Postpartum University® Podcast · Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

We Took the Postpartum Nutrition Certification & Here’s What Happened EP 229

·50 min·3 clips

Miranda says her provider told her she was no longer postpartum at eight weeks, forcing her to switch care.

1. Postpartum University® Podcast episode 229, “We Took the Postpartum Nutrition Certification & Here’s What Happened,” centers on Brooke Harmer, Michaela Broadhurst, and Miranda Bauer talking about postpartum nutrition and care. 2. Miranda Bauer hosts the panel as the creator of the postpartum nutrition certification, and Brooke Harmer and Michaela Broadhurst matter because both completed the program and apply it in practice. 3. The episode asks what changes when providers treat postpartum as its own physiological phase instead of a generic time after birth. 4. Brooke Harmer says she is known online as the Well Nourished Mama and that her interest began when she was pregnant with her first baby and felt overwhelmed by the sudden loss of support after delivery. 5. Brooke says her husband was gone from five to 11 months postpartum, which left her doing newborn care largely on her own. 6. Michaela Broadhurst says she became a certified postpartum doula about four years ago and was drawn into the work after a rough postpartum period as a single mother. 7. Michaela says she learned that her postpartum doula training focused mostly on baby care and gave her little guidance on nutrition or sleep. 8. Michaela describes listening to Miranda’s podcast, cooking for a client who was not eating, and seeing a major shift in that client’s mood and bonding. 9. Brooke says her own work became a mix of nutrition education, recipe development, and helping moms talk with doctors without pretending to know more than clinicians. 10. Brooke says she has two best-selling cookbooks and uses her recipes to show moms what “high protein” actually looks like in meals. 11. Brooke says she had no postpartum training before the certification and that many nutrition programs treat pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women as if the same rules apply. 12. Brooke says the program helped her understand that postpartum is not simply “a state of not pregnant,” because nutrient needs and lifestyle changes are different. 13. Michaela says the certification changed how she thinks about the body by pushing her to start with the mother’s needs instead of only caring for baby. 14. Michaela says she had bipolar type two, bowel issues, pelvic floor therapy, PCOS, and POTS in the years after birth, and later felt that nutrients were part of the picture. 15. Brooke says she was six weeks postpartum when a hair tissue test and lab work led her to suspect liver problems and then to push for more care. 16. Brooke says her provider later told her at eight weeks postpartum that she was no longer postpartum, which forced her to change providers and switch to primary care. 17. The conversation stays conversational and personal, with Miranda asking direct follow-up questions about specific client shifts, training gaps, and lived experience. 18. The tone is practical and advocacy-focused, with the three women comparing training, clinical language, and what mothers actually need after birth. 19. Providers, doulas, nutritionists, and postpartum mothers wanting concrete care ideas would likely benefit. 20. People looking for a quick baby-care episode without nutrition or systems talk may skip it.

As heard by us

A postpartum-specific discussion of what providers miss and how focused training can change care.

The episode keeps its focus on postpartum care and the case for a framework built for postpartum alone, not pregnancy and postpartum bundled together.

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Why you'd press play

You want the clearest case for postpartum-only nutrition training.

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