Pre / Post Natal Care

Every pregnant woman deserves to be under the best care during their entire term of pregnancy. At HIWHC, we offer a wide range of pre-birth and post-birth care programs to ensure optimal support to both mom and baby! We advocate women to modify their diet and lifestyle throughout pregnancy to ensure healthy babies and efficient births.

“A detailed Program is designed for each trimester outlining nutrient dense meals, optimal nutritional supplementations, acupuncture treatment as well as exercise plans”

Acupuncture in First and Second Trimester of Pregnancy

A woman’s body undergoes tremendous physiological changes in the first and second trimester leading to various symptoms accompanying these changes. Acupuncture has been found to be very effective in treating the following:

• Nausea and vomiting

• Heartburn

• Constipation

• Urinary Tract Infections

• Leg Cramps

• Fatigue and Exhaustion

• Sinusitis

• Edema

Pre-birth Acupuncture Program

Entails a series of treatments in the final weeks of pregnancy (34 weeks – 40 weeks); to prepare women for childbirth. Acupuncture is used in two main ways in the later stages of pregnancy:

• Firstly, specific prebirth treatments, in the form of standard set of points, to help prepare a woman’s body for birth, with emphasis on preparing the cervix and pelvis for labour

• Secondly,treatment can be tailored to deal with medical conditions such as pregnancy-induced hypertension and symptoms such as heartburn

• Acupressure points are also taught to pregnant women and their partners prior to labour, usually around 36 weeks gestation.  This technique provides pain relief as well as helps women to have an efficient labour.

Breech Presentation

Studies looking at the optimal time for turning breech baby with moxa have found that intervention is most efficient at week 34, before the baby has grown too large. In clinical practice it is best to see women as near to the 34 weeks as possible.

Women are taught how to use moxa at the comfort of their home, the duration and the number of days to continue the treatment. Webster echnique as well as other interventions may be discussed on an individual basis.

Ontario offers many choices of medical care during pregnancy, birth and beyond.  Families can choose from Obstetricians, General Practitioners and Midwives. It is important to choose which medical caregiver(s) you want attending your birth as it is going to be one of the most important days of your life.  Here are some options available through midwifery:

In Ontario, a midwife is a registered health care professional who provides primary care to low-risk women throughout pregnancy, labour and birth. Midwives also provide care to both mother and baby during the six weeks following birth. They are available to clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week by pager.

If you see a midwife you will not see a physician unless there are concerns or complications. Most births are normal and there are no complications. If there are complications, midwives can consult or transfer care to an obstetrician. Midwivesprovide safe and expert care to healthy women and newborns.

What does it cost to use midwife?

Midwifery services are completely funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, so women do not pay for care out-of-pocket. Women who are not currently covered by OHIP can still receive free midwifery care.

When should I contact a midwife?

It is best to contact a midwife as soon as you find out you're pregnant. Not only is demand for midwives high, but it is also beneficial to access prenatal care at the beginning of your pregnancy. Some clinics do have openings for clients later in pregnancy. Call anytime. You do not need a referral to see a midwife.

How do I find a midwife?

Locate a clinic in your community or call the Association of Ontario Midwives at 416-425-9974 or toll free at 1-866-418-3773.

How many midwives are there in Ontario?

There are more than 600 registered midwives in the province. In 1994, Ontario became the first province in Canada to regulate midwifery. Since that time, midwives have attended more than 100,000 births in Ontario.

What is the philosophy of midwifery?

Ontario midwifery is based on three principles:

1. Continuity of Care Midwives provide care throughout pregnancy, labour, birth, and the first six weeks following birth. Midwives develop relationships with women and are available to clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week by pager.

2. Informed Choice Women are active decision-makers in the care they receive; midwives give information to help women make informed decisions.

3. Choice of Birthplace Women may choose to give birth safely at home or in hospital. Midwives have hospital privileges in Ontario hospitals. This means that they can admit and discharge clients at hospitals and access hospital resources needed by clients, including a consultation from a doctor if there is a concern or complication. Midwives are the only health care professionals specifically trained in home birth.

These are some options available to women through midwives. Visit our Links page for more useful websites and information

There are great benefits to using traditional Chinese medicine during a pregnancy and during the postnatal period to prevent any disharmonies from developing. It is very common to see women presenting with a range of deficiency problems that originated or worsened following the birth of a child ...

We teach the “Mother Warming” treatment, which is done around day four or five post-birth. Following this treatment, acupuncture, moxibustion, and dietary plans are planned on a follow-up visit approximately 2-3 weeks post delivery to facilitate the body in building good quality qi and blood.

We nurture your baby’s growth and development starting from the first few days after birth and onwards. We recommend your baby’s first well-baby exam within two to three weeks after birth, and additional well-baby exams every three to four months for the first year.

Well-baby exams are scheduled at baby’s first, third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth month. At each of the visits, your baby’s naturopath performs the following exams and discusses about the milestones:

Your baby’s measurements: A well-baby exam usually begins with measurements of your baby's length, weight and head circumference.

