S8 E6: The Complete Guide to Detox During Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Posted on October 20th, 2025

Join Patreon to get access to liver and bile guide bonus here.

Your body doesn’t press pause on detoxing just because you’re pregnant.

In this episode, I push back on the idea that detox is dangerous by default in pregnancy. I explain how it’s a constant, built in process led by the liver. I also set the record straight on what actually crosses the placenta and why milk still has protective checks.

The real risk is forcing it and stirring up more than your body can clear. So I lay out gentle, everyday moves that support drainage without drama. Think basics like fiber to keep things moving and a daily rhythm that lowers stress.

It comes down to working with your body’s detox systems, not against them.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[01:55] What “detox” really means during pregnancy and breastfeeding

[03:35] The surprising truth about what the placenta and breast milk can’t filter out

[11:30] The daily foundations that naturally support your body’s detox pathways

[25:03] Why stress, light, and breath may matter more than any detox gadget

[35:50] Specific movements that can change your sleep and comfort in late pregnancy

[46:51] The safe supplements and minerals that actually make a difference

[52:19] The one binder that supports detox without overstimulating your system

Resources Mentioned:

Paleovalley Whole Food Vitamin C | Website
Paleovalley Electrolytes (use code HORMONEHEALINGRD10) | Website
BodyBio PC | Website

Paris Latka YouTube Channel | YouTube

The Feminine Periodical Newsletter | Website
Psyllium Husk | Website
RA Optics Glasses (use code HHRD) | Website
Home Is Where The Sauna Is | Article
Learn about helpful nutrition habits, the different phases of your cycle, how to track, signs of good metabolic health, and so much more in my Free Healthy Period Starter Guide.

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Hormone Healing RD podcast, where you’ll get clear, practical guidance for your healing journey. I’m Amanda Montalvo, women’s health, dietician and mineral experts, and after helping thousands of women and navigating my own healing journey, I know how overwhelming the wellness world can be.

This show really aims to just cut through the noise with simple research backed insights on hormones, minerals, and what your body truly needs to heal. So let’s dive into today’s episode. I am talking about detoxification during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which is very controversial. I won’t be checking the YouTube comments for this one, but I hope that you guys enjoy it.

I just think everything gets taken outta context and blown up when it comes to detox support, liver support, drainage support, whatever you wanna call it during pregnancy, and especially breastfeeding, and it just gets taken to the extreme so you know that I’m all about avoiding those extremes. And I think that’s why it gets the bad name, [00:01:00] right?

People think detox support during pregnancy and they think super harsh protocols, intense binders, or even like aggressive antimicrobials, but detoxification isn’t something that you just sign up for once or twice a year. I think this is what people get wrong when it comes to this topic. It is a natural process that is happening in your body all the time, and it’s led by our liver, our kidneys, our skin, and our gut.

Primarily, they’re working around the clock 24 7. They’re processing and eliminating both internal toxins, like byproducts of different processes in the body that are naturally made, as well as environmental toxins that we’re getting outside of our bodies. The issue is detox itself isn’t dangerous. It’s not a bad thing.

It’s when we have impaired detox pathways, that is when we can run into trouble. So if your body isn’t able to efficiently filter out toxins, they can build up and cause symptoms, but that doesn’t [00:02:00] mean. That naturally supporting your detox pathways during pregnancy is harmful. I just think there’s a lot of bad information out there about that.

We do have our placenta, the organ that we grow during pregnancy that acts like a shield and helps protect the baby while it’s in the womb. And it works really hard to stop a lot of harmful things from reaching the baby. It’s like this strong barrier, right? Um, it uses really special cells and chemicals to fight off germs and toxins, and it also passes good antibodies from mom to baby to add like an additional layer of protection, but the placenta is not perfect.

There are some harmful substances that can still get through and that can affect the baby’s growth and health. And these are things like heavy metals. Um, that’s like definitely one that’s a big concern for a lot of people. Like mercury, lead, ars, sta. These can build up and harm the baby’s organs. Air pollution, you know, this can increase the risk of asthma, high blood pressure, and heart [00:03:00] problems with babies.

Forever chemicals you think of like those chemicals from plastics, like non-stick pans, water resistant clothes that can cause pregnancy problems and kind of slow babies growth. And then hormone disrupting chemicals like the forever ones in plastics, but also pesticides. Those are definitely hormone disrupting chemicals.

They can mimic hormones in the body. Um, and then some toys as well. And that can affect how baby grows and like brain development. And then of course, like, you know, food, our environment, we’re, we’re, we’re surrounded by toxins. And while the placenta does protect the baby, exposure to certain toxins during pregnancy can harm their health.

And that’s why ideally, you know, we’re avoiding pollution in our environment. Harmful chemicals as best that we can, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t naturally support our detox pathways. The other one that people get concerned with is breast milk. Right? We can, babies can get exposed to toxins via breast milk.

And a lot of it’s the same. It’s the same exact thing. The forever [00:04:00] chemicals. That can affect the baby’s immune system and just how they use energy. Uh, if they, there’s like older chemicals like PCBs that can stick to the fats in a mom’s body and her breast milk. Breast milk. Not all breast milk is fatty, but obviously there is fat present in breast milk.

Mine was like very fatty. I did the, I don’t remember the name of the test, but I like tested my breast milk after my first pregnancy with my older daughter because I was donating my milk and I just wanted to see what the nutritional content was and if I needed to switch anything up. And I was like, oh, it’s like extremely high in fat.

It’s like heavy cream basically. But heavy metals are another one. Same thing, just like placenta. They can also, um, potentially bind a fat and protein in the breast milk, but the heavy metals are the form matters because not all heavy metals can be like absorbed easily in breast milk. And there’s honestly, there’s just a lot that we don’t know even about.

Breastfeeding in general. Um, there’s just [00:05:00] so much that we don’t know. So how much metal or chemical gets into the milk is just, it’s just gonna depend on the type of metal, how it’s stored in the mom, her diet, where she lives, what she’s exposed to. But the body really does try to keep milk safe by controlling what enters it.

So breast milk has immune cells, antibodies, good bacteria, all things that are gonna protect the baby from germs and toxins, and can also even block or trap some harmful chemicals. So that’s like, it’s got all these protective mechanisms too that I feel like don’t get talked about enough. And even though, you know.

You can definitely get toxin exposure in breast milk. I still think breastfeeding is so important for a baby’s health. There’s so many benefits and typically most doctors are gonna say the benefits of breastfeeding usually outweigh the risks. And obviously we want moms to like eat, well, avoid harmful chemicals as much as they can to keep the, their milk as safe as possible, but typically it’s always gonna be the best option.

[00:06:00] Not always, there’s scenarios, but in general there is a protective mechanism that helps shield the baby while also giving them the best nutrition and defense to just grow really healthy and strong. So yes, there are definitely possible ways that toxin exposure could affect a pregnant mom and their baby or, uh, a breastfeeding baby, but it doesn’t mean.

Again, your body’s gonna detox it. It will detox no matter what if you’re pregnant and breastfeeding. And that’s kind of my major thing that I want people to understand. Anyone listening, I’m not calling for intense detox protocols. I, I think that that’s kind of missing the whole point. And it’s funny because a lot of times, a lot of fertility practices, like say someone’s struggling with their fertility or they want it their, they go see a fertility specialist and they’re like, like a functional fertility specialist.

I should be clear. [00:07:00] And a part of the process for preparing for pregnancy is liver detoxification support typically. That’s usually a huge part of it. It definitely is with, ’cause obviously we do hair, tissue mineral analysis and mineral support, which if you’re supporting your minerals, you are supporting your detoxification pathways.

And this is why I think this question comes up a lot. ’cause a lot of times I’ll get asked, should I do a hair test while I’m pregnant? It’s probably like one of the number one questions. Like, should I even, Hey, I’m, I, I think minerals are a concern for me. I just found out that I’m pregnant or I’m like in the middle of my pregnancy and I’m learning about minerals and all this stuff.

I should probably just wait till I’m postpartum, right? And I’m like, no, you should use a hair test so that you can DIY, your own prenatal. In my opinion, that’s what I’ve always done. It helps you see exactly what nutrients you need and can help you so much in so many different ways when you’re pregnant [00:08:00] and help prepare for a successful postpartum.

