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April 8, 2025 22 mins

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Here’s the truth: 1 in 3 women will develop an autoimmune condition after giving birth, and hardly anyone in modern medicine is talking about it.

What if the “normal” symptoms of postpartum—fatigue, hair loss, mood swings, brain fog—are actually the earliest signs of autoimmune disease and red flags that your client’s body is waving, begging for help? 

Today we’re busting the myths around postpartum recovery and diving into the root causes of autoimmune disorders in new mothers. If you're a provider still telling clients “this is just postpartum,” it’s time for a reality check. We talk about nutrient depletion, leaky gut, inflammation, unresolved trauma, and why functional postpartum care is the only path forward if we want to stop the rise of chronic illness in mothers. If you’re still telling clients “this is just postpartum,” it’s time to listen in—because this conversation will change how you practice.

Click HERE to check out this episode on the blog. 

Key Time Stamps: 

00:00 – Introduction to the silent postpartum autoimmune crisis
 01:00 – Normalized symptoms vs. early signs of disease
 04:20 – What’s normal postpartum and what’s not
 06:18 – Miranda’s personal experience with ulcerative colitis
 09:21 – Root causes of postpartum autoimmune disorders
 10:34 – Nutrient depletion and immune dysregulation
 11:38 – Trauma, nervous system imbalance, and gut health
 13:50 – Environmental toxins and stress
 15:39 – Genetic myths and epigenetics
 16:30 – Reversing autoimmune disease: What’s possible?
 18:12 – Why most providers miss the signs
 20:12 – Why this matters for the future of postpartum care
 21:03 – Get on the Postpartum Provider Press Newsletter

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
The postpartum care system is failing, leaving
countless mothers strugglingwith depression, anxiety and
autoimmune conditions.
I'm Miranda Bauer and I'vehelped thousands of providers
use holistic care practices toheal their clients at the root.
Subscribe now and join us inaddressing what modern medicine

(00:22):
overlooks, so that you can giveyour clients real, lasting
solutions for lifelongwell-being.
Hey, hey, welcome to thepodcast.
I want to talk today about thissilent crisis happening in
postpartum care, and hardlyanyone is talking about it.
And no, I am not talking aboutperinatal mental health.

(00:45):
I'm talking about postpartumautoimmune disorders.
Autoimmune diseases areskyrocketing in postpartum women
.
In fact, research shows that 20to 30% of women develop an
autoimmune disease within thefirst year after giving birth.
This is insane.
So the real question is arewomen experiencing symptoms that

(01:08):
are defined as normal andpostpartum, but are actually the
earliest warning signs ofdisease?
And if that's the case, thenwhat can we do about it?
What factors are truly at playhere?
Are these conditions reversible?
Are we telling mothers thatthey just have to kind of accept
this for the rest of theirlives?
So today we're going to getinto the unspoken realities of

(01:32):
postpartum autoimmune disordershow to spot them, why they
happen and, most importantly,how do we heal?
How do we overcome this and isthat even possible?
Because most providers willtell you it's not.
So I want to start with some ofthe hard facts.
Women are three times morelikely than men to develop an
autoimmune disorder.

(01:52):
The first year, postpartum, isone of the most high risk
windows for autoimmuneactivation and disease, and some
of the most common autoimmunediseases that arise in
postpartum is Hashimoto'sthyroiditis, which is often one
of the most misdiagnosed thingsin postpartum.

(02:13):
Oftentimes it's misdiagnosed aspostpartum depression or just
fatigue like normal motherhoodfatigue, and that's absolutely
not the case.
We also have rheumatoidarthritis.
We have lupus, multiplesclerosis, ulcerative colitis
and Crohn's disease, psoriasisand eczema.
And here's the kicker most ofthese women were never told that

(02:38):
autoimmune disease was even arisk factor after having a baby,
which is not really shocking,because most people are never
even told how to heal theirbodies after having a baby in
the first place, and many timeswe're just told that fatigue and
hair loss and joint pain andbloating and brain fog are just
normal parts of motherhood.

(02:59):
But they're not normal.
They're a sign that somethingdeeper is happening.
They're not normal.
They're a sign that somethingdeeper is happening and one of
the biggest problems inpostpartum care is this
normalization of symptoms thatare actually warning signs
Crippling exhaustion beyondnormal, sleep deprivation, hair

(03:19):
falling out in clumps monthsafter birth, joint pain, muscle
weakness, full body aches, gutissues like bloating,
constipation, diarrhea, foodsensitivities, skin changes like
rashes and eczema and psoriasis, flare-ups, brain fog,
dizziness, memory problems,heart palpitations, anxiety and

(03:42):
mood swings that are oftenlabeled it's just your hormones.
So, yes, postpartum recovery isa process.
You're healing from birth,you're adjusting to a new normal
, but these symptoms are notjust simply parts of motherhood.
They are really, truly signsthat the body is struggling.
This is not okay.