Head-to-toe physical exam: A thorough check-up is performed at every visit including eyes, ears, abdominal, lungs, heart, hips, skin and genitalia exam.

Your baby’s development: Depending on your baby's age, your naturopath will discuss the following:

• How well does your baby control his or her head?

• Does your baby imitate your facial expressions and sounds?

• Does your baby reach for objects or put them into his or her mouth?

• Does your baby attempt to roll over?

• Can your baby sit with support?

• Does your baby pull up into a standing position?

Your naturopath will discuss in depth some of the common topics at the visit:

• Fussy baby – colic and ways to improve baby’s digestive system

• Introducing solid foods

• Food allergies

• Vaccination

• Teething

• Treating colds and flus

• Improving baby’s immune system

• Benefits of probiotics and fish oil and when can they be introduced

After a birth and delivery, some mothers may assume they are out of the woods when it comes to discomfort and health challenges. Whether a mother is under chiropractic care during pregnancy or not, postpartum chiropractic care is crucial for her after a birth.

Chiropractors remove nervous system interference to allow for optimal health and well-being. Impaired nerve function and bio-mechanical imbalance in the pelvis can lead to pain, discomfort and poor health. Many women may “feel fine” after the birth of their children, overjoyed and excited about this new life. This exuberance may mask problems until they are noticed later on. It’s important to be checked by a chiropractor as soon as possible after the delivery.

For many women, pregnancy can be a very uncomfortable experience. First, there are the initial hormonal changes and morning sickness; the feeling of being on an emotional roller-coaster for no good reason whatsoever and the unusual food cravings at all hours of the day.

Next come the physical changes. As the baby develops and grows inside the womb, so does the mom’s belly. This expansion of the belly is an unavoidable change, part of the territory that comes with growing a baby. But oftentimes, this is accompanied by an alteration in spinal and pelvic alignment. This structural alteration, or misalignment, may be very uncomfortable and even painful as the pregnancy progresses.

One of the hormones that runs wild through a pregnant momma’s body is relaxin. Relaxin helps ligaments loosen up, especially those in the pelvic area, to accomodate the expansion of the growing baby and uterus. However, relaxin can be a double-edged sword. While it helps those bones shift in order to make way for the baby, the ligament laxity can make those pelvic bones very unstable in their position, allowing them to misalign in a very painful way. Couple this with the fact that a pregnant woman’s lumbar spinal curvature can increase as the size and weight of the belly increase, and you have the recipe for an uncomfortable, unhappy pregnancy. This is where Chiropractic can be very helpful!

Along with the sacrum and the elaborate network of ligaments, tendons, muscles, and nerves attached and intertwined within this area, one can start to imagine the complications that can arise for a pregnant woman with an improperly aligned pelvis, one of those being a baby in a breech position late in the pregnancy. (**having a baby in a breech position doesn’t mean that you are necessarily doomed to have an inevitable c-section, but a baby with its head down will make life a lot easier for both momma and baby during labor.)

Because of the elaborate setup of the pelvis and sacrum, they move as a unit most of the time. When one hip bone has rocked back into a posterior (or backward) misalignment, the opposite side is, by default, rocked forward. This can cause the sacrum to tilt posterior/backward one way or the other, often causing pain and/or tightness in the pregnant belly on the opposite side.  Because of all this tilting and torquing of the pelvic bones, the birth canal will narrow, possibly complicating the baby’s ability to birth naturally.

Any combination of misalignments of these bones will contribute to troublesome, or even severe, lower back pain for a pregnant woman, and set the stage for a painful, long labor full of interventions that may result in an eventual c-section, a major surgery few women look forward to unless absolutely necessary.

How can The Webster Technique help? 

Proper chiropractic care, in and of itself, is very beneficial for the pregnant mother. A properly aligned pelvis and sacrum will do wonders in avoiding any of the less favourable scenarios previously mentioned. Properly aligned pelvic bones help the pelvic muscles stay loose, allowing the network of nerves within the pelvic area to transmit important messages from the nervous system to their intended destinations without interference.

The Webster In-Utero Constraint Technique, or simply the Webster Technique, takes it one step further. Dr. Larry Webster developed a chiropractic technique that balances the pelvis properly, while also reducing the stress to the ligaments that support the uterus, more specifically the round ligaments. Dr. Webster developed this technique after watching his own daughter suffer through a long, painful labor with a baby in the breech position.

The round ligaments act to hold the uterus in suspension within the abdomen. However, as the pregnancy goes on, these round ligaments can become thin and tight like a rubber band pulled to tension, causing sharp, spastic pains and restricting the space in which the baby has to maneuver within the womb. Restriction of this movement often causes a baby to stay in a breech position beyond 38 weeks. Once the pelvis and sacrum are properly aligned, the Webster Technique focuses on relieving the tightness in the round ligaments. This allows the baby to shift comfortably and freely within the womb so that he or she may get into proper position for his or her big journey to the outside world.