I mean, I, I’m like working on this right now. I’m recording this ahead of time, so by the time this comes out, we’ll already have the Histamine and Hormones webinar that I did with Michelle. She did like the first episode of this season about histamines and menstrual cycle. And right now we’re finalizing our webinar and I just.

I recently wrote up this part in like the postpartum crash and histamine issues in pregnancy and minerals are so, so supportive for histamine issues in pregnancy. ’cause they’re supporting detoxification and bile and liver and all the things, but they’re also incredibly important for postpartum. ’cause a lot of times we get that postpartum crash, that depression, anxiety, histamine response when we have minerals that are out of balance or other nutrients.

Like there’s a huge copper dump that can happen postpartum ’cause estrogen levels drop and that can lead to postpartum depression and anxiety. And so it’s like there’s such an important piece that I’m [00:09:00] like, we should always, we should please test if you’re pregnant. Don’t be scared to test. And I’m gonna talk about pregnancy safe binders ’cause that is like a piece of the puzzle and something that I think people aren’t really discussing.

There’s really only one that I use other than food, but. We can, your body’s gonna detoxify if you’re pregnant and breastfeeding. It doesn’t just stop. You don’t just detox once or twice a year. You don’t just do a detox protocol before you wanna conceive and then stop supporting detox ’cause you’re pregnant, right?

That doesn’t make any sense. And I think, you know, we don’t have to be on this like either or it could just be like, maybe I’m just gonna do it differently. Or maybe you already have good foundations of place and you’re just gonna continue those. But I think that it’s just understand that your body is always detoxing.

You wanna just support versus overstimulate, I think instead of trying to like flush out or push toxins out aggressively, which can release too many toxins into your bloodstream and that could potentially impact your baby via the placenta or [00:10:00] breast milk. Again, we don’t know a ton about this, unfortunately.

Then you would wanna just focus on supporting your built-in detox tools. That means like good hydration, nutrient rich foods, gentle movement, having a bowel, at least one bowel movement every single day and rest and good sleep and things like that. And just really thinking of like, okay, what are like gentle aids?

Like good habits, like eating plenty of fiber. We talked about this a lot in the acne episode with Colleen, my nutritionist and holistic esthetician that’s on my team. Fiber is incredibly important for REM supporting bile. Basically, fiber helps to not only bind to bile and remove it, but because it’s removing it from the body, it’s gonna stimulate more bile production.

So it’s like this bile turnover process, and we get rid of excess, estrogen, heavy metals, toxins, excess copper mycotoxins, all get released in our bile. So that’s why like I feel like people think like, oh, bowel movements is not [00:11:00] that important, but if you’re pregnant and you are constipated, I’m like. You should be, that should be a number one concern in my opinion.

Especially ’cause hormones are so high. And I’m like, can I share this graph that I have? Let me pull it up. ’cause I actually just, I’m, again, I, I made this for, I’m so visual and I made this for the webinar that we’re the histamine and hormones webinar. These are the hormonal shifts in pregnancy. Okay? The first, the green one is HCG, so you know, nothing crazy, but the estrogen.

Look at how high estrogen goes. And then peaks, especially like week 40, uh, throughout pregnancy though, it’s like, you know, it, it’s definitely increasing during that first, second trimester. But man, that third trimester, it’s so high. And then the blue dotted line that is progesterone and you’ll see it peaks, peaks, peaks, it does drop off.

And that’s an important part of actually stimulating labor. But yeah, so [00:12:00] look at those hormones. That’s why I’m like, it doesn’t make any sense like not to do liver support while you’re pregnant because you, your liver is gonna be responsible for processing those extra hormones while you’re pregnant. So there’s a lot on liver during pregnancy, and that’s why we’re gonna go through the foundations of how to support your liver and the kind of drainage pathways while you’re pregnant.

And this, I would say these are also considered safe for breastfeeding. So just like you’re, you’re trying to think, I’m gonna gently aid it because I already know that my liver is under more stress. I already know that it has a much larger burden than previously because my hormones are so much higher.

But the other thing is that I just think it’s like we have to, like trust our bodies, right? Your body knows how to clear toxins at a pace that is safe for both you and your baby pushing detox too hard by like, I mean, I’m not gonna, I’m not recommended take like a liver detox supplement or like do a protocol I’m recommending.[00:13:00]

And obviously these, I’m not your, I’m a dietician, but I’m not your dietician. So you wanna talk to your own provider and say, does this make sense for me? Because this could be a good general wreck, but it, it may not actually be beneficial for you depending on your own unique health history. So, but when I, as I go with there, everything, keep that in mind, you know?

And also like, maybe you’ve tried some of these and you’re like, you know, I just did not feel well, trust that. So take what you like. Leave the rest. I, I like to always say that ’cause I think people. You know, we learn things online and it can make you feel like, oh, I should be doing X, Y, and Z even though, you know, this doesn’t really feel right for me in my head, but I’m gonna do it anyway.

’cause you have like a fear that if you don’t do it, then like something bad’s gonna happen. So don’t make decisions out of fear and don’t feel like you have to do anything that I’m saying. ’cause you don’t. Um, but trusting your body I think is important. Supporting different areas I think can be helpful.

So rather than like no detoxing during pregnancy, it really [00:14:00] is more about like supporting the foundations. And that’s like what I often ask people. So when I get, I got a lot of q and a questions and let me just pull up one as an example. Like, my liver is so taxed, but I’m breastfeeding and wanna conceive, or my liver seems so taxed, I have a lot more acne.

This woman also, she, she, so she’s pregnant, she’s got an increase in acne. Um, I think she also has like some eczema. The question got like cut off and then another woman. Is having gallbladder issues during her pregnancy, and she’s like, I’m doesn’t think she can. We’ll talk about tka. And she’s nervous about dandelion tea, tka things like liver and bowel support during pregnancy.

And I’m like, because she’s like, I don’t wanna push my liver too hard. I don’t wanna detox too much. Which yes, we don’t wanna push it too much, but also it’s like, what do you need detoxification support? Or do you really just need to work on your foundations? Because [00:15:00] all of those things are what’s gonna support your detox pathways naturally.

Like eating enough food that I would say this is like number one, making sure we’re getting plenty of protein. We need protein amino acids. That’s what protein breaks down into. To support, especially phase two of liver detoxification. Um, but protein’s incredibly support important. It also like protein, like animal proteins.

They’re gonna have a lot, a ton of other nutrients too. I think of like zinc, zinc’s great for detoxification. Like if you’re eating red meat or seafood or something like that, iron is a really big nutrient that you’re gonna be getting from animal proteins. But you also, on the other end of the spectrum, like, yes, we need animal foods, we also need plant foods.

Like fiber is very important and I know I talked about this so much in my episode with Colleen, but uh, in case you did not listen to the acne episode, if you don’t have acne, fiber is really important because of how it binds to bile and removes that toxins from the gut. It just really acts like a sponge.

Like, and I get, I did get a couple questions [00:16:00] about binders when I put up that question box on Instagram about are there pregnancy safe binders that you can take? A lot of this again, is in relation to hair mineral testing, since obviously that’s like primarily what I do. Because I, in my master minerals course, I do recommend using a binder when you’re supporting your minerals because it naturally supports your detox pathways.

And if someone is pregnant, then it doesn’t mean you can’t support your minerals, but you definitely wanna do it gently. And I do recommend using a binder. Um, but food can also be a binder. Fiber acts like a binder. It just like a binder goes in, it mops up those toxins and helps remove them from the body.

And it also helps feed our good gut microbiome promotes healthy bowel movements. Now fiber’s not the only thing that’s important for bowel movements. I have like a Instagram post that was like a very controversial, a while back when I said like, constipation isn’t a fiber problem or something along, [00:17:00] or a fi constipation doesn’t mean you have a fiber deficiency or something like that.

And it’s nuanced, but you know, and usually there’s a mineral component. It’s a constipation, right? That’s why I mentioned it. That it’s not just a fiber issue. ’cause typically people with constipation also have very low mineral levels. They’re, they’re very depleted. They often have very low sodium and potassium potassium’s.

Incredibly important for gut motility. So getting that peristalsis, the intestines moving, which is how we have a bowel movement. So that’s really important, especially during pregnancy, because you need a lot more sodium and potassium when you’re pregnant. Um, so it’s not just a fiber thing, but fiber can be helpful for bowel movements and not everyone can tolerate more fiber if they’re di if they have a lot, maybe you have digestion and gut issues for a really long time.

