Fourth Trimester Podcast Episode 113: Preparing for Birth and Postpartum with Shari Stamps – Must-Know Tips From A Mother Of Six
Having six children means Shari Stamps knows a fair bit about preparing for postpartum. Since having kids, she’s dedicated her life to growing her experience as a perinatal professional, taking many courses including doula training. Now she’s sharing her wisdom from her own parenting experience plus her professional training with us.
Preparing for Birth and Postpartum
Listeners of this conversation will gain a deep understanding of the vital components necessary for successful postpartum and birth preparation, including:
- Who to Include in a Comprehensive Support Village
- When to Start Putting Resources in Place
- Clinical Vs Non-clinical Support Postpartum
- Advice on Preparing One’s Home, Nurturing Relationships, and Setting Boundaries
- Actionable Steps New Parents Can Take to Feel More Prepared, Supported, and Confident as They Transition Into This New Phase of Life
“Remember that you are more than enough, that you are loved. And you’re never alone in a lot of the things that you’re feeling.”
— Shari Stamps, Founder of Navigating Parenthood
Full Show Notes
Common Issues When Preparing [00:07:24] – [00:17:00]
Practical Guide For The Fourth Trimester [00:17:00] – [00:23:25]
Preparing Your Support System [00:23:25] – [00:33:12]
Overcoming Postpartum Challenges [00:33:12] – [00:39:31]
Infant Massage Benefits [00:39:31] – [00:45:32]
Resources [00:45:32] – [00:48:00]
Shari’s Infant Massage On Demand Course
Build a connection with your baby while boosting brain development, easing gas pain, and promoting better sleep for the whole family.
Click here to access the course.
About Shari Stamps
Shari is a neurodivergent mom of soon-to-be 6 (many ND) kiddos with a passion for helping families transition from pregnancy into the postpartum years using evidenced-based, biologically normal functional whole-care practices. Along with 10+ years of experience in education and content & event creation, she’s combined her training as a postpartum educator & doula, infant massage instructor, breastfeeding specialist, craniosacral therapist, mother warmer, baby-led sleep & wellbeing specialist, and Myo Munchee practitioner to serve families as a functional baby & parent wellness practitioner to find the root causes for each family’s needs. Shari created Navigating Parenthood to save families from learning about important information “too late” on the ever-changing journey of parenthood. She has created several in-person and virtual multi-expert parenting events and courses to complement her in-person & virtual services, as well as helped other companies create new products that better serve families. You can find her via her podcast, Instagram, or website.
Selected links
Connect with Shari Stamps navigatingparenthood.com | Podcast | Instagram
Shari’s On Demand Infant Massage Course Register Here
Learn more Preparing For Your Second Baby – The Second Child Transition | Improve Birth Recovery: Three Recommendations From An OBGYN | How a Friend or Family Member Can Help You if You Don’t Have a Doula (What is a Doula?) | Wire Your Baby for Success Through Optimal Newborn Brain Development – Rebecca Walsh | Postpartum Support International
Connect with Fourth Trimester Facebook | Instagram | About & Contact
Episode Transcript
Sarah Trott: [00:00:01] Hi, this is Sarah Trott and welcome back to the Fourth Trimester Podcast. I’m joined today by a special guest, Shari Stamps, who is someone who I met way back at a birth and baby fair, and I’m so pleased to have her on the show today.
Sarah Trott: [00:00:14] Before I give her an introduction, I want to mention that we have a website which is fourthtrimesterpodcast.com. Please go and sign up for our newsletter. Also, go ahead and hit follow and subscribe wherever you’re listening so you can hear more from us and be alerted every time we release a new episode.
Sarah Trott: [00:00:31] So Shari has her own business called Navigating Parenthood, and she is a mother of six. Well, she is a mother of five, soon to be six, and she is someone who has been dedicated over the years to helping other parents ever since she became a parent, by helping them with their own parenting journey through education and content. She has over ten years of experience in education and content creation, with training in the perinatal space that includes doula training, instruction and infant massage, breastfeeding, craniosacral therapy, and more on that list. And today she’s joining us at 37 weeks pregnant. And so congratulations and welcome to the program today, Shari!
