all.
If you’re aching and want to stick to at-home treatments, over-the-counter anti-inflammatories are typically recommended, along with heat and ice therapy, which can soothe your aching back, butt, and legs.
Resting can help too, so if you want to curl up in bed for a day with Netflix, feel free to pamper yourself…for awhile. Just but be careful not to overdo your rest and relaxation period.
“Research now shows that prolonged inactivity or bedrest can actually end up making your symptoms worse, so keep moving,” Anand warns.
That said, if there are certain activities you’ve been pursuing, like a specific workout, make the pain worse, it’s wise to lay off and modify your lifestyle for awhile. Try to reduce the need to carry heavy objects, even if that means something as simple as cleaning out a bulky purse and downsizing for a while.
When it comes to working out, it’s important to keep on moving, but Anand suggests sticking to gentle stretching exercises that avoid twisting, jerking, and bouncing, as you’ll want to move without exacerbating your symptoms.
If you’re a yoga fan or interested in giving it a go, child’s pose and downward dog are both recommended to help stretch out the low back and ease sciatic nerve pain. Provided you’re open about your symptoms, a yoga teacher can help with developing a workout that can stretch your muscles and provide relief without worsening the sciatica.
If sitting makes your nerve pain flare up, but work requires you spend a lot of time seated, practice good posture. Sit up straight rather than leaning over toward your work. Don’t cross your legs. Position your feet flat on the floor, and keep your hips and knees bent at 45 degree angles.
If you can, grab an office chair that provides lumbar support, and look for one that has wheels. When you’ve got to move around your desk, taking advantage of the wheels to move your body as a single unit can help you avoid twisting and turning. Also, be careful about how you move from sitting to standing.
As often as possible, take standing breaks to avoid remaining in one static position for too long. Do not bend at the waist to stand up, as this can make the pain worse. Instead, slide forward on your seat, then use your legs to push yourself into a standing position.
And don’t underestimate the power of positive thinking.
“Though it is impossible to completely eliminate your sciatica risk, understanding that a painful episode is likely short lived can go a long way to putting your mind at ease when one decides to strike,” Anand notes.
If you’re still hurting after a few months, a trip to the doctor can help you get to the root of the problem. Your healthcare provider may call for x-rays or an MRI to see what’s going on internally.
“Doctors often require some type of imaging examination to get to the bottom of sciatica symptoms that haven’t resolved on their own by the three-month mark,” Anand explains. “The purpose for these exams is to connect the symptoms the patient is experiencing with something on the imaging exam that helps us identify why.”
Unfortunately, even with imaging, it isn’t always possible for doctors to identify what’s causing sciatica symptoms. Idiopathic sciatica—or sciatica with no known cause—can be frustrating for sufferers who just want an answer about the origins of their pain. But even idiopathic sciatica tends to go away with conservative treatments, Anand says.
If doctors do decide a patient needs something beyond over-the-counter anti-inflammatories for pain management, most wind up prescribing steroid treatments, injecting the medicine right into the area of pain, or prescribing steroid pills.
In rare cases, surgery may be required, but the surgeons will be working to fix the cause of the sciatica rather than looking to simply cure the sciatic nerve pain. If surgery is required, the solution to the sciatica winds up being a secondary benefit, while the primary focus is addressing the overarching issue that’s causing the sciatica and any other symptoms.

Preventing Sciatic Nerve Pain

Maybe you’ve been through a bout of sciatic nerve pain and never want to experience it again. Or maybe you’ve read all about it and are thinking, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
While the cases of “bad luck” that cause sciatica can’t be avoided, there is increasing evidence that a focus on overall better health can prevent you from experiencing a flare up.
Case in point: Undoing the bad habits that come with sitting all day or standing for long periods of time.
“Exercise regularly to help keep your spine strong, maintain good posture while you’re in a seated position, and use good body mechanics if you stand for long periods or do a lot of heavy lifting for work,” Anand says.
Looking to lengthen and strengthen? Try these yoga poses for core strength and consider incorporating resistance bands or kettlebells into your current fitness routine.
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Happy x Mindful Wellbeing

Mind Over Matter: 7 Tricks That Will Make You The Master Of Your Memory

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 12, 2018

What were you doing five minutes before you started reading this? What’s your best friend’s phone number? What did you have for dinner three nights ago? If you’re stumped on any (or all) of the above, give yourself a break.
Memory is a fickle thing, and the fact that we carry around mini computers in our pockets that provide the answers to all our questions with just a few swipes has only made things worse. Scientists even have a name for the damage the internet (and our phones) has done to our memory: the Google Effect.
Reviewing four different studies on the topic, Harvard researchers determined that when it comes to difficult questions, we’re primed to think about turning to our computers for the answer. Their analysis: “The Internet has become a primary form of external…memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.”
That’s not exactly bad news. Our grandparents had to resort to reminding us that “children should be seen and not heard” when we started asking tough questions about topics that they’d long since forgotten. We, on the other hand, can sneak a peek at our iPhones, and poof, our kids think we’re Einsteins.
But wouldn’t it be nice if we could finish our own…What’s that word again?…Oh yeah…sentences?
You could go back to the dark ages and give up your smartphone in the name of your memory. But first, how about giving these tricks a try?

Game On

If you don’t exercise a muscle, it begins to atrophy. The same goes for our brains. The more we depend on the internet to supply answers for basic questions, the harder it becomes to dig around in our gray matter for the sorts of solutions that were once at the top of minds.
Neuroscientists have long advocated testing our brains, using games to improve both cognition and memory. Ironically, this is where the phone that’s hurting your memory can become a useful tool: The app stores are loaded with trivia options.
Viral craze HQ has made playing trivia tests potentially lucrative, with cash prizes for the people who manage to answer a series of brain teasers, while Heads Up!, Ellen Degeneres’ trivia twist on the kids’ game Headbandz, has made memory tests into social experiences, pitting your brain against your friends’.

Chew on this.

If your grade school offered a break from the usual “no gum in class” rules during testing week, you may already know that popping a piece of Trident in your mouth can help you kick your brain into high gear.
According to British scientists, that same piece of gum can also help you hang onto your memories. The reason? Chewing gum helps us focus, which in turn helps us pay better attention to detail, logging specifics in our brains for future recall.
Give your jaws a workout. Your brain will thank you.

Move it, move it.

Chewing gum gets your jaw moving, but getting on your feet and doing some cardio can make an even bigger difference. Along with the benefits your doctor’s always reminding you will come with a workout (ahem, better sleep, better digestion, and just plain feeling better), there’s ample proof that moving your body will help your brain.
Any kind of workout is generally better than no workout at all, but if you’re looking for help in the “where are my keys” department, skip strength training and head straight to step class or hit the treadmill. The key, Harvard researchers say, is to focus on good old-fashioned aerobic exercise. That’s the kind that will increase the size of your hippocampus, the part of the brain that’s involved in verbal memory and learning.

Funky Fonts

Arial, Times New Roman, and Helvetica all have their strong points, but if you’re fighting to remember why you walked into the kitchen a minute after you’ve opened the fridge, you might want to drop the old standbys in favor of something new.
Scientists have found that hard-to-read fonts may make us stumble, but they also promote better recall. Think about it: If you’re working harder to read something, you’re less likely to skim it, which means you’re actually focusing on the details.
Next time your coworker asks you to review a Word doc, try a yellow font on the white background or push the font size down a few points. When she asks you what you thought of paragraph three later, you won’t have to pretend that you remember what she means.

One More Time for the People in the Back

Let’s face it: No matter how much you hated repeating your multiplication tables over and over and over again, it worked. You can still spit back the answer to 8 × 9 (even if it takes you a little longer than it used to).
The more we do something, the better we are at remembering how to do it. We get even better when we practice what scientists called “spaced repetition,” meaning we repeat the same things over a course of time at increasing intervals. When you want to remember a phone number, for example, or how to ask for directions to the bathroom in German during your next vacation, practice repeating the information. Start by repeating the number or phrase a few seconds after you learn it, then a minute later, then five minutes later, and so on throughout the day.
The more you repeat it, the deeper it should lodge itself in your memory bank.

