Kristal: Weaning after EXTENDED breastfeeding & HORMONAL changes nobody talks about

Kristal speaks on her personal experience of unexpected hormonal changes after weaning her daughter at five and a half years.

This episode is for mothers who breastfed their babies longer than beyond the normal cultural "one year" mark and went on naturally as long as until they & their baby felt ready.

Experiencing significant skin, scalp, hair, mood, nutrient depletion and cycle changes post weaning? Then listen to this episode or send it to someone who is experiencing post weaning blues and hormonal upheaval in their endocrine system.

Not all blues.. Breastfeeding has amazing benefits for the baby and for the mother too, having cumulative effects on delaying menopause, helping to prevent diabetes, and help stopping various types of cancer in the mother.

Some breastfeeding hair impacts:

https://hairgp.co.uk/postpartum-month-by-month-hair-timeline-what-to-expect/

You're Iodine Deficient [with Dr. David Brownstein] Iodine Benefits:

https://www.youtube.com/live/Oix26uuBfZg?si=P6ZFDn2AweB0Whmi

Benefits of extended breastfeeding (beyond 1-2 years):

https://health.choc.org/benefits-of-breastfeeding/ 

https://www.who.int/tools/elena/bbc/continued-breastfeeding

https://www.lompocvmc.com/blogs/2023/august/breastfeeding-beyond-the-first-year/  

https://www.parents.com/baby/breastfeeding/tips/benefits-of-extended-breastfeeding/ 

https://www.babycenter.com/toddler/feeding/extended-breastfeeding-is-it-for-you_8496 

Quoted:

Grymowicz, M., Rudnicka, E., Podfigurna, A., Napierala, P., Smolarczyk, R., Smolarczyk, K., & Meczekalski, B. (2020). Hormonal Effects on Hair Follicles. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(15), 5342. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21155342

Int. J. Mol. Sci.2020, 21(15), 5342;https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21155342