Shari Stamps: [00:01:22] Thank you so much, Sarah. I’m excited to be here and just chat with you about all things Fourth trimester and beyond.
Sarah Trott: [00:01:28] Yes, absolutely. We have a really great topic today. So we’re going to talk about your experiences a little bit and really do a deep dive into postpartum and birth preparation. It’s not only something you’re going through firsthand right now, but it’s something that you have done instruction on for your clients and your own listeners and guests because you have your own podcast as well. So definitely also check out Navigating Parenthood the podcast while you’re at it. But Shari, I gave you an introduction here. I’d love for you to introduce yourself in your own words.
Shari Stamps: [00:02:07] Yeah. So I call myself a baby and parent wellness practitioner basically, because over the years as I started training in different areas and then I would learn about something else and train there and then learn about something else and train there. I realized how connected they are and how important all these different areas were to really look at the whole picture when I’m helping a family. So I have all these different certifications, and when you go into it’s like, okay, this is too much listing. So it’s easier to just say baby and parent wellness expert or practitioner.
And so I’ll see someone for a lactation support or for craniosacral therapy and really end up helping them with the other areas as well. And then I’m using my training as a postpartum doula when I’m really supporting them emotionally and sealing their birth and going through that whole experience. As I listen to that vital information to know about just all the pieces and how they fit to really help that dyad that mom and baby or whatever parent came with that baby.
Shari Stamps: [00:03:14] Because really, you need to look at from pre and even when trying to conceive, when you’re trying to figure out what are the pieces I’m missing in this picture? Not just current symptoms. What are they experiencing? There’s a lot more you have to dive into and look at. And it’s a lot. Yeah. I’ve just started going down that kind of rabbit hole and piecing everything together.
Shari Stamps: [00:03:38] And I’m still learning more. I’m still taking more courses and trainings and adding more to it. Because from my own experience and even as I keep learning, I’m like, I wish I knew this then. And so my whole thing is I’m trying to eliminate the I wish I knew for parents as much as I can, even if it’s just one “I wish I knew”. You know, the parenting journey changes so much from day to day and phase to phase and years to years. But if I can eliminate that for one part of it, I think that can help a parent going through a lot, just a little bit.
Sarah Trott: [00:04:14] Absolutely. When you work with parents, is there a theme or a set of things that they typically come to you for, but then you end up expanding?
Shari Stamps: [00:04:31] Yeah. So I mean, in the past I worked primarily as a postpartum doula. And then I would add the other supports in. Now, I don’t do in-person postpartum support work, and I tend to have people come to me for craniosacral therapy. I give them the whole package. I give them all my trainings when they work with me. And so I end up helping them with lactation and dueling them and helping them find resources and referrals. And I’ll notice something like maybe primitive reflex and I’ll help them with baby development and just you name it, it kind of the theme is they end up needing more but not realizing it. And thankfully I have been through all of that. And I’m also trained in all of that. And so I can help round that out for them.
Shari Stamps: [00:05:20] And also, I think this is a big piece. Being able to tell them this is the referral you need is such a game changer, knowing that’s the referral I need rather than wondering well, who do, who do I go to for help and where is the help and not knowing for years. And then finally somebody tells you like one word and you’re like, oh, well, that would have been helpful years earlier. It’s so simple. Why didn’t someone tell me? But I definitely see a lot of babies with oral ties or feeding issues. They had a very traumatic birth.
Shari Stamps: [00:05:55] Usually people don’t come to someone like me unless they’re having a very difficult time. So I’m not going to see, like normal everyday kind of frustrations of lactation or feeding. They’re going to come to me if it’s really, really, really, really rough. And I wish that they would come sooner because there are a lot of times where parents don’t realize there’s something wrong with their feeding journey, or that they themselves need assistance because of their own birth trauma or trauma from before birth that is now affecting them and baby. And so they just kind of blow it off as like, this is just a bad back that I have to get used to or something like that.
Or with baby. Well, they’re just crawling like that for now. They’ll grow out of it, you know. And if they see it, if their care provider isn’t informed about certain things, they’ll just tell them they’ll grow out of it. And so they don’t know to come see a craniosacral therapist or a lactation consultant or specialist. They don’t know that they were supposed to go see someone and so they don’t. And then those are the families that kind of fall through the cracks a little bit. And then it’s sad and frustrating because things will come up later as their child gets older and as they get older and are going through this parenting journey.