Let’s get analog, analog.

When was the last time you grabbed a pen and wrote down someone’s phone number? When’s the last time you actually forced yourself to remember someone’s phone number? If your answers to those questions are one and the same, you probably know where we’re going with this.
Writing down information isn’t just a means of giving us something physical to refer to in the future (in case you forget). It’s another means of boosting memory.
Next time someone offers you their cell phone number, leave your phone in your pocket and grab a pen. You might actually remember this one!

Clench.

No pen? No gum? No way you can duck out for a run at lunch to boost your brain?
When all you’ve got on hand is, well, your hands, you’ve still got a mighty tool in your arsenal. It turns out clenching your fist while learning might just help you hang onto memories. So grab your stress ball, and let’s do this!

Tags Commerce, Featured, organic

More Than Mom Motherhood

The State Of Motherhood In 2018: The Best (And Worst) Countries For Moms Around The World

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 11, 2018

For the first month after Charlotte Edwards gave birth, she was confined to her home. No computer. No stepping outside. No doing laundry. Her father-in-law grocery shopped and washed her baby’s clothes (by hand). Her mother-in-law cooked and helped with the baby’s every need.
No, Edwards didn’t land in in-law heaven. This is tradition in China, where zuoyuezi, which literally means “sitting a month,” is observed by every mom…and in-laws are typically the ones who pitch in to make it happen.
And yet, when policy experts tally up various facts and figures, China doesn’t take the prize for “best place in the world to be a mom” (that honor goes to Iceland). Nor is it at the top of the best places to raise kids ranking (another Scandinavian country grabs that distinction).
We’re not going to steal work from the policy wonks out there who draw up these lists every year, but we wondered if there wasn’t something to learn from the way parenting is done and mothers are treated around the world.
Can we improve motherhood right here in the U.S. by picking and choosing some of the offerings from other countries? Or simply attain more appreciation for what we have?

From the looks of the parenting books pushed out of publishing houses in recent decades, that’s exactly what an increasing number of moms are trying to do.
Amy Chua’s controversial 2011 parenting memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother gave us a how-to for parenting like a mom from China does. Though Chua herself is American—born in Illinois to parents who immigrated to the U.S.—her guide was quickly followed by tomes on how kids around the world get their smarts, tutorials on raising better eaters by pretending to be French, and, most recently, a German parenting waltz that shares its name with a hit U2 album.
As Brooklyn-based writer Catherine Crawford, whose adventures in parenting her two daughters like a French mom inspired her book French Twist: An American Mom’s Adventure in Parisian Parenting, tells HealthyWay, “The fact that we have so many ideas and approaches to borrow from is both lucky and unlucky. Choice is wonderful, but it can be overwhelming.”
So how do you choose? How do you know if you’re buying into the notion that the grass is always greener or truly finding inspiration in the right places? Let’s dive in.

Pregnancy Around the World

The parenting journey starts with pregnancy. Whether you give birth to your children or adopt, someone somewhere has to get pregnant.
Living in the land of the free and the home of the brave has its drawbacks here. A recent State of the World’s Mothers report by the charity Save the Children puts the United States dead last on a ranking of maternal health for moms in developed countries. Here in the U.S., a woman expecting a baby faces a 1 in 1,800 risk of maternal death.

The best places to live if you’re expecting a baby? If you can handle the winters, Scandinavia is the perfect place to gestate your little one. Norway takes the top spot on the Save the Children list, followed by Finland, Iceland, and Denmark, with Sweden rounding out the top five.
The hardest places to be pregnant are all on the African continent, with Somalia ranked at the very bottom, just below the Democratic Republic of Congo. In countries on that end of the spectrum, Save the Children estimates an average of 1 in 30 women will die from a pregnancy-related complication.
So what makes it so much harder to be a mom in one area of the world versus another?
Poverty and wealth play clear roles. The countries where moms struggle the most also tend to be some of the poorest in the world.
But what countries on the higher end of the spectrum all have in common is a focus on prenatal care, which ensures they have not only healthy moms but healthy babies.
Norway, for example, boasts one of the best healthcare systems in the world. (And you don’t have to take the Norwegians’ word for it: The World Health Organization agrees.)

The land of fjords, trolls, and Norse mythology is also home to svangerskapskontroll, also known as regular prenatal check-ups that are covered in full by the country’s universal healthcare. Norway also offers a maternity leave plan that extends for 49 weeks at full pay (or 59 weeks at 80 percent pay). Moms can choose between a midwife or an obstetrician, and their choices during their graviditet (Norwegian for pregnancy) guide the entire nine months. If a mom doesn’t want a test done, she says no.
Moving down the list a bit is New Zealand, which lands at No. 17 on Save the Children’s index. Kiwi mom Margo Marshall tells HealthyWay that midwives care for moms with regular (not high-risk) pregnancies from the time pregnancy is confirmed through week six postpartum.
“Prenatal care is as non-invasive as possible,” Marshall says. “So whilst we do refer for standard scans at 13 weeks (for chromosome abnormality detection) and at 20ish weeks (for anatomy scan) that’s all the routine scans that are offered unless clinical needs suggest otherwise.”
Not surprisingly, midwifery care has been linked by a number of studies to improved outcomes for moms, which is reason enough for this to be considered a perk of living down under, but Marshall says there’s another advantage, too.
“All of this is free to the mother, courtesy of global health care,” she notes. “It’s possible to opt to have an obstetrician look after your care, but only a small minority do so. This usually comes with a couple thousand in extra fees (because unless referred for a clinical reason, it’s considered ‘going private’), and the general feel is that an obstetrician in charge of maternity care for a normal, straightforward pregnancy is overkill.”

Wondering where else you can have a dream-like pregnancy (or not)? Here are some of the wins and hits moms take in other countries:

In Japan, the mysteries of pregnancy aren’t left to the parenting books. The government offers women a special pregnancy handbook, which guides them through the process. Each expectant mother also receives a Maternity Mark, a special emblem moms can carry on keychains or bags that signals to society that they’re gestating and should receive kind treatment.
In Tanzania, maternal mortality rates are among the world’s highest, with 454 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. One of the biggest problems Tanzanians face is inadequate prenatal care. In this East African nation, only 15 percent of women seek out a doctor’s care during their first trimester. To combat that, health workers have created special awareness programs to convince moms to initiate prenatal care earlier. If they do go to the doctor, they’ll find one thing most American moms won’t: The average first-time prenatal visit in Tanzania lasts a whole 46 minutes.
In China, Edwards found that moms don’t make prenatal appointments. Instead they line up at the doctor’s office and wait to be seen. “Because of this, we found a friend who would help and see me when she worked the night shift,” Edwards says of her pregnancies. Another concern she noted are Chinese legends surrounding pregnancy: “There are still many old wives’ tales that are followed like it’s the gospel truth,” she notes. “Sex is forbidden during the first and third trimesters because it’s believed to cause miscarriage. Women cut their hair short so the baby gets more nutrition.”

Birth: Who Gets It Right

Even if you’re having a marvelous pregnancy with plenty of pampering, eventually that baby has to come out.
If you plan to give birth in the United States, the numbers allude to an alarming tale. America’s infant mortality rate sits at 5.8 deaths per 1,000 births. That’s more than double the rates in Japan and Sweden, the countries with the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.

When Save the Children’s researchers took a look at capital cities in high-income countries, Washington, D.C., ranked the highest for infant death risk, with an infant mortality rate of 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. Those figures, which come from 2013, represented an all-time low for our nation’s capital, and yet they’re still three times higher than infant mortality rates in Japan’s capital, Tokyo, or Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. What’s more, they’re not the worst in the United States. Detroit’s infant mortality rate was reported at 12.4. In Cleveland, the figure jumped up to 14.1.
But before you start packing your bags to head out of the country, it’s important to note that infant mortality rates are declining in the United States, as is the number of babies born to teen moms.
What’s more, American moms are still at a vast advantage, as the U.S. comes in at No. 24 on the Save the Children list of best and worst places to give birth. By comparison, Haiti and Sierra Leone are tied for 170th on that list.