Uh, so, so that’s where you really have to listen to your body. But I talked in that in the bonus specifically. So if you’re in pat, if you’re not in Patreon and you want my liver and bile guide, I made a. Liver [00:18:00] and bile guide. I really like it. I think it’s helpful. It just kind of takes all the information from the episode and like deduces it down to like, here’s how you do it.

It’s geared towards acne, but everything is also safe for pregnancy in there and breastfeeding. So, and I do mention that I, I recorded a video that goes through it, but basically we wanna be able to slowly increase fiber and intake if possible. Typically, 25 to 35 grams a day is what is shown as clinically significant for supporting bile removal, bile turnover, blood sugar balance, so many beneficial gut bacteria, all those things.

Now you could have really challenged digestion and not tolerate fiber. You could also have an overgrowth of not so great bacteria and get a ton of bloating with fiber rich foods. So you, so I’m not telling you if, if you get a bad reaction from fiber, I’m not telling you to force it, but to me, fiber can be beneficial.

We just don’t need to force it. And it’s one of those things that. I do think it’s foundational for detox [00:19:00] support. And again, like for me, I’m like, okay, you could use like chia seeds, raw carrots. Those are two great, like food-based binders, psyllium husk powder. We talked about that a lot in the acne episode.

Uh, those three fibers can be so beneficial for bile support, removing toxins, having good bowel movements, and just like clearing things out. So I would look at those as like a food-based binder, which would definitely be safe in pregnancy. Now if you are very constipated in pregnancy, you just wanna be careful.

Sometimes more fiber can bind you up more, and that’s when I’d focus more on minerals. I’d really focus on potassium. That could be coconut water, if you could tolerate it. If you don’t like coconut water, you could try, um, like the electrolytes from Paleo Valley, those. Have coconut water based source of potassium in them.

Hello Vera Juice Interleaf. I wouldn’t do whole leaf in pregnancy, but I think Interleaf is [00:20:00] safe if you get diarrhea from it. That’s not considered safe during pregnancy because then you could get dehydrated. Now obviously that is not good for you, so, but that can be a great potassium source and help promote peristalsis as well.

Get that gut going. Uh, ’cause because progesterone increases so much, this can slow down your gut motility. Now, if you have a healthy gut, this typically isn’t an issue. If you already have overgrowth of bacteria and maybe you didn’t know it, then it can, those are the people that I see when they’re pregnant.

They have the most trouble with constipation. Like maybe they had some inkling that they had gut issues or were totally not sure, but they’re like, no matter what I do, this is so difficult. Magnesium is also very helpful for constipation. Uh, and it’s safe during pregnancy and you use a lot of magnesium while you’re pregnant, especially the first half of your pregnancy.

So I tend to see that women do amazing if they add it. It [00:21:00] could be like magnesium glycinate. Citrate is the one that most people use to have a bowel movement. Like natural calm is the most common brand out there that I typically see used you. Any magnesium though will help. So you could, if you’re also like, Hey, I need citrate’s, just not absorbed as well, so I don’t typically recommend it.

But if you’re super constipated, nothing else has worked. Magnesium citrate can be great too. Um, that can help calm intestines and help with the peristalsis as well. So that’s important. But even if you already, if you’re already taking some magnesium glycenate for example, you could just take more and see if that helps you have bowel movement.

So those are other things where. You gotta be pooping every single day. Um, and if you increase, you know, be mindful with increasing fiber. And then circadian rhythm support. This is a huge one and I know I’ve talked about it a million times. My episode with Carrie Bennett is amazing. I truly do think it can be as simple as getting natural light in your eyes first [00:22:00] thing in the morning, blocking blue light at nighttime, trying to take light breaks during the day.

I’m wearing my yellow raw optics, circadian rhythm glasses, I think they call them. I don’t wear these all the time when I work, but now that my husband’s home, I have like longer work blocks. So I’m on the computer for more than just like half an hour at a time with my kids, you know? So I notice a huge difference if I wear my glasses or not.

My eyes aren’t bloodshot and if I’m like staring my computer for four hours straight, it’s like a huge difference for me. So this is supporting my circadian rhythm ’cause I’m getting less artificial blue light from my computer. And then after I’m done working, I will go outside and take a quick light break, take my glasses off.

And I only wear these, like if I’m getting, if I’m, if I’m working during the day, I don’t think you have to wear these constantly and you don’t want to, you wanna get natural light in your eyes, but basically supporting your skin rhythm is gonna be getting that natural light in the morning, getting light breaks during the day, blocking artificial blue light at night.

It can be as simple as that. Just trying to spend more [00:23:00] time outside, honestly. Um, that it’s gonna support your stress hormones. It’s gonna support your hor your sex hormones because you can, you can have pretty big hormone imbalances when you’re pregnant too. I see a lot of women that have excess estrogen and then a lot of histamine symptoms that kind of come up with that since estrogen drives histamine issues.

And then it’s also circadian rhythm’s, also incredibly supportive for your gut, your digestion, everything. So it’s one of those things that, and of course detoxification. ’cause we detoxify primarily at nighttime. So we wanna support his kidney rhythm, get really good sleep, all those things. And that’s gonna be another big part of detox.

Stress management, I would say, is the other big foundation where we’re kinda like, do you need detox support or do you just need to work on your foundations? Stress is a huge one. When a person is stressed, their body releases that our stress hormone called cortisol, a little cortisol helps the body work well.

But if we have too much, this can, especially like over time, this can cause a lot of problems. It can slow down digestion, [00:24:00] make it harder for us to have good bowel movements. So if you already are one of those people with gut issues or more constipation during pregnancy, you really wanna watch your stress.

It can make your liver less able to clean out toxins from the blood. It can weaken our immune system, which again, has already shifted because you’re pregnant. Right? I’m assuming if you’re listening to this episode, um, or maybe, maybe you’re breastfeeding. Okay. The last part of the stress piece is that an increase in stress can also affect methylation.

And this is. Basically a process that helps the body neutralize and remove toxins. And high stress can increase the body’s need for methylation, but stress can also cause nutrient shortages. So you’re using up more of certain nutrients. We then get a deficiency or have less than optimal levels in those nutrients and makes methylation not work as it should.

Um, and this can lead to toxin buildup in the body. I also think of so many things with methylation and pregnancy and, you know, both of my kids had, or oral restrictions, [00:25:00] if you know, you know, and, you know, tongue ties, lip ties, all those things. There’s, there’s a lot on that. And I did, I talked about oral restrictions in my reflux episodes with two different IB CLCs with unique perspectives.

So I would listen to those if that is something. But there’s a lot of talk in like the functional on the space of how methylation issues. Like M-T-H-F-R specifically, how that could potentially impact oral like your fascia development and lead to an increase in oral restrictions. I personally, I personally think the stress piece is a, a huge part of it, and I do think it affects methylation in M-T-H-F-R and that’s like part of the puzzle puzzle.

So like a piece of the puzzle. But I, I just think there’s a lot more to it that we don’t fully understand yet. But stress is huge and, and it’s, you know, on my pediatric forms for our pediatric clients, one thing [00:26:00] we ask them is about oral restrictions, but we also ask what mom stress levels were like during pregnancy because that we know that that affects baby stress levels, their metabolism, their nutrient status, and all those things as well.

So yes, like we’re talking detoxification this episode obviously, but there’s many other things that stress is gonna affect when you’re pregnant as well, so. In short, chronic stress and dealing with chronic stressors, that’s gonna slow down the body’s natural cleaning systems and it’s just gonna make it harder to detoxify, especially during pregnancy when you have like the higher load from hormones.

Anyway, the other big area is prioritizing sleep, which some, when you, I’ve had a lot of clients when they’re pregnant, they struggle with insomnia. And I do think this is like a histamine estrogen issue for the most part because when we, when you pull back on like any sort of supplement, anything that’s gonna stimulate the liver, it typically helps.

So these are the people where I’m like, we wanna work on the foundations for sure. [00:27:00] We also wanna experiment with working on lowering histamine levels, obviously safely in pregnancy, and that can look different for everyone. Utilizing things like perilla extract, DAO enzyme. You can also consider if it’s intense, using over the counter stuff like Zyrtec and Pepcid, and which I, I, I talked with these about, these with Michelle.

