Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year (1)
Simple, safe remedies for pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, and newborns.
Now in its 24th printing. A confirmed favorite with pregnant women, midwives, childbirth educators, and new parents. Packed with clear, comforting, and superbly helpful information.
Beginning with the two months before pregnancy, herbs are enlisted to provide safe, effective birth control, or to help ensure pregnancy, even in the most difficult of situations. A special list of teratogens, including herbs to avoid before pregnancy, is included, as is a section on herbs to improve the father's fertility and reduce the risk of birth defects.
Once pregnancy has occurred, herbs are safe and beneficial allies in reducing the distress of pregnancy, including hemorrhoids, high blood pressure, morning sickness, emotional changes, anemia, muscle cramps, bladder infections, and preclampsia. Tasty recipes and clear directions make use easy and fun.
Herbs take a starring role in labor and delivery -- whether initiating labor, increasing energy, diminishing pain, or staunching postpartum bleeding -- and in postpartum care of the mother's perineum, breasts, and emotions, and the infants umbilicus, skin, scalp, digestive system, and immune system.
Humorous, tender, and detailed, this classic text is supported by illustrations, references, resource lists, glossary, and index.
Includes herbs for fertility and birth control. Foreword by Jeannine Parvati Baker.
Reviews (192)
Indispensable wisdom for women
Get this book. Then gift it to a woman who needs it, then repeat. This book is the main reason why I had the mental and physical preparation necessary to have a pain-free, natural home birth and a rapid rebound after. I still use herbal formulas in this book to support my health 12 years later. I've purchased and given away at least 8 copies of this book to friends & family. If you're interested in supporting your health as a woman, whether pregnant or not, I can't recommend this book (or her others) enough. Susun offers sound, nutrition-centric recipes and herbal formulas that are safe and supportive of overall health, while bringing us back in touch with the wild (FREE), native plants that surround us. Her "herbal ally" philosophy is one we'd all benefit from adopting.
Some useful tidbits, but dated, and questionable in other parts.
I really respect Susan Weed and have another book of hers, but this one I felt could have used an update. I'm all for natural living, and use some of this knowledge in tandem with conscious, balanced living. I don't see any one way as gospel nor do I discredit using multiple techniques and practices. What I mean is, I use herbs when it seems safe and sound. That said, I am currently seeing midwives and planning a natural birth, but some of the info they have given me conflict with the info in Weed's book. Some of the info in the book even seems to conflict with itself. I'm not entirely confident following a lot of the info in here. I'll probably reference it once in a while, just a cross reference, but not sure I would recommend it to anyone.
Keep by the bed
Pregnant and wanting to stay healthy in a gentle holistic manner that is completely supportive of your balance and your baby's well being? Susun Weed is a respected and highly knowledgeable herbalist of many many years. [Check out her Wise Woman University to learn so much more...not about her but FROM her.] I birthed all four of my children at home without drugs, without extreme measures, and even through some tough outer stressors....with Susun Weed's The Childbearing Year on my bedside table, the kitchen counter, in the diaper bag, the car... basically "to hand" because one never knows when the wisdom of an experienced elder might be needed, especially when pregnant. Susun uses a very readable style to keep your interest. And of course the book is arranged so that you can go straight to the section pertinent to your current circumstances. Susun's writing style invokes a calm sense of balance by setting up the many possible solutions in a logical and progressive pathway through each section or condition discussed. The reader gets to stay with the simplest solutions or can choose to move on to more powerful solutions. She is vigilant to sharing responsibly, so that you the reader can make the decision of trying alternatives and/or when you should bring conditions to your primary provider's attention. I wish I could express this more succinctly...all I can say is: if you prefer to avoid overly pharmaceutical measures and invasive procedures and are choosing to maintain your good health all the way through, from pre-conception to pregnancy to birth and on to the "fourth trimester" of breast feeding and returning your body back to pre-pregnancy state, this book is an excellent guide to keep you on track with all the details. And the writing is like sitting with your grandmother sharing stories while being very informative. Susun is a brilliant and experienced teacher. And if you are reading because you or a loved one is including a new one soon, Congratulations! ;)
Her emmenogoues ( bringing on menses or labor) in tincture form are recommended for helping labor
Susun Weed comes from a practicing stand point of using single herbs in hot water infusions and in food. Her emmenogoues ( bringing on menses or labor) in tincture form are recommended for helping labor. Herbal medicine is old medicine and it takes decades to learn so I think some newer herbal medicine people are taking more precaution due to the newer forms available in pills and tinctures. Today's contraindications may be due to using standardized herbal medicine which lacks the safety buffers that whole plant medicine has allowed us. Many are using herbs more like prescription drugs today. Susun Weed is about using safe and nourishing herbs like nettles and alfalfa and oats. Heroic herbs like blue cohosh when labor is difficult.