Here are some other birthing practices that impact delivery around the world:

Exhausted after you give birth? Join the club. But if you want a little time to recover before you’re thrust into the world with your baby, your best bet is to deliver at a Ukrainian hospital. Moms there spend an average of 6.2 days in the hospital after birth. Egyptian moms, on the other hand, typically check out after just half a day.
In Belgium, you can choose any name you like for your child, but beware! The government has the authority to make you change it! The government may weigh in on names that seem to cross gender barriers, sound “ridiculous,” or that an official deems offensive. If parents are dead set on the name, they may wind up in court appealing the official decision.
Home birth is illegal in some countries and can even get midwives arrested in some parts of the United States. But if you have your heart set on delivering in the comfort of your own digs, you may want to learn Dutch. The Netherlands boasts the largest number of home births in the Western world, with a third of moms bringing their babies into the world at home.

Bringing Up Baby

Like pregnancy and birth before them, moms in different countries might as well be living on different planets when it comes to how they spend the days and months after giving birth.
Edwards, for instance, was at home being pampered by her in-laws. But unlike relatives in the United States who were instructed to head back to the obstetrician’s office for post-natal care within two months, she received no medical postpartum care in China. She also wasn’t expected to take her kids to the pediatrician for what American moms consider traditional check-ups.
That Chinese approach has its drawbacks, Edwards says, but some of the benefits are hard to ignore (including the benefits to a mom’s health).
“As frustrating as it was to not be allowed to have cold things, wash my hair (I did break that rule after a week), go outside, use the computer, it was nice to have the freedom to just rest,” she recalls. “My father-in-law shopped for foods and washed baby clothes (by hand; it’s considered more sanitary) and [my] mother-in-law cooked and helped with baby. All the nutritious meals and sleep helped me to lose all my baby weight—plus another 10 pounds—by the end of the month.”
In New Zealand, moms like Marshall qualify for visits from their midwives after they’re discharged from the hospital, beginning with a practitioner swinging by a mom’s home daily for the first two to three days, then every few days, then weekly until a mom is six weeks postpartum.
After that, Marshall says, many moms qualify for care under Plunket, a government-sponsored program that provides well-child checks with a registered nurse who will answer parents’ questions about everything from infant health to parenting practices.

Of course postpartum care isn’t just medical. With the exception of the United States, paid maternity leave is guaranteed throughout the Western world, although how much and who gets it varies from place to place. In most countries with paid leave, just 1 in 5 dads gets some sort of benefit, while in places like Australia, it’s just 1 in 50.
Dads in Scandinavia tend to get the best chance at being physically present during their babies’ formative years. A full 40 percent of fathers take time off to relieve new mothers of some of the childcare burden, and they do so with the government’s blessing. In Denmark, for example, moms and their partners can split 32 weeks worth of paid leave so that between them, two parents can cover the first several years at home with a child without having to sacrifice their earnings.
But even in places where fathers are guaranteed leave, they’re not always comfortable making the most of it. Japanese fathers have a full year’s worth of time off that’s protected by their government, but it’s rare for them to take it.
Meanwhile, many moms in the U.S. aren’t even guaranteed a paycheck—nor do all employers have to hold women’s jobs for them if they take time off to give birth and establish breastfeeding routines. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees moms up to 12 weeks off after birth, adoption, or a foster care placement, but it doesn’t require employers to pay moms during that time. It also exempts any company that has fewer than 50 employees, meaning thousands of American businesses can legally fire a woman who wants to take a few days off to recover from birth. As for partners, the FMLA does recognize dads and same-sex partners, but it still lacks teeth when it comes to requiring payment and loses power due to the exemptions it affords a large sector of businesses.

So what’s that first year like around the world?

In China, moms like Edwards practice elimination communication—an infant-led “potty training”—whereby moms hold their young ones over a toilet rather than depending on diapers.
In Brazil, strict laws that limit how formula companies can advertise their wares are one of the many ways the government supports moms in breastfeeding. The country also boasts the largest number of human milk banks in the world, offering options to moms who are struggling with breastfeeding or who can’t or don’t want to breastfeed.

Growing Up Globally

So what’s it like raising a child in different parts of the world? Ask any mom, and you’ll get a different story, which can also be true of two parents who live in the exact same town in America but have different income levels, cultural backgrounds, and daily experiences.
Still, there are some distinct country-dependent differences in parenting styles and in how kids are treated. In addition to their considerations of moms and motherhood, Save the Children’s researchers have spent time around the world researching where kids have it best…and where they have it worst.
Countries wracked by poverty and war unsurprisingly fall low on the list, while the Nordic countries, with their focus on healthcare and education for all, are situated near the top. The researchers note that the highest rates of child mortality are found in sub-Saharan Africa, where basic medical care is often unavailable, too far away, or too expensive, and kids are also more likely to be born to mothers with limited education. Lack of education traps people in poverty, hurting moms and kids alike.
But even in the Western world, where kids usually have a more level playing field, there are disparities.

In the United Kingdom, parents are spending a third of their annual salaries on childcare, with American parents—who spend a quarter of their incomes on childcare—not far behind. Korean moms have it made in the shade on this account, though: Their government foots the bill for daycare.
As for education, U.S. parents have to funnel away a whole lot of dough if we want our kids to see the inside of a college classroom. Our tuition rates are highest in the world, while many Scandinavian countries offer kids a chance at higher ed for absolutely nothing.
Here’s more on what it’s like to raise a kid around the world:

In conducting the research for her book, Crawford found that French moms readily assume their role as the boss, rather than allowing their kids to wear them down. “This was huge in cutting down on the negotiating and bargaining that usually just ended up in crying,” she recalls. “When I told my kids that I was the undisputed decision maker and no amount of whining would change that, everyone relaxed. It makes sense. A 35-year-old makes better decisions than a 2-year-old.”
Mommy’s Netflix time after the kids go to sleep may be popular in America, but in places like Spain and Argentina, kids typically stay up until at least 10 p.m. in order to spend more time with their families.

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Healthy Pregnancy Motherhood

Here's How To Choose Between An OB And A Midwife

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 10, 2018

Obstetrician or midwife? Midwife or obstetrician? If you’ve been waffling on the two, chances are you’re pregnant or planning to grow your family soon. (We know, we know, we’re mind readers, what can we say?)
The truth is, picking between an OB-GYN and a midwife comes down to personal preference. Sure, there’s plenty to consider— What kind of birth do you want? Where do you want to deliver? What are you comfortable with?—but figuring out which questions are the most important (and what the implications of your answers are) can be a touch overwhelming.
We won’t leave you hanging, though. Here’s what you need to know about OB-GYNs and midwives—and how to choose which one should walk you through your pregnancy and delivery.

Opting for an OB

Before you got pregnant, you saw a gynecologist. Now the office nurse says you have the option to see an obstetrician.
Don’t want to change doctors? Good news: Technically, they’re the exact same person.
To become an obstetrician and gynecologist (aka OB-GYN), these individuals have to graduate from medical school with a medical degree, and they have to focus specifically on the medical and surgical care of the female reproductive system and associated disorders. Their gynecology studies are focused on the reproductive system as a whole, but the obstetrics part of their studies is what makes them experts in caring for women while they’re expecting a baby and into the postpartum period.
Most women who choose to have an OB-GYN perform their prenatal care and deliver their baby will see a general OB-GYN: one who can perform surgeries, manage labor and delivery, and take care of routine prenatal and postpartum care. Moms who have high-risk pregnancies are generally referred to OB-GYNs who have an even more in-depth specialty, allowing them to provide top-notch care for the mom-to-be and her fetus that’s based on specific medical considerations.
So how do you know if an OB is right for you? Ask yourself these questions before you decide!