Sarah Trott: [00:07:24] It’s so fascinating, isn’t it, that as new parents, as much research as a lot of us do, sometimes we just don’t know what the word or phrase is or we don’t know what questions to ask. Certainly. Right. It’s a lot of new language, a lot of new concepts. Sometimes people just don’t even know that the support exists.
Shari Stamps: [00:07:44] Exactly. And that’s really like finding that key to unlock that missing piece that you didn’t know was missing a huge part of that whole I wish I knew was like, why didn’t somebody tell me that existed? Why didn’t somebody tell me that it’s really important that my baby crawls longer and doesn’t fast track it to walking. You know, all of these things that you know, why didn’t somebody tell me that my baby should not be eating oatmeal in the bottle? Like there are still people who are being told to add some oatmeal or rice to your baby’s bottle and they’re like, my pediatrician said it, so it’s fine. and things like that they don’t realize they need a bigger circle of support and a larger care team.
Shari Stamps: [00:08:33] That your village now in 2024, at least in America, is the care team you create to support you, and cradle you. And that goes beyond your own OB and your in the pediatrician. Their scope is only a certain area. They can’t know everything there. They have back to back patients. You know, their training is different from someone who specializes in just lactation or just feeding or just craniosacral therapy, just chiropractic care and so on. And so you really. And a dentist, a pediatric dentist. So you really need to add more people to your support team to ensure that you’re getting that whole care.
Sarah Trott: [00:09:19] Truly it’s a mix of clinical and non-clinical support. So when we talk about support, and preparation, my mind immediately goes to what you may be doing. I would love it if you wouldn’t mind sharing a little bit about your own fourth trimesters. You’ve had many. share a bit about that and how that’s helped inform how you’re preparing now.
Shari Stamps: [00:09:51] Yeah. So I had a very different birth and then thus postpartum experience with each of my kids, which is why I like to tell people it doesn’t matter if you’re a first time parent or a fifth time parent, you need to prepare for postpartum and learn about it, because your postpartum is not going to be the same, just like your birth isn’t going to be the same. And a lot of people just think, well, I’ve been there before it’s fine.
Shari Stamps: [00:10:18] But I know from experience I had, the whole package, the whole induction package with one pregnancy and then the one after that, that was like six years later, was a fast, natural birth. And that’s the one that kind of spurred this whole thing for me about preparing for postpartum, because I was having chills and hot flashes. And now they say, like you’re basically in menopause when you’re in your initial fourth trimester, right? And I was experiencing these horrible pains and asking for pain medication.
Shari Stamps: [00:10:52] And I didn’t know why, because six years before I had this whole package and I was walking around fine. I was a lot younger. And you would think that it would have been more stressful to my body. But I didn’t experience all this stuff like I did with this natural birth. And so I ended up in the E.R., and they had me there all day for testing and doing our internal ultrasounds and all this stuff you don’t want, right after you had a vaginal birth.
Shari Stamps: [00:11:17] And, you know that you’re not allowed to eat in the E.R. and I’m just there with my newborn nursing. And at the end of the day, the doctors were like, we’ve concluded that this is just natural, like pains from having a fast labor. This is just natural, like normal postpartum. And so that for me was like, whoa, okay. Now I need to learn more. That was when I trained in postpartum and I was like, this is nuts. Like, why aren’t they telling me that I could expect this? Why aren’t they talking about what to expect? Period. Actually. And of course, I went in thinking, well, I’ll feel the same postpartum as I did with my other birth, but no.
Shari Stamps: [00:11:55] So I started creating this postpartum prep program, back then, and as I’ve had more children, I’ve evolved it and it’s more than nesting because nesting is a given, right? We all nest, but it’s about like making sure your areas are prepared, your relationships are prepared. so I talk about creating your bathroom basket, making your bathroom like how you would want it. So things are within reach and comfortable and you have everything stocked up. You know, you can return things you don’t use later, but it’s better to have it than be in the middle of the night without a pad or popsicle or something like that.