(04:04):
We should not be feeling thisway in motherhood, and the first
step is stopping the rise ofpostpartum autoimmune disorders
and reframing this and reallyunderstanding what is normal and
that starts right here, andunderstanding that this is not
normal.
Is there going to be shifts andchanges that are going to occur?
Yeah, absolutely.

(04:24):
Are you going to feel sleepdeprived?
Yep, that's, that is absolutelygoing to be the case.
Are you going to lose some hair?
Maybe a little bit.
Are you going to be sore afterhaving a baby a week to two
weeks?
Absolutely, especially if youhave a cesarean, like it's
sometimes, it feels in the,especially in those first few
days, like you just got hit by abus right, and, yeah, your skin

(04:48):
changes a little bit, sometimesyour hair gets a little oily,
sometimes you have a little bitof rash and that's oftentimes
the body detoxing itself fromall of the hormones and the
things that have accumulated inthe body after pregnancy.
And, yeah, we're gonna have alittle bit of brain fog.
That's normal, as your body isliterally changing.

(05:08):
Your brain is changing on abiological level and, yeah,
sometimes we're going to cry alittle bit and we're going to
feel frustrated and we're goingto maybe even mourn the life
that we had before baby.
Maybe we didn't realize it wasso hard.
Maybe we're frustrated thatwe're not getting the support
that we need, and that in itselfleads to a lot of frustration

(05:31):
and emotion.
That's all normal.
But it's when these things gettaken to the next level, when
we're really not feeling well,when it's crippling, when it's
taking over our thoughts and ouremotions, when our hair's
falling out in clumps and westart freaking out.
That's because it's not okay.

(05:52):
When our brain frog is becomingdizziness and having memory
problems and we're reallywondering what in the world is
going on and getting freaked outabout it.
If we're having heartpalpitations, right, and those
things are not okay.
Those things go beyond what isconsidered normal.
And let me tell you, I learnedall of this firsthand because I

(06:17):
lived it.
After my second kid, I developedulcerative colitis and at first
I had no idea.
I just thought I had someserious food allergies and
sensitivities and some guttrouble and I thought that if I
just figured it out, if I just,you know, eliminated some foods
and whatever the case may be, Iwould figure it out.

(06:37):
But it became debilitating.
I could not leave the housebefore noon because I was
guaranteed to be on the toiletfor hours.
The pain was so intense that Ihad to set up a play area for my
toddler and a nursing diaperstation in the bathroom because
I would need to be in there towatch them and make sure they

(07:00):
were safe while I was on thetoilet, suffering and then able
to be passed out on the floorfor a few minutes, even up to 20
minutes, and know that mybabies were going to be okay
because I had set up a very safeplace for them.
And I have an extremely paintolerance, extremely high pain

(07:22):
tolerance, and and it happenedgradually over time and
sometimes, when things graduallyhappen over time, especially
with people who have higher paintolerances or have been exposed
to very traumatic situations,then those things can often feel
like no big deal, right, likeyeah, of course I, you know,
especially for women who've justgiven birth right Like the

(07:44):
level of pain that they've gonethrough.
They're like, yep, I've donethat, I had that under my belt,
and almost like a normal right,and that in itself is also a
very big indicator thatsomething is wrong and we need
to make sure that those womenwho are deeply supported and
recognize that this is not okay,because this was exactly what

(08:07):
happened to me.
Again, it didn't happenovernight, it was gradual, it
was subtle, it was more thanbloating and discomfort and a
fatigue and then it continued onuntil it was constant diarrhea
and joint pain and my hair wasfalling out in clumps and I was
incredibly dizzy and I hadmassive heart palpitations and

(08:28):
anxiety and postpartum rage andit was intense.
And I want you to hear me whenI say this I didn't just get
sick, my body didn't randomlybreak.
This was a slow progressionthat could have been prevented,
and for some moms a lot of momsthat slow progression starts in

(08:50):
pregnancy, and sometimes ithappened before pregnancy even
began, and maybe they noticedsymptoms, maybe they had
symptoms emerging.
Maybe that was you.
You experienced some sort ofsymptoms that were occurring and
then all of a sudden, you gotpregnant and all of those
symptoms left right Because yourimmune system doesn't function

(09:12):
at the level it used to, and sooftentimes women who have
autoimmune disease feel betterin pregnancy than they do after
pregnancy.
None of this I knew.
No one told me this at the time.
I had to figure that out formyself, and that's why we're
having this conversation today,because I do not want you or
your clients to end up in thesame place that I was.

