Shepherd’s Purse
Shepherd’s Purse is an annual, weed, that grows to about 20 inches in height and is easily recognized by the heart-shaped pods that form near the top. It grows in sunny areas throughout the United States.
The entire plant is used medicinally mainly as a anti-hemmorrhagic by coagulating the blood and constricting the veins. Historically, the juice of the plant was put on a ball of cotton and used to plug the nose and stop a bad nosebleed. It was also used to increase urine and menstrual flow and increase vitamin C in the diet. For maternity use, it is most often used in a tincture from fresh plants which not only stops bleeding but also causes uterine contractions. If an infusion is wanted, one need only steep the chopped plant material for about an hour as it give up the medicinal properties readily in water.
USES
To provide calcium: eat the leaves.
To control bleeding following a miscarriage: give 10-20 drops of the tincture sublingually as needed.
To build up clotting factors in the body prenatally: give 15-20 drops once or twice a day. To control bleeding after birtrh and delivery in the placenta:
give 20-40 drops sublingually. It can work in five seconds. or give a
combination tincture.
give 20 drops each of Blue Cohosh and Shepherd’s Purse in tea.To aid in
returning the uterus to pre-birth size if uterus is still large at 4-6 weeks postpartum:
give Shepherd’s Purse and Blue Cohosh tea along with recommendation for
rest, lots of breastfeeding and better nutrition.
To provide prophylactic treatment of vitamin K to a
newborn: give 3 drops of tincture or extract to the newborn by mouth.
CAUTIONS
If planning to make your own tincture, pick the plant immediately before tincturing as it loses its medicinal properties quickly once it dries
Care should be taken if used for postpartum hemmorrhage as Shepherd’s Purse can cause large clots fto form which can prevent the uterus from clamping down and contracting leading to continued bleeding.
Archive for the ‘Pregnancy & Newborns’ Category
Pregnancy Tip: Herbs Commonly Used In Pregnancy, Labor And Postpartum
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010Making Your Pregnancy Safer
Monday, August 16th, 2010According to the Coalition for Positive Outcomes in Pregnancy, before becoming pregnant a woman needs at least four months to recover from exposure to harmful substances and to build a good nutritional supply. For example, the risk of spina bifida, caused by a defective closing of the neural tube, is greatly reduced when the expectant mother has an ample supply of folic acid.
Since the embryoâ??s neural tube closes between the 24th and 28th day after conceptionâ??long before many women realize that they are pregnantâ??some women who are planning to become pregnant take folic acid.
Another crucial nutrient is iron. Indeed, a womanâ??s iron requirement doubles during pregnancy. If her reserve is lowâ??which is true of many women in developing countriesâ??she can come to have iron-deficiency anemia. This condition can be worsened by repeated pregnancies, as the woman may not have time between them to replenish her iron reserve.
Making Your Pregnancy Safer
A pregnant woman should avoid extremes. According to Krauseâ??s Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy, a low-birth-weight babyâ??s risk of death is 40 times greater than that of a normal-weight newborn. On the other hand, eating for two only promotes obesity. Proper weight gainâ??more evident from the second trimester onâ??indicates that the expectant mother is eating the right amount for her increased demands.
Some sources of folic acid and iron are liver, legumes, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and fortified cereals. For absorbing iron-rich foods, it may help to combine them with sources of vitamin C, such as fresh fruits.
The recommended gain for a woman who begins pregnancy with a healthy weight is between 20 and 25Â pounds [9 and 12Â kg] by the end of gestation. Nevertheless, adolescents or undernourished women should gain between 25 and 30Â pounds [12 and 15Â kg], while those who are overweight should gain only between 15 and 20Â pounds [7 and 9Â kg].
According to the Coalition for Positive Outcomes in Pregnancy, before becoming pregnant a woman needs at least four months to recover from exposure to harmful substances and to build a good nutritional supply. For example, the risk of spina bifida, caused by a defective closing of the neural tube, is greatly reduced when the expectant mother has an ample supply of folic acid.
Since the embryoâ??s neural tube closes between the 24th and 28th day after conceptionâ??long before many women realize that they are pregnantâ??some women who are planning to become pregnant take folic acid.
Another crucial nutrient is iron. Indeed, a womanâ??s iron requirement doubles during pregnancy. If her reserve is lowâ??which is true of many women in developing countriesâ??she can come to have iron-deficiency anemia. This condition can be worsened by repeated pregnancies, as the woman may not have time between them to replenish her iron reserve.
Making Your Pregnancy Safer
A pregnant woman should avoid extremes. According to Krauseâ??s Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy, a low-birth-weight babyâ??s risk of death is 40 times greater than that of a normal-weight newborn. On the other hand, eating for two only promotes obesity. Proper weight gainâ??more evident from the second trimester onâ??indicates that the expectant mother is eating the right amount for her increased demands.
Some sources of folic acid and iron are liver, legumes, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and fortified cereals. For absorbing iron-rich foods, it may help to combine them with sources of vitamin C, such as fresh fruits.
The recommended gain for a woman who begins pregnancy with a healthy weight is between 20 and 25Â pounds [9 and 12Â kg] by the end of gestation. Nevertheless, adolescents or undernourished women should gain between 25 and 30Â pounds [12 and 15Â kg], while those who are overweight should gain only between 15 and 20Â pounds [7 and 9Â kg].
Losing Weight After the Pregnancy
Friday, August 6th, 2010Your spouse will have put on weight gain during the pregnancy. While this is normal, many women worry about this increase in their weight following delivery.
These are important things your spouse needs to know if she is trying to lose weight:
• Weight gain may be normal: It is important for your spouse to determine whether the weight she has gained is within normal limits. Pregnancy weight gain of anywhere between 15 to 30 pounds is absolutely normal and she need not worry about it. However, if she weighs over 30 pounds more than before she became pregnant, she may need to consider losing some of it.
• Weight loss needs to be gradual: There is no truth in the popular belief that successful weight loss program has to be speedy. Actually post-pregnancy weight gain may take up to years to reverse and is dependent on many factors.
• ‘Quick fix’ methods do not work: Doctors do not generally recommend any quick techniques or drastic diets to lose weight following pregnancy.
Your spouse can effectively lose weight by:
• Staying away from any ‘fad’ diets likely to harm herself and, if she is breastfeeding, the baby
• Combining a healthy diet plan with a sensible exercise routine
• Aiming for a reasonable loss that she can maintain, rather than a drastic loss that is short-lived
• Consulting a dietician if her own efforts do not show results Returning to normal
During pregnancy, your spouse’s body went through tremendous changes. Now that she has given birth, she will experience more changes as her body returns to its normal state.
These are some of the changes that the new mom is likely to experience:
• Increase in temperature up to 100.4 F for about 24 hours after delivery
• Weight loss of about10 to 12 lbs. immediately after the birth, followed by another five pounds soon after.
• Discharge from the vagina
• Shrinking of the uterus as it returns to its original position
• Gradual closing of the cervix
• Recommencement of the ovulation cycle
• Gradual fading away of stretch marks on the belly
• Gradual toning of the firmness of the abdomen as it returns to its pre-pregnancy state
• Increase in breast size along with lactation
• Increased sensations of hunger and thirst
• Symptoms of flatus, or gas in the stomach and intestines, especially in case of a cesarean delivery
• Reduced sensation of the need to urinate and/or urinary incontinence
• Symptoms of a chill— quite normal unless accompanied by fever
• Increased sweating, especially at night, as accumulated waste matter is discharged from the body
• Pains caused by intermittent uterine contractions
• Reduction in the swelling of legs or ankles
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