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello and welcome to Voices Unhindered. I'm Christo Jenkinson. On this show, I give a unique perspective and listening air to voices that often go unheard. I want everyone to know that you are not alone and that your voice is story better. Again, I am talking to mothers who have breastfed their babies, extended breastfeeding mothers, and to talk about stuff that I feel like isn't really talked about or there's a lack of research and a lack of support for women weaning their babies. From my own personal experience, I wanted to share that as the foundation of this episode. So because it's something that I have been through and I'm still experiencing on and off just the effects of weaning my daughter. I weaned her at five and a half years. So she stopped breastfeeding then, which is a long time in this culture, like in New Zealand. I feel like most people probably a year is a lot for them. But for me, I was like, no, she still wants it. I mean, the first year she was feeding all the time and she basically she wouldn't eat anything in the first year, hardly. She picket tiny things, but she mostly just wanted breast milk the first year. And I think that is healthy. She's a super healthy child, she's super fit, strong immune system. So there's definitely benefits for the baby, and there's even benefits for the mother for extended breastfeeding. You can look into it, but there's research. It indicates that it delays menopause and it indicates that there's anti-cancer properties for the mother. It helps prevent diabetes for the mother, and even the child, it creates a stronger immune system in the child because of the antibodies, all the benefits it's getting from the mother. So in our culture, we don't usually breastfeed that long, but it's a taboo topic, and there's often judgment around a mother when how they how long they should be breastfeeding, if it's normal, when it starts getting weird. There's no like black and white. I don't want to judge anyone because I'm like, that's between the mother and the child, if they're still happy to keep going. And I think that's nobody else's business, to be honest. Um, weaning is a part of obviously life and having a baby. It actually affected me way more than I thought it would. And it kind of took me by surprise with the changes that happened in my body and my skin and my hair. There's obviously evidence and research done that woman can go through postpartum, depression, experience skin issues and like flare-ups with eczema after having a baby because of the hormones, and then hair loss, obviously, at about two to four months after delivery. Teligan effovium, um, it's called. T E or PPT, which is postpartum. Oh my gosh, it's so hard to say. Teligan effervium. Okay, you know what I mean. And it's common, um, and it can persist for up to 15 months. Like, I didn't notice much hair loss while I was breastfeeding. My hair didn't grow that much. I didn't notice significant amounts of hair loss, but it wasn't like it was before I had my daughter. Just kind of wanted to shed light on this topic. I was in a high stress mode for like the first years of my daughter's birth. My grandma, she passed with cancer when my daughter was one, and she was like my mum, and she was like the only family support I had. Um, I lived with her, and my granddad obviously was on his own then, and then he died a few years later. So all of this was a lot of stress. Then I went to woman's refuge, obviously, got my own house and started looking after my daughter on my own. So all of this can also um there's a hormone called cortisol, and when that rises, it can also change like the hormonal environment and cause like a shorter hairspan, lifespan. Because um, hair usually has like two to seven years of like how long it stays on your head, and then it falls, and then the cycle starts again. There was a high stress uh mode in my life. I was pretty much in survival mode for the first five years, five or six years of my daughter's life, and now I'm just starting to settle down and like look after myself more. I actually didn't eat meat for a few years as well. And dairy, I cut that out a lot. I just felt led to not eat meat. I didn't actually feel like it for ages. That could have caused the risk of having deficiencies like zinc and iron, which are important for hair and skin and things like that. And I also struggled with asthma and some mild eczema growing up. So it's an immune issue, which can also trigger like dermatitis and like things like that after um pregnancy and when all the hormones change. Skin can be triggered by hormonal changes, especially in the scalp and hair region, head region, sorry. So my daughter stopped feeding and feeding in August 2024, and um she wanted to keep feeding, like I kind of wanted to stop before then. But honestly, I I wanted her to be able to feed as much as she wanted. I don't think I didn't feel right about weaning her until she was ready, and that was my personal opinion. And um I mean I had people um opinions from people that thought they knew what was best for me when she was like one that I needed to stop that I needed to wean her or start weaning her then. But no, she wanted to keep feeding, so I did. Um so nothing happened when I weaned her, except I felt a bit sad when she's like, I don't want, you know, breast milk anymore. But I mean that was it's normal