(09:33):
Autoimmune disease is notrandom.
It happens when the body ispushed past its breaking point,
and in postpartum there are keyfactors that set that stage.
One is nutrient depletion.
Pregnancy and birth drain thebody's stores of minerals,
essential fats, proteins, keyvitamins like B12 and D and

(09:56):
magnesium, and without repletion, the immune system becomes
dysregulated.
The entire body becomesdysregulated.
Our liver can't detox like itonce was if it's not getting the
nutrients it needs in order tomake the detox happen.
Our immune system can'tfunction at the level it would
because it doesn't have thenutrients that make the immune

(10:19):
system function right.
Same with the brain Everythingrelies on nutrients.
Your body is made of nutrientsand if you're not getting what
it needs, there's no way yourbody is functioning in the way
it should and dysregulationoccurs.
We also have gut imbalances.
Postpartum women oftenexperience leaky gut and

(10:39):
bacterial imbalances and foodsensitivities and they blame it
on hormonal changes, and none ofthat is true whatsoever.
It is not due to hormonalchanges.
I'm gonna repeat that a milliontimes over throughout this
entire podcast episode andpodcast in general.
It is not a hormonal imbalance.

(11:00):
Your body goes through abiologically normal change in
postpartum.
But when those changes are notsupported and we add in stress
and we add in nutrient depletionand we don't get practical
support so that we can rest, allof that causes inflammation, it
triggers the autoimmunereactions and it becomes a state

(11:21):
of imbalance.
And that's what happens in ourgut that inflammation becomes
triggered and now we have leakygut, now we have bacterial
imbalances and foodsensitivities, unresolved trauma
and nervous system.
Dysregulation is massive here.
The body remembers birth.
If there was trauma or stressor unresolved emotions, they're

(11:44):
going to show up in the immunesystem, especially when it comes
to anger and feeling like weweren't supported, that maybe we
were neglected, feeling like wewere not safe, and pregnancy
and birth and even and past lifeexperiences If we were raised a
particular way by our parentsand then that, you know, comes

(12:08):
up again because we've become aparent.
That's going to play a rolehere and whatever was not
resolved, whatever is stilllingering in the body.
This is going to be the key,opportune time to understand it.
I always say that this is aperiod where we remember a lot
of things that should not haveever happened to us.

(12:29):
Right.
As women, we are victims ofsexual violence and violence far
more than our male counterparts, and it is fairly typical that
these things come up.
We remember these things andmore during the postpartum
period.
Why?

(12:50):
Because our body has just kindof been shaken up.
Right, it was kind of like theglass of a wine bottle or
whatever.
Let's just shake it and pop offthat top and it's going to spew
out everywhere and it's notgoing to be pretty and really
this is an invitation to heal.
We need to heal from this.

(13:10):
And so when this remembering isallowing us to be like, oh yeah
, this has got to be dealt with.
Yep, I got to deal with that.
Just put that down on the listand hopefully you get some
support.
Hopefully there's somecounselor or therapist or
community leader that you canspeak to to have these
conversations, to work through alot of these things and support

(13:32):
your body and nervous system.
Regulation and beyond that,breathing techniques TRE therapy
is something that I talk abouta lot in my book, reclaiming
Postpartum Wellness All of thesethings are going to help you
remove the stress and traumafrom the cells of your body.
We also have environmentaltoxins and stressors.

(13:53):
Right, the postpartum period isfilled with lack of sleep and
high stress and the toxic loadsof our living space, our
environment, the plastics, thechemicals, the inflammatory
foods and all of that pushed thesystem into overdrive.
They build up in pregnancybecause, again, remember, the
postpartum body is a time whenthere's, like this, opening of

(14:16):
the immune system and a flush ofall of the toxins that were
built up during pregnancy,because that baby needed to
maintain a safe environment andwe didn't wanna have too big of
an immune system that would justkick baby out.
We wanted that to stay.
We wanted our babies to be inwomb and so our nervous system
had to work with that, and sopostpartum, that means our

(14:36):
immune system comes on overdriveand then we have a recipe for
detoxing.
But if our body'sdetoxification processes are not
supported, guess what?
That?
Those toxins, those plasticsand those chemicals that we're
exposed to on an everyday levelall the time just by living in

(14:56):
space.
No matter how you know detox doyou feel you are, how you know
clean your makeup products areand household cleaners are,
whatever we're always exposed.
Okay, here's the other one thatI think is a key factor that
needs to be addressed.
We've got nutrient depletion,gut imbalances, unresolved

(15:16):
trauma and nervous systemdysregulation.
We've got environmental toxinsand stressors, and now genetics,
and this is not what you think.
So many say.
Well, autoimmune disease runsin my family, but let me tell
you, genetics are only a smallpart of the story.
I will repeat this over andover and over again.