Shari Stamps: [00:12:37] And then you have options. There’s reusable pads, there’s disposable instant ice pads. You can make your own pad-cicles. You know, there’s so many more options now than there used to be. and then you, of course, want to set up your kitchen because you want to have all your warming teas and your warming foods. And if you haven’t had your baby shower yet, people could bring you food, or you can have a little freezer stash making party or something like that. You want to have your nap trap areas set up anywhere. You might be stuck feeding the baby, whether you’re bottle feeding or, body feeding, or they’re just sleeping on you or what have you, you’re going to be stuck there.
Shari Stamps: [00:13:23] So you want to have your healthy fats that are nonperishable and your water. So you’re hydrated in multiple areas in the home. And same with diaper stations. Right. And then with relationships you of course need to set your boundaries ahead of time with family and friends, discuss expectations with any partners in your life, and then remind them that we’re going to revisit this afterward, because I’m going to be a different person after this birth.
Shari Stamps: [00:13:52] You know, once I meet this baby. And that’s something new parents don’t always realize, like, I’ve had moms who are like, I’m never breastfeeding. You know, my boobs are for me and my partner. Right. and then they give birth and suddenly they’re like, full on breastfeeders. You know, you just never know what kind of parent you’re going to be. It’s really important to then check in with each other again afterward and remind friends and family, like, check in with me later. I know I might have said, yeah, sure, come over when baby’s born, but you know, when you’ve just had a baby, you will probably be feeling differently.
Shari Stamps: [00:14:27] And then I also like to set up a care team or tell people to set up a care team ahead of time. Kind of like what I was mentioning. Your village. So you want to make sure you have your mental health provider and that you’re seeing them in pregnancy too. I’m not a big fan of the scale that they give you at the OB office, because I feel like it misses a lot of information about perinatal mood, anxiety disorders. And also, it’s by the time parents reach out for help, they’re very desperate. And, I don’t feel like they’re confident in filling out just like a paper like that sometimes.
Shari Stamps: [00:15:06] So it’s really important to have this care team set up ahead of time and also have both partners. Because it can affect both partners. Looking at signs in advance and in your care team could include adding a house cleaner for your own mental health. You know, let’s save up so we can have one once a month. Adding a doula, a postpartum doula, to really support you. And that’s another person watching for signs of perinatal mood, anxiety disorders, pelvic floor physical therapist because. I don’t know about your insurance plan, but mine doesn’t automatically include one. and they’re going to be imperative because I’ve heard different versions of the quote the first 40 years or the first 42 years, but, the first initial phase, your fourth trimester really sets up your health for the rest of your life, right?
Shari Stamps: [00:15:57] So, for instance, right now I’m borderline gestational diabetes, and I need to watch out for having type two diabetes. Now after this pregnancy and for the rest of my life, because it’s not just a conditional. Like, oh, I’m going to have this health issue right now, and it’s going to go away and I won’t have to deal with it again. How I’m going to prepare for my postpartum now and trying to be good about my, my nutrition and all of that in postpartum is really going to be imperative to when I’m a grandmother and trying to be healthy enough to really be there for my grandkids and my own kids. And so that’s something I have to think about now.
Shari Stamps: [00:16:41] So you might say you might want a nutritionist who helps you with making sure you’re not completely depleted. And craniosacral therapists or you don’t believe in that other types of bodywork, they all do different things. So it’s really imperative to have all modalities in your toolbox. Massages are nice, but it’s getting the surface level and then chiropractic. Some people are against it, some people love it. And then craniosacral therapy is going to the fascia. So it’s like the foundation that kind of helps the others feel a bit soothing longer.
Shari Stamps: [00:17:16] And then of course you need lactation support, whether you plan to breastfeed or not. They can help you with eliminating milk. If you’re like, I need this milk to go away or help you with bottle types or other feeding issues because there may be something going on in your baby’s mouth they still need to look at, and I’m sure there could be. Oh, and the pediatric dentist there’s. So it’s a really big group of people that you need to support you. And the sooner you have your list set up, the less frantic you’ll feel like when you’re in the thick of it.
