Postpartum University® Podcast

The Postpartum Restoration Method™ EP 228

• Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

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If you've felt the current postpartum care system isn't enough, leaving new moms struggling with postpartum depression, anxiety, or autoimmune conditions, this episode is for you. Maranda unveils her Postpartum Restoration Method™. It's not a quick fix, but a holistic, root-cause approach already empowering thousands of providers—from mental health professionals to nutritionists and doulas—to offer lasting solutions. Move beyond the outdated six-week checkup and discover how this method redefines postpartum recovery with truly comprehensive support.

Check out the episode on the blog HERE. 

Key time stamps: 

  • 00:00: Intro to the Postpartum Restoration Method™ and its impact. 
  • 02:32: Early feedback and success stories of the Assessment Tool. 
  • 07:13: What is the Postpartum Restoration Method™? 
  • 08:54: The five essential components: Physiological Restoration. 
  • 09:46: The five essential components: Nutritional Foundation. 
  • 11:56: The five essential components: Neurological Regulation. 
  • 12:56: The five essential components: Rhythmic Recovery. 
  • 14:13: The five essential components: Identity Integration. 
  • 15:33: Maranda's personal and professional journey creating the method. 
  • 21:54: The challenging re-branding story and why it's now even better. 
  • 24:14: How the Postpartum Restoration Method™ assessment works in practice. 
  • 28:51: Key insights driving the method's effectiveness. 
  • 29:53: Why the method is offered for free to providers. 
  • 31:55: The future vision for postpartum care. 
  • 33:06: How providers can access the assessment tool and training.

Download The Assessment Tool & Provider Guide HERE. 



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Speaker 1:

The postpartum care system is failing, leaving countless mothers struggling with depression, anxiety and autoimmune conditions. I'm Miranda Bauer and I've helped thousands of providers use holistic care practices to heal their clients at the root. Subscribe now and join us in addressing what modern medicine overlooks, so that you can give your clients real, lasting solutions for lifelong well-being. Welcome to the Postpartum University podcast, miranda Bauer. Here and today, we are diving into something that has been creating quite a buzz in the postpartum care community, which is the postpartum restoration method, and I will first tell you. Over the last several months since releasing this comprehensive assessment tool, it's based on this method that will absolutely blow your mind. It's been blowing the minds of so many people who have downloaded it. We've got thousands of providers downloading this assessment and implementing it into their practice, and the results that they're sharing with me are nothing short of incredible. Just last week, I received an email from a registered dietitian who said Miranda, in 15 years of practice, I've never had an assessment tool that so accurately captured what my postpartum clients are actually experiencing. Within three months of using your method, I'm seeing transformations that I never thought possible and that, my friends, is not an isolated story. We're hearing from medical providers, mental health professionals, doulas, nutritionists, body work practitioners who are finally feeling equipped to provide the kind of comprehensive postpartum care that actually creates lasting change. And it's, of course, for free. And if you haven't downloaded this tool yet, head to the show notes. Go download that so you know what I'm talking about. Because today I wanna pull back the curtain. Head to the show notes, go download that so you know what I'm talking about. Because today I want to pull back the curtain and really share the full story of the postpartum restoration method, like how it came to be, why it works so differently than conventional approaches and how you can start implementing it in your own practice or your personal healing journey. In your own practice or your personal healing journey.

Speaker 1:

If you have ever felt frustrated by the limitations of current postpartum care, if you've wondered why we treat pregnancy with such specialized attention but reduce postpartum to like the six-week checkup and a quick depression screening, then this episode is for you, and I want to start by sharing some of the incredible feedback that I've been receiving since releasing the Postpartum Restoration Method Assessment Tool, which is kind of not where everything has begun, but the thing that has caused like the big hoopla. Right. There's a family medicine physician in Colorado. She told me that in her first month of using the assessment, she identified three moms who would have completely slipped through the cracks of conventional screening. One mom scored an R third tier, indicating severe concerns, but she had been told repeatedly that her symptoms were normal postpartum experiences. She did not register at all on the Edinburgh scale and within six weeks of targeted intervention based on the assessment results, this mother was experiencing the energy and mental clarity that she hadn't felt since before her pregnancy, years ago, before her pregnancy.

