Anyone who has been to the average hospital knows — nourishing food is typically not on the menu. There are some amazing, notable exceptions, but in many cases, your average hospital meal includes a bagel, jello, and a “nutrition drink” that is horrifically high in sugar. Why does this matter?

I can’t even count the times that I was with my children when they were tiny — and I was a MESS — and someone said, “Cherish these moments. They go by so fast.” Yeah, it didn’t really land.

Parents often come to the Pediatrician with concerns about their baby’s reflux, or “spitting up.”  Nearly every infant spits up, but, often, parents are worried about it.  When is spitting up normal and when should we be concerned?

I’ve written about mindfulness before from a research-based perspective and also from a how to get started perspective, but today, I’d like to write about how mindfulness can impact your everyday life, particularly in early parenthood.

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

~ Mary Oliver

This quote from the poet Mary Oliver is always so moving to me -- a deeply felt truth that our lives are all wild and precious.  To me, though, it is also a reminder that so many of us live in a preoccupied state, where our lives are passing by almost unconsciously.  So many of us aren’t fully experiencing our lives because we aren’t fully present in them.

The most common questions I get from new moms are about BREASTFEEDING.  In all capitals because it really is a big deal.  And it’s hard.  We are told that it comes easily and naturally and that it shouldn’t hurt.  When, in fact, it doesn’t always come easily and it OFTEN hurts in the beginning.  None of those things mean you will not have a successful breastfeeding relationship with your baby -- meaning that you will breastfeed your child for as long as it works for you.

What usually happens after a new baby is born? 

As soon as new parents get home — and sometimes, even when they are still in the hospital —well-meaning loved ones text, call, and email, “When can we come see the BABY?!”  Unfortunately, that is not what most new parents need in the first weeks after their baby is born. 

About a year after my second daughter was born, when I was still in the throes of the spiritual rupture that was going on in my life and still in the babymommy fusion stage of motherhood (that I didn’t yet know was both normal and appropriate) – my oldest sister asked me, “What do you like to do, just for you?”

Early parenthood is hard. Everyone knows that. But no one really understands how hard until they’re already in it. And even then we usually don’t understand why it’s hard, just that it is so much harder than we thought it would be.

Early parenthood is an incredibly intense and often very lonely time. The learning curve is so steep, and all the learning is happening at a time when hormonal shifts and sleep deprivation are the new normal.

My own path of healing led me to Integrative Medicine, and I have always loved my work as an Integrative Pediatrician. But, I found that, as much as I tried to cram into a visit, it just wasn’t always enough.

Why meditate? There are so many reasons and ways to meditate, but today I would like to touch on the profound effect mindfulness meditation may have on our perception of pain.

Those of you who know me know that I am very passionate about nutrition and discuss it at nearly every opportunity during our visits. A diet made up of whole, nutritious foods is of vital importance at every stage of life, though many of us first fully realize its value when we are pregnant and/or breastfeeding, and our growing baby is depending completely on us for their nutrition.

Some parents are surprised when, during well-visits, I ask their children, “How often do you get out in nature?” It’s not that most families don’t know, on some level, that being in nature is a good thing, but they are often not used to a physician asking about it.