Prenatal and Postpartum Care
Nourish Your Journey Through Pregnancy and Beyond.
Expert nutrition support for a healthy pregnancy, comfortable postpartum recovery, and confident feeding choices.
RECOGNITION AND VALIDATION
Does this sound familiar?
You are pregnant or trying to get pregnant and your nutrition and self-care have taken on enormous new meaning.
You have just welcomed your amazing baby into the world and the learning curve of how to simultaneously balance your own individual nourishment at the same time you are now exclusively responsible for feeding your newborn feels overwhelming.
You were referred by your fertility specialist, Obstetrician, gynecologist or midwife for guided nutrition support during this extraordinary time in your life.
You are in the months after birth and food, appetite, or how you feel in your body has changed.
The registered dietitians on our team, including our lactation support team, are not only experts in maternal and fetal nutrition, we are also moms. We have walked through each of these paths ourselves. We approach every parent’s experience with tremendous sensitivity and respect, never judgment.
Scope, plainly
What is Prenatal and Postpartum Care?
Prenatal and postpartum nutrition care provides specialized guidance during one of the most transformative times in your life.
Prenatal and postpartum nutrition care is specialized counseling for the childbearing years, from preconception and fertility through pregnancy, birth recovery, and the early months of feeding your baby.
Pregnancy and the postpartum period place real, shifting demands on the body. Nutritional needs change across each trimester and again after delivery, and they often arrive alongside nausea, fatigue, food aversions, medical concerns, and the emotional weight of a body in transition.
Care during this season addresses both the clinical and the personal. We look at how you are eating, how your body is responding, and which medical factors are relevant, whether that is gestational diabetes, a hypertensive disorder, anemia, or the ordinary but exhausting work of feeding a newborn.
How we help
Nutrition therapy for this season
The care we provide to moms is typically in the context of one-on-one individual nutrition counseling sessions.
What you can expect from our work, in plain terms: deep understanding of your medical nutrition history and unique prenatal and postpartum experience, a non-restrictive, all-foods-fit philosophy, a real conversation about your observations and experience of your changing body, and recommendations tailored to your specific needs.
Our approach
Our Approach to Prenatal and Postpartum Care
We recognize every fertility, pregnancy and postpartum journey is unique.
Our approach combines evidence-based nutrition guidance with a real and personal understanding of the challenges you are facing.
Our non-diet, Health at Every Size approach centers on your relationship with food and your body rather than an isolated number on a scale. The weight changes of pregnancy and postpartum are expected physiology, and we treat them as such rather than as something that requires correction.
We focus on the ways in which you can best and most holistically nourish, rather than adding stress about what you should avoid eating. Whether you are managing morning sickness, gestational diabetes, feeding difficulty, or the overwhelming newness of parenthood, the guidance is built around your life, your culture, and your circumstances. We work with your changing body, not against it.
Goals of prenatal and postpartum care:
- Support your baby’s development through sound, realistic nutrition
- Manage the symptoms of pregnancy, including nausea, heartburn, and food aversions
- Meet the nutrient demands of each trimester and of recovery after delivery
- Manage medical conditions of pregnancy in coordination with your medical team
- Support healing after delivery, including cesarean recovery and rebuilding after blood loss
- Prepare for feeding before your baby arrives, and support it afterward
- Address the emotional side of this season, including body image and the stress that can accompany feeding
- Build confidence in your ability to nourish yourself and your growing family
What sets our approach apart
- Our feeding expert is credentialed in both maternal and infant health, as well as lactation care, so parent and baby are supported as one connected pair
- We keep guidance practical and realistic
- We treat the weight changes of pregnancy and postpartum as expected physiology, not a problem to correct
- We coordinate with your OB/GYN, midwife, pediatrician, and lactation team
Areas of Focus
Conception and Fertility
Nutrition support while you are trying to conceive or going through fertility treatment, including care for conditions that can affect fertility, coordinated with your fertility specialist, OB/GYN, or midwife.
Pregnancy
Trimester-specific nutritional needs, healthy-pregnancy optimization, and support for nausea, vomiting, hyperemesis, food aversions, and selective eating during pregnancy. Body image and the experience of weight gain and body mass changes are an integral part of this conversation.
Medical Nutrition Therapy
Gestational diabetes, pre-diabetes and insulin resistance, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy including gestational hypertension and preeclampsia, and anemia and micronutrient deficiencies, all coordinated with your medical team.
Postpartum Recovery
Nutrition that supports healing after delivery, including cesarean recovery, pelvic floor recovery, and rebuilding after blood loss, alongside nutrition while breastfeeding and body acceptance in the months that follow.
Lactation and Infant Feeding
Prenatal breastfeeding preparation, latch and milk supply, bottle and combination feeding, pumping and return-to-work planning, and the transition to solids. Available in your home or virtually.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The Feeding Foundations Bundle
A three-visit program that prepares for feeding during pregnancy and stays with you through the early postpartum weeks.
Most feeding support arrives after a problem does. The Feeding Foundations Bundle is built the other way around. It begins during pregnancy, when parents are in a mindset to think clearly and plan, and continues into the first days and weeks after birth, when even the most organized parents find themselves working through sleep deprivation, hormonal shifts, erratic appetites, and the intensity of caring for a newborn.
We offer it as part of a comprehensive plan that accounts for both parent and baby.
Visit One: Prenatal Feeding Preparation
Virtual, 90 minutes, during pregnancy
A full review of your medical nutrition history and your relationship with food and your body, along with what to expect from breastfeeding, how to prepare nursing and bottle feeding supplies, and a conversation about your early feeding goals. The timing is deliberate: this visit happens while there is still room to reflect and plan.
