Botanic Ave.

Botanic Ave. Botanic Ave. integrates naturopathic insight & evidence-based research, with the traditional foundations of holistic health.

Offerings include Naturopathy consultations & Infrared Sauna sessions ~ step in & welcome your wellbeing.

24/04/2026

If you saw Part 1, you’ll know I’m pretty determined to help mums avoid the quiet depletion that can happen during postpartum & breastfeeding 🤍

Because while this season is so beautiful, it also asks a huge amount from your body.

You’re producing nutrient rich breastmilk, recovering from growing and birthing a baby, running on broken sleep, carrying the mental load, the huge hormone crashes and often putting yourself last through it all.

So if you’ve been feeling exhausted, anxious, foggy, flat, overwhelmed.. please don’t ignore it.

Here are the last 5 key things I focus on during postpartum & breastfeeding:

• Iodine – essential for healthy thyroid function for both mum and baby. Low levels can contribute to fatigue, brain fog, low mood and sluggish thyroid function.

• Magnesium – rapidly depleted through stress, poor sleep and breastfeeding. One of my favourites for supporting calm, energy and nervous system resilience.

• B Vitamins – heavily used for energy production, mood, brain function and stress resilience. Depletion can look like burnout and feeling like you’ve got nothing left in the tank.

• Protein – foundational for healing, hormone balance and breastmilk production. Most women need more than they realise in this season.

• Electrolytes – breastfeeding increases fluid and mineral losses. Low sodium and dehydration can show up as headaches, fatigue, dizziness, low energy and feeling dysregulated.

This is your reminder to prioritise protein rich your meals. If you’re running on broken sleep for a while now like me you probably want to be mindful of not eating too high carb because sleep deprivation can make you more insulin resistant 🥲

Get regular blood checks, take your supplements. Ask for help & let yourself be supported.

Because when a mother is nourished, she has more to give and can be the mum she wants to be 🤍

23/04/2026

Breastfeeding is so nutrient demanding 🤍

Your body is giving SO much through our breastmilk to grow, nourish and support your baby. It’s a magical season.. the bonding and prolactin high is beautiful.

But it can also be very depleting if you’re not replenishing yourself too.

So many mums think their exhaustion, mum brain, and not feeling like themselves is just what comes with motherhood.. but it doesn’t need to be when you’re prioritising your health too.

Some of the key nutrients I focus on during postpartum & breastfeeding are:

• Choline – important for your baby’s brain and nervous system, and low levels can leave mum feeling depleted and foggy

• Iron – commonly low after pregnancy and birth blood loss, and can contribute to fatigue, hair loss and low mood

• Calcium – heavily used during breastfeeding and important for protecting your bones long-term

• DHA – supports baby’s brain development and can play a big role in maternal mood and brain fog

• Zinc – important for hormones, thyroid health, immunity and postpartum recovery

Please don’t forget about yourself in this season.

Eat well, rest where you can, stay on top of your supplements, and get regular blood tests every 6 months or so to check things like iron, B12, vitamin D, thyroid and other key nutrients.

For us to be the mama we want to be, we need to be supported too 🙏🏼

22/04/2026

You grow your baby for nine months.. but a part of them may stay with you for life 🥹

During pregnancy, cells pass between mother and baby through the placenta. Some of your baby’s cells can move into your body and stay there for decades. This is called microchimerism, and I’ve been fascinated by it for years since first learning about it, because after losing my mother as a child, it made me feel more connected to her.

It’s truly magical that there can be three generations within one body at once — you, your babies (whether earthside or not), and cells from your own mother.

And if you go on to have more children, younger siblings may also receive cells from older siblings carried through you. So in some ways, your children may carry pieces of each other too.

Motherhood changes us in ways far, far deeper than most people realise 🤎

18/04/2026

Being told you’re iron deficient when you have low serum iron & high ferritin is where we see a lot of confusion.

Because ferritin isn’t just your iron storage marker
It’s also an acute phase reactant, meaning it rises with inflammation

So when ferritin is high but serum iron is low, there are two possibilities:
• You do have stored iron, but your body can’t access it properly
• Or ferritin is elevated from inflammation, giving a misleading picture of your iron stores

This is why looking at iron in isolation can be misleading and it’s important to understand the different iron patterns

True iron deficiency
• Low serum iron
• Low ferritin
• Low saturation
This means your iron stores are genuinely depleted

Functional iron deficiency
• Low serum iron
• Normal or high ferritin
• Low saturation
This means iron is there, but it’s not being properly used and we need to work out why.

One of the main drivers of this pattern is inflammation

Inflammation increases Hepcidin, which locks iron away in storage and reduces absorption

So even if iron is present, it’s not accessible for the body to use

This is why taking iron supplements when there is inflammation in the body doesn’t always fix the problem.. and often makes things worse

So if your iron is low but ferritin is high, we always recommend testing inflammation markers like CRP alongside an iron studies panel

This is how you work out what’s actually going on

We hope you find this helpful. Leave any questions below 🫶🏽

15/04/2026

Being told you need an iron infusion purely because your haemoglobin is low is where I see a lot of mismanagement.

Because haemodilution can start as early as 6 weeks pregnant.

Your body begins expanding blood volume really early on to support your baby, but the plasma (fluid) increases faster than your red blood cells.

So your blood becomes more diluted and your haemoglobin drops.

This is a normal, protective adaptation.