Speaker 1:

There's a mental health counselor in Texas and she shared that her assessment completely transformed how she approached therapy for postpartum clients. Instead of focusing solely on physiological interventions or psychological intervention, she now understands the physiological foundations underlying many mental health symptoms, not to say that she didn't have that training before. She's seeing more and more of what she can do and how nutrition and other things are implemented into this and therefore she's seeing faster therapeutic progress because she's addressing root causes, not just symptoms. That's the key. That's the key. But one of the most telling stories are from moms themselves. One mom wrote to me for the first time in two years of seeking help. Someone saw the full picture of what I was experiencing. The assessment captured things I didn't even know were connected to my postpartum struggles and I finally have hope that complete recovery is possible.

Speaker 1:

What is particularly exciting about this assessment is that it's bridging the gap between different types of providers. We're seeing collaborative care networks forming where medical providers, nutritionists, mental health professionals, bodywork practitioners they're working together using the same framework and the assessment provides a common language that allows for true integrated care. And it's all trained right. You know the Edenberg. You all have heard me talk about the Edenberg. It's only better than you know 50%. Better than guessing, right, slightly better than guessing determining whether or not a mom has postpartum depression. That's all it's used for. There's no other things out there to help with mental health beyond that little screening. There's nothing else out there. That's screening for, you know, nutrition depletion or anything along those lines, right, and there's nothing out there that's training providers on how to use that tool and specifically, the Edenberg. There's no, there's nothing. There's nothing out there, right, and that's why this is really remarkable. We're seeing an 84% success rate with cases that previously showed no improvement with conventional approaches. Providers are reporting three times faster resolution of symptoms compared to standard care models and 92% client satisfaction ratings.

Speaker 1:

I don't know about you, but most people who come to me having taken the Edenberg scale feel like it never fully addressed what they were feeling. It didn't speak to them in the same way, they didn't use the same language or the same tools, and that's part of the Edenberg scale is that it's something that's translated into multiple different languages, and now, with the depression rates being so much higher than they have been in the past, they are it's barely capturing. You know better than guessing right, and we want to talk about the whole picture. We want the whole picture. So I'm not going to talk about the Edenberg scale as much anymore. I'll save that. If you want to go see that episode, we have that episode. We'll link it here for you as well.

Speaker 1:

But what I'm sharing with you isn't just statistics. They represent thousands of mothers who are finally receiving the comprehensive support they deserve and providers who are experiencing renewed passion for their work because they finally have tools that actually work. So, all right, here's the big question that I've been getting what exactly is the postpartum restoration method? Because the assessment tool is amazing, and you heard about the restoration method with the assessment tool, but what the heck is the restoration method right? And if you've got the tool, you've been learning a little bit about it. But so many of you are coming to say, okay, what is this and why is it creating all of these remarkable results?

Speaker 1:

So, at the core, it's a comprehensive framework that recognizes a fundamental truth that postpartum recovery is not a six-week process. It's a profound physiological and psychological transition that deserves the same specialized attention we give to pregnancy itself. And the method identifies five essential components that must be addressed for complete postpartum recovery. Right, which is why this is why it's revolutionary, and it's understanding that these components, they work synergistically together, they are in balance to one another. And if one is in balance, there are likely other areas of these five components that are out of balance and you can't just work on one, because they all require support at the same time and so every single one inevitably affects the others.

Speaker 1:

The first component of this five-point method is physiological restoration. So this goes far beyond healing from birth injuries. During pregnancy, a woman's cardiovascular system expands by 50%, her blood volume increases by 40 to 50%, her organs physically shift postpartum, her gut and digestive changes happen on a physiological level. They change, they alter. So these systems within the body, they don't simply return to normal, they have to return to a new balance. And this component examines inflammation, hormonal shifts, tissue healing, immune function and, like the complex interplay between all of these systems, these bodily functions within the body.