Is your pregnancy “high risk”?

This is a general term that can cover a wide variety of moms, from those who had problems during previous pregnancies to moms carrying multiples to women who have been diagnosed with preeclampsia or other pregnancy-related conditions. They’re generally at higher risk for C-section birth, which only an OB-GYN can perform, and their babies may need additional care from an OB-GYN who specializes in maternal/fetal medicine. Sometimes moms develop complications as the pregnancy progresses. If you start with a midwife and complications crop up, they may direct you to an OB-GYN for more advanced care.
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What kind of birth do you want?

OB-GYNs do not provide home birth care. Some do deliver in birthing centers, however, and some work with moms who want a waterbirth. If you have your heart set on a certain type of birth, ask your OB if it’s something they will do. If the answer is no, find out why. If there’s no medical reason that they’re saying no, you may want to explore your options, like finding a more accepting OB or switching to a midwife.

Do you trust your OB-GYN?

Choosing how to give birth and who to guide you through the process is incredibly personal. If you have an OB-GYN who you have seen for years and who you trust implicitly, that can go a long way toward making you feel more comfortable.

Where do you want your prenatal care to occur?

Most doctors will only meet you in their office, and the frequency of visits will increase as your pregnancy progresses, typically requiring you to visit the doctor at least once a week by the time you’re in your ninth month of pregnancy. Make sure you choose a practitioner whose approach to prenatal care corresponds to your needs.

Making the Most of What Midwives Have to Offer

Midwives have been around for centuries, but don’t let that fool you into thinking midwifery is outdated or old-fashioned. Today’s certified midwives and certified nurse midwives are medical professionals who can (and do!) deliver excellent care to hundreds of thousands of moms and their babies.
These days, some 8 percent of babies come into this world via a midwife’s hands, and the number of people going into the field is on the rise. To get there, a midwife has to attend college at an institution accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME).
Certified nurse-midwives are registered nurses who have graduated from an accredited nurse-midwifery education program and have passed a national certification examination. Certified midwives, on the other hand, receive a background in a health-related field other than nursing, but they must graduate from a midwifery education program accredited by ACME and take the same national certification exam.
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Midwives do not go to medical school, and thus they don’t have MD after their names like OB-GYNs do. That said, their studies cover similar content on the care and treatment of women’s health issues, including specialized studies on pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the postpartum period.
Leaning toward a midwife? Ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to birth at home?

Home birth is on the rise in America, and midwives have been leading the charge. Not only are they the only medical practitioners who will come to your home to help you welcome your baby into the world, the largest ever study of home births found that planned home births among low-risk women with a midwife on hand result in low rates of interventions without an increase in adverse outcomes for mothers and babies. In other words, if you can birth at home with a midwife, it could mean less risk for you and baby!

What can a midwife do for you?

This may seem like an obvious question, but midwives do not have the same authority as an OB-GYN. Some states limit midwives to deliver only in hospitals and only allow them to see patients under the supervision of a medical doctor, while some limit the sorts of medications they can dispense for both you and your baby. What your midwife can do depends on where you live, so ask!

What does your health insurance company say?

An increasing number of health insurance companies, including Medicaid, now cover midwives and their services, but the coverage limits vary; some will not cover a birthing center or home birth at all. Talk to your midwife and your insurance company to make sure you know what costs will be covered and can plan accordingly.

Do you want a VBAC?

Short for vaginal birth after C-section, VBAC got the stamp of approval from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists back in 2010, but there are still a number of OB-GYNs who prefer to tell moms who’ve had a C-section before that they need to schedule another one. Midwives, on the other hand, do not perform C-sections and are often more willing to allow a woman to attempt a VBAC.

Do you want a little more one-on-one care?

Not all midwives will make home visits during the prenatal period, but some will! If you’re looking for that extra personal attention, a midwife might be the answer.

Do you love your midwife?

Midwives don’t just deliver babies. Many of them perform regular care for women, seeing them for other reproductive health–related issues. If you’re already under the care of a midwife you trust, they might be the best person to help you through your pregnancy, too.

Who should you choose?

Let’s face it: There is no wrong answer here.
Keep in mind that choosing one or other at the start of your pregnancy doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the decision. If a pregnancy becomes more complicated, for example, a midwife will refer you to an OB-GYN for medical care. They won’t be insulted that you’re making the change; they want you and your baby to be safe.
On the other hand, if you start off with an OB-GYN and decide at some point in your pregnancy that you’d like a less traditional birth or want a more personalized approach to the delivery process, you may be able to switch to a midwife.
What’s more, many midwives and doctors work together, providing a team approach to prenatal and postpartum care.
Whether you have an OB-GYN or a midwife in the room when you add to your family, you’re with someone who’s had years of professional training to get this right. And ultimately, the type of birth you have (and the medical professional who’s there) needs to be right for your family.

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Happy x Mindful Wellbeing

How To Set Realistic Self-Care Goals

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 9, 2018

Ah, self-care. We’ve all read about it, from emoji-laden Instagram captions to hot-take thinkpieces. It’s The Thing. And it’s a Good Thing, right? After all, we’re caring! For ourselves! Who can argue with that?
Unfortunately, as anyone who has ever sat on their couch staring into their suspiciously colored smoothie and moaned “I don’t care how good it is for me, I just don’t waaaaaaaanna drink it” knows, sometimes we get a little carried away with the goals we set for our own self-care.
Not all self-care is going to be rose-scented face masks, coloring in our bullet journals, or taking our fifth nap of the week. Getting back into a regular workout routine, making intentional choices about our relationships, or truly committing to our mental health can require a little pain before the gain. It’s how we go about setting those goals for the “big” pieces of self-care that can help determine our success.
And if we want all that caring for ourselves to have its intended effect, at some point we have to be realistic about our goals.

Are you trying to fight biology?

A common piece of self-care involves identifying bad habits and correcting them in an effort to improve our day-to-day. If you aren’t getting enough exercise, for example, you might decide it’s time to get back in the game. After all, exercise is good for your body, and being good to your body is a main tenet of self-care.
But beware shooting yourself in the foot right out of the starting gate. You can’t expect a body that’s been doing a lot of Netflix and chilling to suddenly be up to marathon-level running in a week. Similarly, it’s not wise to expect a set of asthmatic lungs to adjust immediately to an Alpine skiing route.
Respect your body’s limitations and ease yourself into things. It’s more likely to stick if you aren’t treating yourself the way a drill sergeant would a new recruit.
Be aware, too, that some things simply will not change. If you’re a night owl who struggles to wake up every morning at 7 to shower and get ready for work, deciding that you should now roll out of bed at 5 for a pre-shower run may doom your new focus on a healthy body before it even starts.
Scientists have determined that the people who wake early or head to bed late are often doing so because of their genetics. If you know mornings are the worst part of the day for you, picking a time after work to hit the pavement might be a better option.
Work with what you’ve got and meet yourself where you already are; you’ll probably find much more success by accepting that you (just like everyone else) have some limits.
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Is the goal attainable?

It’s good to think big. It’s how we grow. But we need to remember to make self-care goals that are truly attainable, not arbitrary.
A plan to make at least one new friend in your new neighborhood is attainable. A demand that you make three new friends in one weekend is big thinking…and it’s also arbitrary. It can easily lead to frustration as you spend a weekend in a new town, foisting yourself on unsuspecting strangers at the museum or library, desperately trying to find a friend for the sake of meeting this goal.
Scientists have found that it’s helpful to build your goals around tasks rather than outcomes. This helps makes them more attainable, as the former is something we can control, while the latter we can’t.
We can’t control whether going for walks will help us add a specific amount of muscle mass or cure our depression. We can, however, control whether we commit to a walking goal and stick to it. And the more we do it, the more benefits we’re likely to reap.
Avoid putting such strict limitations on yourself that your “self-care” turns into self-imposed torture.

Is the goal too vague?