We talked about these more at length in the histamine and menstrual cycle episode. We do touch on pregnancy very briefly in there. We cover it very in depth in our webinar though, so if you’re like, I want all the strategies and the specifics, please grab the webinar replay. But there’s many different strategies, uh, even antihistamines that help sleep like Unisom.

Woo. Had to dig deep for that one. Uh, Unisom is if you can take like half of a dose and it’s considered safe during pregnancy. Only a specific version of it though, which I can’t think of off the top of my head, but Unisom is considered safe during pregnancy as used as a sleep [00:28:00] aid. You could take half of a tablet, obviously ask your.

Doctor or midwife or whoever you’re working with as your provider. My, my midwife said it was safe during pregnancy. I typically, people are using it for morning sickness and when it helps people’s morning sickness and helps ’em sleep, it’s, it’s an antihistamine. So it makes me think it’s often a histamine issue.

And I did talk a lot about, like, I think that nausea beyond the first trimester, I think is very much histamine related. Uh, and I think women just have a lot of histamine symptoms in pregnancy that they don’t realize their histamine symptoms. But even like unsom at nighttime can be very helpful for it, but it’s ’cause it’s an antihistamine.

So if that’s working for you, when you don’t wanna continue to use it long term while you’re pregnant. That’s when I’m like, okay, let’s try some other strategies. Lower your high histamine food intake. Maybe we do A-D-D-A-O enzyme and some perilla extract and things like that to lower your, his bring down histamine levels in general.

But then, you know, Zyrtec, [00:29:00] Pepcid, those can also be good strategies as well. You can do a little mix, whatever works for you. But that’s a big one. So if you are struggling with insomnia during pregnancy and you’re kinda like, I can’t support, like, what am I supposed to do? Don’t feel bad. But I would say like this, that would just, it’s just like another thing.

It’s just not that your body trying to tell you something. So it’s like, what is it trying to tell you? And like trying to slow down and navigate that. But sleep is, it’s so important. ’cause that’s when we detoxify, but if we, that’s also when like your histamine levels can be higher because your histamine bucket has been, it’s overflowing from all day long.

Histamine should be technically like lower at nighttime. So when you’re stimulated and you’re anxious and you can’t sleep and you have that insomnia, that’s when I think of like probably histamine related. And so it’s like liver detox obviously happens, but it’s also really important for your brain, repairing your brain.

So it’s one of those things where like the brain creates more space between its cells at night when [00:30:00] you’re sleeping. This helps flush out toxins and waste that build up during the daytime. And it’s kinda like a, it’s like opening up like a plumbing system in your brain to wash away anything like harmful.

It’s also important for your liver, helps remove toxins from the blood. And again, it’s like that supporting your security and rhythm. This is like another one that’s gonna help support sleep. So that’s usually where I start. And anyone that’s histamine, I’m like, we have got to talk about light. It makes such a big difference.

And when you don’t get enough sleep, the brain and the body are typically not gonna be able to clear out toxins. Well, so this is what I’m like, how can we work on routines? What’s your nighttime routine look like? That’s huge. But also like what are you like during the day? Are you constantly going, going, going?

Because if you’re, if you’re pumping out stress hormones all day long, you could just have, again, this goes along with circadian rhythm, but you know, our stress hormones should like rise and then they should fall throughout the day, get to their lowest peak at nighttime. And so if that’s not happening for you [00:31:00] and you’re, because maybe you have some circadian rhythm dysregulation, just too much artificial blue light at night, uh, that could be a really easy wake, would be to work on your routine.

Maybe you throw on blue blockers if you’re gonna use screens, put a limit on the screens. Put your phone away. I’m like, I, I spend as little time on my phone as possible, especially now that we’re all, my family’s all back together. My husband’s with us, he’s outta the military. I, I always found myself on my phone so much when we’re separated because I wanna send him pictures of the girls.

We gotta FaceTime. Like he wants to be kept in the loop and I miss him, right? So I’m like, wow. But I notice a difference in like, my mental health, my focus, my reactions. As soon as I start getting like very dysregulated and I can’t, normal things that the girls do, I, I start to get stressed out. I’m like, I gotta, if I just take a little detox from my phone, it just changes everything for me.

I feel very strongly, even though I have a business online, I’m like, everyone should spend less time on their phone. And you can still [00:32:00] learn online. This is the number one pushback I get, but I learned so much online and I really enjoy it. I’m like, so set a specific time. And also if you feel like there’s so much for you to learn, just learn one thing at a time.

Like I have everyone on social media muted except for like all unmute, like certain accounts. If I’m like, I’m so into like everything neuroplasticity in the brain for, I would say like the last like year. So my only like un-muted accounts were like nervous system brain stuff. So that when I go online, if I want to do a little scrolling learning or get like inspired, then that’s all I’m seeing.

I’m not seeing anything else on my feed. So you could do that. ’cause I, I mean you could go to the extreme to unfollow people, but sometimes I’m like, I don’t wanna have to remember like what their username was and stuff in the future. So that could be a way of like, you know, maybe you’re like, I wanna just learn about minerals, so I’m gonna just follow these like hair tissue, mineral analysis accounts, whatever for the next like month and like see how I feel, see what I can learn versus like.

Having every, all these different scattered things in your feed [00:33:00] or, um, one of my clients, she’s been really into knitting recently and she’s like, I just, I started taking up knitting and she’s like, it’s a whole new world. And she’s like, I started to get really overwhelmed ’cause I, you know, then I, she’s also following like all these other accounts and I was like, just mute everyone else and just follow the knitting people.

And she’s like, you should see my free you page. It’s amazing. It’s like the best thing ever. It’s got all her, her main interest right now. So I think you can use your phone technology and social media in like such amazing ways, but it’s like, you gotta be smart about it. Um, otherwise it just kind of takes over.

It messes with your dopamine levels, messes with your mental health. It’s eventually gonna mental mess with your physical health and it can really mess with something like sleep. So the, the number one thing I see on intake forms or applications when people wanna work with us is their nighttime routine is terrible and they’re like, I, I have all these things.

Well, they have, they have an ideal nighttime routine and then they have what they actually do. And it always includes scrolling on their phone. And I’m like, we can’t, we [00:34:00] can’t do this. It’s just, it’s a big no, unless there’s very few people that can scroll on their phone at night and it doesn’t affect their sleep.

But that’s like another big thing if you are having sleep issues. So basically your, your sleep’s like, it’s like a, it’s a natural detox system for your body, especially while you’re pregnant. And we have those higher levels and sometimes sleep can be more challenged, especially later in pregnancy when you’re not comfortable.

And I would say if you are, if you’re very uncomfortable later in pregnancy when you’re huge, I’ve been there twice and my second pregnancy was like night and day different. And I just think it’s, I mean, I did a lot of bow springing towards the end of my second pregnancy. So if you have, I, I’m gonna do an episode on that.

I just haven’t figured out one yet with Paris Laka. But Paris is, she’s Paris Laka, L-A-T-K-A. So she has a YouTube. So feel like YouTube go go to her YouTube channel. She has a ton of free bow spring videos. She has start with the intro ones, those beginner bow spring ones. So short it little taste of what it is basically supporting your [00:35:00] fascia.

And, uh, your, your natural like curvature of your spine and your body and when you do this while you’re pregnant, it just helps keep things where they should be and keeps the load like the, you know, you’re gaining weight, your belly’s big. It helps hold everything to be where it should be. And if you can transfer that posture to your sleeping, it’s so helpful for while you’re pregnant.

And then also postpartum if you bed share and you’re nurse sideline nursing at night, like I’ve been doing for over three years straight. I don’t think, like everyone talks about like, you know, like the, your neck hurting or your shoulder and all that weird stuff from like co-sleeping and stuff. And I’m like, you gotta do bows springing.

We’ll get rid of all those pains and stuff like that for you. It’s not for everyone, but I mean, I think it’s like physically everyone should care, but like the practice, some people don’t like it, but I really enjoy it and I like the way Paris teaches it the best. I’ve taken classes from four different.

Practitioners and choose my fave. Uh, so go check [00:36:00] that out. So that is sleep. And then lastly, all, there actually are a couple like herbs you guys could do too that I didn’t mention that I do want to go through. Passion. Flower is safe during pregnancy when you’re, I wanna say that I did not mention herbs or like supports that you can use during pregnancy and breastfeeding to help you sleep, minus I talked about the histamine piece.