It typically peaks around 28–32 weeks, which is when haemoglobin is often at its lowest, and then usually stabilises or slightly improves closer to birth.

So before jumping into something as significant as an iron infusion, it’s really important to step back and look at the full picture.

Because if your iron markers and red blood cell markers are looking good, this may simply be haemodilution, not true iron deficiency.

I actually have a 3 part series all about iron in pregnancy, so if you’re unsure, I recommend listening to those and you can leave any questions below 🩵

14/04/2026

Comment “preconception bloods” and I’ll send you my full preconception blood test checklist 🤍

Most women are told their blood test results are “normal” but normal definitely doesn’t always mean optimal for pregnancy.

Growing a baby is literally one of the most nutrient demanding seasons of your life, so you really want to enter pregnancy with strong nutrient reserves.

Iron, B12, folate, vitamin D, zinc and thyroid hormones all influence ovulation, implantation, placental development and early foetal growth and even mild deficiencies are incredibly common.

So if you know you want to start trying for a baby soon, this is your window to build your nutrient reserves and optimise your health and fertility.. it truly does shape your healthy in pregnancy and postpartum!

07/04/2026

Your baby’s precious little gut microbiome starts forming from very early on and those first hours of life have such a huge influence.

Their early exposures during birth, skin-to-skin, colostrum, breastfeeding, and even their environment all shape their microbiome, immune system and long-term health.

The postpartum season is often pretty messy and unpredictable, so please remember you don’t need to do everything perfectly or tick every box I’ve mentioned.

Whether it’s a vaginal birth or C-section, breastfeeding or formula, there are always always ways to support your baby’s gut along the way.

You can save this to come back to when you’re closer to meeting your baby, or send it to a mum-to-be 🥰

06/04/2026

If you’re also trying for a baby soon, these are the tests I’m personally doing and recommend.

These tests are incredibly valuable and give such a deep insight into how we can optimise our health and fertility for a healthy pregnancy, postpartum and baby.

Here’s what I’m looking at and why it matters:

Gut microbiome: impacts nutrient absorption, inflammation, immune regulation, miscarriage risk. As mothers we pass over gut microbiome to our baby! So if you have any gut issues, I definitely recommend testing.

Vaginal microbiome: directly linked to implantation, pregnancy outcomes + preterm birth risk. It’s pretty common to have infections like ureaplasma without any symptoms as well

Methylation profile: Whether you have a MTHFR mutation or not, I highly recommend everyone test their methylation. It’s crucial to get right not just for egg and s***m quality, and to avoid huge pregnancy and postpartum depletion, but also hormones, detoxification, brain chemistry!

Urinary iodine: critical for baby’s brain, thyroid (needs increase massively preconception & pregnancy)

General bloods: thyroid, iron, B12, vitamin D, zinc, copper are your foundations

If you’re thinking about a baby in the next 1–2 years, this is your sign to start now. The biggest mistake I see is waiting until you’re ready to try.. and then rushing to fix things under time pressure.

This is where you can actually identify and correct what’s underlying. Remember fertility isn’t just about getting pregnant.. it’s about creating the healthiest possible environment for your baby from day one 🩵

Save this for your preconception testing checklist!

04/04/2026

I love that we’re bringing awareness to this! Thank you

If you’re trying for a baby this year, now is the perfect time to improve your health for both egg and s***m quality!

Comment “fertility guide” below and I’ll send you my preconception fertility guide 💌

02/04/2026

Unexplained infertility is just them telling you they haven’t looked deep enough and don’t have the answers.

Male factor contributes to 50% of infertility, yet it’s still missed. A semen analysis can look “fine”.. but most s***m is far from optimal.

When I pieced together this couple’s case, his DNA fragmentation was elevated which can impact fertilisation, embryo quality and miscarriage risk.

Looking deeper, the drivers were there:
high insulin, elevated CRP (inflammation), low zinc and vitamin D, plus everyday lifestyle factors increasing oxidative stress.

We corrected the foundations, and within 3 months DNA fragmentation improved, and within 6 months they fell pregnant naturally!!

I love this work. Our team is so passionate about helping you get a baby in your arms… there’s nothing more special 🩵

31/03/2026

Unexplained infertility.. or unexplored infertility?

This couple were told everything was “normal” after two years of trying. But when you actually zoom out and look at their full case, the signs were there.

Low energy availability, nutrient markers far from optimal, poor mitochondrial health.. and a cycle that looked “fine” on the surface (regular, monthly bleeds).. but when we properly charted it, it wasn’t functioning well enough to sustain a pregnancy.

Within just a couple of cycles of supporting her properly fuelling her body, improving sleep, correcting key nutrient deficiencies and supporting methylation everything started to shift. Her ovulation regulated, luteal phase lengthened, and temperatures stabilised, inflammation reduced, egg quality improved.

These are the changes we want to see before conception happens.

Because fertility is incredibly energy-demanding and your body needs to feel safe, nourished and supported to prioritise it.

And then we looked at her partners health, because male factor plays a huge role in fertility, and it’s SO often missed.

Part 2 is where we dive into his side of their infertility picture!

Address

Adelaide, SA
5031

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 7pm
Tuesday 8am - 7pm
Wednesday 8am - 7pm
Thursday 8am - 7pm
Friday 8am - 7pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 7pm

Telephone

+61422657305

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Botanic Ave. posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Botanic Ave.:

Shortcuts

Share

Category