Speaker 1:

Okay, the second is nutritional foundation. So the postpartum nutrition needs are dramatically different from those of non-postpartum women or pregnant women, yet most guidelines make minimal distinctions between the two. So the depletion that occurs through pregnancy and birth and lactation creates specific nutritional demands that have to be met in order for recovery to occur. And this component identifies the nutrients most commonly depleted and their impact on symptoms ranging from fatigue to mood disorders, especially postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety. Okay, they're all again very, very interconnected and we actually we have the scientific evidence to show that so many of these nutrients that women are depleted of, 80% of women enter postpartum depleted of key nutrients. And I'm not talking about stats from world stats, I'm talking about US stats, where we have access to so much food, right, this is not, you know, a culture that is developing. This is not people who don't have access to quality food sources, although that is still an issue here in America and beyond. I'm talking about women in middle class, upper, middle class, upper classes, who have access to this, who are still very much depleted, and that's a whole other episode in and of itself. But I want you to understand that this component, along with the physiological changes that occur in the gut, are deeply connected to mental health disorders, and we have the science that proves that right. I just posted an Instagram post that links a ton of articles that show specifically how, you know, nutrient deficiencies like iron deficiency and magnesium deficiency is related to symptoms of depression.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so moving on, we have physiological restoration, nutritional foundation, and then the third is neurological regulation, perhaps one of the most overlooked aspect of postpartum recovery. Birth itself represents a significant neurological event, and you combine it with sleep disruption, new responsibilities, cognitive overload, nutritional depletion and infant care. You know, moms experience neurological demands unlike any other life transition, and this component addresses the underlying neurological dysregulation that conventional care misses purely psychological, physiological issues, psychological, psychological issues that are well beyond that right, that's a huge component here. The fourth is rhythmic recovery. The postpartum period disrupts established rhythms, right sleep cycles, meal timing, work patterns, social engagement, and these disruptions impact far more than comfort. They directly affect physiological processes, including hormone cycles, right, digestive function, immune regulation they're all intertwined, every single one of these. They're so deeply connected, okay. And then the fifth is identity integration. This transition to motherhood represents one of the most significant identity shifts a woman will ever experience it doesn't matter if it's her first baby or her 10th baby and this impacts neurological pathways, hormone production, stress responses, social functioning. And then, rather than treating this as purely psychological, this component addresses identity integration as both a physiological and psychological process. And this is where a lot of matricence comes in, where we talk about the mourning process of letting go of our past life and bringing in this new life and all sorts of other components that we often, you know, over pathologicalize in our modern Western world. So what makes this method so powerful is that it's the first framework to address all of these components systematically and it recognizes their interconnected nature and provides targeted interventions based on each individual's unique presentation. And I want to tell you how this method came to be, because I've been getting this question a million times over and I will tell you that it came to be deeply personal and it spans over almost two decades of professional and personal experience.

Speaker 1:

I started my career working directly with families and children in early education, I want to say about 25 years ago. So during this time I was constantly observing like this profound change that motherhood brought to women. It was not just psychological, but physically, systematically, like I saw patterns that conventional explanations just could not account for right. So I loved working with babies. I loved working with infants and toddlers. I was a preschool teacher and I was watching this happen all the time and obviously, too, I was inundated in the work itself. So I actually worked at a university and the university that I worked for we, as teachers, were a part of the early ed programs and who were becoming teachers to actually work in the classroom, and so I was doing both, you know, the work of teaching and working directly with students and professors and teaching alongside them. I was also the person who was working directly with the families, right and working directly with the children. It was actually one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I did that for almost 14 years.

