In countries all over the world, new mums are cared for and supported in unique ways by family members, friends and their communities. The postpartum period is a time that is recognised as distinct from normal life; a time when the new mum is encouraged to recuperate, rest, and become accustomed to the, at times, overwhelming responsibility of becoming a mother.
By contrast, Aussie mums seem to be becoming more depleted, stressed and isolated. This is something Nadia Parisi and Carla Brion witnessed firsthand within their work in Women’s Health Massage and Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, respectively.
Nadia and Carla have a passion for caring for women at each stage in life’s journey and have seen the deficit in how women in our country are cared for after childbirth, and how this deeply impacts not only mums, but children, families and communities. Together, they wanted to break the mould by bringing women traditional care and healing in the postpartum period, and thus The Golden Month was born; a women centred business, providing in-home care, to support mothers and families in the early days and weeks after childbirth. Creating an in-home, postpartum service based on traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic practices, The Golden Month taps into nature, using all things natural to support new mums.
”You don’t really know the depths that motherhoods takes you, until you have walked that walk” says Nadia, co-founder of The Golden Month “To us, mothers are not just those who birth babies, they are heart centred women, who care for their community. ALL of our staff are women! This is quite unique in the food industry and we love it! Our teams are made up of mothers, nutritionists, Chinese doctors and naturopaths. Our clients say you can literally feel the love we pour into our food and we wholeheartedly believe this is why. From our owners, to our warehouse manager and kitchen staff, we all live and breathe caring for our fellow Mothers – it is our passion”.
And the two Adelaide mama’s behind The Golden Month have both recently expanded their own broods, with the birth of Nadia’s new daughter Leilani, and Carla’s son Iluka.
“We are both so involved in our business, it felt like leaving one baby to birth another which was quite hard” says Nadia “we laugh because I was paying wages only a few hours after Leilani was born and Carla was ordering Chinese herbs only a few hours after Iluka was born! But we had to practice what we preach, after all, we are doing this for future generations also, so we’ve been pretty good at enjoying our own Golden Months. We both got to experience The Golden Package first hand and it wasn’t until then, that we truly understood what a beautiful service we have created”.
And while Nadia and Carla have been expanding their broods, they’ve also been busy expanding the business, with The Golden Month due to launch in Sydney in mid 2021.
“We are absolutely still in shock most days” says Nadia “that a little business cooking from home and caring for a few of our clients post birth has grown to four states across Australia. We are so proud of our SA birthed business!”
5 tips for caring for a new mother
- Always bring food, drop it at the door (you don’t need to meet baby straight away)
- Ask her what SHE needs to get through the day
- Listen, run her a bath, let her know she is doing an AMAZING job
- Be there without judgement (we all have our own journeys into motherhood
- For Mama: warmth and rest is your best friend post birth, stay in bed as often as you can for the first 40 days, stay warm, eat warming foods and don’t ever be ashamed asking for help
