Postpartum Integration

Postpartum craniosacral therapy and birth integration sessions can help you heal and integrate your birth experience, assist with breastfeeding challenges, and support infant attachment and bonding. Receiving support is especially key for healing from challenging births, complications, and trauma to more fully experience the feelings of love, bonding, and attachment. 

"I call Chanti the baby whisperer. After 9 weeks of trying, working with a lactation consultant, and pumping around the clock, I had all but given up on breastfeeding when my daughter refused to latch and got hysterical every time I made her try. During our first session with Chanti my baby latched onto one breast and fed for 5 minutes. Then, 24 hours after our second session she breastfed fully for the first time and within a few days was exclusively breastfeeding and we have never looked back. Chanti's gentleness, intuition and knowledge helped my baby and I truly bond and attach. I highly recommend her sessions for C-section babies and moms, it was a rebirthing experience for both of us that truly changed our lives." - Susan Houriet, Mother, New York, NY

Our Work Together

Often in these sessions, babies are supported to show their experience of their birth process to their parents with a sense of spaciousness and support so that they can safely feel their feelings, unwind any trauma, and begin to re-pattern their experience to find that natural impulse underneath any layers of interventions, trauma, or challenges that may have occurred. Sessions may be done with baby skin to skin on mom to facilitate a dual treatment for mom and baby. During the sessions the baby crawls up to the breast and often self-attaches. With guided support the journey to the breast unfolds as a natural therapeutic process for integrating the birth story, nursing, and allowing for optimal bonding and attachment.

"I just had my first pain free feed in two weeks and have a very satisfied little boy passed out on my chest. I wouldn't have known to do a feed skin to skin and let him lead the way." - Maria, New Mother, Brooklyn, NY

Sessions Include

• Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy

• Perinatal Somatic Psychology

• Somatic Experiencing® and guided imagery

• Holistic Pelvic Care© and Womb Healing

• Supported self-attachment sequence done skin to skin to support parent and baby

• Guidance on techniques you can do at home, like guided imagery and affirmations, massage and other embodied practices

• Herbal and homeopathic support

• Healing touch: Acupressure, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and other hands-on modalities

• Birth Debrief: Learn more here

"I really appreciated the time Chanti spent with me after my baby was born helping me integrate the whole experience. Even a couple of weeks later, when I became overwhelmed with the responsibility of being a new parent, I reached out to her and she was a source of comfort and wisdom. She recommended some books that were so helpful to me. Chanti is a source of knowledge that I want to keep tapping into as the baby she caught is developing." - Tiffiny Fyans, Chi Nei Tsang Practitioner and Mother, Berkeley, CA

 How to Know if this Support is Right for You

• Is everyone telling you that“all that matters is that you have a healthy baby” but still something doesn’t feel right?

• Are you having difficulty breastfeeding?

• Is your baby difficult to soothe or is having sleep issues?

• Was your baby born prematurely or spent time in the NICU?

• Was your baby stuck during labor or was in a difficult position during birth?

• Were you and your baby separated after birth?

• Do you feel disconnected from yourself, your baby or your partner?

• Are you experiencing fear, depression or anxiety and you are not sure why?

• Do you feel like your birth was traumatic?

• Did you have unplanned interventions, such as cesarean, vacuum, or forceps?

• Did you experience a stillbirth or infant loss?

• Is your baby exhibiting signs of trauma? -- see What are Some of the Signs Babies Exhibit After Experiencing Trauma?

Benefits

• Secure attachment and bonding with your baby

• Breastfeed with ease

• Resolve sleep challenges

• Integration of birth experience, for both you and baby

• Re-connection after separation or trauma

• Making sense of what happened in your birth

• Resolve feelings of anger, sadness or confusion about your baby

• Receive support in being a parent of twins

• Feel confident as a parent

• Feel connected to your partner

• Resolution of sleep issues or colic

• Offering your baby exquisite care right from the start

"After our session with our twins Micah had such an amazing shift. He has been happy and much more independent and satisfied. I am really thankful for all the work that you have done for the babies." - Aya, Mother of twins, Williams, OR

Home Visits and Zoom Sessions

I offer home visits and Skype sessions to parents who cannot travel outside of their home to receive support. I will approach each session specifically to meet your needs, developing a personalized protocol. It is my joy to support you in these healing and transformative sessions.

How Zoom Sessions Work and Why it’s a Unique Service for Postpartum Parents

Zoom sessions can help you make sense of your birthing experience, and navigate the challenges of being a new parent. There are so many parents who are sitting at home feeling unresolved about what happened in their birth -- isolated, depressed, confused, and anxious. They are told, "Well you have a healthy baby and you’re healthy so that's all that matters." But they know something is missing. They need to tell their story and they need to tell it in a way that makes sense of it -- in their bodies, and heal what has been stored in their cellular memory. 

Having virtual sessions allows you to be in your postpartum time, safe and cozy in your house, taking care of your baby, and still receiving support for yourself. Often the learning curve for new parents is so steep that self care and integration goes out the window. This is a unique opportunity for you to take an hour for yourself and understand the depth and impact of your birthing experience. In our work together we will help you feel good, resourced, and resolved around your birthing experience, (without denying what happened or pretending it was all ok) as well as supporting your baby to securely attach and you to feel bonded in this new relationship.

Client Forms

To prepare for your first session with me, please fill out the Adult Intake Form and Child Intake Form, and email it back to me or bring it to the appointment.

Birth Trauma Healing Groups for Parents

Come join me in this 5-week long support group in preventing and healing trauma in the childbearing years. 

In this small group series participants will have an opportunity to: 

• Make sense of challenging and deeply impactful birth and perinatal experiences 

• Understand what trauma is 

• Learn how to stay connected to health and resilience in upcoming birthing experiences 

• Learn simple techniques to calm the nervous system 

• Experience a safe and nourishing space for healing together in community 

One participant's experience: 

“Chanti has an incredible healing resonance about her. Just being in her presence is calming. She brings her experience as a midwife, mom, somatic healer—and even more credentials than I can remember—into the space and facilitates a beautiful group. Her grounding meditations are chef’s kiss—I use pieces of them from memory when I need to settle back into sleep after nursing my little one at night. Her voice is golden as is her heart. She brings out the kindest and strongest aspects of each person in the group and fosters nourishing connection. I highly recommend this group experience to anyone needing a soft place to land after birth.”

Ongoing Monthly Birth Healing Group for Graduates of Birth Trauma Healing Series

We meet monthly to receive support, hone skills, and share wisdom

Listen to my radio interview: "Practical Tools to Support Conception, Pregnancy, Birthing & Postpartum"