11 Holistic Pregnancy Essentials For Natural Minded Mama

Sharing is caring!

Pregnancy is such a beautiful gift. It can be such an incredible journey. Imagining my body growing another human using the cells of my own body is just so fascinating and nothing short of a miracle. This will be the fifth time I have been able to grow a human, and each pregnancy I seem to learn something new about my body and the needs of the latest growing human in my body. Every pregnancy journey is so different, but I wish I had had a list of holistic tools before I was a first-time mom. Whether you are preparing your body for pregnancy, in your first pregnancy, or eighth pregnancy, I know this blog post all about holistic pregnancy essentials can help you.

Affiliate Disclosure: I do have affiliate links in this blog post along with Amazon associate affiliate links. If you purchase something from my link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.  This comes at no cost to you, but is paid by the company.  I do not take becoming an affiliate with any company lightly.  If I am, it’s because I believe in the company and their product. 

*Taylor(The Clean Living Nurse) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

*These prices are accurate as of this blog post, there may be some updates to the prices as time goes along

*Health Disclosure-nothing in this blog post should used as health advice. Always check with your practiotioner before starting any new regimen

This isn’t a blog post about essentials you might think you need, such as a pregnancy pillow; this is a blog post highlighting all of the important tools I think might be very beneficial if you are looking into a more holistic approach to pregnancy. I have done both home births and hospital births, and I think they are both great. This fifth pregnancy will most likely take place in a hospital under the care of midwives whom I have loved and used for years. Home births are great, and they offer something much more sacred than a hospital birth. I enjoyed my home birth, but I also have not had any bad experiences in the hospital under the care of the midwives and doctor I see.

In my opinion, the best option for you is to have the type of birth you want. If you want an unmedicated home birth, go for it! If you’d rather the peace of mind of delivering at the hospital, also go for it! The biggest recommendation would be to make sure your OB and team are on board with the plan you want. Always interview them and tell them what you are looking for in your birth. If they seem open to and willing to meet your needs, that is always a great sign.

Alright, let’s get into the blog where I help expectant mothers thrive in a holistic-minded pregnancy. The first trimester can be the hardest 12 weeks to get through, if we are being honest. Even after 12 weeks, some pregnant women still suffer from the awful morning sickness, food aversions, and extreme tiredness. 

Start with nutrition

One of the most important things in this list of pregnancy essentials is making sure a healthy diet is part of your daily routine. It is a priority to be sure you are eating whole foods, lean proteins, healthy fats, and whole grains. I know how hard it is to eat healthy, especially when you are feeling nauseated and tired the whole first trimester, but trust me, your growing baby will be so thankful you chose healthy options over junk.

Aiming to incorporate high-quality dairy products into my diet as well for good protein, vitamin D, and calcium for the baby’s development. I know how expensive food can be these days, especially high-quality, organic/grass-fed meats, so one of my favorite budget methods is to buy in bulk when I can. Costco has amazing grass-fed burger patties that are a quick and easy protein option to cook up. They also carry wild-caught sockeye salmon, which is great for getting those omega fatty acids in.

If you love convenience and want good, quality pasture-raised meat delivered to your doorstep, check out Grass Roots Farmers’ Co-op. They deliver pasture-raised chicken, pork, beef, turkey, lamb, and bison right to your door. I have tried a few online meat deliveries before, and let me tell you it is truly hard to find pasture-raised chicken and pork. Pasture-raised is important to me, especially during pregnancy to make sure I am eating the highest quality meats with the most nutrients. What is so great about Grass Roots Co-Op is that they use regenerative farming with the farmers that they utilize. Regenerative farming is very important for the health of our soil, which is diminishing so quickly with conventional farming practices. Check out the importance of regenerative farming from their website here.

Get 15% off your order online here using discount code THECLEANLIVINGNURSE at checkout

I always try to prioritize protein first thing in the morning, which is especially the case for morning sickness. You might think eating something will make you throw up, but getting some protein in your system first thing will help to stabilize blood sugar and prevent nausea. I usually am not in the mood for a super big breakfast in the morning, so I will usually make a protein shake of some sort. I have really been loving flavors from Flav City, and Just Ingredients. They range anywhere from 22-25g of protein per serving and only use the highest quality ingredients. I have been loving the Butter Coffee flavor in the mornings from Flav City. It gives a nice coffee flavor with a hint of butter. So Good! Getting 20-25 grams of protein first thing in the morning really has helped my first-trimester morning sickness.