Sarah Trott: [00:17:52] That’s a lot of information and a big group for the support village. Oh, I love it. I appreciate that. You know, you’ve spent a long time honing in on what’s required, and a lot of people listening may not even realize that some of these things could potentially be part of their village and their support structure, or even know what all of those things are. So we’ll be sure to include lots of details in our show notes about this on our website on fourthtrimesterpodcast.com. So don’t worry about scribbling it down. We’ll have that all in the notes.
Sarah Trott: [00:18:25] But I want to kind of go back to this idea of putting your support structure in place, like you yourself are doing this in your own life while you’re still pregnant. Right? And I think that’s an interesting point to make. You’re not waiting until baby’s born to then start looking through websites or the phone book. No one uses a phone book anymore. But you know, looking, looking through directories to find resources. You’re doing that ahead of the birth, right?
Sarah Trott: [00:18:53] And I’ve had lots of perinatal professionals on the program over the years. And one thing I hear lots of people say OB GYNs or lactation experts or early childhood development experts, people coming on the program saying, well, I’ve been doing this my whole life. So I’m already ready. I can handle having a baby. And then when they go through the experience themselves, how eye opening it is and how they realize they really do need a lot more support. Yes. Yeah.
Shari Stamps: [00:19:29] Yeah, if you think that you have it covered just because you’re an OB or PT, you’re in for an awakening. Because that’s why I suggest, like, you’re creating this village of a care support team, because not one person like your OB is not going to know everything. Your pediatrician is not going to know everything. Your pediatric physical therapist will not know. You know your lactation consultant. None of them know everything.
Shari Stamps: [00:19:55] They’re each a big piece of that pie and are very important to your family’s ecosystem. And it’s important that nobody says like they know if they think that they have it covered and know everything, that’s a red flag. It’s, you know. I hate to pick on pediatricians, but they get like ten hours of lactation training. So if you go to your pediatrician asking them for lactation advice or feeding advice, I know you think, well, they’re my pediatrician, but it’s such a vast area that they’ve had to learn in. So they only get so much information about certain things. And unfortunately, I think they feel a lot of pressure that they have to answer and know everything instead of being honest and be like, well, that’s not my specialty.
Shari Stamps: [00:20:43] You know, unless they did get extra training in, in lactation or, or something else and saying, how about let me get you a referral list of lactation consultants, for instance, or hey, let’s you’re worried about head shape. Well, I think it looks fine. But just in case, let me refer you to the PT. You know, that’s what we want a pediatrician to do. But sometimes you have to advocate, and sometimes you need to keep in mind that their training is not the same as this other person.
Shari Stamps: [00:21:10] So there’s a reason there are specialties because they’re just honed in on that area. that’s why it’s like, okay, even though you were an OB, you, you, an OB knows about pregnancy and giving birth like in a medical system, but wouldn’t necessarily know about home birth. And that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to know anything about your child’s development, and all the other flags to look for. So we really need to remember that we do need the support from other people. And there’s a reason there are so many different modalities and they all do different things. They’re all super important.
Sarah Trott: [00:21:45] Yes. And despite you having so much experience and so much training yourself, personally, I imagine you’re putting the support structure in place for yourself.
Shari Stamps: [00:21:55] Yeah. I mean, and that’s another thing like I do craniosacral therapy. And people always ask like, oh, do you do it on yourself? I’m like, I mean, I could, but I’d rather go see my own craniosacral therapist. You know, you have limits when you’re trying to work on yourself or even for your own child. So I do CST on my kids and I, and I know what to look for. But sometimes when you’re your own patient you don’t see the whole picture.
So you need to really still have that support. So it’s like I already have my own craniosacral therapist. You know, I’m at an advantage because I have had several kids, so I already know what frenulum specialists I’m going to go to because this one will probably have an oral tie like they’re siblings. I already know who I like for lactation if I need to reach out. And I already have my pediatrician set up and like, I already have, like, all these people who I use in place.
Shari Stamps: [00:22:50] So it’s kind of an advantage versus someone who’s like, I haven’t set any of that up. And then you have to do a lot of research and know that it’s okay if you don’t vibe with someone to fire them, so to speak, and find someone else. Because if you’re not comfortable with that provider, you’re not going to be honest with them, and they’re not going to be able to give you the best care that they can, knowing all the information.
