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Natural and or nutritional ways to prevent postpartum hemmorage?

7K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  Lorette 
#1 ·
What can I do right now nutrition and supplement -wise to lessen my chances of pph? What items should I have on hand after birth just in case ?
 
#4 ·
I've been drinking a pregnancy tea. I got the recipe from some book - Natural Pregnancy by Aviva Romm something??? Sorry - that's ridiculously unhelpful. It has RRL, nettle, oatstraw, red clover, a little spearmint for taste, and rose hips. I think that's it. I'm sure there's a recipe floating around on the web somewhere. I think it works better than prenatals and once I start drinking it, I crave it.
 
#5 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by elfinbaby View Post
I've been drinking a pregnancy tea. I got the recipe from some book - Natural Pregnancy by Aviva Romm something??? Sorry - that's ridiculously unhelpful. It has RRL, nettle, oatstraw, red clover, a little spearmint for taste, and rose hips. I think that's it. I'm sure there's a recipe floating around on the web somewhere. I think it works better than prenatals and once I start drinking it, I crave it.
It's okay I happen to have that book around here somewhere, so I guess I'll go search around for it.
 
#6 ·
my m/w had me start drinking a quart of NORA tea daily starting at 16 weeks. not just for prevention of pph, it's an overall tonic to support pregnancy. i have to say, it well surpassed my expectations. i had no constipation (after having it bad with the other two), no anemia (again, after having it very bad both previous times), i hardly bled at all after birth, and my placenta literally just plopped out - i didn't even have a ctx - and the other two births it was intensely painful and involved a lot of bleeding during and afterwards.

NORA = nettles, oatstraw, red raspberry leaf, alfalfa

i can't recommend it highly enough. in fact, i will probably continue to drink it (or something like it) regularly, pregnant or not.


ETA - oh, it also helped to keep me from swelling, another problem i had with both my other pregnancies, especially #1.
 
#7 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by pixiepunk View Post
my m/w had me start drinking a quart of NORA tea daily starting at 16 weeks. not just for prevention of pph, it's an overall tonic to support pregnancy. i have to say, it well surpassed my expectations. i had no constipation (after having it bad with the other two), no anemia (again, after having it very bad both previous times), i hardly bled at all after birth, and my placenta literally just plopped out - i didn't even have a ctx - and the other two births it was intensely painful and involved a lot of bleeding during and afterwards.

NORA = nettles, oatstraw, red raspberry leaf, alfalfa

i can't recommend it highly enough. in fact, i will probably continue to drink it (or something like it) regularly, pregnant or not.


ETA - oh, it also helped to keep me from swelling, another problem i had with both my other pregnancies, especially #1.
Could you tell me two things 1st what's a ctx? 2nd what amounts of each herb? Thanks
 
#8 ·
I second taking chlorphyll. I would also recommend talking to your midwife about giving you shepherd's purse tea right after delivering the placenta.

I drank rrl tea religiously w/ all of my pregnancies and I still had what they call a slow pp hemmorhage--I bled like a full period for a full 4-6 weeks before it stopped. I was anemic from blood loss both times. W/ my 3rd, my mw had me take chlorphyll during pregnancy and then gave me the shepherd's purse tea after I delivered the placenta. I only bled for about a week or so, just like having a regular period (although clottier of course, and followed by the clear discharge.)
 
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by wendy1221 View Post
I second taking chlorphyll. I would also recommend talking to your midwife about giving you shepherd's purse tea right after delivering the placenta.

I drank rrl tea religiously w/ all of my pregnancies and I still had what they call a slow pp hemmorhage--I bled like a full period for a full 4-6 weeks before it stopped. I was anemic from blood loss both times. W/ my 3rd, my mw had me take chlorphyll during pregnancy and then gave me the shepherd's purse tea after I delivered the placenta. I only bled for about a week or so, just like having a regular period (although clottier of course, and followed by the clear discharge.)

I'm seeing my midwife on june 6th so I'll ask her about the chlorophyll and shepard's purse then, Thanks
 
#11 ·
I hemmoraghed in my first 3 births. The first two were in the hospital, and really weren't all that big a deal. First one the OB just had the nurses keep an eye on me, and never ended up needing to intervene. Second I got some Pitocin (IM and IV) a couple of hours after the birth--no biggie. Third. Uggghh. That was my first homebirth, and I think my midwife was extra cautious--she was massaging my uterus, which I describe as "examining my spine through my belly button." That was worse than contractions...but it was only for a couple of minutes.

So I tell you these stories just to hopefully calm your fears a bit.

But now to answer your question...how to PREVENT it, which is SO much better. Before I got pregnant with #4, I was talking to a midwife at a conference, and she said that the birth center she had worked at started a study (had to stop it because the center closed) with delayed cord clamping. They found that if they delayed cord clamping until the placenta delivered, there was NO bleeding. I found that hard to believe...but figured that even if it reduced my bleeding down to a "less than hemmoraghe" level, I'd be happy.

So I insisted on not clamping the cord until the placenta delivered--even didn't clamp it when it stopped pulsing. And guess what? No bleeding. None. Even the midwives were amazed. My lochia was also lighter than it had been before, and cord stump fell of DS much sooner than other kids had lost theirs. I had a doula client have a similar experience with her second birth after having hemmoraghed with her first, and another client did this with her first baby and also had no bleeding.

