Pregnancy and Eating Disorders- Before, During, and After
How can a pregnancy affect an Eating Disorder recovery? Becoming a mom creates a major shift in identity. Women are potentially motivated by childbearing to recover and to end a generational cycle- or it may be a triggering time. This month, Margie Slater, PsyD clearly explained what topics to be proactive about and encouraged us to anticipate them.
We looked at various issues before and during pregnancy and a fabulous case study from her own practice using EMDR and ERP. After pregnancy, Margie moved through to the postpartum period- with its own potential body change mindset. We discussed dietary restrictions during breastfeeding (eg. baby allergies) and creative tricks to maintain the mother/baby dyad while treating the ED- thereby adding to recovery. Also, the handling of fallout from forced early weaning/use of formula. And the importance of patients informing their MD of their ED hx.
There is now HLOC available for pregnant women in recovery. Lastly Margie shared about perinatal mood disorder specialists in psychiatry, a great wraparound service called MAHMEE- including doulas, lactation consultants, nurses, mental health coaches, and nutritionists (https://www.mahmee.com), and Postpartum Support International (https://www.postpartum.net)
Thank you to all who participated in our first VFED Hybrid Table Talk!
A video of the full talk is here. (hyperlink from below)