Sarah Trott: [00:23:12] Yes. That reminds me. We have had guests come on to the program and talk about stories they’ve had with their clients where they’ll say, well, did you find someone to support you with lactation or did you find someone to support you? Did you interview any postpartum doulas? And they’ll say, well, I tried that, but I didn’t really like them. And then that was it. Yeah. Right. And the analogy was like, no, no, no, it’s kind of like dating like you just because one didn’t work out, it doesn’t mean you give up on going to meet other people and find someone who you can really work well with. Don’t give up.
Shari Stamps: [00:23:47] Yeah. And I think that’s why it’s helpful as providers, if we can have a resource list and just tell them, like I’m not backing any of these people saying use them. But to give you a starting point, because I know how exhausting it is just to even do the search just so that you can have something to start from. And then you can ask each of them like, hey, do you have any recommendations outside of yourself? And if they’re like, if they’re a good postpartum doula, they’ll give you other, other recommendations too. You know, they’re not going to just get super offended. If they get super offended, then like, okay, maybe this isn’t the vibe I want in my home anyway, right? Right.
Shari Stamps: [00:24:25] So I think that’s very helpful because families, even without having to go see all these people, which is a lot, the appointments are a lot in postpartum and it is draining just the appointments. It’s like, I just want to stay home. I don’t want to go to these frequent checks and all these things and watch them poke my baby with getting all these shots. You know, it’s hard all the, all the initial testing they have to do when a baby is born. It’s hard on new parents.
Shari Stamps: [00:24:54] You’re like, I just want to cuddle and be in my cocoon. so helping them by providing the resources and hopefully maybe resources that are near each other that can book them get sessions over within the same day or something like that. I think it alleviates a little bit of that stress because it’s just very overwhelming whether they only need to think of one appointment or 20.
Sarah Trott: [00:25:25] And having providers come to you in your own home is a really good point, if possible. Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, tell me more. Tell me what tends to come up when you’re working with people postpartum. Any of the gotchas or things that you know really comes up for you that you wish you’d known. Right. You talked about saving people from the gosh, I wish I knew if and I’m sure it’s everything under the sun, but if there are a few that that you really want to share, I want to definitely give you the opportunity to, to help share that information.
Shari Stamps: [00:25:58] Yeah, there really are so many things I would say with my first, it was just knowing what perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are. That was something that wasn’t very known back then. And I would try to talk to friends. And I lost friendships because they didn’t notice, like, hey, this isn’t her. And here I was trying to confide these things that I felt like, I don’t know why I’m feeling this way or thinking this way. Yeah. and I reached out to therapists and they didn’t really know about it. They didn’t have any way of support. and so it wasn’t until I did my own training that I learned, gosh, I can put a word to it now. And just being able to put a word to it and know what to call it is healing. And that was so helpful.
Shari Stamps: [00:26:47] And so then I volunteered with Postpartum Support International, which is a resource I think everyone should know about because they have free online communities. Because when a lot of I’ve had several clients who have been going through perinatal mood anxiety disorders, and by the time and even the people who have called me when I volunteered, it’s like by the time they call the hotline to try to find a resource or a therapist, they’re they’re in desperate need. It takes a lot, a lot for a parent to finally make that phone call and reach out and be like, I need help, because they’ve tried pushing it away for a long time.
Shari Stamps: [00:27:25] And then the sad fact is that we don’t have enough therapists trained in this area. and at least with Kaiser, you kind of have to make an appointment that’s like a week or so out just to talk someone on, talk to someone on the phone to then unleash everything to them, only for them to say, okay, well, I’ll make you an appointment and then you’re excited for that appointment.
So a few weeks after that, it turns out that the next appointment is just an appointment to make an appointment. And I’m like, this is crazy. And then any possible appointment. Yeah, it’s like another month or so out. But it’s like at that point you’re like, I’m already burnt out trying to talk to these people just to try to make an appointment. And then hope that the provider you actually see actually is trained and is good and doesn’t just tell me, well, eat well and exercise and make sure you get sleep. so I feel like that’s a huge hurdle.
Shari Stamps: [00:28:22] And having a support system like an in-person postpartum meetup group. Or if there’s a La Leche League, you do not have to be breastfeeding to go to La Leche League. It’s just so you can have some postpartum peer support. No need to feel like an outsider. And, now there’s these online groups like Postpartum Support International has one for partners. They have it specifically for, black mothers, so that you can feel like you have your own community and not like othered in a different community.