Even as you need to be wary of goals that are too strict, a goal that’s too vague isn’t terribly motivating. When researchers from the University of Liverpool and the University of Exeter studied the goals set by people with depression versus those without, they found that depression patients tend to make their goals too abstract, making them harder to attain.
For example, the researchers said, a depressed person might say their goal is “to be happy,” whereas their non-depressed peer might say they’re planning “to improve my time running the local 10K race.” The problem, researchers found, was that the non-specific goals were simply not motivating. They held no action component.
So how do you find that happy medium between being too strict and too vague?

Make sure your self-care goal has measurable results.

“I want to be happy” is subjective. It’s not easy to look back on a month and see if you were “happier” during that time. A goal such as “I want to take more walks to take advantage of nature therapy” is measurable. You can look back on a week and determine if you met the goal of talking a walk—or several!
“I want to go to therapy at least three times a month” is measurable too. Though you can’t predict what will happen in those sessions or the outcomes that result, you can make sure you schedule (and attend!) those appointments.
Remember, the best self-care goals aren’t the ones that you only wish you could accomplish. They’re the ones you can actually achieve. And the biggest positive of creating self-care goals with intention? You’ll feel like you’re taking even better care of yourself when you do.

Tags Featured, organic

Conscious Beauty Lifestyle

The Benefits Of Witch Hazel (And How To Use It Daily)

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 8, 2018

All it takes is a few scrolls through Pinterest and you’re bombarded: You need to be using witch hazel right now! Witch hazel could change your life!
While dabbing a little bit of this naturally-occurring astringent on your acne doesn’t exactly rank up there with weddings, births, and funerals on the “life changing” charts, there’s no question that witch hazel—a centuries-old wellness pick—is making its way back into our wellness routines, and for good reason. The uses for witch hazel are numerous, and as scientists and skincare junkies alike are finding promise in natural remedies for everything from acne treatment to easing inflamed skin, it makes sense that witch hazel is topping the list of favorite ingredients.
But before you hit the drugstore (or Amazon) for a bottle of holistic astringent, is witch hazel the right fix for what ails you? Wondering what the top uses for witch hazel are?
We talked to the experts about the good, the bad, and everything in between!

First of all, what is witch hazel?

Witch hazel has gained its spot in the zeitgeist in no small part because many of us are trying to ditch beauty products with ingredient lists chock full of complex chemicals we can hardly pronounce and move toward more natural options instead.
In 2015 alone, natural beauty lines grew by by 7 percent in the U.S., compared to a 2 percent rise in the overall beauty market that same year, and natural wellness options are only expected to become more of a presence as time goes on.
The good news if you’re after holistic remedies: It doesn’t get much more natural than witch hazel. That’s because the liquid isn’t cooked up in a factory. It’s actually derived directly from the witch hazel plant.
Common witch hazel or American witch hazel is actually a large woody shrub or tree, Dayna Valenti-Gaeta, community horticulture program coordinator at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Sullivan County, New York, tells HealthyWay. Dubbed Hamamelis viginiana, the tree is native to the eastern half of North America, and you’ll find them growing out in the wild anywhere from Quebec down to Texas and Florida.
“It is found in the understory, in areas where there is acidic soil (near pine, oak, maple, hickory, and wild blueberries) and part sun/light shade,” Valenti-Gaeta explains. “The shrub/tree can grow to about 15 to 20 feet tall and wide.”

What Science Says About the Benefits of Witch Hazel

“Witch hazel has been used extensively throughout history,” says Tanya Kormeili, MD, a board certified dermatologist from Santa Monica, California. “It contains chemicals called tannins, which can help with inflammation, to reduce swelling, help repair broken skin, and fight infections such as bacteria. ”
It’s not just years of use that points to witch hazel’s effectiveness, either. Scientists have dug into whether or not witch hazel is therapeutic, and the results have been largely positive. In one study out of Kingston University, London, for example, researchers observed “significant” anti-inflammatory effects of witch hazel. That study was funded in part by Neal’s Yard, a British company that sells organic natural health and beauty products, but researchers declared no competing interests and the potential uses of witch hazel (and proof of it working) don’t end there.
Another study published in a 2007 edition of the European Journal of Pediatrics determined that hamamelis ointment, a product made with witch hazel, is an effective and safe treatment for minor skin injuries, diaper dermatitis, or localized inflammation of skin in children under age 11. Yet another study that dates back to 1998—when it was published in the journal Dermatology—shows the effectiveness of a lotion made from the witch hazel plant in treating redness of the skin.
In light of these and other studies, it’s clear witch hazel has a wide variety of scientifically legitimated uses. Ultimately, according to celebrity facialist Ildi Pekar, it’s the versatility of witch hazel that makes it so popular.

Witch Hazel Uses You Should Try

1. Treat acne.

Witch hazel is a naturally occurring astringent that constricts blood vessels, which in turn reduces swelling and inflammation. When used as a toner, witch hazel can reduce inflammation caused by acne and decrease excess oil. Using a formula made without alcohol won’t give you the overly dry, tight feeling some people have come to expect of alcohol-based toners.
Pekar suggests using witch hazel after you wash your face to help further clean the skin topically from bacteria and reduce inflammation associated with breakouts you may be experiencing. Grab a cotton ball, soak it in the liquid, and swab your most acne-prone areas.
“It can be a little tricky because there are different forms of acne, and some may not benefit from alcohol in witch hazel,” she warns, in which case she recommends using a mineral-rich toner instead.

2. Soothe sunburn.

Need to take the sting out of that sunburn? Add a few drops of witch hazel to a squirt of aloe vera gel and smooth the concoction over your skin. The aloe will cool you down while the witch hazel will work on the inflammation. Some burn ointments even mix the two, so check your labels: You might find a two-for-one deal in the drugstore aisles.
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3. Remove make-up.

Put down those expensive, disposable make-up removing sheets and grab a washcloth or paper towel that’s been soaked in witch hazel instead. The tannins in witch hazel can help dissolve debris and oil buildup on the skin according to Anca Tchelebi, MD, a dermatologist at Park Avenue Medical Spa in Armonk, New York.

4. Take the puffy out.

If you’ve been crying, suffering through allergy season, or didn’t get enough sleep, run a cotton pad soaked in witch hazel over your puffy eyelids (making sure to keep your eyes closed to avoid irritation). The astringent in witch hazel helps to constrict the blood vessels, Tchelebi says, which will help return your eyes to their less-puffy state. Some products, like the Detox Eye Roller from First Aid Beauty, package that witch hazel hit right into a roller to ensure easy application.

5. Take the sting out of hemorrhoids.

If you’ve tucked into a box of TUCKS pads to get some relief from the burning and itching of hemorrhoids, you may have noticed the brand boasts its active ingredient is—you guessed it—witch hazel.
If you’ve ever heard of models and big stars using these medicated pads on their faces, well, now you know why! The witch hazel is what helps bring down puffiness in the face, making them red carpet–ready (and you ready to face the day).

6. Alleviate postpartum pain.

You can use those same TUCKS pads to get after-birth relief. Seriously. Keep your pads in the freezer, pull one out, and gently dab your undercarriage when the stinging is too much. You can also soak a giant maxi pad in alcohol-free witch hazel and freeze it before use. Stick it in the mesh underwear you get at the hospital and you’ll feel instant relief.

7. Take the itch out of bug bites.

Witch hazel is said to have been used hundreds of years ago to soothe the itch of mosquito and other bug bites, and that hasn’t changed. A little dab’ll do ya for this treatment. Resist scratching and allow the tannins to tackle the inflammation and cut down on the reaction to the allergens left behind by an insect’s bite.

8. Coax an ingrown hair out from under your skin.

If you get painful red bumps on your bikini line after you’ve visited your waxer, you may have ingrown hairs that are trying to make their way out of the skin. Kormeili tells us you can use witch hazel to treat these spots.
The witch hazel will both relieve the inflammation and help kill the bacteria that’s causing it, allowing the trapped hair to work its way to the surface. Apply once a day to the bump, allowing the witch hazel to air dry.