Getting ample protein during the second trimester and third trimester is also extremely important. Eating a balanced diet is one of the best ways to help prevent gestational diabetes as well. Gestational diabetes is diabetes in pregnant women who did not have diabetes prior to pregnancy. It can occur when the body cannot produce enough insulin to meet the increased demands of pregnancy.

Favorite Protein Brands:

Flav City

Just Ingredients

Equip

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

I am a huge coffee lover. There is seriously nothing better than a hot cup of coffee in the morning. This pregnancy, however, I have had an aversion to my coffee. If you are going to be drinking coffee, make sure to keep it to 1-2 cups per day, and make sure you are using a high-quality, organic coffee brand. I usually buy the organic coffee from Costco, but here are a few of my other favorite brands.

Purity Coffee

King Coffee

A good alternative to coffee in pregnancy is matcha. I used to not love matcha until I found an amazing brand, Pique. Their matcha is truly unmatched in flavor, and they source only the highest standards. They screen for pesticides, heavy metals, mold, and radioactive particles. Nothing of that we want in our pregnant bodies! I like to add my matcha to some steamed milk with a little bit of maple syrup and cinnamon. Not only is this delicious, but it also helps to stabilize blood sugar! The health benefits of matcha are amazing as well, due to its high concentration of antioxidants, helping protect cells from oxidative damage and potentially helping to prevent certain cancers. It also contains L-theanine, which is an amino acid that can promote relaxation and focus. 

Check out Pique Here

Before I drink any coffee or matcha in the morning, I make sure I hydrate. Hydration, especially in pregnancy, is so important. I have been loving using electrolytes in my water, as I am not the biggest fan of just plain old water. Electrolytes can also be very beneficial in pregnancy due to the body’s increased need for proper fluid balance and preventing dehydration. There are a ton of electrolytes on the market, but most are filled with either ingredients I don’t love, too high in certain electrolytes like sodium without balancing magnesium or potassium.

Here are a few great electrolyte brands for pregnancy and postpartum

Flav City

Redmond Relyte

Paleovalley

Red Light Therapy

While there currently isn’t enough research on red light therapy and pregnancy, and you should always check with your doctor first, red light therapy helped me so much in my last pregnancy. I use the Lumebox because it is a brand I trust. So many companies now make red light therapy, but have no idea what they are doing, leading to a device that won’t actually support your health. Lumebox is made by a doctor, registered with the FDA, a class II medical device, and independently certified. I have a whole blog post about the Lumebox here.

I have had my Lumebox for 3 years, and it’s one of the best purchases I have made for me and my family’s health. We use it for everything: skin issues, headaches, strained muscles, scrapes/cuts, and back pain. During my last pregnancy, I suffered from agonizing hemorrhoids. Unfortunately, when you are pregnant, Ibuprofen or any type of NSAIDs are off the table. Luckily, I had my Lumebox, which helped tremendously with the inflammation down there. Use it for everything! I also love just using it at night on my face to help me wind down and boost mitochondrial health, which in turn boosts collagen production. It is a great beauty tool as well! Lumebox is FSA/HSA eligible too!

Get $260 off Lumebox here!

Good Prenatal Care

A good prenatal vitamin and a few other supplements are necessary for me during pregnancy. You will always want to check with your healthcare provider to meet your specific needs of a dietary supplement. When choosing a good high quality prenatal vitamin, you want to look for a vitamin that doesn’t use synthetic forms of folate, such as folic acid. The problem with synthetic ingredients is that the body does not know how to properly absorb the synthetic forms.

There was also a study published by PubMed regarding the presence of toxic heavy metals in several prenatal vitamins found in grocery stores and pharmacies. Ritual is a great prenatal brand. I have used them before, and I really like the brand. They use folate and choline to prevent neural tube defects, and also include omega-3 DHA and EPA, which are crucial for brain development. Third-party lab testing for heavy metals, microbes, allergens, and other contaminants is also utilized. They also don’t taste gross like most supplements with omega-3s do. 

Other great brands for Prenatals:

Needed Prenatal

Thorne Prenatal

Cod Liver Oil– Some people prefer to take a good cod liver oil over an omega-3 supplement due to the fact that cod-liver oil also contains vitamin A and vitamin D. While I think most people could benefit from the added vitamin A and D, it’s always good to talk to your provider during pregnancy. This is the brand of cod liver oil I would recommend. It is from wild-caught cod caught on a hook and line in Norway. It is unprocessed and raw, meaning no heat or chemicals were used for extraction. 