Shari Stamps: [00:28:55] And that is just like such a huge resource. In the meantime, while you’re waiting for these other appointments that are just ridiculously far out, it’s just a huge disservice to families. and so that to me is like a really huge thing because I just feel like we need to support these parents better. And perinatal mood anxiety disorders can start in pregnancy. and that disconnect babies feel with their parents who are going through this mad experience really affects them and it affects the family’s ecosystem.
Shari Stamps: [00:29:28] And I mean, for the fourth trimester and the postpartum years are the foundation for so much. It’s. You know, as a civilization, we should be wanting to support it more because that’s really like the future of families and the future of leaders and the adults who are going to be walking around in the world. so that’s a big area. And then making sure you’re not depleted, getting your vitamins, minerals, and water intake. I am definitely very bad at that.
And so that’s a lesson I have to keep reminding myself, just drinking water. But paired with minerals, like, because you can drink water and it’ll just go through you and you’re not actually hydrating yourself if you don’t have the right minerals to retain the water. So that’s important. Yeah. And, I do have on my website, if you go to Navigating parenthood.com, there’s a pop up saying, are you pregnant? And if you fill in your details, you get like my free postpartum prep workshop replay, which is like a mini version of my full postpartum workshop.
Shari Stamps: [00:30:32] But, yeah, I would say those are big points. And infant massage. I have an infant massage course, and, the Fourth Trimester podcast has a wonderful link to that. And I feel like that is really important, especially if one parent feels disconnected from the baby, like, oh, I don’t know what to do with them. Because everyone has their different phases of parenthood that they enjoy the most, and some people just don’t know what to do with a baby.
Shari Stamps: [00:30:59] And I’ve had parents who had PMAD and were very disconnected from their baby, and infant massage helped them to find that connection, because you’re doing that skin to skin that releases oxytocin for you and baby, which helps them gain weight because they’re happy they’re feeding better, helps relieve tension in their body. It’s great if you have a gassy, colicky baby. It’s great for you to know, like, oh, I can do this for playtime or this for a bedtime routine. and helps you kind of understand how to communicate with your baby and learn what their communication means, because you’re making more eye contact and you’re being present with your baby more. So it’s just a really wonderful tool.
Sarah Trott: [00:31:40] And also brilliant for their brain development, that touch and that communication and stimulation. Yeah. We had a wonderful guest, Rebecca Walsh, on our program come and talk about that. So if you’re interested in brain development, go back and listen to that episode too.
Shari Stamps: [00:31:56] It’s definitely because it’s not just massaging the baby. There’s also different movements and reflexology. And so things like crossing the arms of the legs to connect the different sides of the brain and also get them prepared for things like crawling. You know, obviously tummy time is important and you can incorporate tummy time if you’re doing a back massage. Yeah. Like you said, it’s all very important. It’s all connected when it comes to a baby for their brain development and physical development and attachment is a huge part of development. So it’s just a really great tool to have as a parent.
Sarah Trott: [00:32:33] I couldn’t agree more. Well, Shari, you’ve been such a wonderful guest. A wealth of information. There’s more information on your website which is Navigating parenthood.com. And you can also go to our website fourthtrimesterpodcast.com/shari. And that will take you to more information and her courses which you can find online. I believe they’re on demand, which is very helpful for a busy parent.
And you can also follow her on Instagram and find all her socials. We’ll put them in the article that goes with this podcast as well. And don’t forget to listen to her podcast and sign up. We’ll put a link to that as well. So Shari, thank you so much for being a guest. I’m going to ask if there’s any final words you want to share with our listeners.
Shari Stamps: [00:33:21] Thank you so much for having me. I guess the last thing I would say is just remember that you are more than enough, that you are loved. And you are an incredibly valuable person. And so remember that. And you’re never alone in a lot of the things that you’re feeling.
Sarah Trott: [00:33:44] Beautiful. Thank you so much, Shari, and we’ll see you next time on the Fourth Trimester Podcast.
Shari Stamps: [00:33:49] Thank you.
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