Chamomile is a really good one that is safe during pregnancy and very calming. You could just do a tea. Doesn’t have to be, if you don’t like tea, you could get a tincture or a capsule, encapsulate a form. But teas also work really well, and I think they’re more powerful than people realize. Uh, you can do passion flowers, a really good one.

This would be safe for breastfeeding and. Just like the postpartum season. Technically it’s not safe during pregnancy, although I’ve seen it used in small amounts in like pregnancy safe tinctures. So I don’t know. It’s pretty much every herb is like debatable, even like valerian root. I love valerian root for [00:37:00] sleep.

It’s, it is safe while you’re breastfeeding. It’s safe in like tiny amounts, like usually I see it like mixed into like small amounts mixed into other tinctures while you’re pregnant. So same thing with passionflower. Like it’s debatable. There’s not a ton of research typically considered safe in small amounts, but obviously you wanna talk with your provider.

But valerian root is so helpful, knock you right out. If you’re breastfeeding and safe, not breastfeeding, obviously you can do it postpartum. Glycine, l glycine is a great one that’s really helpful for anxiety. Technically, it’s not considered safe during pregnancy. Um, I think you could probably do small amounts, but again, talk with your provider.

It’s really good for your gut too, can help like rebuild the cells in your gut lining. But very good for anxiety. You can mix passion flour and l glycine together. Michelle Shapiro, one of her first appearances on my podcast, she talked about that in our anxiety episode from a million years ago, and so that’s one, that’s a strategy that I still use with a lot of our clients, but those are ones that [00:38:00] are very like helpful for relaxing.

They can be asleep. Great. For sure. But also if you feel like you have a lot of stress and anxiety, incorporating those towards the end of your day can be a good way to try to get that cortisol down before bedtime. And then when it comes to, okay, so what about like, those are like the foundations, right?

So we’re thinking, here are the foundations things you can do. ’cause some people think, I need liver detox support, but I’m pregnant or breastfeeding. But they are not doing any of those. Maybe they think maybe it’s like acne, maybe it’s fatigue, brain fog, all those things. And they start working on the foundations and their symptoms go, so then maybe you didn’t need additional liver support.

Maybe that foundational support was enough. You can, there is like pregnancy and breastfeeding safe, like drainage prep you would call it. It’s basically all about gently supporting your body’s natural process of getting rid, rid of waste and toxins. Because it’s already, again, it’s already gonna be doing it.

So it means helping the liver, the kidneys, the lymphatic system, the [00:39:00] skin and the digestive tract just work really smoothly so that that detoxification process happens completely. Like you want it to be complete. You don’t wanna just like stimulate liver detox, but you’re not having bowel movements or stimulate liver detox and maybe your bile is all thick and sludgy, so you’re not actually getting rid of all the toxins and stuff.

So when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, it’s really important to be kind and gentle. With drainage prep, I’m gonna go through what’s considered safe. A lot of it is the foundations, but it’s still considered drainage prep. And this typically is gonna include just like being hydrated, fiber rich foods, moving your body.

You could consider certain supplements that I’ll get into that will also naturally support those drainage pathways. But you just, I’m, you know, I’m not recommending any like specific like detox supplements and stuff like that. It’s really just about. Preparing your body’s natural cleansing pathways. So the major focus is gonna be having a bowel movement every day, which I so many women, I just, [00:40:00] I keep stressing ’cause I hear a lot, well, you’re pregnant.

It’s like, you’re gonna be constipated. It’s not normal. I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t think it’s normal to me that would tell me, Hey, my body is struggling somewhere. It could be hydration, it could be bacterial overgrowth in my gut. It could be stress, it could be needing digestive support, minerals, whatever.

You know, like it just, to me that’s not, I don’t think that’s actually normal. I just think we accept it as normal. And so it’s a non-negotiable to me to have a daily bowel movement when someone’s pregnant. Gentle movement that could be watching stre walking, stretching, rebounding. Um, if you’re not a high risk pregnancy, I get this question a lot is rebounding on a like small trampoline.

Save, I mean, talk with your doctor. I’m not your doctor, so I don’t know if it’s safe for you, but in general. Yes. You don’t even wanna, like for lymph support, you don’t even wanna like lift your feet off of, you don’t want your feet to leave the trampoline, typically. You wanna just do it. It’s like a gentle pump that you’re [00:41:00] giving to your lymphatic system when you do that, and it’s very effective.

So, but if you’re a high risk pregnancy or if you have any sort ofn, previa, you know, just be, don’t, just don’t risk it. Ask your doctor, they’ll definitely tell you no. But I do think rebounding, especially actual like real lymphatic rebounding where you’re not, your feet are not leaving a trampoline, is very safe and gentle and supportive.

Hydration. So making sure you’ve got half your body weight and ounces of water minimum. With minerals added. So I love the concentrated minerals blend. It doesn’t have a lot of sodium, so I typically recommend adding more sodium. You could also do adrenal cocktails. I’ve talked about those so many times.

My favorite version of the Adrenal cocktail, I just use the Paleo Valley powder, and I know you could make your own. You could do coconut water, a little lemon or lime and sea salt, and it can be as simple as that. The watermelon one is so good. I recently just purchased, it hasn’t come in yet because my younger dau, my older daughter, doesn’t like the watermelon one.

My younger daughter loves it, [00:42:00] the lemon lime version. So we will see if we, if I like that one as well. The orange is like wasn’t my F, it kind of tastes like a creamsicle. I have a lot of clients that like it. It’s just like not for me. So I will update you guys in my next recording if I like it and if Eliana likes it.

But we need those added minerals. We need so much potassium during pregnancy and breastfeeding. You use up a lot. So coconut water, again, great source. Eating whole foods, it’s in all meat. All dairy, it’s in a ton of plant foods. Potatoes, squash, tomatoes, fruit. It’s, it’s easy to get from food if you’re eating primarily whole foods.

And if you eat plenty of protein rich foods, like there’s a lot in red meat, there’s a ton in salmon, chicken, pork, dairy, like, you can definitely get potassium. But it’s just one of those things that like if you eat a lot of like prepackaged foods and stuff like that, you’re probably not gonna be getting as much.

And so if you’re adding in sodium, you just wanna make sure you’re getting enough potassium, especially when you’re pregnant, because that can lead, if you [00:43:00] have an imbalance in them, you could get more fluid retention. And I don’t want anyone to get fluid retention while you’re pregnant because that’s not fun.

So the hydration’s a big part of it. I personally drink, again, way more than half my body weight in ounces while I was pregnant, breastfeeding. But I’m also extremely active and I’m, I live in a warm climate, so I sweat a lot. So that’s gonna also depend as well. Um, but if you are constipated, I’m like, just drink more.

It’s not gonna kill you. And add minerals to that. And if you’re like worried about fluid retention, just go towards the trace minerals drops, because those are gonna be more magnesium. They can also help you poop if you’re constipated. Uh, and then deep breathing. So deep breathing is very helpful. That also really supports our lymphatic system five minutes a day total, or break it up a couple minutes, a couple times a day.

It’s also really helpful if you’re like, find that maybe you’ve just been going all day and you’re like, I need to chill. I like to really calm down before my, like before I transition basically. So like I’m recording a bunch of podcasts [00:44:00] things for my one-on-one clients and stuff like that during my current work block that I’m recording this.

And so after this I’m gonna, before I transition out and go get my girls, I will. Take a few, like a couple minutes of just like breathing, sitting here, being in my body. ’cause it’s so easy to just not check in and pay attention to ourselves. ’cause we’re just doing, but it’s like, I always remind myself, because I’m like, I don’t have time for this.

I’ve got like, all these things, you know, to do. I, I feel that way too. I feel like people think I’m like immune to feeling that I’m, I don’t, I feel like I have so much on my plate whenever, even when I try to take stuff off and I’m like, how does this happen? How, how do I just keep getting more things piled onto this plate?

Every time I take something off, something else comes in, life gets easier and I’m like, oh, I gotta start homeschooling. Like, I don’t know, she’s three. Huh? Just that, that’s like a recent one, but it’s like, you know, I finished one work project, another one appears. It’s like, oh, we gotta update our whole one-on-one course.