Visit Two: Postpartum Lactation Consultation
In home, 90 minutes, or virtual, 75 minutes, within the first week after delivery
We start with how you are doing, then revisit the plan and adjust it as indicated. In-home visits include hands-on latch and positioning support, breast and infant oral assessment, pump fitting, and weighted feeds. Both formats produce an individualized feeding plan.
Visit Three: Six to Eight Week Follow Up
Virtual, 60 minutes, within the first six to eight weeks postpartum
Troubleshooting gastrointestinal distress, allergy concerns, and colic, along with feeding and sleep schedules, cluster feeding, bottles, weaning, and a return-to-work pumping schedule. Maternal nutrition takes a larger role here.
Beyond the Bundle
Some families feel settled after the six to eight week visit. Others want continued support. Ongoing consultation is available for as long as desired.
We always operate with the intention of encouragement, understanding, and support, never judgment.
See the full visit-by-visit description on our Lactation Consultation page.
Who you will work with
Rebecca Appleman, RD
Founder & Executive Director
Care starts with a conversation with Rebecca Appleman, RD, our practice founder and executive director. She is the first point of contact for every person that reaches out to us; she completes every discovery call and supervises the clinical work of the team as a whole.
Meet RebeccaOur clinicians are introduced on our team page, which details each dietitian’s clinical focus.
What to expect
How a first conversation works
Rebecca personally speaks with each new client to carefully guide best next steps and scheduling.
Connect with Rebecca & Schedule
You and Rebecca will discuss what is on your mind related to food and body, and Rebecca will determine the dietitian on our team best suited to guide you in meeting your needs. Appointment options are provided and fees are explained.
Begin Care
You have your full Nutrition Consultation, virtually or in person. This is the visit that creates a foundation for your work with us. Follow-up sessions are scheduled as indicated and in coordination with you.
How payment works
We are a private-pay practice. Clients are billed monthly, during the first week of the month, for all services provided during the previous month. We do not bill insurance or submit claims for you, however, we provide a detailed receipt (superbill) with procedure and diagnostic coding so you can seek reimbursement on your own if your plan has out-of-network nutrition benefits. Fees are discussed on the discovery call and a fee schedule is also included in our paperwork in your client portal.
Questions we can answer now
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start prenatal nutrition counseling?
There is no single right time. Some families begin before conception, others during a fertility process or particular trimester, and others after a diagnosis such as gestational diabetes. Care can begin at any point and continue through postpartum and infant feeding.
Will you focus on my weight or my weight gain during pregnancy?
Weight change is an expected part of pregnancy and postpartum, and our non-diet approach does not treat it as the measure of a healthy pregnancy. We focus on nourishment, medical needs, and how you are feeling rather than on controlling a number.
What if I cannot keep food down due to morning sickness?
Nausea, vomiting, and hyperemesis are common reasons families come to us, and they are treated as clinical problems rather than something to endure. We work on tolerable intake, hydration, and nutrient adequacy within what your body will currently accept, in coordination with your OB/GYN.
Do I need to take a prenatal vitamin?
Prenatal supplementation is standard in pregnancy, and the more useful question is which formulation is well tolerated, works best for you, and responds to the needs demonstrated in your bloodwork. We review your supplementation alongside your medical team and relevant medical and nutrition history.
Can you help with gestational diabetes?
Yes. Managing gestational diabetes, pre-diabetes, and insulin resistance is a core part of this care, delivered in coordination with your medical team.
Can I continue eating disorder recovery while pregnant?
Yes, and pregnancy is a period when recovery deserves more support rather than less. The same is true during the postpartum period. The physical changes of pregnancy and postpartum can be destabilizing, and this care is delivered in coordination with your therapist and treatment team.
How do I care for my body postpartum without falling into a restrictive diet mindset?
Recovery after delivery has real nutritional demands, including healing tissue, rebuilding iron stores, and, for many families, supporting milk production. We work on meeting those demands. Body acceptance in the months after birth is part of the conversation, and we do not approach the postpartum body as a project to be corrected, but rather one to be embraced and nurtured to restored strength.
Do you offer lactation support, and is it in person or virtual?
Both. We offer lactation consultations in your home and virtually. Support can begin before birth with prenatal feeding preparation and continue through the early weeks and beyond, covering latch, milk supply, feeding challenges, and weaning. More information on our Feeding Foundations Bundle can be found here.
Can you support both me and my baby?
Yes. We care for a parent and baby together as one connected pair rather than referring each piece to a different provider.
Will you coordinate with my OB/GYN, midwife, or pediatrician?
Coordinated care is central to how we work with every single client and family. We communicate with the providers already on your team so that nutrition and feeding guidance stays consistent with your overall medical care and we make curated referrals to additional providers when indicated.
What if breastfeeding is not possible or not the right choice for us?
Feeding decisions belong to each family. Bottle feeding, formula, and combination feeding can all provide excellent nutrition, and we support responsive, connected feeding in whatever form fits your circumstances.
Is this medical care for pregnancy?
No. This is nutrition therapy from registered dietitians. We do not diagnose, and we do not prescribe medication. Your physician or midwife remains the person for medical care of pregnancy and birth.
Related
Other things we treat
If you are in immediate danger
Appleman Nutrition provides nutrition therapy. We are not an emergency room, a crisis clinic, a labor-and-delivery unit, or a physician practice.
Ready to talk
Ready to Nourish Your Growing Family?
Pregnancy, postpartum, and early parenthood are significant transitions, and no one should navigate them alone.
Rebecca will follow up and help you figure out the next right step.
Insight from the practice
Occasional information and updates on nutrition and wellness from the Appleman Nutrition team.
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