My favorite collection books
Along time ago I let someone borrow this book and I never seen it again so I re-bought it and it’s something I should’ve never let anyone borrow and I’ll never do that again. It’s my favorite but I didn’t know the value of it when I let someone borrow it. But this book is amazing and has everything a child there and mother needs to know especially for holistic purposes. Definitely something I’ve been reading and always go back to for resources.
All of Susun Weeds books are great for your health!
Another book bought to give to a young woman. Sharing experiences, sharing knowledge that's what older women passed down to other's over the centuries before the modern medicalization of health care by men. Susun Weed books have traveled with me day by day through my ever changing personal journey. I am a better, healthier, more spiritual compassionate person for it...thank you Susun Weed for sharing your knowledge, your experience and your love. When I grow up I want to be just like you...:) Your Menopausal Years saved my life....:) peace
A gold mine!
I wish I would’ve had this book sooner or as a new mom. It would’ve helped me in so many areas. As a mom of almost 6, this book is a treasure. It lists issues or problems in order from infertility, to preconception, and pregnancy to postpartum years! It’s an absolute gold mine!!! Then it lists recipes and varieties on prepping them and everything, an absolute precious book! Must own and would recommend. I’ve already gifted 2 to new moms.
Interesting and Informative
There's a lot of useful information in this book, from diet and exercise recommendations for preventing numerous pregnancy discomforts and ailments, to herbal preparations to help labor along, to methods for preventing and treating common newborn problems. I haven't actually had a baby myself, but there are herbal preparations for raising blood iron levels which I have used successfully. (I found those in other sources originally, but I can attest to their effectiveness.) The author even provides detailed instructions for making numerous herbal remedies for common pregnancy and childbirth-related, and newborn ailments. This is a great book to refer to if you want to try to avoid allopathic remedies (which can often be too strong, have problematic side effects, or be contraindicated in pregnancy) for any of these problems, or if you're just interested in learning things you can do for yourself without visiting a doctor or pharmacy. There is a small amount of woo-woo stuff (telling you to sit and listen to the plants before picking, or recommendations to put up tinctures under a full moon, etc.) I found this a little off-putting, but it's fairly easy to ignore that and just take the information you find useful.
Fantastic Resource
So this is the type of book you have to read and take away from it what you need. Used it with my first pregnancy and had an intense but fast natural birth with barely any bleeding. I also healed up quite fast and had no symptoms of depression. I used the recommended herbs to help bring up my milk supply (which was initially not enough to feed my daughter), and used it to help heal the damage caused by a bad latch. Recommended hers to help lower another friends supply after she was overproducing- also worked. I highly recommend this book to all moms that are interested in having a natural healthy pregnancy. Several of my friends purchased this book for themselves after looking over mine (also resulting in great births-fyi) I haven't tried all the remedies in this book, but the ones I have tried worked.
Great book!
This went down like a tall glass of water on a very hot day! I prefer to approach health and well-being in a more natural way, yet finding new, reputable sources on how to do that can be a challenge. Especially where pregnancy and newborns are concerned! I am expecting, and read this and felt a deep reassurance that I can take care of my baby, and do it in ways that are more in tune with nature than what is most readily presented from a more conventional Western medicine point of view. I was also happy that some of the mail order business for fresh and dried herbs are still around and in business! It's like take a step back and get in tune with the wonderful healing available to us through nature.
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