Rosita Cod Liver Oil

Beef Liver– Beef liver is such a powerhouse for nutritional needs, especially in pregnancy. High in B vitamins, vitamin D, B12, Iron, Copper, and various minerals like zinc and selenium. I feel overall much higher in energy when I take beef liver every day. I like the anscestral brand for grass fed beef liver.

Magnesium

Magnesium is such an overlooked element in general overall health and pregnancy. It is a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems that regulate things such as protein synthesis, muscle and nerve conduction, blood glucose and blood pressure regulation, to name a few.

Most people are severely magnesium deficient, and pregnancy makes this need even more critical. Magnesium is depleted by stress. Let’s face it, most of us these days have at least one stressor in our daily lives, if not more. Now, we don’t want to take just any form of magnesium. Magnesium citrate on its own can cause loose stools. I look for products with a blend of different magnesiums. The brand Needed, has a great magnesium support product. It is a magnesium chamomile tea product that combines magnesium, L-theanine, and L-glycine, which all help support a deep, restful sleep, and a great way to get in that magnesium support.

Other great magnesium brands:

Mary Ruth’s Organics Liquid Nighttime Multimineral

Bio Optimizers Magnesium Breakthrough

Iron Support

Not every woman will need iron support in their pregnancy, but unfortunately, a lot of symptoms of low ferritin levels go missed. In my last pregnancy, my hair was falling out like crazy, I was beyond exhausted, and I just didn’t feel great. My labs looked “fine” iron-wise, but my Ferritin levels were 15! Optimal Ferritin ranges to feeling good are between 80-110. It was no wonder I felt like garbage! Even though I wasn’t officially in “Iron deficiency anemia, my midwife told me to start beefing up my iron. Unfortunately, just eating enough red meat is usually not enough,h and supplementation is needed. Iron supplementation can be very hard on the body, nauseating, etc., but I have found two amazing products that have worked to keep my Ferritin levels up.

Blood Vitality– this is a product formulated by a functional medicine doctor after his wife was struggling to keep her ferritin levels up during one of her many pregnancies. The amazing thing I love about Blood Vitality is that it is easy to digest, unlike most iron products. It has 15 mg of elemental iron per serving, along with many other blood-building minerals. Upon taking this supplement, I was taking 2 per day, and I increased my Ferritin from 15 to 50 in over 30 days! I can’t recommend this product highly enough, and make sure you are getting your ferritin levels checked!

Blood Vitality

If I ever run out of blood vitality and am waiting on my blood vitality to get here, I supplement with Mary Ruth’s liquid Iron. I love the brand Mary Ruth’s; she uses such high-quality ingredients. This iron is also easy on your stomach and is in liquid form, which is even easier to take. It doesn’t take awfully either, like most iron products

Check it out here

Non-Toxic Cleaning and Laundry Products

Most people don’t realize that our skin is the largest organ on our body. What we wash our clothes in matters, and what we clean our homes with matters. Conventional cleaning and laundry products contain numerous chemicals we don’t want to be inhaling or absorbing into our bodies. I know the frustration of trying to find clean ingredients that ACTUALLY work. Thankfully, over the years, I have tested several brands and have found the gems in the cleaning and laundry world.

Truly Free is one of the best non-toxic brands out there. They have everything you need to switch over to using non-toxic products. Cleaning products, laundry products, dish soap, dishwasher soap, you name it. They are also very reasonably priced and don’t break the bank,k which I love. Their laundry detergent comes in two options: “scented” or “unscented.” The scented version actually smells like “clean” Tide detergent. It is obviously not scented with harmful ingredients, but ingredients like lime oil, eucalyptus oil, clove leaf oil, and fir needle oil. If you love the “scent” of your conventional detergent, this scented version of Truly Free is for you! All of their products are refillable, which I love. You can find them on Amazon, or they have many more options on their website. Their laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaner,r and dishwasher soap are some of my favorite products.

You can get 30% off the main website using the code CLEANLIVINGNURSE at checkout

Grab 300 Free loads here!