So bottom line, I'm a BIG fan of delaying the cord clamping. In the case of my son, my midwife wanted to clamp his cord to get him to oxygen, but I told her to bring the oxygen to DS. The tank is portable after all, and when my second DD had needed some oxygen in the hospital, the nurse had brought the oxygen to her (using the mask that normally a laboring woman would use and just doing "blow by") as she was in my arms without my even needing to ask for that.
 
#13 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by knitted_in_the_wom View Post

But now to answer your question...how to PREVENT it, which is SO much better. Before I got pregnant with #4, I was talking to a midwife at a conference, and she said that the birth center she had worked at started a study (had to stop it because the center closed) with delayed cord clamping. They found that if they delayed cord clamping until the placenta delivered, there was NO bleeding. I found that hard to believe...but figured that even if it reduced my bleeding down to a "less than hemmoraghe" level, I'd be happy.

So I insisted on not clamping the cord until the placenta delivered--even didn't clamp it when it stopped pulsing. And guess what? No bleeding. None. Even the midwives were amazed. My lochia was also lighter than it had been before, and cord stump fell of DS much sooner than other kids had lost theirs. I had a doula client have a similar experience with her second birth after having hemmoraghed with her first, and another client did this with her first baby and also had no bleeding.

So bottom line, I'm a BIG fan of delaying the cord clamping. In the case of my son, my midwife wanted to clamp his cord to get him to oxygen, but I told her to bring the oxygen to DS. The tank is portable after all, and when my second DD had needed some oxygen in the hospital, the nurse had brought the oxygen to her (using the mask that normally a laboring woman would use and just doing "blow by") as she was in my arms without my even needing to ask for that.

Thank you for sharing this. I've been looking for reasons to delay cord clamping/cutting until after the placenta is birthed. I will birth the placenta before the cord is cut at my upcoming hospital birth. I have found plenty of research on the benefits of delaying clamping/cutting until after the cord stops pulsing, but it is harder to find the benefits of not cutting until placenta is birthed.

Do you know anything more about this subject?

Lorette
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Could you tell me two things 1st what's a ctx? 2nd what amounts of each herb? Thanks
sorry... just seeing this, haven't been online much this week. ctx = contraction

as for what amount of each herb, i actually don't know - my m/w's backup is an herbalist and she makes it for all my m/w's clients. i'm guessing you'd be fine if you mixed equal parts of each for your first batch. also, fwiw, the blend i took also had spearmint and peppermint, rosehips and lemonbalm, but those were not the main ingredients and though they do have nutritional value were also added to enhance flavor.
 
#15 ·
I dont now if anyone has mentioned it yet... in my quest to find out different ways of eating the placenta (yeah...im gonna lol)...I have learned that alot of woman who pph help to stop the bleeding by cutting off a tiny piece of the placenta - rinse it off with fresh water - and eat it. From what I have read, it has pretty much stopped the bleeding quickly after. I do not know why but I know the placenta has many great nutritional properties to it! If I have pph - I plan to do this. But as eating it raw sounds a bit...you know...I am going to cut it up tiny like pills and just swallow them whole with some juice - shouldnt taste it at all then lol - but the benefit of that in a pph situation is what I am after and a quick available fix in the situation.
 
#17 ·
for prevention the absolute best would be several servings of green veggies a day raw or cooked. for insurance we have gals take chlorphyll supplements either liquid or liquid in caps-- It is something we used in the 80's , more recently I was seeing too many hemorrhages so we started recommending it to our moms and our hemorrhage rates dropped-- but I have to say that the majority of diet sheets I look at are lacking in green veggies... even in vegetarians -
something else that is very traditional for pregnant women to eat is berries , they taste great and have loads of nutrients
 
#18 ·
Wow, this thread is the first that I've heard that delaying cord clamping until placenta is delivered can help prevent PPH! That's awesome! I was planning on doing that anyway because it's better for babe, but now I have even more reason to.

I have been drinking an RRL/nettle blend since I found out I was pregnant, the hard part is remembering to drink enough each day since I am a huge water junkie and am usually never thirsty enough to stop and think about pouring a glass of tea. I am 30 weeks now and drinking two 8-oz glasses a day, and I hope to up that to 3 glasses in a few weeks.

I also plan on eating placenta, but mostly for nutritional benefits. I am hoping DH won't mind chopping it up, otherwise I might wind up doing it myself.
I plan on making some yummy placenta smoothies with it.

Hemorrage is a big fear of mine, since I had a pretty big one after DS1's birth. Technically it wasn't really a PPH since it happened due to a cervical laceration, but it was **** very, very scary...worst thing to ever happen to me, bar none. since I'm homebirthing a lot of the factors that led to it will be eliminated, but I'm still going to do whatever I can to prevent it.

Anyone know where a good place to buy chlorophyll is? Can I start taking it now and still build up enough benefits by birthing time?
 
#19 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by barefootpoetry View Post
Wow, this thread is the first that I've heard that delaying cord clamping until placenta is delivered can help prevent PPH! That's awesome! I was planning on doing that anyway because it's better for babe, but now I have even more reason to.

Me Too!

Anyone know where a good place to buy chlorophyll is? Can I start taking it now and still build up enough benefits by birthing time?
You can order it online. I get it at my local food coop or health food store.

Lorette
 
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