Okay. [00:45:00] So it, there’s always something and I’ve just learned that it’s like, it’s not all about removing. Taking things off of your plate, doing less. Ideally, you want to do, do you wanna be realistic with what you can accomplish in a day? But I think the biggest thing for me, especially like working from home, being a mom, and a lot of times doing those both at the same time, is in those little transitions in the day.

Just taking that time to just slow down, check in with myself, and it’s just something I feel like is not, you know, harped on enough, so I’m harping on it. Uh, and then intentional nutrients can be really helpful as well for drainage prep. So, potassium rich foods already talked about sea salt or Soleil water.

If you wanna do that, you can Google how to make it. It’s literally just fill, like, probably like a, a, I don’t know, like a fourth of a glass mason jar with sea salt. Fill the rest with water, shake it up really good, like sit on your counter overnight. And then all the salt should be [00:46:00] gone and absorbed into the water.

That can be great. That could be great if you’re nauseous during pregnancy. Two, to have that like first thing in the morning, but that is sea salt. Incredibly nutrient dense in sodium, but also other treat mineral trace minerals. Vitamin C is another really good one. It supports bile, our gut, our kidneys, obviously our immune system, but a lot of people don’t realize that it’s actually really important for bile and gut in our kidneys as well, which all of those are very important for our detox pathways, right?

Those are part of the process. So vitamin C, rich foods, you know, that’s an easy one. Or if you’re like citrus, I mean any fruit is gonna have it. Broccoli, peppers, all that kind of stuff is gonna have it. And then if you’re someone that’s like, I would, it’s very supportive for your adrenal glands too. If you’re like, I am pretty darn stressed, maybe you don’t have it in your prenatal or any supplements that you’re taking.

I love like a good caou camou powder or like a whole food vitamin C, something like that. Um, paleo Valley [00:47:00] has a whole food vitamin C too. That’s a good product. Magnesium is another really good one. It’s, or you could be, you could do a oral supplement, like if, again, if you’re constipated magnesium number one.

Epsom salt baths are also great. Those are great for pregnancy and postpartum love. Those trine is a really beneficial one too. It really big for bile. It, it basically helps make bile salts. So it helps with the production of bile, it helps with supporting bile flow and then it supports, it helps with sulfur production, which is important for detoxification as well.

I’m like, you know, for, I just generally say like 500 milligrams is safe and unless you’ve done a hair test and you know you need more, but that’s like a safe amount. ’cause if you have two low of minerals, sometimes you don’t. You just don’t wanna overdo it. But chlorine’s a great one. I love that one. It is considered safe during pregnancy in small amounts, and it’s great.

Super calming for the nervous system too. It has blood sugar benefits. It’s one of those, like, it does like a million different things. [00:48:00] Choline is a, is another really supportive one. This one is important for bile production. It’s helpful for bile flow. It’s really important just for like gut and having healthy gut balance, balance of like good, bad gut bacteria, candida, all those things.

And so you can obviously get this from food, from eggs. If you eat three eggs a day, you’re gonna get, you’re gonna meet your choline needs. Sometimes we wanna do a little more to support those drainage pathways. I love the product Body Bio pc. This is a great supplement. Options considered safe during pregnancy, and they have a encapsulated gel version and then like a liquid version.

There is a little bit of technically ethanol in the liquid, which I like, did not ever notice until I had someone ask me about it and I was like, oh, there, it’s, it’s like a gel. It’s a. It’s almost like if you’ve ever tried like a liposomal supplement or something, it’s, it has like that kind of texture.

But, um, that’s another really, really good one. And it’s pregnancy safe, liver support too. And then [00:49:00] other, it’s also great for your gut. And then milk this all and dandelion root also very supportive. Pregnancy safe. Again, you could just do teas. I wouldn’t do the milk thistle in the dandelion route though.

Like if you’re not already, if you don’t already have your foundations in place. Um, and if you think you have histamine issues, I would, I wouldn’t do them just because they’re, they can support the liver detox, liver detoxification. And so you don’t want to stimulate that like too much if you have histamine issues.

So those are just some pregnancy and breastfeeding, safe general liver detox drainage support. And then for advanced detox support, I would say this is advanced, but. You could, and this is a question that I got, so I’m making sure I answer it. Should we take a binder during pregnancy as a rule, was the question I got?

I don’t think it has to be used as a rule, but there can be different things that give you information that you need. One. So number one, it could, like if you have high heavy metals on your [00:50:00] hair test, like I would use a binder because you want to make sure those leave in bile. I’d also eat plenty of fiber because those heavy metals are gonna leave via the bile.

And so you wanna just make sure that, you know, again, you’re always detoxifying. You we’re not trying to necessarily like stimulate heavy metal detox, but if they’re already present, you might as well take a binder to absorb them and help them leave. And so that’s like a really big one. I if you’re supporting your minerals at all in pregnancy, I would say like you as a binder because like I talked about this in my Master Minerals course because.

Again, like mineral support supports our detox drainage pathways naturally, and so you can start to move things again. We’re probably moving them anyway, but typically strong binders like you don’t wanna use in pregnancy, like things like charcoals. Zeolite. I don’t use zeolite a lot regardless, but I do like citrus pectin.

I honestly like citrus pectin for. Like everyone, it’s a very, very gentle binder. It doesn’t, [00:51:00] it just, it binds the things and cleans them up like a sponge or a mop, like mopping it, mopping all those toxins up. But it doesn’t like push your body to detoxify like a charcoal or a zeolite. Like a lot of binders will stimulate detoxification, but citrus pectin does not do that.

It just works a lot more gently. And so it’s mostly working your digestive tract too. That’s the big thing. So it’s not stirring up toxins from your tissues, like more intense like charcoal or something like that. The one that I use is modified citrus pectin. That’s like the form that I use. It’s the most absorbable form it.

It can be great for gut issues too. It has benefits for immunity. I mean, it does a lot of cool things in the body, but it does act like a little gentle binder as well. And if someone’s ever like nervous, I’m like, just. Increase your fiber intake, chia seeds, dium husk, fiber, raw carrots, cook greens, beans. If you tolerate those, that that fiber does a very similar action with the [00:52:00] bile ’cause it will bind to it and remove it from the gut so you don’t have to go the supplemental route.

I mean, if you’re someone that’s doing hair testing and experimenting with minerals, I would, but yeah, citrus expectin is definitely considered safe. I also got a question about castor oil packs and I was like, Ooh, I know this is a big topic. I, I wouldn’t do ’em during pregnancy. Castor oil when taken orally can help speed up labor.

So I just, why do it topically also, like if, again, if you, do you really need intense detox support while you’re pregnant or do you need to work more on your foundations? It’s typically gonna be the foundations and some of that pregnancy safe drainage prep. That’s what I would be focusing on. It topically is, is considered safe while you’re breastfeeding.

As long as you aren’t putting the Castrol anywhere near the baby may ingest it or touch it, which, you know, depe, I’m like, everyone’s different with their postpartum journeys. But you know, with [00:53:00] breastfeeding and stuff, it’s like, I wouldn’t like do a Castrol pack half on your skin and then nurse your baby without like cleaning off your stomach.

Like common sense, things like that. But you know, you never know. So technically it’s considered safe as long as the baby’s not ingesting it. Now there’s really no research on Castro packs and the impact on detoxification while breastfeeding. So we don’t know is it gonna increase the toxic release? Is it going to the, into breast milk?

We don’t know. Again, I just feel like if you need something like that while you’re breastfeeding and postpartum, if you have all your other ducks in a row first, and I would definitely use a binder. I would take it like right before I did the castero pack. And you have to take it away from food because the citrus packing will bind two nutrients in food.

So that’s the other thing that makes it a little tricky. It is like similar to other binders that will bind to food, but it’s just one of those things where it’s like, is the Castro pack gonna move the needle for you? If you have a lot of gut [00:54:00] issues, it could, it can help lower cortisol. But I guess it just kind of depends, is I’d be like, why do you feel called to do a cast oil pack again?

Like, and if they hadn’t done a hair test, I wouldn’t do it because I would wanna know, are they moving a lot of heavy metals? Because if so, like you wanna know there’s, you could, there’s supplements you could take that could potentially help protect babies’ brain from things like that, from heavy metals and stuff.

But it’s like, do you really need that? And are you gonna, it’s like, are you having daily bowel movements? Are you already doing plenty of fiber in your diet? What is your mineral status? There’s so many things that I would consider way before adding in cast oil packs. I just think it’s like, is it totally necessary?