(15:38):
I will repeat this over andover and over again.
As a biological scientist, thisis a massive part of my study.
Genetics is convoluted, it'sdifficult.
Epigenetics play a role andguess what?
Your lifestyle, food choices,stress levels and environment
determine whether or not thosegenes are going to be triggered
or if they're going to be turnedon, and oftentimes your

(16:02):
lifestyle, your food choices,your stress levels, the way you
cope with stress, theenvironments that you prefer
those things are passed down viathe family, and so those things
are the things that are oftenwhat triggers autoimmune disease
to run in the family.
So keep that in mind.

(16:22):
You are never doomed by yourgenes.
You are empowered by yourchoices and so are your clients.
So that was a ton, and if youare dealing with postpartum
autoimmune disease or you aresupporting people who are, as a
provider, nutrition as medicineis the foundational piece making

(16:42):
sure that we are helping momsdetox their systems, that we are
supporting biologically safesleep and normal sleep
regulation and practicingsupport and getting practical
support and community, becausepostpartum autoimmune disease
should never be a life sentence.
It should never be a thing inthe first place.

(17:04):
And if we catch the early signs, if we shift the way we view
postpartum symptoms, if weactually support the body
instead of ignoring it, healingis possible.
I reversed my autoimmunedisease and I have so many.
This is a very controversialthing.
I have so many providers tellme that that is not possible,

(17:26):
and I've also had so manyproviders that I've worked with
who have seen their clients healbecause they are using this,
and I know it feels likeoftentimes this
oversimplification, and it's notin the least bit.
It's very nuanced.
It's very challenging to seeall of these components as they

(17:47):
interweave into each other.
This is not an attempt tosimplify something that is
incredibly challenging andcomplex, but it is bringing up.
These are the roots of them,and when we address the root
causes of these autoimmunediseases and disease in general

(18:07):
and inflammation in general,then we have a recipe for
healing.
I have never been on any sort ofmedications whatsoever.
I actually I tried medicationswhen I was first diagnosed and
it caused a massive infectionthat left me bedridden for a
very long time, and so I never,ever did it again.

(18:27):
And I was prescribed anothermedication that was derived from
pig, and at the time I wasseverely allergic to pig on top
of everything else, right and soit was just like this big awful
thing and after looking up themedication that they had
prescribed me that I ended upwith a massive infection from

(18:51):
there was only trials up to sixweeks, and after six weeks,
continual use of that medicationactually increased your risk of
cancer.
And if you don't know that,those with ulcerative colitis
often see, and I believe thestatistic is 80% will receive a
cancer diagnosis within fiveyears of diet of their

(19:14):
ulcerative colitis diagnosis.
And so that was almost 12 yearsago for me, and I, knock on
wood, have been cancer-free andI have never been on any
medication outside of that firstoriginal try, and it was a long
, long period of healing for me,a long period of healing for me

(19:37):
, and I've never had a flare-upsince and I truly believe that
we can heal our bodies, thathealing is possible.
And now when providers look atme and they're like, oh, I had
no idea that was a thing for you.
And it's like, yeah, it's not.
But then you have thoseproviders that say, well, that
just can't be true.
Then you have those providersthat say, well, that just can't

(19:59):
be true, you're just inremission, it's so interesting.
Anyway, all of that, I justwant you to know that this is
not a new normal.
It doesn't have to be a newnormal.
We can do something about it.
And there are providers who areseeing clients who are doing
this hard work and they arehealing and the body is speaking
directly to you and when wegive it what it needs, it

(20:20):
responds right.
This is why I createdPostpartum University so that we
can change the way we see andtreat postpartum health.
As a matter of fact, if you area provider who wants to be on
the cutting edge of postpartumautoimmune recovery and more,
there's so much more that Iwanna share with you, and there

(20:41):
is a postpartum provider pressnewsletter that we send out
every single Wednesday.
There's over 10,000 providerswho are already on that list,
and we give you all sorts ofinformation the latest research,
upcoming trends, support tools,all of the things.
So if you are not on that list,I want you to get on that list

(21:02):
ASAP.
It's postpartumu, the letterucom slash newsletter and, of
course, that's in the show notes, because this is the future of
postpartum care and we all needto be a part of it.
Thanks so much for being a partof this crucial conversation.

(21:27):
I know you're dedicated toadvancing 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 lastingimpact on postpartum health.
Sign up at postpartumu theletter ucom, which is in the
show notes, and if you foundtoday's episode valuable, please

(21:48):
leave a review to help us reachmore providers like you.
Together, we're building afuture where mothers are fully
supported and thriving.
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