Witchy Myths: The Witch Hazel Uses That Don’t Work

It sounds like witch hazel is a miracle of nature, doesn’t it? Maybe those Pinterest headlines aren’t exaggerating, after all.
And it’s true: Witch hazel is amazing.
But there are a few popular “101 witch hazel uses” pins you may come across that you’ll want to avoid according to dermatologists.
The biggest offender on these lists? No matter what you’ve read, there is no such thing as “natural” sun protection, and using witch hazel in place of sunscreen is absolutely not going to keep you skin cancer-free, so don’t even bother.
“Some witch hazel enthusiasts claim that due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties witch hazel can be applied to the skin before sun exposure to prevent sunburn or after sun exposure to prevent sun damage,” Tchelebi says. “This is complete junk science, and as a cosmetic physician who sees the devastating effects of sun damage on the health and appearance of people’s skin, these types of claims make me go crazy!”
While witch hazel might help soothe your sunburn, it will not protect you from the sun’s damaging rays, and what you do with it afterward will not reverse any damage that the UV exposure has done to your shoulders, chest, face, or any other skin.
“I would advise my patients to rely only on sunscreens containing both UVB and UVA protection to protect their skin from the damaging effects of the sun,” Tchelebi says. In other words: You should never rely on witch hazel for sun protection. Stick to sunscreens that are well-rated and scientifically-backed.
Another sobering reality for those who tout the endless uses of witch hazel? Even the promises of inflammation fighting and bacteria killing can come with a dose of reality for those with sensitive skin according to Kormeili.
“ Some patients are very allergic to this plant,” she warns. “Sometimes when applied to open sores or skin it can cause severe irritation as well.
Like most wellness routines, it’s always good to consult with your doctor before adding witch hazel to your arsenal. They may advise you test a small patch of the skin before using it in larger quantities just so you can see if your skin reacts negatively. They may also say you’re not a candidate for witch hazel use based on past skin issues.
Then again, it may get a thumbs up from your doc, in which case it’s time to scope out the best product for your needs!

Witch hazel should you use? Go for the good stuff.

Of course, even if you’ve gotten the all clear from your doctor to use witch hazel in your skincare routine, you want to make sure the witch hazel you buy (or make!) is the best product for your skin and desired usage.
As one of the only medicinal plants approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a non-prescription drug ingredient, there’s a plethora of witch hazel options on the market, and all of them claim to be the best. So how do you choose?
There is no regulation from the FDA regarding how much pure plant witch hazel goes into a bottle, Kormeili warns, so you need to read ingredient labels carefully. Many witch hazel solutions on the market are largely alcohol or formaldehyde.
Because alcohols can be drying and irritating, it’s best to steer clear of these products. It’s also important to check labels for the inclusion of “fragrance,” which can cause allergic reactions—especially for people with sensitive skin.
Wondering which witch hazel products we love to use? Here are our witch hazel recommendations:

Thayer’s Original Witch Hazel Toner

This alcohol-free toner is made with aloe vera so it will act as an astringent on acne-prone areas without drying you out or leaving your skin irritated. Use this cult fave toner on a clean face to tighten your pores and refresh your skin. It comes in plenty of scents: original, rose petal (our favorite!), lavender, lemon, cucumber, and even an unscented variety.

Ahava Witch Hazel Hand Cream

If your hands are feeling tight and dry, use this witch hazel cream to soothe and heal them. Since witch hazel is naturally anti-inflammatory, it can calm ongoing issues. Plus, Ahava claims the Dead Sea minerals in the cream “help restore essential moisture.”

Herbivore Rose Hibiscus Coconut Water Hydrating Face Mist

This face mist is the perfect addition to your skincare routine. Incorporate it between using your cleanser and applying your moisturizer. The coconut and aloe leaf waters will moisturize while the witch hazel will tighten your skin.

Dr. Jart+ Water Replenishment Cotton Mask

Who doesn’t love a good face mask? K-beauty giant DR. JART+ has found a wonderful use for witch hazel in this cotton mask that hydrates and provides moisture.
Eager to find the perfect witch hazel product for you? Check out our favorite finds from Thayers, Ahava, Herbivore, and Dr. Jart:

Do-It-Yourself Witch Hazel

The manufacturers of witch hazel products are interested in the bark and twigs of the witch hazel tree. That’s the stuff you’ll want if you’re making your own, too, Valenti-Gaeta says.
“The bark or small twigs are macerated and made into mulch…and boiled to make a witch hazel tonic,” she explains. “You have to boil any woody materials (including roots when making teas and tinctures). Vodka or straight grain alcohol can be added to make the witch hazel shelf stable.”
If you want to get really DIY with it, the Farmer’s Almanac even offers up tips on how to make your own witch hazel:

For a water-based witch hazel decoction, place the chopped twigs and scraped bark into a stainless-steel pot; cover completely with water (use distilled water if you have heavily treated water), bring the contents to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce heat and simmer for at least half an hour. Keep the twigs covered with water. Set in a cool place overnight, then strain into glass jar. Refrigerate and use within a few days.
To make a long-lasting alcohol tincture, place chopped bark and twigs in a large glass jar and cover with vodka. Let it sit in a dark, cool place for six weeks, then strain and store, covered, in a glass jar, also in a cool, dark place. To use, dilute a couple of tablespoons in half a cup of water, soak clean gauze, washcloth, or cotton balls in the mixture, and apply.

If all that macerating and boiling sounds like a lot of work, well, it is. But it’s worth it, says Kormeili. Of course it’s also perfectly acceptable to leave hard work to the manufacturers and just pick up a new bottle of witch hazel when you need one!
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Health x Body Wellbeing

Endometriosis Symptoms: What’s Really Going On Down There?

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 7, 2018

iWhen Dawn Hauschild’s period showed up shortly after the birth of her second child, she expected it to be a normal adjustment to her pre-pregnancy state. Instead, the third-grade teacher’s period refused to go away, and with it came debilitating pain. The problem? Endometriosis, a chronic and painful disorder that allows uterine tissue to flourish in areas of the body other than the uterus.
It’s a lonely disease, Hauschild says.
“Your hormones are messed up, which messes with your entire body. You are in pain like the first-day period cramps every day, and people look at you like you are crazy,” she tells HealthyWay. “I talked to my best friend, who really didn’t understand what I was going through. My husband was my biggest support. But really and honestly, I felt ALONE.”
Hauschild is far from alone. An estimated 1 in 10 women in the world suffer from endometriosis, but it’s a condition that’s often misunderstood—in part because women don’t all show the same symptoms. For every woman like Hauschild, who was wracked with pain after her son’s arrival, there are women who show few or no symptoms at all.
Wondering whether you’re one of them? Here’s what the experts say.

What’s endometriosis, anyway?

Endometriosis can be (and often is) confused with endometrium, a term that refers to the mucous membrane lining the uterus. It’s an easy enough mistake to make when you look at the two words, but having one doesn’t mean you have the other.
Most cisgender women have endometrium. It’s the lining that will thicken during the menstrual cycle in anticipation of embryo implantation then shed during your period if you aren’t pregnant.
But for the millions of women with endometriosis, the endometrium doesn’t just show up in the uterus, says Sherry Ross, MD, an OB-GYN at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Endometrial implants, as they’re called, will show up in other parts of the body—from the ovaries to the fallopian tubes and beyond the reproductive system in the bowels, bladder, and other parts of the pelvis.
These implants become problematic because—just like the endometrium in the uterus—endometrial implants in other parts of the body respond to hormonal shifts and they slowly wreak havoc.
“With each period, the endometrial implants will bleed no matter where they are located in your body,” Ross explains. “As a result of the bleeding implant(s), scar tissue or ‘spiderwebs’ as I like to refer to them, develop in your pelvis, causing pain and all the other symptoms related to endometriosis.”
Those symptoms include everything from heavy menstrual bleeding and pelvic discomfort to painful intercourse and irregular periods.
It was both pain and bleeding that prompted Hauschild’s diagnosis. But although she had already gotten pregnant with one son, doctors said she might deal with yet another common sign of the disease: infertility. In fact this is how many women discover they have endometriosis.
Doctors still don’t know why a quarter of patients never show any of the more obvious side effects, but there’s a correlation that can’t be ignored. Anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of infertile women have endometriosis, and 30 to 50 percent of women with endometriosis are infertile. Although it is one of the most treatable causes of infertility, it also remains the least treated.
In the end, Hauschild was able to get pregnant a second time, albeit after several years of trying. But the second pregnancy and the hormones that flooded through her body seemed to make her condition worse. Still, she considers herself blessed.
“I was lucky,” Hauschild says. “I was able to have my boys. Some people are not able to have kids if they have it.”
Even those who do get pregnant, like Hauschild, often find that endometriosis worsens with each pregnancy. And the diagnosis process can be all the more frustrating, Ross says, because of the wide range of different symptoms each patient might experience.
“Since symptoms vary between women, so does the time it takes to make the diagnosis,” Ross explains. “Diagnosis can be tricky even for the specialists.”