You know? I think in the beginning when you’re nursing a lot too, it’s just too stressful to try to time it. I have had clients where like they feel really good doing them. It helps them sleep and so they would nurse their baby then do the castor OPAC right away because they know their baby’s not gonna nurse for at [00:55:00] least a few hours and then they would fall asleep and take the casserole pack off.

So it just like depends on the person, what it does for you. But it’s, I don’t think it’s like a hard, a hard yes or no. It just like depends on your situation. The other question I got. A sauna, can you use a sauna while you’re pregnant? And breastfeeding, again, a lot of controversy around this one. And I just think of, so I, and I went through a whole process where I was researching this a ton when I was pregnant with my first daughter because I felt like I really wanted to use as sauna and I was like bummed that I couldn’t quote unquote, right?

So I’m like, I just really wanna use a sauna, but like, you’re not supposed to. And I was talking to one of my colleagues and she’s like, you know, in Finland, like everyone use the sauna and then when you, everyone, when you’re pregnant, use it when you’re postpartum. They put kids in the sauna and you, the only time you don’t use it when you’re pregnant is if you don’t feel good while you’re in there.

And I’m like, Hmm, that’s really interesting. And so I started doing more research and um, that’s probably where they have like the most research. And [00:56:00] I’m gonna put these in, I’m gonna put the article and stuff. There’s, there’s a few really good articles, but one of them is by home is where the sauna is.com.

And she has a really good article on sauna in pregnancy and. Basically goes, she goes through that like finished culture and how it’s like a deeply rooted tradition and for them the statistic is 80 to 90% of pregnant women continue using traditional asanas throughout pregnancy with no increased risks of birth defects or pregnancy complications.

I think it’s, the issue is that it’s like the most, the number one reason that like in the US we’re told not to use it is it will increase mom’s body temperature and then that is harmful for the baby. But like one of the statistics she cites is that body temperature during a typical 15 minute sauna rises only slightly about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, far [00:57:00] below harmful levels seen in animal studies where there are birth defects, right?

And research shows that there’s no link between sauna use and neural tube defects and sauna temperatures used in Finland are often like milder than those assumed unsafe by a lot of different sources. So if you weren’t using Asana before pregnancy, I wouldn’t use one during pregnancy. I think that’s hopefully.

Common sense, but if you were using it before, like I was like, I’m just, I and I, I felt I had like a lot of histamine symptoms in my first pregnancy and I’m like, I just feel like I need more support. And I loved it and I wasn’t sweating as much in the winter and stuff. And so I used it pretty regularly with my first daughter.

I didn’t do super high temperatures or super long instances, but I was like, I just wanna get in here and be a little warm and sweaty for a little bit. And I really enjoyed it. With my second pregnancy, I did not feel like doing it ’cause I was extremely active because I had a [00:58:00] toddler and, well not even, she was like 15 months when I got, or she was like 13 months when I got pregnant.

So I basically had a baby and I’m like carrying her around all that, like constantly. I was in Florida for a huge part of my pregnancy in the hottest time of the year, and so I was already sweating a lot and I’m like, I don’t feel like using a sauna. Like I don’t. It hasn’t even like crossed my mind. And so for me, like I, I would just say like do things intuitively.

Like if you used it before pregnancy, then you know, and you don’t have any, you’re not high risk pregnancy or anything like that, you know, figure out what’s best for you. I can’t tell anyone what to do, but I just think there’s so much fear monk mongering when you’re pregnant and then you look at other cultures and you’re like, oh, this is actually considered very normal.

And there is research on this. And it’s funny, and I sent this one article to my midwife when I was the first time I was pregnant, this is when I found all this information, when I was digging through all this and I was like, look, [00:59:00] like your body temperature doesn’t even like rise enough to harm the baby.

And like there’s no birth defects were found in these studies and like on humans. And a lot of this research that we’re using in the US is just on animals. So. She was like, wow, that’s like really interesting. She, you know, again, she’s like, you were using the sono like before you got pregnant. So, you know, I wouldn’t do it in the first trimester probably just ’cause there’s a lot going on in that first trimester.

But when I was like, you know, halfway through my pregnancy and, uh, definitely my third trimester, I was really histamine. I’m like, I really want to use as sauna right now. And it, it brought me like a lot of relief and comfort, but again, didn’t even need it my second pregnancy. So you gotta kind of go with I think your gut and, you know, read the information.

I’ll put the articles. There’s a lot of research articles too. That’s like a very big common question. And then I did, I did use a binder when I used the sauna. So I would take citrus pectin before I went in. And that [01:00:00] also made, I didn’t have kids then, so I could use Asana whenever I wanted. So it wasn’t hard for me to time it.

I usually did it at night ’cause it helped me sleep again, very histamine. Right? So that affected my sleep during my first pregnancy. It wasn’t terrible. I’m like a real, I’m a pretty good sleeper, but it, even having my sleep a little disrupted, I’m like, it makes me feel like death. So it was bad for me, I would say, but for a normal person they’d probably be like, that’s really not that bad.

But I would do it at night. So I would, I did not, like, I would make sure that I didn’t eat any food recently. Take the binder, then do this TA session and shower and go to bed. So you just have to, you know, you gotta time it. But I do think, you know, you are, it does support detox pathways, sweating and stuff.

And, and I’m like, I’d, I was like, I’d just rather be safe than sorry, I’m just gonna take a little citrus back and not a big deal. But then of course, you know, I didn’t have like a high risk pregnancy. So, and I, again, I was using it for many years before I got pregnant and then postpartum, I think this is the tricky thing with like breastfeeding.

I’ve just seen it affect everyone [01:01:00] differently. So like for me, I felt like it increased my milk supply, so it was like great for me. I’ve also seen someone where they, they notice a dip in their milk supply. I think that hydration has a huge part of this. So I was doing lots of adrenal cocktails. There’s always minerals in my water, and I was extremely hydrated.

So if I, if I weren’t and I were sweating and detox, supporting detox pathways, of course you’re gonna, that could affect your hydration status and that can affect your milk supply. So that’s something to consider breastfeeding. And then I personally, again, similar to Castrol packs postpartum, ’cause I do, I use as sauna now.

Like I’ve, I love it. I mean, my, my youngest is 18 months now, so, and I would say she’s nursing less, but she is really not. I’m like, when is this gonna slow down? Never. Apparently so. But she nurses like pretty, I can ki I kind of know like the times of day that she’s gonna wanna nurse for the most part, unless she’s teething.

And I will just try to [01:02:00] time it where I’m using it like a. Like, I’ll, usually I just go and I nurse her before I go in the sauna. Honestly, like, uh, typically I do the sauna after I work out and I just try to time it all together. Like I’ll go turn it on, start my workout, it’s warmed up by the time I’m done with my workout and I’ll, I only do like 10, 15 minutes in there and I haven’t, I don’t do a lot in the summer because it’s just so hot.

Or in Florida or in North Carolina where I was previously, I mostly use it like in the cooler months. But it was that, that’s where like I just try to time it like that for ease in my schedule and trying to incorporate it. And so after I’m done working out, I’ll see if Amaya wants to nurse and then take binder.

Typically I take a binder. I’m like pretty much always supporting my minerals since I, because I had two kids in two years. I’ve done like lots of hair tests, lots of mineral support in that timeframe in the last three years. And we wanna have a third. And so not, not soon, don’t worry, but I’m like really trying to like replenish, support my health, recover from being a military [01:03:00] spouse most stressful times of my life ever.

And it has used a ton of my resources between pregnancy, post postpartum, breastfeeding for so long and like stress. And so that’s kinda what I’m supporting now. And so because I’m doing a lot of mineral support, I pretty much always have a little bit of a binder that I’m taking. I just do citrus packin because.

It’s not too intense. It’s very gentle and I’m always like pregnant or breastfeeding so that I don’t time it with my sauna use now, because I just typically take it once a day anyway. So that’s what I do. You gotta do what feels best for you. I also have been like, if I had like a ton of heavy metals or you know, present on my hair test or something like that, but we’ve had clients with like really high uranium or arsenic or aluminum.

I don’t think that I would be like pushing detox more with sauna. If I were nursing or pregnant, I would really just be doing mineral support, liver support, binder support to make sure I’m getting all those outta my [01:04:00] body and pooping every day. Hydration, all the foundations I already talked about. So that’s, you know, that’s what I would feel safe doing.