Speaker 1:

I actually left after becoming the director for some time and when I got pregnant with my second and things were really, really crazy in my life, I was so stressed out about my job and things were really, really crazy in my life. I was so stressed out about my job and I needed to let it go. And that's what happened. I let it go so that I can focus on raising my family. And then in that one after I, you know, I was able to focus in raising my family, kind of transitioned into birth work as a doula and a childbirth educator and I began working even more intimately with women through their transition to motherhood. For over 10 years I supported hundreds of families through pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum period.

Speaker 1:

But interestingly, I found myself drawn to the postpartum phase, not just the immediate recovery, but the months and years that followed. I grew my own family. I have four children. I experienced firsthand the profound physiological changes of repeat pregnancies, the cumulative impact of postpartum depletion. But unlike many mothers, I refused to accept suffering and was simply part of motherhood. So my background in human biology and research training really kicked in here. I started asking why, why to everything? Why was I exhausted years after my babies were sleeping through the night? Why did my digestion never fully recover? Why did I experience mood changes that seemed disconnected from my life circumstances? Why were there so many mothers I worked with struggling with similar patterns and, again, backing up early education led to human biology, which led to research and all of that. So that was the progression of my background in education.

Speaker 1:

But here's the thing the deeper I dug, the more I realized that what we're told is normal postpartum experience is actually a sign of unaddressed physiological imbalances, and my research background told me this was not biologically normal. Right, there has to be root causes that could be addressed. It couldn't be any other way. So through my own healing journey and my work with hundreds of mothers, I began identifying patterns of what actually worked for deep, lasting recovery, not like surface level advice about sleep, when baby sleeps or it's just your hormones, but like real root cause interventions and ways in which we can live our life. I don't even like interventions. I see like sometimes we need interventions right, there's life stages for that but truly, truly, truly. These are lifestyle changes and they address the underlying physiology of our bodies. So I started developing protocols based on what I was seeing work. Consistently, I tested these approaches with mothers I was coaching, I refined the outcomes, you know, based on what they were experiencing, and then I gradually developed what would now become the postpartum restoration method. And the method emerged from this unique combination of professional experience and research background and personal healing journey and working directly with hundreds and thousands of mothers who are seeking real solutions, not just symptom management.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so for those who have been following my work for years, you've actually seen pieces of this method before. Actually, you've seen it quite frequently. At its core, though, it has evolved Okay. At it in its core, though, it has evolved okay. I actually first published the core principles in my book Reclaiming Postpartum Wellness, and I did that several years ago, though it's a slightly different format, right, it's more geared towards moms and my approach. And now, through my assessment tool, I recognize the need for comprehensive evaluation and standard screening that also address specifically providers. Ok, so this method has been an active use for many, many, many years. We've had literally thousands of mothers complete various versions of the assessment. It's even linked again in my published book. I've been using these principles in my direct client work and sharing them with other providers I've trained, but here's where things get a little interesting and, frankly, frustrating.

Speaker 1:

Originally, this method was under a different name. I went through the process of trademarking it only to discover that someone else had filed a trademark application for the exact same name at the exact same time, two trademark applications, identical names, filed simultaneously. Like what are the odds of that happening? And then and then, something even more problematic happened. Another practitioner stole my work. She copied my method, its name, even the format of my certification program. It was a complete mess. That was both heartbreaking and infuriating. It like it just it was so awful right, and I think at that point I was like you know what? I think God is telling me this is not the name and I made the decision to completely rebrand. So I updated the name to the Postpartum Restoration Method, which is now under Trademark Review, and I am the one and only.

Speaker 1:

And it took, I took this as an opportunity to kind of evolve the entire framework. So the original framework was primarily designed for mothers themselves to understand and implement. But as more providers began requesting training in this approach and my work really is for providers, that's what I do so well, I do it for the mothers, but I train so many providers, that's what postpartum university is and I realized that we needed a version specifically designed for professional implementation. So we completely updated everything. The assessment tool was refined and validated through additional use and the intervention protocols, you know, quote unquote intervention, lifestyle protocols, whatever it is that you want to call them were expanded and organized for professional application. So the educational materials were kind of restructured to train providers rather than just like inform moms. Okay, and honestly, honestly, it feels so much better now. The method is more comprehensive, it's more clinically applicable, it's more effective than it has ever been before.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and let me tell you about how this assessment tool actually works in practice, because this is where the magic happens, unlike conventional screening tools like the Edenberg postnatal depression scale, which research shows again is only marginally better than chance at identifying struggling mothers. I know I'm saying that so often, but our assessment examines the whole woman across multiple systems. So we address the main categories physical symptoms, mental, emotional experiences and a historical context. That's what shows up on the assessment, but it actually, if you go get the training for the assessment, all of the five-point frameworks is built into those categories. We keep it easy because that is the assessment tool that's going to be handed out to moms, right? That's the thing that she's going to see, and so we need to keep that as easy as possible. But in the back end you're going to see a combination of digestive issues, hair loss, frequent infections, alongside fatigue and mood changes. And so we're not just identifying individual symptoms, we're recognizing a pattern that indicates specific physiological imbalances that can be directly assessed.

Speaker 1:

Right, so there's a scoring system that places mothers into one of three tiers. So we have the first tiers moms who are experiencing pretty mild imbalances, but it can be addressed relatively easy, simple interventions. These are often moms who are functioning reasonably well, but they know something feels a little off right. They haven't quite found themselves yet. The second tier is moms who are experiencing moderate challenges that require some substantial, coordinated support. They're usually struggling in multiple areas simultaneously. They need a systematic approach and often they're lacking a lot of support. And then third tier moms require immediate, comprehensive intervention. These are moms who have been struggling for months or even years without effective support. Here's the thing. The revolutionary part about this is, instead of just identifying the problems, the assessment directly informs the next steps, the strategies for healing. So each pattern and results point to specific research-based interventions, lifestyle changes that address root causes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I'll give you a real example. Recently, a provider contacted me about a mom who scored in the second tier, who particularly had high scores in neurological regulation and nutritional foundation. So, based on this pattern, they implemented targeted nutritional interventions for common postpartum deficiencies, while simultaneously addressing nervous system dysregulation with some specific techniques. So, within four weeks, this mom was experiencing improvements in mood, sleep, energy and cognitive function, and by three months, her follow-up assessment showed she had moved to first tier, with most symptoms resolved completely.

Speaker 1:

And that's one of the most beautiful things about this assessment is that we get to go back to it all the time and moms get to go back to it. They get to track their progress with it, and one thing that we were using it before implementing with providers is that when moms get to use this, they get to take it to their provider. They get to say here's all the things that I'm experiencing experiencing because how many moms and I'm the exact same way. If I walk into my provider's office, I have a massive list on paper that I had to write up of all the things that I'm experiencing, or all the things that my child is experiencing, or whatever, because the moment I walk in that door, I forget, and then I'm like leaving and I'm like wait, I forgot to tell them about this and I forgot to tell them about that. Right, that happens so frequently, and so when you have an assessment that goes through all of the different things, all of the different symptoms you can possibly experience, then what we have is a comprehensive care list and there's no longer like isolated little things that we might forget to tell our provider and our providers now trained to ask and therefore we miss a significant part of the care that we should have.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so this method works very, very differently than other methods. As we have said, we've talked about all of these and there are many key insights that drive this method right. The physiological changes that create predictable patterns of imbalance that can be systematically identified and addressed. Right. Nutritional demands for pregnancy and breastfeeding, for example, iron, b vitamins, omega-3, fatty acids, magnesiums. Those deficiencies create symptoms that are often mislabeled, as you know, psychological causes or dismissed as normal postpartum experiences. Right. By understanding these patterns and their interconnections into the body, we can create targeted interventions and strategies that are really going to change a mom's life and their family's life, and that's one of the most gratifying aspects of sharing this method.