What endometriosis is not

Whether you have endometriosis or you’re facing a possible diagnosis, there’s one thing that’s certain: It’s not your fault.
Although researchers have yet to pinpoint any one particular cause of the condition, it’s been verified that endometriosis is not something women can control. It’s not sexually transmitted, nor is it something that you can “bring on” by any one behavior or action.
Studies have ruled out a link between using the IUD for birth control and developing endometriosis, as well as the chance that previous sexually transmitted diseases might increase your chances of encountering the disease. What’s more, endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may both be reproductive in nature and occur in about the same percentage of the population, but the two conditions are not linked. Having one won’t increase your chances of having the other.
Most of the risk factors are things you’re born with, says Gerardo Bustillo, MD, an OB-GYN at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. They include:

Never having been pregnant, early onset of menses, late menopause
Being taller and/or thinner than most women
Having a family history of endometriosis—having a mother, sister, or daughter with endometriosis raises your risk about six-fold
Being Caucasian or Asian
Having red hair, freckles, sensitivity to the sun, and pre-cancerous skin moles

On the other hand, a period that doesn’t begin until late adolescence correlates to a lower risk, as does being black or Hispanic.
None of those things are changeable. But Ross says there are some things that may help to lower your risk if you’re already in a higher-risk group.
“Many believe that keeping your estrogen levels low can help reduce your risk,” she notes. “The birth control pill, regular exercise, [and] avoiding excessive alcohol and caffeine all help keep estrogen levels low in your body and help reduce your risk.”

Getting diagnosed with endometriosis

If you’ve been hammered by painful periods or struggled with infertility, an endometriosis diagnosis won’t be automatic…and you may have to fight for it, even at your physician’s office. Some studies have found that women can wait for as long as 11 years for a proper diagnosis.
It’s not just that the disease presents differently from woman to woman. Many practitioners are ill equipped to handle an endometriosis diagnosis. According to statistics from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG):

63% of general practitioners [GPs] indicated they felt ill at ease in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with endometriosis. One-half could not cite three main symptoms of the disease out of dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility.

In the ACOG survey, just 38 percent of GPs indicated that they perform a gynecological examination for suspected endometriosis; 28 percent recommended magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to confirm the diagnosis.
Your best bet if you think you may have endometriosis is to work with an OB-GYN. If endometriosis is suspected, your doctor will likely call for diagnostic laparoscopy first. This minimally invasive outpatient surgery makes use of a tiny incision to give doctors a look inside the pelvis, where they’ll keep an eye out for endometriosis implants and/or scar tissue (some of which can be treated during the procedure).
Diagnosis can come at any time. While many women are in their 20s or even 30s at diagnosis, Jordan Davidson recalls being diagnosed at just 12 years old. Davidson, who is the founder of Endo Warriors, an online support group for endometriosis patients, is on the younger end of the spectrum, but she’s far from alone. Girls as young as 11 have been diagnosed with endometriosis, and estimates put the number of endometriosis patients at 1 in 10 women between the ages of 15 and 49.

So what does endometriosis mean for your overall health?

The results are a mixed bag. While endometriosis is exceedingly painful for some, others never notice symptoms and can live a pretty normal life. Even the number of endometriosis implants in the body does not necessarily mean you will have pain. Some women have very few implants with significant pain. Others have a lot…with little pain.
And while it may be correlation rather than causation, Ross says it bears noting that endometriosis is often associated with other health problems such as asthma, allergies, multiple sclerosis, hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and ovarian and breast cancer. A diagnosis with one won’t necessarily mean you’ll be diagnosed with the others, but your risks may be higher.

There’s help.

The goal with any treatment is to reduce pelvic pain with as little intervention as possible, says Rachel Cannon, MD, an OB-GYN and instructor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University. Typically that means starting with medication such as birth control pills. Because the implants respond to hormones, similarly to the way the uterine lining does, the pill’s regulation of the body’s hormones can help reduce the reaction and the pain.
Of course, if you’re trying to become pregnant, birth control pills are not helpful, as they will prevent conception. The laproscopic procedure used in diagnosis may help clear up enough of the endometriosis to allow your body to become pregnant.
If a patient is in pain but isn’t interested in conception and has no pelvic masses, Bustillo says that medical therapy will likely include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen or naproxen, and/or oral contraceptives.
If pain is not well controlled with anti-inflammatory medication and/or oral contraceptives, the next step is usually gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist drugs (such as Lupron).
“These drugs cause a temporary menopause-like state by sharply lowering estrogen levels in the body,” Bustillo says. “As a result, the endometriosis implants shrink and cause less pain.”
So why not start with GnRH agonists? There are drawbacks; they produce menopausal side effects and can result in bone loss.
Unfortunately, endometriosis has a high rate of recurrence. In patients treated surgically, it’s as high as 40 percent at 10-year follow-up, and about 20 percent of patients will need to undergo additional surgery within two years. Because of this, some may opt for a hysterectomy down the road, including removal of both ovaries.
Hysterectomy is a complicated decision, Cannon says, because it both eliminates a woman’s ability to become pregnant and has menopausal side effects. Nor is it always a simple cure. There may still be endometriosis in the body that can cause issues.
Making sense of all of your options will require your doctor’s advice, but Jordan Davidson likes to think it’s other sufferers who can help you with the emotional component. It’s why she started Endo Warriors along with fellow endometriosis sufferer Jill Fuersich.
“Growing up, I knew very few people with the condition. When I moved to New York City for college, I thought ‘Great, if there are millions of women with endometriosis in the U.S., surely there must be thousands living with the condition in the nation’s biggest city.’ Except I couldn’t find a support group,” she recalls.
Like Hauschild, she felt alone, until she met Fuersich and began to put together the pieces that now make up Endo Warriors, which offers in-person and online support. There is a private Facebook group for those living with the condition and a public page with general resources for people with endometriosis. They also provide resources for the loved ones of people with the condition. The group has regular meetings in New York City and is in the process of adding more services…and it’s open to anyone with endometriosis questions.
Others with endometriosis can find support from groups like Nancy’s Nook or Endometropolis. Resolve, a national non-profit organization for folks dealing with infertility, also has resources for those whose infertility is linked to endometriosis.
In the end, the most important thing is to speak up, Ross says.
“Women are becoming more aware of their bodies and have more access to medical information. Many women already suspect the diagnosis of endometriosis after doing their own research online before going to see their healthcare provider,” she notes.
“This is a positive step in women becoming their own patient advocate. It is incredibly important to find a healthcare provider who is comfortable and competent in treating endometriosis and who can guide your treatment based on your personal needs.”
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Happy Home Lifestyle

