Meet Lizzy, a fully qualified naturopath, doula, birth attendant and an intuitive healer. Lizzy calls this practice Shamanic Womancraft and has over 20 years experience (including 12 years of birthing experience) to share. Her healing practice is interwoven with plant and earth-based medicines, intuitive healing, sound healing, ancestral healing and associated energetic medicines.Preparation for birth, post natal healing and healing from traumatic birth experiences or miscarriages are all part of the magic of her sessions.  She also support anyone who is going through major life transitions and in need of clearing and support.

At our practitioner support circle, recently hosted within our Paddington Community Kitchen in celebration of the launch of our Orchard Street smoothie collaboration, we connected with Lizzy to talk to her about what and how she believes we can best nurture mothers in the fourth trimester.

How can new mothers best support themselves through such a life changing event?  

By acknowledging pregnancy, birth and motherhood as the spiritual process that it is, a rite of passage in a woman's life, a time that not only deserves practical support but also spiritual and emotional support as she transitions these life changing events.  New mothers can best support themselves by taking the time to do the inner work needed to feel prepared for this time of growth.  A woman’s journey through pregnancy, birth and mothering holds the opportunity for deep self- awareness and healing, releasing past trauma and healing her female line for all past and future generations. 

How can partners, family and close friends better support the new mother? 

Make sure they ask the woman directly, how can I best support you? Rather than giving advice, asking what she needs to feel loved and supported in each moment. Cook meals and drop them over, respect the mother if she isn’t ready for visitors, it’s not personal! And most importantly, view the woman as a whole being on her life journey, trust her process!  

How can we as a wider community better support new parents through this transition?  

Take the time to be with new mothers and offer your time, your loving touch, a loving phone call, hold the baby while mum showers or the couple goes to dinner. Offer small windows of your time and loving presence, it is priceless and can make a world of difference!. 

What are some common things you see new mothers struggling with and how do you offer support and solutions for them? 

1. Depletion/lack of emotional and physical support - I offer a conscious mothers group for new mothers looking to find like minded women to connect with.

2. Not enough time for self care practices - ask for help!

3. Not getting good nutritious meals into them - if you have a friend who is a new mother, drop her a home cooked meal every now and again. Share the load, it takes a village to raise a child!

4. Not enough emotional support after birth to assist women in processing any residual birth trauma or just help to integrate and understand her experience of birth so she can learn what she needed from the birth of that child, to assist her in being the mother that baby needs her to be.  I offer healing sessions to support women during this time, even many years later I have women coming in to process the births of their children and it is a huge healing opportunity.. 

What was the most challenging thing you experienced as a new mother?  

Feeling isolated from my friends and family.  We really do need the village! It can be very lonely being a new mum without family around to help.  It can also be a big time of change in your friendships after becoming a new mother and it is important that women find other like minded mothers to be with during these early years of child raising.  The many hours walking babies to sleep, sitting in playgrounds, and passing the time until Dad is home can get very lonely.  Come to our mothers group if you are looking for like minded mothers and find your community, it can make a world of difference! 

How do you feel the birth experience shapes the post-partum period, and what is the role of a doula in navigating this?   

I believe the birth experience, along with all rites of passage in a woman’s life, deeply inform and influence her emotional landscape.

I believe every woman has the birth she needs in order to grow and transform into the next version of herself as a mother. Within the birth story of each baby, lies many gifts and lessons, all of which are part of helping the woman become the mother she needs to be for that child. Every birth, just like every individual, has its own unique challenges, all different, not better or worse.

Our role as a Doula is to hold each woman as a beautiful, whole, unique individual, on her own life journey of growth and healing, and to trust her process!

The role of a Doula is to provide a strong loving presence, unconditional support and continuity of care during her pregnancy, birth and post-partum.  If a woman feels supported during these times and feels she has the strength to voice her choices and have her needs met, she will come into post-partum feeling strong and empowered. Once again, trust in her process!

I also feel the role of a Doula is to help the woman understand and learn from her birth story, to release any residual birth trauma and find the hidden lessons so she can come out the other side feeling strong and empowered as a woman and a mother.

Discover more about Lizzy here

Learn more about our community kitchen and Paddington store here  | Learn more about the Nature Baby x Orchard St collaboration here