to feel that, I think. It's like it's a huge change. Like you've been feeding this baby to keep them alive since they were born, and then after well, for me it was five and a half years. Um it's just a huge change in your life. You can still hug them and stuff, but it feels like they're not your baby anymore. So you're kind of just like, oh wait, this is a new phase in our life, um, and in kind of a new relationship as well. So nothing happened. Then eight months later, I was at the hairdresser just like getting my hair straightened, and then there was a big knot in it, because my hair's really curly naturally, and I wasn't shocked. I was like, what the heck is this not doing? Like I get knots conforming hair, especially curly thick hair. This was like cut a chunk, and I was like, what is happening? And I realized that there was a connection, like the timing with me weaning, and then I didn't realize that it could impact my hair and my skin. Cause nobody really talks about what happens after you've weaned your child. They talk about what happens after you give birth, which is disappointing, and there's a lack of knowledge about this. So March 2025, which this is when my hair started shooting. So especially around the front, like it's more common to have hormonal hair shitting at the front. And then in May 2025, which is like a two month later, my skin just went crazy on my head, like it started buzzing, tingling, a creeping feeling over my head. Like set it's settled down a lot more now. But it was just us super hyper conscious of my hair in my head at the time. I was like, am I looking weird? Is it look like does it feel like my head's gonna fall off? Like I just I was so uncomfortable for so long and I had no like idea like what I kind of knew that it was hormonal, but I was like, why is you know, like I was not expecting this, like and it kind of did affect like my mood was affected then. I was like, it was mild depression, but it was yeah, it was mainly because obviously I was used to feeding my daughter, and then obviously the skin flare-ups I had with eczema, dermatitis, um my my hands they get dry in the winter as well, so my skin is has a tendency to be more drier. And I started changing my diet as well, so I've I'm not eating processed sugar or processed foods, like I'm I eat dairy. Um now I didn't for a while. I feel like I can handle like yogurt and cheese and butter, but I have and avocados and like the high fatty foods, like fatty fish and like meat, like red meat, especially with the iron and the zinc, um, which has helped me, um, even my energy. And then I realized I could likely be low on iodine as well. So I started taking iodine. There's this doctor called Dr. David Brownstein, and apparently breastfeeding women need twice as much iodine because it all obviously all goes to the baby, and a lot of nutrients when you're feeding your baby go to the baby, especially when it's longer, like you're giving more of your life to this child. I just realized like I didn't even know that I could likely be low on iodine. And so I started using like Lugol's iodine. I'm not sponsored by Lugol's or any of these people or companies mentioned. I'm just saying that I've benefited from their their research and things like that. So I started taking that iodine and I started feeling bit your thyroid needs iodine, and your thyroid can be obviously thrown off after pregnancy or weaning or something, so it can help balance any imbalances. So I just started taking like a few drops in my coffee. Yeah, so those are some of the changes I've made. And just cutting carbohydrates, like eating more like keto carnivore type of diet. I used to eat like really big salads and stuff, and I actually didn't feel great after eating them. Like I felt really bloated. And I've heard that there's like a few like toxins in a lot of like the plants that we eat. And it just shows that not everyone can eat everything. Like some people do better not eating certain plants or everyone's different, and I think you have to test what works for you. So then in June 2025, so like a month after my scalp just started getting inflamed, I went to the doctor, June 2025. Um, he said that my scalp was just dry. Um he just suggested ketocarnosole shampoo, and I already was aware of this and already bought some. And it kind of helped a little bit, but it didn't really like cure the root cause of it wasn't fungal, the root cause which was driving the dermatitis. Dandruft is like mild dermatitis. So it wasn't even that. It was it's hard to explain because like it came, it went, it had a pattern, it's like it went like real extremely bad when it started. Like my whole sculpt was like flaky and oily, and I was like, what is happening to me? And then then there'd be like a like time where it would get a bit calmer, but mostly it would be inflamed for the first few months, and then it started settling down. There were a lot there's been longer periods where it's been um been better. So I'm like really grateful for that. And I feel like that's a sign of improvement. And I've as I've started eating better, like making sure I'm getting enough vitamin D and things like that, I'm um feeling better about it. And he didn't suggest a blood test. Like, you know, it could be shown in the blood, things are shown in the blood. But the thing is, is that I didn't want a blood test, and he didn't suggest it, so I was