I wouldn’t do like additional sauna stuff like that. I just don’t think it. You don’t wanna go too fast and you don’t wanna go too hard ’cause it’s not just you that it’s affecting, it could also affect your baby. So, and then I think, you know, postpartum, breastfeeding, it also depends on, like, again, are you like, I didn’t use Asana when I was like a month postpartum.

I just personally didn’t feel like it and I didn’t wanna, it’s like there’s no eating schedule or anything. At least not for my babies. So they, I just nurse on demand and especially before they’re eating real food. It’s kind of hard to like time it. But again, if I wanted to use it, then I would just nurse then go use as sauna if I wasn’t already taking a binder.

And I would take one and I would personally feel safe. But it’s again, if this is where like questions like this, I’m like. Well, what is your health history like? Do you have a huge history of a toxin exposure? Where’d you live? Do you have a lot? Did you grow up a lot of pollution [01:05:00] around you? Again, all that stuff can, they can get exposed to that without supporting detox pathways or using asana.

They can, they, it can get through the placenta. It can get into breast milk. But you know, just taking all those things into consideration and know like, is this right for me is very important. So overall it’s like do you really need detox support or do you need to work on more of those basic habits and daily things to, versus like jumping to the more advanced support like Castro packs, like sauna, things like that.

The one last question I want to answer is red light therapy, because I got a question about like, is red light therapy safe and does this like stimulate detox or Oh, it was because there’s, uh, a lot of saunas have it, mine, mine does have red lights in it. It is red. Light therapy is considered safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

I used it throughout, like I love red light. Both all of mine, I’ve, I’ve literally, I’ve used red light therapy for like eight years now and I absolutely love it. [01:06:00] And it can actually help increase milk supply for breastfeeding mothers because it helps improve blood flow. So it enhances circulation to the breast tissue and that helps to deliver more oxygen and nutrients, which can support milk production.

It can reduce inflammation, and this basically, if you have a lot of inflammation and that gets reduced, that can ease breast tissue swelling. Discomfort and just create like a better environment for milk production. And then it’s a, it can be a stress reducer. So if you’re reducing stress hormones and supporting relaxation, if you look at a lot of like the lactation tinctures, herbal blends and stuff, a lot of the herbs are for bringing cortisol levels down because that can have a huge effect on milk production.

And then also like sex hormones, insulin, blood sugar, balance, all things that are gonna affect your supply stress can just inhibit those lactation hormones. So that’s another way. But [01:07:00] there are, um, there are clinical studies that show where like therapy can increase prolactin levels. That’s a hormone that boosts milk supply or milk production and help, it can also help mothers experiencing nipple pain and inflammation.

And like, so it’s kind of like indirectly supporting that like milk flow. So it’s, I think that it could be incredibly helpful. Also like you could just go outside if you’re awake at sunrise or sunset and get red light therapy. That way you could be by a fire and get it that way. Those are all different options for like kind of getting that exposure.

You don’t have to have like a fancy red light, but those are the big things. I did a couple questions. I’m gonna try to rapid fire answer quickly now because I’m like, oh my gosh, how long is this getting is okay. So would this help with extreme hyperemesis? I think that extreme hyperemesis is a histamine issue.

So you don’t, so yes, yes. The general things I’ve recommended will help, but there’s always gonna be a histamine component. So [01:08:00] I would listen to the episode I did with Michelle and then consider watching the replay of our webinar. Um, vitamin B ones also, there’s research on that now and B one deficiency and that being part of a root cause for hyperemesis.

Someone asked about coffee enemas being safe for breastfeeding. There’s no research. You just like hard to know, like, will the toxins go right into the bile and be excreted, or are they gonna enter the breast milk? Like, we don’t know. But I would just be like, why do you need coffee enemas when you’re, you know, again, like, what is the reason for that?

Is there something we could be doing better with our, how we take care of ourselves on a daily basis If you’re constipated, I’m like, okay, there’s, we gotta look way deeper than coffee animals. But I think it’s just kind of like, why. And then I got a question about tuka. Can I take that while pregnant?

It’s, you know, there’s, there’s a lot of animal studies that are super promising and they use tuka treatment during pregnancy. It showed it reduced blood pressure, improved fetal body weight and enhanced uterine artery [01:09:00] function with no, without any negative effects on the baby. But we don’t have any research on humans.

Of course, it is one that I. Well, I’ve used myself personally while pregnant during my first pregnancy. ’cause I, again, a super histamine, got a little bit of that gallbladder pain and I was like, Nope, not happening to me. Taking you to go right away. And I never had the pain again. So I just think you have to talk with your provider.

It’s literally like a bile salt. So it can be too detoxifying for some for sure. But I think if you take a small amount, like I felt safe taking it. I’ve had a lot of clients that take it on their own ’cause they have a history of cholestasis or gallbladder issues in pregnancy and they’re like, this has helped me in the past.

Like, I feel safe taking it, I’m going to continue. And then they don’t have any issues, future pregnancies. So it’s like most doctors that I’ve talked to, like they’re totally fine with their clients taking it. It’s just like the amount that they’re taking and like if, are they tolerating it just [01:10:00] because it, it’s, it can be very helpful for certain things, but if you have like a ton of bacterial overgrowth, you could have a lot of loose stools and you gotta be careful.

You don’t wanna get dehydrated. So it depends on the person. If she asks about dandelion tea, you can, you can definitely drink that when you’re pregnant. And then someone asks about mold, like detoxing from mold while pregnant. We’re mostly getting rid of mold and mycotoxins in our bile. So again, supporting all these general like natural.

Drainage pathways is helpful, but you just wanna be careful. Typically, you’re probably just gonna be super histamine too if you have mold exposure. So you, you don’t want to add in a bunch of supplements and then like, cause yourself to go into a flare and it’s not like I would never do a mold detox outbreak.

Like definitely not but you. But I would be like, okay, let’s like really support your bile because we know that that’s where a lot of mycotoxins are leaving the body. So chia seeds, cilium husk powder, the raw carrots, all the bitter green stuff like [01:11:00] that can be extremely helpful. Maybe some phosphatidylcholine, like the body bio PC just depends on the person to figure out what that bile support might look like.

But like fiber, very beneficial of minerals for sure are gonna obviously be very helpful. But I think all those foundational things can be supportive. But again, like you’re not gonna wanna. Do like a mold detox while you’re pregnant. That’s just gonna be like, wait. I also have so many thoughts about mold detoxes.

We are gonna have a mold episode, I promise. Um, one of my dieticians on my team is a mold expert, so her name’s Gracie. I’ll bring her on and we’re gonna have a very level headed mold conversation. ’cause I think mold’s gotten outta control and people panic and they do so many things. Take all these supplements that make everything worse.

Um, so we’re gonna talk about another way, but thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of the Hormone Healing RD podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. There’s, there’s not a perfect answer for a lot of these questions and I know that people [01:12:00] hate when I say it depends on the person. That’s why I try to share more of my personal experience.

’cause I’m like, okay, maybe that will help you put it more in context for yourself and like client experience and stuff. But. That is the episode. I hope it’s helpful. The best way to support me is by leaving a review. And if you can share the episode with a friend, um, share it in your stories. Tag me. I would love to see it.

Love seeing the support. It just helps more women discover the message and hopefully feel empowered on their healing journeys. If you wanna dig deeper, you can definitely consider joining my Patreon, patreon.com/hormone healing rd. That’s where I have that bile and liver support guide. And a bonus lesson that I think will be very helpful if you’re trying to figure out like, how do I navigate a lot of this stuff that it originally went with the acne episode, but very helpful for this episode as well.

And then of course, I have my Feminine Periodical newsletter that goes out every Sunday at 6:00 PM Eastern time, where you get lots of exclusive tips. I share tools in there behind the [01:13:00] scenes stuff, what’s coming up. Free trainings, all that stuff, but that’s it. You can find the link for that in the show notes, but I’m so glad you’re here.

Thank you for watching. You’ve made it to the end. Thank you, and I can’t wait to connect with you again next week.

S8 E6: The Complete Guide to Detox During Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Amanda Montalvo

Amanda Montalvo is a women's health dietitian who helps women find the root cause of hormone imbalances and regain healthy menstrual cycles.

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