Speaker 1:

So many people have said how in the world are you giving this away for free, like this is absolutely bonkers. I've had many providers and colleagues reach out to me saying you know that you could charge for this right? And it's like, yeah, I absolutely do, but I'm not ever going to do that because nobody has these tools. And, honestly, if somebody doesn't understand or recognize how significant this is and usually they're not going to until they open it because we've not created something like this before If you've never seen it before, it's hard to imagine how good it could be. And then when you see it, you're like blown away and you're thinking, oh, my word, how I didn't know, right, so nobody's going to purchase that. Really. I mean, maybe a lot of people will, but I like I don't want that behind a paywall.

Speaker 1:

I want everybody to use this. I want every provider across different disciplines medical doctors, mental health professionals, nutritionists, bodywork practitioners, birth professionals I want them to be able to use this framework to help create truly integrated care. Right, and it's not just you know, I I've heard doulas, too, saying like this is revolutionary, like I don't do anything about it, I, as a doula, it's not something that you go, you know, diagnose or anything with, but it's like so easy to be like, oh, this might be happening for you and and and it's like laid out for them. Right, you have a sheet that you give to your clients and here's your next steps, here's your strategies. Let me help you connect you with the providers who can, who can give that support to you. Right, and it's so beautiful for anyone who is an advocate not even necessarily, you know, medically trained to be able to provide support. Like let me help you find that provider who's gonna help you do X, y, z or whatever. Like this is your next step. Like let's do it together. So easy, so, so easy. And it's so much more exciting.

Speaker 1:

And I truly believe we're at this turning point in postpartum care. For too long, we've accepted that moms should struggle through postpartum period with minimal support and fragmented care, but as more providers implement comprehensive approaches like the postpartum restoration method, we're proving that complete postpartum recovery is not only possible, it should be the standard of care. The success that we're seeing with this method is just the beginning, and as we train more providers and we conduct more research and we refine our approaches which is always how it should be, always, always, always, always, always. Okay I envision a future where every mother has access to comprehensive, root cause focused postpartum care. This isn't just about individual mothers getting better support, though. That's truly, incredibly important. It's about fundamentally changing how we understand and approach postpartum recovery as a society.

Speaker 1:

If you're a provider listening into this and you're thinking this is exactly what my postpartum clients need, I encourage you to start implementing this approach in your practice. You can download the complete postpartum restoration method assessment tool, along with implementation guidelines, client resources, through our link in the show notes. This gives you everything you need to start providing more comprehensive postpartum assessments immediately and care immediately. And for those ready to dive deeper, our postpartum nutrition certification program provides that comprehensive training and advanced assessment techniques. That's not included in the assessment tool, right, because you need training. You need that deep, deep, deep level training, and that those protocols are are very, very important and a part of the nutrition certification. So make sure you get on the wait list. That certification program opens only twice a year to maintain quality and to provide intensive support to each and every cohort. It is so important to me, so I encourage you to get on that wait list. It's postpartumu, the letter u dot com slash certification, and then you get notified when enrollment opens.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for joining me today to learn about the postpartum restoration method, whether you're a provider looking to transform your practice or you're a mom seeking comprehensive support for your own recovery, right? I hope this episode has given you so much hope, right? So much hope that complete postpartum healing is not only possible, it's achievable with the right approach. Remember, postpartum is not six weeks recovery. It's a profound physiological transition that deserves specialized, comprehensive care. Every mother deserves to thrive in her postpartum journey, not just survive it.

Speaker 1:

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with other providers or mothers who might benefit from this information, and together we can revolutionize postpartum care and ensure that every mother receives the support she deserves. Until next time, it's Miranda Bauer reminding you that your postpartum recovery matters, your practice matters and complete healing is possible. Thanks so much for being a part of this crucial conversation. I know you're dedicated to advancing postpartum care and if you're ready to dig deeper, come join us on our newsletter, where I share exclusive insights, resources and the latest tools to help you make a lasting impact on postpartum health. Sign up at postpartumu the letter ucom which is in the show notes, and if you found today's episode valuable, please leave a review to help us reach more providers like you. Together, we're building a future where mothers are fully supported and thriving.

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