like, oh, I'm just gonna kind of be my own doctor, and I've done that in the past. Like, if I had something wrong with me, I'd be like doing my own research. And I went to the doctor once for like this is so embarrassing, but like my brother, he had scabies, and he we all had it, because we all lived together, and then I got it. So I started looking into it, and then I felt just because I was seeking, and then I was like, I I was desperate to get to what this was, and then I realized that it was scabies, so the doctor didn't even tell me that. He just he gave you an anti-itch cream. So like doctors often treat the symptoms, but they don't get to the root cause, and I think that's so frustrating for so many people, is like in today's system where you just go to the doctor and they just put a band-aid on it pretty much, they don't get to the root cause of what is causing this issue. Yeah, they aren't often trained to know about it either. And many doctors aren't trained in knowing how to interpret like thyroid results and things like that if you have like hypothyroidism and things like that. Not that I have that, but that I'm aware of. Yeah, so because I wasn't eating meat for a few years, I have no idea why. I think it was just I think the thought of blood and meat put me off eating meat. Or maybe it was just I thought it was healthier not to eat meat. But honestly, when I was feeding my daughter, I I don't even know how I got through it. I've radically changed my diet recently, so yeah, and I have been feeling better. Um and the frustrating thing is that people can make judgments when they don't actually know what is causing problems. And like I've had prayer for it at church, and then someone asked if they could pray for me when I talked to them about my like I'm quite open about stuff that I go through, and then I told them about this thing that happened after I weaned my daughter. They didn't really see a connection, they just said it could be demonic, and I was like, that is not what I wanted to hear. Like I get we get demonic attacks, and some things can be witchcraft or you know, sent by the devil, some health attacks and stuff. This that wasn't what God was showing me, that it was demonic. So it was really frustrating to even hear people that don't actually know say that it well, they said it sounds demonic, and I'm like, that is not what you should say to to someone going through something like that. I mean, I feel like it's really unempathetic and out of touch with even with God. Anyways, um so there's hormones that are involved when you are breastfreg and when you're breastfeeding. So breastfeeding is almost like an extended version of pregnancy. It's like the fourth trimester kind of, which they call it, which isn't really spoken about much as well. And people can even um experience like a lot of hormonal stuff when they're breastfeeding like with skin and hair. And I I didn't, like I didn't experience anything. I was just I was feeding my daughter so much, she took so much milk from me that I just I just stayed in that pregnancy state, I feel like, for ages and nothing happened. When you breastfeed oxytocin is released, it's called the love hormone. I heard that and from my midwife when I had my daughter, and then um, so it can make you feel better, and then prolactin, um, which is obviously used to produce breast milk, um, and it's higher when you're breastfeeding, which can make you feel better. And then when you wean or stop, all those hormones change, and then that changes estrogen and progesterone as well. Um, and these hormones are always fluctuating, especially in a woman, because of the different um, because of the cycles that women have pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, all that stuff changes their hormones. It rises. So estrogen and progesterone rise after birth. So if you're breastfeeding more, they stay at a lower, at a lower level. So the more you breastfeed, the lower they stay. And then when you wane or start dramatically stopping, or stop breastfeeding altogether, then they rise again. Um, and this can cause like a shock kind of to your system as well, which is when, you know, you can start uh having inf inflammation or or hair loss or things like that, um, which is usually temporary. And dopamine and estrogen control, prolactin production, there's a lot of stuff that's quite at work when you're going through these stages of life. And when estrogen and progesterone rise back after weaning. But for some women who don't breastfeed or breastfeed much it um after giving birth, then they rise faster, obviously. So you go back to balance faster. Um, your body goes back to baseline faster if you don't breastfeed or breastfeed as long. It can trigger immune issues like eczema, which I have struggled with. Just mainly on the back of my arms. Um, it's very slight, but I also struggle with asthma, which is also an immune and they're actually related immune issue. After I left my dad's house, I ex like when I went to live with my grandparents, my breathing and everything got a lot clearer and when I'd exercise more. My dad's house had mold in it, and it had and he was a smoker as well. And just the whole environment wasn't good for my breathing. There's a lot of dampness in the house, and that caused a lot of my immune issues to flare up when I lived with him. So this can also increase oil production when you so