Summary: Heal the Mother, Heal the Baby: Nutrition, Gut Health, the Enteric Nervous System & Breastfeeding The internal terrain reflects itself in the external terrain in a myriad of ways that may well explain many breastfeeding problems. Gut health and integrity drives the nature of the enteric nervous system, thus the implications for well-being are significant. When the maternal body’s reaction to imbalance results in a pro-inflammatory response, a cascade of disease processes may result. Maternal health and well-being, post-partum depression, food allergies, milk supply, PCOS, tongue-tie, reflux, "high-need" infant behavior, slow growth, failure to thrive and numerous feeding difficulties may all find origins in the integrity and vitality of the mother’s internal terrain. In attending to the health of the maternal gut, while supporting the infant in his own healing, we may find that many breastfeeding problems are resolved both acutely and chronically. In a discussion of maternal gut health, the function of the enteric nervous system and the implications for infant gut integrity, we will come to a deeper understanding of why healing the mother's gut may well be integral to successfully addressing a wide array of breastfeeding difficulties. Join my GUest Jennifer Tow BFA, IBCLC as we discuss this important topic