Swedish Death Cleaning Is The Decluttering Method You Didn’t Know You Needed

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date March 3, 2018

If there was ever a task that makes curling up in bed and throwing the comforter over your head sound like a good idea, Swedish death cleaning is right up there. What ever happened to hygge and lykke? Isn’t the new trend to adopt the comfiest Scandinavian habits so we can spend our days cuddling in front of a roaring fire in a pair of slippers?
Well, yes. Danish hygge and its Norwegian cousin lykke are all about comfort. And in its way, Swedish death cleaning, or dostadning as it’s known in Sweden, is too—comfort for you now as you declutter your home…and comfort your family after you’re gone.
The name Swedish death cleaning comes from The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, a book released earlier this year. Author Margareta Magnusson is a Swedish artist and mother of five who describes herself as being somewhere between 80 and 100.
Magnusson may be a first-time author, but her book has created a firestorm. In fact, it’s already been dubbed the new KonMari.
KonMari, of course, refers to organizational consultant Marie Kondo’s “art of tidying up,” which has had us pawing through closets full of stuff over the last few years, determining what gives us joy and what should be hauled to the curb on trash day.
But where Kondo has always suggested focusing inward—literally choosing to keep only what gives us personal pleasure—Magnusson’s death cleaning approach is focused outward, on those who you stand to leave behind if (when?) you die.
As she explains in a video created with her daughters, the idea is to “get rid of the things you have collected and had in your home for a long time.”
“One day, when you’re not around anymore, your family would have to take care of all that stuff,” she says, “and I don’t think that’s fair, really.”
Morbid as it may seem to think about your eventual demise, the method has its merits, regardless of your age. Do you really want someone finding that old pair of undies with the elastic torn out that you just keep forgetting to toss? How about that photo of you from college that you’ve banned your roommates from posting on Facebook? (You know the one.)
“I think I’ve always death cleaned,” Magnusson admits in her video, “because I want to have it nice around me.”
Who can argue with that? Certainly not science. Studies have found that women who consider their homes cluttered and unfinished tend to have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, than those who feel their home is restorative.
The impetus for the Swedish death cleaning trend may be somber, but it can help anyone let go of their packrat tendencies. Consider these tricks to make it work for you:

1. Use the Beanie Baby rule.

You remember those tiny stuffed animals that we held onto for years, convinced they were going to make us a ton of cash? We all know how that turned out. If you’re hanging onto things because they may be worth something later, do some research. If there’s evidence out there that you’re on the right path, keep it. If there’s not, it may be time to re-home.

2. Erase the embarrassment.

If you don’t want someone else to see it, why are you hanging onto it? If it’s truly pleasurable (you know what we mean), keep it. If it’s still with you just because you haven’t had time to kick it to the curb, it’s time to step up.

3. Will you use it?

This is a tough one, especially for those of us who try to be savvy spenders. That ribbon from that gift you got six years ago may come in handy one day! If you throw it out now, you’ll end up spending money to buy a new one! If you’re nodding along right now, you’re not alone, but you’re probably up to your ears in stuff. To make it easier to throw things out or donate them, give yourself a time limit, for example, “I haven’t used this in five years, I can throw it out.”

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Healthy Pregnancy Motherhood

Here's Why You Might Want to Hire A Doula for Your Next Birth

Post author By Jeanne Sager
Post date February 25, 2018

For Sakinah Irizarry, the best part of being a doula is being in a room just as a family becomes a family.
“The moment a new baby arrives, a family becomes complete,” says Irizarry, a Saugerties, New York doula. “I enjoy doing what I can to help the birthing mother or the birthing partners reach that moment of becoming.”
Helping birthing moms and their partners is the very core of what doulas do. Defined by DONA International (the leading doula-certifying organization) as “a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible,” doulas have been holding moms’ hands and helping them through labor for centuries.
But it’s only in recent years that the number of these “helpers” has exploded in response to the growing call from moms to have someone on their side in the birthing room.
Should you have a doula ready for your text when you’re about to give birth? We’ll let you decide that for yourself…but here’s a little information that can help you make the choice.

What do doulas do?

Unlike a doctor or midwife, whose focus is on delivering the baby, a doula’s primary concern is the person giving birth. She (or he) is in the birthing room to act as a laboring mom’s support system, advocating on her behalf by engaging the medical staff, guiding her through natural pain relief and relaxation techniques, stepping in to massage or help her get more comfortable, and answering questions posed by both mom and her partner if one is present.
Essentially, a doula is an extra set of hands in the room, but one who comes in with experience and knowledge of the entire birthing process as well as information provided by a mom about what she hopes to have happen during the birth.
“Some folks shy away from hiring a doula because they feel the role of supporting the laboring mom belongs to the birthing partner,” Irizarry says. “I think that having a doula frees the birthing partner to fully be present to support mom, physically and emotionally.”
Doulas typically meet with expecting parents weeks or even months before the delivery will take place to talk over what a mom wants to happen during during the birth. Trained and certified doulas can help an expecting parent or couple craft a birth plan, putting together a mom’s wish list to execute on her behalf.
The goal isn’t for a doula to tell a mom how to birth but to help a mom feel empowered and advocated for in the birthing room. In fact, one of the DONA requirements that doulas have to sign off on is a promise to “make every effort to foster maximum self-determination on the part of his/her clients.”
When the text arrives that baby’s on their way, the doula springs into action to do what they can to ensure mom has a safe and positive birth.

What the Science Says

Given the growing number of doulas in America, it’s no wonder the scientific community has started to take notice and is giving these professionals their due respect.
There’s a growing body of evidence that having a doula on hand to help a mom and her partner in the delivery room is correlated with healthier outcomes for both mom and baby.
One study by Lamaze International found that doula-assisted moms were four times less likely to have a low birth weight baby, two times less likely to experience a birth complication, and significantly more likely to initiate breastfeeding.
While the positives could be ascribed to the fact that a mom who can afford to hire a doula is also more likely to be able to afford better prenatal care, the researchers dug deeper, positing that “communication with and encouragement from a doula throughout the pregnancy may have increased the mother’s self-efficacy regarding her ability to impact her own pregnancy outcomes.”
Other studies on doula assistance during birth have linked their presence to a reduction in preterm and C-section births and a reduction in racial and income-based disparities in birth outcomes.

What Your Doctor Says

With statistics and studies to back them up, why aren’t doulas lining the halls of every modern maternity ward?
Unfortunately, the traditional medical community may be playing gatekeeper—preventing doulas from becoming regular participants in the birthing experience. Studies found that some doctors resist having an extra person in the delivery room, and when hospital rules limit attendants in the delivery room, many women find themselves forced to choose between family members and a doula.
If you want a doula in the room, do your research. If you’ll be delivering at a hospital or birthing center, ask how many people are allowed in the room. Talk to your doctor or midwife about what they allow. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. If you think a doula’s the right choice for you, make the case!

By the Numbers

Of course, when it comes down to it, deciding whether or not to have a doula may not just be about what they can do for you in the delivery room. It may come down to cost.
Depending on where you live, a doula can cost anywhere from $500 to $3,000. Doulas fees cover their actual services, but they also help offset the cost of being on call. After all, most women don’t know exactly when they will go into labor when they contract their doula.
Some insurance companies do cover the cost (or part of the cost) of having a doula present at a birth. DONA also offers a guide to getting third party reimbursement.
If your insurance company refuses and you’re not sure you can swing the price, you don’t have to give up on the dream of having an advocate in the delivery room.
You may find someone in your community who has the chops to be your right hand during labor. And becoming as knowledgeable as you can about birth will help you be an empowered advocate for yourself.
“Take a birthing class,” Irizarry suggests. “Ask moms, your doctor, hospitals, your local library. Many birthing classes are cheap, or free.”
If you can bring a few friends to the class, all the better—they’ll be more informed and better able to coach you in the delivery room.
“Labor is grueling, but so is labor support,” Irizarry says. “Having two people as support means they can relieve each other and that mom is never alone.”

Find Your Friend

The easiest way to find a doula who’s up to the task is to ask other moms for recommendations. That said, it’s always wise to check up on their credentials, too.
DONA International offers a find-a-doula service on its site and the International Childbirth Educators Association will let you search its membership rolls to see if a practitioner has been certified. The Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association also offers a search for certified doulas in your area.

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