when you stop breastfeeding or give birth and don't, you know, breastfeed for long. So your skin can become more sensitive, which increases inflammation. And also weaning itself can be stressful, which no one talks about. They talk about like postpartum depression, but post-weaning depression is that was more pronounced for me, like weaning my daughter than actually giving birth in that period after. Except that I was super tired, which is normal. Especially when you don't have any like help when you don't have any family, excuse me, um, to give you a break. I had my grandma, which was beautiful. She was not well though, so that was even harder at the time. And she was in her late 80s. She'd already looked after me. She would have, but she wasn't well enough. She was frail and old at that time. And it was like I was looking after her then. Well, it was my uncle and then me and the when I was there, um, living in the house. Because I was back between here and India with her biological dad. That's another story, but um Yeah. Um so the skin can actually be considered to be an endocrine organ because it has been shown that it is able to synthesize a range of diverse hormones with the expression of the associated hormone receptors. This is from the International Journal of Molecul Molecular Sciences, Hormonal Effects on the Hair Follicles, published in the 28th of July 2020. This is interesting because it says pretty much that the horm the skin is is affected by hormones. Yeah, I didn't even think about that. The endocrine system is glands and organs that make hormones, release them directly into the blood so that they can travel to tissues and organs over the body, um, relating to the organs of the body that make hormones from the Cambridge Dictionary. And skin is considered as an endocrine organ, National Institute of Health. So it makes sense then that your skin and your hair, which is connected to your skin, um, would be affected after any hormonal change in your body. And some don't experience it post-sweening, some experience it breastfeeding, some experience during months after giving birth. And for me it was really delayed and it's been like a long journey, like a long stretch. Also, like I said, if you have like a tendency to have dry skin or immune issues from the past, like eczema, and um even I struggle with an eating disorder when I was like a teenager in my early t to my early 20s, maybe, which I remember losing some hair when I was like 14 when I didn't eat properly. And that I mean all of that can affect your hormones as well. Yeah, I don't know which one causes the other, like you know, because I remember someone saying to my grandma, like, if she was just like, oh, she might have a hormonal issue, um, that's why I wasn't eating, or something like that, but it wasn't that. But I feel like eating, not eating properly can cause hormonal issues, but the same way, like how you don't eat the right foods or eat enough or whatever. Um, I feel like food is also a tool that God gave us to use to heal our body, the right foods, when we know what He's leading us to eat. We can heal our body from hormonal problems or even like autoimmune conditions. But I do believe food is healing as well. But also the fact that our soils are depleted. So supplementing is something that I've started doing as well. I've gone a bit crazy with supplements lately, but um I never used to. I was just like, oh, It all from food, but I actually wasn't even eating enough. So that's a hard one to know what to supplement with because there's so many supplements and it's like you can go a bit crazy. You don't want to waste your money either. And it's always good to get it from food if you can first. Which is why I've switched to carnivore as well, is because I feel like there's a lot more nutrients in the meat and the animal products that I eat um versus eating just plants. Also, I've noticed that my hair and my skin tends to flare up just before my cycle starts. So it was because of the hormonal changes. But the oilier skin, the rise in estrogen and progesterone, kinda it mimics when you wean. So the progesterone and the estrogen rise again, causing oilier skin, acne-prone skin, increase in hair shedding and an increase in cortisol usually. Like your stress tolerance is lower during the first few days before your period or the first week. So it's harder to fast then as well. Your body actually needs a bit more energy and um even carbs just before your period. So it's something I'm learning as well because I used to fast and I used to fast probably too much. That sounds really bad, but I didn't fast more than 12 hours near the end of my breastfeeding journey because I wanted to get into it for the health benefits and spiritual benefits. But then I realized I'm not really eating enough when I'm not fasting. I'm not really getting enough nutrients in when I am fasting. And also with that history of the eating disorder, it's you have to be more careful because the I mean, the enemy knows, like when I talk about spiritual things, the enemy knows that what you've struggled with in the past and he kind of tries to bring it back up in the future. So he'll be like, you know, you don't have to eat as much, or um it's good for you to not eat, you know, he'd like tempt you to not. It sounds weird because usually people are tempted to eat more. And, you know, for me it's been hard to get that