Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1 – Informed Choices in Pregnancy
The myth of the placental barrier
Vaccines during pregnancy
Choosing to be toxin-free
Natural cosmetics and skincare
What your skin is absorbing
Prenatal ultrasounds
Folate Vs folic acid
Supplementation during pregnancy
Emotions and your unborn child
Part 2 – Informed Choices in Birth
Why natural birth matters
Gentle C-Sections and seeding the microbiome
To induce or not to induce
The truth about epidurals
Delayed cord clamping
The newborn vitamin K injection
The facts about group B strep
A natural birth plan
Part 3 – Informed Choices for Your Newborn
Maternal intuition
The benefits of co-sleeping
The truth about cry-it-out
Why breast is best
The truth about SIDS
The facts about fever
First Foods
Toxic baby products
Part 4 – Childhood Vaccinations
Vaccination throughout history
Vaccination Vs natural immunity
A Chinese medicine perspective
Vaccination and allergies
Vaccines – the first year
Hepatitis B
Whooping cough
Tetanus
The truth about polio
Vaccines – the second year
Measles, mumps and rubella
Can vaccines cause autism?
Chickenpox
Meningococcal
The facts about flu vaccination
The ‘herd immunity’ myth
MTHFR gene mutation
A safe and gentle vaccine detox
Homeopathic vaccination
Part 5 – Natural Immunity
The importance of sunlight
A whole-foods diet
Vitamin C
Fluoride-free water
Antibiotics
The harmful effects of EMFs
Part 6 - Natural Remedies for Children
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
A - Z Guide to Natural Remedies for health conditions
Resources
References
Introduction
“There is no single effort more radical in its potential to save the world, than a transformation in the way we raise our children”
- Marianne Williamson
For many women those first few years of motherhood are an intense and challenging time. No longer focused solely on our needs, our world revolves around the wellbeing of our precious child. Long days and sleepless nights become part of life. In an ideal world our maternal instincts would be respected, however in today's society this is sadly not the case. Women are being encouraged to go against their intuition by a system that thrives on keeping us disconnected and uninformed. It is within this system that mothers are not being given true informed consent when it comes to important choices that we must make for both ourselves and our children.
Informed consent is the voluntary agreement given by an individual to have a medical intervention or procedure after they receive all valid information relating to it.
Which brings me to the reason why I wrote this book…
It was a few years ago, when my children were still young babies, when I was still changing nappies, surviving on very little sleep and trying to navigate life as a new mother, that I had the idea to write a book that would support and empower women. Amidst the chaos of raising two young children, I was beginning to realize what a dangerous time it is that we are living in - A time where misinformation is taken as the truth, where true informed consent is virtually non-existent, and where children have higher rates of chronic disease than at any other time in history.
In many parts of the world our parental rights are slowly being chipped away at, with parents losing the freedom to raise their children in the way that they choose.
We are living at a time when we should have the most accurate and up-to-date information at our fingertips. However, rather than being given the facts, we are lied to. We are told that our healthy pregnant bodies are incapable of giving birth naturally. We are pressured into high-risk medical procedures, and worst of all, we are told to ignore our instincts.
This is why parents like myself, and so many others around the world are taking back control of our family’s health, and being inspired to find natural alternatives outside of what our society deems to be the norm. Mothers all over the world are realizing that they need to be empowered to make their own decisions, instead of following the status quo.
My own journey from toxic lifestyle to conscious parenting
There was a time when I had very little knowledge when it came to health. I went to the doctor often (because both my physical and mental health were so bad), and by my early twenties had been through a long list of prescription medications that included anti-anxiety drugs, as well as several different antidepressants.
Needless to say, I felt terrible, both physically and emotionally.
Finally, in my mid-twenties, I began to wake up. I started to gain an understanding of what true health really was, and that everything I had been doing up until this time had been pushing me further from it. Instead of simply 'masking' my symptoms with medication, I began to look at the root cause.
I studied everything I could about holistic healing and natural medicine, and in the process changed my whole lifestyle.
Like many people, it was my suffering that led me to take responsibility