Clean Water

It is so important to not only drink clean, filtered water when you are not pregnant, but also when you are growing another human. Tap water, unfortunately, is just not clean. If you want to see what is actually lurking in your city’s tap water, you can go to EWG’s water drinking database, plug in your zip code, and all of the contaminants found in your city’s water will be listed.

When I first did this, I was so shocked. Pesticides, herbicides, chloroform (yes, you read that right), radium, and even PFAS. PFAS are the new talk in tap water, as they are called the “forever chemicals,” as it is so hard for your body to get rid of them when ingested. PFAS come from the group of Teflons and “anti-stick” agents. This is why it is extremely important to make sure the water we drink daily is filtered from these harmful contaminants.

I believe investing in an under-the-sink filtration system is very important, but I understand that it might not be a possibility for some. If you are in the market for an under-the-sink filtration system, Aquasana is a great brand. They have many options for under the sink. The “Smart Flow Reverse Osmosis” is the best choice of them all as it removes 90 contaminants, restores minerals, and has easy replacement filters.

Check out Aquasana Here

If you aren’t in the market for an under-the-sink filtration system, Clearly Filtered offers great filtered water bottles and pitcher filtration systems. Clearly filtered removes up to 99.9% of 232 plus contaminants in our water, including pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and phthalates, while retaining the beneficial minerals. They are also third-party tested, and you can find the removal rates of contaminants on their website. The fridge refillable pitcher that works great; you will just need to refill the water more often. The water bottles are also great with replaceable filters. My kids love these water bottles as you can take them anywhere, use any water, and it will filter the water you are drinking from the bottle.

Clearly Filtered

Herbal Teas:

Herbal teas are great for a holistic pregnancy in many ways. Although many teas are safe during pregnancy, always be sure to check with your doctor. During the first trimester, peppermint and ginger tea could be very beneficial for nausea. Tea is also a great way to maintain hydration. Avoiding caffeinated teas is usually a good idea during pregnancy, but could also be a replacement for your morning cup of coffee. I am very cautious about what tea bands I ingest during pregnancy and not pregnant. I want to be sure the tea is a high-quality, microplastic-free source. If you did not know, tea bags are a big source of microplastics and chemicals. Teas can also be very high in pesticides and heavy metals.

I have a whole blog post on the best micropastic-free teas; check it out here. There are three tea brands I recommend. The best tea brand out there is Pique. Pique is my go-to matcha and herbal tea source. It uses tea crystals instead of a tea bag, so there is no source for microplastic exposure. You simply heat your hot water (or cold, depending on the tea) and pour the sachet of tea crystals in, stir, and the tea dissolves perfectly. No extra waste, no microplastics. They also triple screen for pesticides, mold, and heavy metals. I have included two other great brands below if you are on a more budget-conscious tea journey. These two brands do not use any plastics in their tea bags, and they are also organic, which is a must!

Pique

Yogi

Traditional Medicinals

The Fresh Test

If you have been pregnant before, you know all about the dreaded 28-week glucose test. At 28 weeks, you are told to drink this awful glucose drink made of artificial dyes, colors, and high fructose corn syrup to test if you have gestational diabetes. Normally, I would just choose to do the alternative, which is testing your own blood sugars and monitoring them. However, the Fresh Test has come out in the past couple of years and is a complete game changer! The fresh test is an all-natural, additive-free glucose test that contains only 3 high-quality ingredients: organic glucose, crystallized lemon, and organic mint. It comes in 50-gram, 75-gram, and 100-gram tests, and it tastes good. Be sure to ask your provider which one you will need. I have a full blog post review on the fresh test here.

Fresh Test

Belly Oil

A high-quality belly oil is great to have for that growing belly. Your belly will feel tight and uncomfortable in the third trimester at times, and I have found that belly oil really helps to moisturize and improve the elasticity. You want to be sure to get a belly oil that doesn’t have any synthetic fragrances, phthalates, parabens, etc. My favorite belly oil that has amazing ingredients is Osea Malibu. This oil can be used all over your body as well, and even after pregnancy. I use it after every shower. It’s so good! 

A more budget-friendly option is the Mama Earth brand, a super clean brand as well. This brand is super clean and geared toward pregnant mamas!

Conclusion

My best advice is to not listen to the advice of every influencer on the internet on “essentials” you need for pregnancy and postpartum. I have found that if you nourish your mind and body well, the body takes care of itself. Focus on nutrition, hydration, and some supplementation, and you will have a wonderful pregnancy. Take care, mama!