balance most of my life. Um, I'd either have a tendency to not eat enough or I would have a tendency to overeat, which is weird because I haven't really been fat, um, except I mean k teenagers put on weight on and off, but yeah. But yeah, he'll try to bring up stuff that you're weak in and just so you have to be careful because he weaknesses that you have can uh can be used against you. Um if you don't know uh fasting is a tool, just like food. But I think it needs to be done strategically and with wisdom as well. Yeah, that's all I'll say about that. I really I was a bit regimented actually, um, or a bit religious about it. So I think yeah, it's better to be not like that. Back to yeah, the drop in oxytocin and prolactin can definitely affect your mood and um you can even feel like Yeah, just all the baby blues that people feel are supposed to feel, which I didn't feel, but um after giving birth. All I felt was like massively tired, that's all. Obviously you're in a bit of a shock, but then um after weaning, it's for me that was the biggest hormonal change for me was then so I in the last few years, so in August this year, I'll be it'll be two years since I've weaned my daughter. Um, and this time, this year and a half kind of thing, um, has been I've been extremely conscious since I, you know, started like losing hair and my sculpt has been more sensitive to things like little black pullings or like um delicate, like I felt like don't touch my hair, like to people and things like that. Or like being really careful about how I brush it, it's just tender, like that's the word tender, yeah. Um I've been more ex like more conscious about it, like my hair, and just wondering if, you know, I'm it's all gonna fall, or like, oh you know those parano like anxieties about it. And I've spoken to like a few people about it, and they just said it looks normal and I'm just going through hormonal um changes and Yeah, the buzzing, the tingling, all that stuff was super weird at the beginning and it's getting better now, but it's just yeah, it was quite disturbing at the beginning. Um for those who don't know what I'm talking about, just ignore this. But for those who have been going through it with like um mild dermatitis and just the nerves, like nerves in your hair and head are like really sensitive, then you'll know what I'm talking about. It was almost like there was like a storm on my head. Um, like a lot of activity going on. Um, and I didn't have knits, so that's so funny. Um my shedding, hair shedding has been more stable, so I'm not noticing as much in the like shower or in the brush anymore. But my scalp can flare up, especially before a cycle starts, and usually it's that that triggers it, or like something stressful, or so I can't tolerate stress as much now, even though you know, as a mother on your own, you're used to like living that that kind of life. Um I'm learning to not engage in stressful, unnecessary stress anymore. I was pretty much vegan for a few years. I don't know why. I really don't know. I thought it was the healthiest way to live for a while, and then I have switched to eating more carnivore keto. I have noticed that yeah, it's taken a long time, but I've noticed like little baby hairs on the front of my on my head. So I know that it's hormonal and I know that it will pass, um, just like everything else we go through in life. Um and the regrowth has been quite fuzzy and frizzy at the front, especially where you notice it. Yeah, I just aim to destigmatize, I guess, the issues with skin and hair and stuff. And yeah, just say that there's a lack of research about stuff that happens to a woman when they wean their child. And I think there should be more research done, especially after extended breastfeeding, because your body is in a state of just abnormal hormone not abnormal, what's the right word? No, wait. Differing hormonal state than if you weaned your child at one year. So it stays at a different state for longer. And I feel like this can definitely change the environment and also create nutrient deficiencies if you're not careful with um your diet, and I was not careful, like honestly, I didn't even think about what I was eating. I was in such a state of survival that I was just I just grabbed whatever I could, and so now I'm making up for it. And I wanted to give my daughter the best start, so I didn't want to wean her when she wasn't ready for it. Um yeah, and we have a really close relationship and a close bond, and um, we're always there for each other, and I wanted to be that mother that I never had, so that was my goal as well. Yeah, I've learned to just like sounds real corny. Um care for myself more because for many years I didn't. And that's I don't know, I just didn't have the time. I just but now I realize when I care for myself, I'm gonna be here for my daughter longer. I'm gonna be well to look after her, and I need to be well to look after her. Like that's all I want to be, is like well, so I can look after her because that's my main responsibility is being a mother to her and caring for her and showing her the right way to live with God, of course. And then I need to be well to do that, so I'm grateful that I am on a healing journey spiritually, emotionally, and physically. You can have people like I had someone say this to me, I think yesterday, you can have people say like that your hair looks great, it looks