Pregnancy and the Vaginal Microbiome

Join Moira and Rhiannon for this engaging two hour webinar providing key insight into the essential and sometimes detrimental role of the vaginal microbiome in preconception, pregnancy and birth, including assessment strategies and clinical gems for best management.

Pregnancy is a uniquely demanding time, where nutritional, immune and inflammatory factors are of utmost importance for gestational success and parental & offspring outcomes. We now know that the vaginal microbiome significantly influences endometrial, placental and foetal microbe diversity, and plays an integral role in maintaining a pregnancy, protecting against placental dysfunction and pregnancy loss, as well as foetal immune maturation.

This area is of significant interest to all practitioners working in the preconception and pregnancy space, as safe and effective therapies, as well as the capacity to make risk-benefit analysis decisions in individual circumstances, is of key importance to gestational and foetal outcomes. Whilst definitive safety measures are impossible to offer in this rapidly evolving field, Moira and Rhiannon take practitioners through the strategies they use to best manage both normal and complex pregnancies, drawing upon their combined experience of over 40 years of busy clinical practice in this field.

Learning Outcomes

🌟 Understand the fundamental role the vaginal microbiome plays in influencing both benefits and risks in pregnancy, ranging from optimal foetal health and development, to pregnancy loss.

🌟 Examine clinical decision making around safety and risks to birthing parent and neonate.

🌟 Review safe and appropriate oral therapies to optimise pregnancy outcomes and minimise risks associated with systemic and localised dysbiosis

🌟 Review safe and appropriate intravaginal therapies to support the local environment, especially in the case of acute and chronic infections.

🌟 Competency in assessing individualised factors required for nuanced consideration regarding the risks and benefits for every unique pregnant patient.

🤓 Practitioners eligible for 2 CPD points.

 

Moira Bradfield-Strydom, founder of Intimate Ecology clinical and education services, is a Naturopath and educator with over 20 years clinical experience. She has a passion for helping people experience optimal health in sustainable and sensible ways. Clinically she has a niche interest in recurrent vaginal infections, optimal vaginal and genitourinary health, hormones and the genitourinary microbiomes (the bacteria and microbes that reside in the vagina and bladder).

Moira holds a Bachelor of Naturopathy Southern Cross University, a Masters degree in Acupuncture from Southern Cross University and has just completed a PhD at Griffith University, Australia: in the area of the vaginal microbiome and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. In addition to her role as a Naturopath, Moira has lectured extensively about holistic genitourinary health, educating her fellow practitioners to offer support in an often overlooked area.

You can find out more about Moira and her services at www.intimateecology.com.au