normal, it looks beautiful, um, or about your appearance or whatever, and you can still not believe it, you can still be just doubting it, or you can like you can have so many nice comments and you can still think like, oh, I'm not good enough, or my hair still, everyone's looking at my hair, or everyone's noticing it in a negative way, um, when that is not reality. It's just your I think is it your nervous system, or you're like your scanning for information and stuff, like anytime someone mentioned here, like my like antennas would go up and I'd be like, oh my gosh, are you talking about my hair? Are you like because I I do like cleaning sometimes at a hotel and like we see hair all the time, like you know, in the bed, it sticks to everything. And I'm just like, I hope that's not my hair. And like, you know, just think just little things you're like hyper aware of hair and skin and all that stuff. Yeah, I've noticed like not constant, but like there's been it's been waves, like that's what it's felt like over the last year and a half with weaning my daughter, waves of like like mini waves of hair shedding, and then it would regrow little bits, and then um waves of obviously oiliness, is that what you call it on the scalp, or like dermatitis or just flare-ups, and then it was settle again, like almost like the next day it f settles now. It settles way quicker and before it would last for days. Um then I just wanted to touch on one little thing that I feel like should be talked about, but it's not something that I'm going through, but it could be something that someone else is going through. I am not in a relationship with anyone or plan to be unless God wants me to. But I have taken birth control before it was to do with obviously non-consensual intercourse, say with toxic past people. I don't know how else to say it, but I've taken the ECP a few times. But if you're always taking that or any birth control, I feel like that can mess up your hormones as well, which can also cause like just some of the changes I've been talking about with hormonal changes in the endocrine system that can mess up your skin, your hair, your mood, everything. Pretty much everything is affected by hormones. It's so weird. I didn't really think about it before. Even the way you metabolize food, like your thyroid gland is part of how you your body works to break that down into energy. But I'm just saying anything that seems unnatural that you're putting in your body, I don't think I always think natural is the best way to go. And I'm not talking about that area because that's so controversial, and yeah, I'm not an expert on that either. But I'm just like saying I didn't want to take those pills ever. But I took them and I prayed about it, or I didn't want to have a baby with someone that was a horrible person who s sexually assaulted me, obviously. I'm in a really good position now, but like, and God's been helping me and stuff, but like honestly, like I couldn't do it without him. That's it's such a big thing having a child on your own, let alone looking after your own self. And that's body, soul, spirit. Yeah, so I just wanted to say to folk my focus is on balancing my body again. Um and get out of survival mode and just into thriving mode and yeah, living my best life so that I can be the best mom I can be. And I think that's the greatest responsibility I have here on this earth. And if you have any questions or comments, please put them in the comments below. Um, send me a fan mail or my budsprout. You can subscribe on my YouTube, Voices Unhindered Podcast, or you can subscribe to my Bud Sprout or my Patreon. I would love your support because I can only continue to do podcasting as long as I have support. Like everything costs, um, time is money. And obviously my editing programs cost. If yeah, so I would love to hear from you guys if you enjoyed this episode. If you can relate to this, what I'm talking about, um, yeah, I would love you to comment or send me a fan mail if you wanted to share something privately with me. Um, anything that you've been through, pregnancy, post-pregnancy, or any body changes. And what did you do to improve your health overall? What have you done to improve your health? The going through pregnancy and just going through stress, because it's stress is part of it. Stress is part of pregnancy. Stress is part of or see life. Yeah, it's probably one of the most stressful things, but it's also one of the most rewarding things and beautiful things as well. So um, I just want to say thank you for listening, guys. I appreciate you guys so much. I leave some links to some of the research that I mentioned in the podcast, and also to some of the links to do with the iodine and some of the information that I've been noticing when I say be your own doctor or be your own um expert of yourself. Um, often you can be more in tune with your own body than a doctor or someone else. So I just wanted to put that out there and yeah, let you know some of the stuff that I've found out. Thank you for listening, guys. I'll see you in the next episode. Bye for now. It's great hearing from my listeners. Reach out with questions and comments through Insta or Facebook. Just search for Voices Unhindered. I'm interested to know what other topics and voices you'd like me to bring on the show. Subscribe to Voices Unhindered on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode.