When Ho Kin Ing was pregnant with her first child, her body changed in ways she hadn’t expected. Even though her obstetrician and gynaecologist reassured her that her pregnancy was progressing well, she still felt something was amiss.
She couldn’t sleep, sit, or move the way she used to. Her back ached. She couldn’t recognise her feet. She felt anxious and on edge. And while she was excited to welcome her daughter, she was deeply worried about whether she would be a capable mother.
After she gave birth in 2019, the physical and emotional effects lingered. Ho felt as though she had “lost herself” and “there were many moments of suffering”, she told CNA Women.
She resolved to explore additional forms of pregnancy care that she had not considered before.
“I don’t want to say what I went through was traumatic – it was transformative, and my first birth planted a seed in me to not let other mums go through what I did, lost and confused about their pregnancy,” she said.
In the final trimester of her third pregnancy, she launched Kindle Space, a studio that provides prenatal and postnatal well-being services for mothers.
“Motherhood cannot be outsourced entirely to systems or information,” the 34-year-old mum of three daughters aged seven, four and two said. “Today’s mothers are navigating pregnancy and parenting in a world with more information than ever before, yet many feel more anxious and alone.”
For many women, pregnancy begins and ends with medical appointments. They see their gynaecologist, attend their scans and take the prescribed supplements. It can feel as though pregnancy is primarily a medical journey.
Some issues pregnant women face include constant backaches, swollen feet and face, and higher irritability. (Photo: Kindle Space)
But it is much more than that, said Sarah Liyana Hanafi, a doula who provides birth support services and is the founder of The Peaceful Birth, an educational Instagram account on pregnancy and birth.
Sarah said women may benefit from support that goes beyond monitoring the baby’s growth. “Motherhood isn’t just a medical journey,” she said. “A lot of women face issues during pregnancy that can’t be resolved just by seeing a doctor.”
Some challenges are physical. As the baby grows, women carry more weight, which can lead to an aching back and hips. Sleeping becomes uncomfortable. Hormonal shifts can cause swelling in the feet, face or nose, skin changes and even bleeding gums.
Other changes are less visible. Many women experience what is commonly known as “pregnancy brain” – the state of becoming more forgetful or distracted. Some feel unusually irritable. Others struggle with rising anxiety about the birth, parenting or whether they are going through pregnancy the right or best way.
One common description practitioners hear from pregnant women is that they feel “misaligned”, as though their bodies no longer move or function the way they used to.
Osteopaths may recommend specific exercises to their patients to promote flexibility and reduce body aches. (Photo: City Osteopathy and Physiotherapy)
For women experiencing persistent pain or discomfort, options can include seeing an osteopath or chiropractor.
Senior osteopath Emma Bundle from City Osteopathy and Physiotherapy said pregnancy places new physical demands on the body.
“As the bump grows, your body has to adapt,” she said. “We look at how the whole body is moving – from the feet upwards – and help it adjust to those changes.”
She often sees pregnant women with back, pelvic or groin pain that makes walking or sleeping difficult. In more severe cases, she has treated pregnant women who needed a walking stick because of the pain.
“I had a patient in her second trimester with such severe pelvic girdle pain she could barely walk,” she said. “After a combination of treatment techniques, she was able to walk comfortably again, and the pain did not return for the rest of her pregnancy.”
She explained that osteopathy uses gentle hands-on techniques to improve joint movement, ease muscle tension and support circulation. It can also help women rest more comfortably by relieving stiffness in areas that are working harder, such as the lower back and hips.
Chiropractic care takes a slightly different approach. Founder of Purely Family Chiropractic, chiropractor Dr Clara White, focuses on supporting the nervous system.
“Chiropractic has a bad reputation, sometimes, because people think it’s just about cracking bones,” she said. “But it’s about helping the nervous system regulate.”
Chiropractic care is an option for women to help them feel more aligned and at ease. (Photo: Purely Family Chiropractic)
During pregnancy, hormonal changes and physical strain can affect sleep, stress levels and muscle tension, Dr White said.
“With pregnancy comes a lot of change,” she added. “When the body feels overwhelmed, it shows up as pain, sleep issues or anxiety.”
By improving spinal alignment and reducing pressure on the nerves, chiropractic adjustments help the body cope better with these changes.
While osteopathy and chiropractic differ in technique, both practitioners emphasised that neither replaces medical care. Instead, it complements it by helping women manage discomfort and function better day to day.
“Such care may not provide an instant fix,” Bundle said. “But it can help women understand their changing bodies, recognise when pain is not normal and feel more in control of their pregnancy journey.”
Holistic care during pregnancy also covers a mother’s mental, emotional and social well-being.
“Pregnancy is physical, emotional, relational and even spiritual,” said Ho. “We are not only caring for the pregnancy, but caring for the person who is becoming a mother.”
She added that many women leave their medical appointments reassured that their baby is healthy, but unsure about themselves and how they’re going to cope with labour and what happens after.
Ho often hears these questions from expectant mums: “Why am I suddenly so emotional? How do I manage fear of birth? What if I can’t be a mum?”
Regular community interactions with other mums can help to improve a mother's well-being. (Photo: CNA/Izza Haziqah)
Sarah, the doula, said the first form of care to overcome anxiety is knowledge about birth and motherhood.
“Birth is unpredictable. To some, it can even look traumatic – and that’s why we plan,” she said. Through her sessions and birthing classes, she walks mothers through common scenarios, from natural labour to pain relief and even emergency caesareans.
“We plan for common scenarios that might happen during birth, like if the labour doesn’t seem to progress, or when contractions just get worse,” she said. “Whether they are new or going through pregnancy again, when mums understand how birth works, they feel calmer.
“My job is to empower them with the knowledge that can help them feel at ease and know that if something changes, they won’t panic, but feel prepared.”
Another way is through emotional regulation before labour even begins. Workshops that teach such skills are what Ho hosts at Kindle Space, where mums are encouraged to express their fears and address them together as a community.
“We teach mindful breathing for pain-coping and how to regulate the nervous system during birth and especially after, when the baby is out and taking care of a small child can feel intense,” she said. “When we share how to rest without guilt or ask for support, we are already training her brain.”
To Ho and Sarah, community plays a key role in overcoming the rising anxiety that many mothers may feel.
Ho explained that at Kindle Space, classes are intentionally small – usually up to 10 women – so mums can sit together, move together and talk openly about their struggles and insecurities.
“Community is a form of emotional regulation, and as humans, we calm down in the presence of others who make us feel safe, which can be other mums going through the same thing we are,” Ho added.
Bundle, Dr White and Ho emphasise that the “fourth trimester” is also important when it comes to holistic care for mums. This refers to the first 12 weeks after delivery, when a woman’s body is recovering, and she is taking care of her baby.
“The fourth trimester exists,” Dr White said. “And if we forget about it or we don’t take care of the mum during that highly crucial and sensitive period, the whole family will collapse.
“After birth, often the focus suddenly becomes all about the baby. Baby is important, of course, but now Mum has so little time and mental space to prioritise her own care.”
The fourth trimester is a crucial period for mums to heal and receive support for their post-birth recovery. (Photo: iStock/Yanuar Dani Alfarizi)
Bundle, the osteopath, said that during this period, the demands can be intense for mums. Feeding a newborn for hours each day – and night – often leads to upper back, neck and shoulder pain. The lack of sleep from waking up frequently to attend to the baby also makes recovery harder. And hormones fluctuate in many different ways.
“I usually see mums around six weeks postpartum,” Bundle said. “We osteopaths do a lot of work to open up the joints that get compressed from feeding posture.”
Osteopathy can also support caesarean-section recovery through gentle scar work and mobility exercises, she added. Similarly, Dr White said that chiropractic care may help with nerve-related discomfort, sleep issues and tension.
Doulas like Sarah often check in with mothers after birth to see how they are coping. Some also serve as a coordinator, liaising with other professionals like lactation consultants, massage therapists, and physiotherapists, to help the mum recover from the birth and be in the best state to care for their babies.
At Kindle Space, Ho keeps the door open long after delivery. She regularly sets up community gatherings for mums, no matter the age of their children, to connect with other women and feel less alone.
“Mums are welcome to join and stay in Kindle Space as long as they want to – six weeks postpartum or six years postpartum,” she said, sharing that members can return for postnatal yoga sessions, movement classes, breastfeeding support, or simply to sit and talk with other members.
“Holistic care is to make sure the mum feels well supported,” she said. “A calm and supported mother is not a luxury – it’s more than essential because she is the foundation for the future.”
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...
She couldn’t sleep, sit, or move the way she used to. Her back ached. She couldn’t recognise her feet. She felt anxious and on edge. And while she was excited to welcome her daughter, she was deeply worried about whether she would be a capable mother.
After she gave birth in 2019, the physical and emotional effects lingered. Ho felt as though she had “lost herself” and “there were many moments of suffering”, she told CNA Women.
She resolved to explore additional forms of pregnancy care that she had not considered before.
“I don’t want to say what I went through was traumatic – it was transformative, and my first birth planted a seed in me to not let other mums go through what I did, lost and confused about their pregnancy,” she said.
In the final trimester of her third pregnancy, she launched Kindle Space, a studio that provides prenatal and postnatal well-being services for mothers.
“Motherhood cannot be outsourced entirely to systems or information,” the 34-year-old mum of three daughters aged seven, four and two said. “Today’s mothers are navigating pregnancy and parenting in a world with more information than ever before, yet many feel more anxious and alone.”
MOTHERHOOD ISN’T JUST A MEDICAL JOURNEY
For many women, pregnancy begins and ends with medical appointments. They see their gynaecologist, attend their scans and take the prescribed supplements. It can feel as though pregnancy is primarily a medical journey.
Some issues pregnant women face include constant backaches, swollen feet and face, and higher irritability. (Photo: Kindle Space)
But it is much more than that, said Sarah Liyana Hanafi, a doula who provides birth support services and is the founder of The Peaceful Birth, an educational Instagram account on pregnancy and birth.
Sarah said women may benefit from support that goes beyond monitoring the baby’s growth. “Motherhood isn’t just a medical journey,” she said. “A lot of women face issues during pregnancy that can’t be resolved just by seeing a doctor.”
Some challenges are physical. As the baby grows, women carry more weight, which can lead to an aching back and hips. Sleeping becomes uncomfortable. Hormonal shifts can cause swelling in the feet, face or nose, skin changes and even bleeding gums.
Other changes are less visible. Many women experience what is commonly known as “pregnancy brain” – the state of becoming more forgetful or distracted. Some feel unusually irritable. Others struggle with rising anxiety about the birth, parenting or whether they are going through pregnancy the right or best way.
WHEN YOUR BODY NO LONGER FEELS LIKE YOUR OWN
One common description practitioners hear from pregnant women is that they feel “misaligned”, as though their bodies no longer move or function the way they used to.
Osteopaths may recommend specific exercises to their patients to promote flexibility and reduce body aches. (Photo: City Osteopathy and Physiotherapy)
For women experiencing persistent pain or discomfort, options can include seeing an osteopath or chiropractor.
Senior osteopath Emma Bundle from City Osteopathy and Physiotherapy said pregnancy places new physical demands on the body.
“As the bump grows, your body has to adapt,” she said. “We look at how the whole body is moving – from the feet upwards – and help it adjust to those changes.”
She often sees pregnant women with back, pelvic or groin pain that makes walking or sleeping difficult. In more severe cases, she has treated pregnant women who needed a walking stick because of the pain.
“I had a patient in her second trimester with such severe pelvic girdle pain she could barely walk,” she said. “After a combination of treatment techniques, she was able to walk comfortably again, and the pain did not return for the rest of her pregnancy.”
She explained that osteopathy uses gentle hands-on techniques to improve joint movement, ease muscle tension and support circulation. It can also help women rest more comfortably by relieving stiffness in areas that are working harder, such as the lower back and hips.
Chiropractic care takes a slightly different approach. Founder of Purely Family Chiropractic, chiropractor Dr Clara White, focuses on supporting the nervous system.
“Chiropractic has a bad reputation, sometimes, because people think it’s just about cracking bones,” she said. “But it’s about helping the nervous system regulate.”
Chiropractic care is an option for women to help them feel more aligned and at ease. (Photo: Purely Family Chiropractic)
During pregnancy, hormonal changes and physical strain can affect sleep, stress levels and muscle tension, Dr White said.
“With pregnancy comes a lot of change,” she added. “When the body feels overwhelmed, it shows up as pain, sleep issues or anxiety.”
By improving spinal alignment and reducing pressure on the nerves, chiropractic adjustments help the body cope better with these changes.
While osteopathy and chiropractic differ in technique, both practitioners emphasised that neither replaces medical care. Instead, it complements it by helping women manage discomfort and function better day to day.
“Such care may not provide an instant fix,” Bundle said. “But it can help women understand their changing bodies, recognise when pain is not normal and feel more in control of their pregnancy journey.”
CARE FOR A MOTHER’S EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL HEALTH
Holistic care during pregnancy also covers a mother’s mental, emotional and social well-being.
“Pregnancy is physical, emotional, relational and even spiritual,” said Ho. “We are not only caring for the pregnancy, but caring for the person who is becoming a mother.”
She added that many women leave their medical appointments reassured that their baby is healthy, but unsure about themselves and how they’re going to cope with labour and what happens after.
Ho often hears these questions from expectant mums: “Why am I suddenly so emotional? How do I manage fear of birth? What if I can’t be a mum?”
Regular community interactions with other mums can help to improve a mother's well-being. (Photo: CNA/Izza Haziqah)
Sarah, the doula, said the first form of care to overcome anxiety is knowledge about birth and motherhood.
“Birth is unpredictable. To some, it can even look traumatic – and that’s why we plan,” she said. Through her sessions and birthing classes, she walks mothers through common scenarios, from natural labour to pain relief and even emergency caesareans.
“We plan for common scenarios that might happen during birth, like if the labour doesn’t seem to progress, or when contractions just get worse,” she said. “Whether they are new or going through pregnancy again, when mums understand how birth works, they feel calmer.
“My job is to empower them with the knowledge that can help them feel at ease and know that if something changes, they won’t panic, but feel prepared.”
Another way is through emotional regulation before labour even begins. Workshops that teach such skills are what Ho hosts at Kindle Space, where mums are encouraged to express their fears and address them together as a community.
“We teach mindful breathing for pain-coping and how to regulate the nervous system during birth and especially after, when the baby is out and taking care of a small child can feel intense,” she said. “When we share how to rest without guilt or ask for support, we are already training her brain.”
To Ho and Sarah, community plays a key role in overcoming the rising anxiety that many mothers may feel.
Ho explained that at Kindle Space, classes are intentionally small – usually up to 10 women – so mums can sit together, move together and talk openly about their struggles and insecurities.
“Community is a form of emotional regulation, and as humans, we calm down in the presence of others who make us feel safe, which can be other mums going through the same thing we are,” Ho added.
SHOWING LOVE TO MUMS DURING THE FOURTH TRIMESTER
Bundle, Dr White and Ho emphasise that the “fourth trimester” is also important when it comes to holistic care for mums. This refers to the first 12 weeks after delivery, when a woman’s body is recovering, and she is taking care of her baby.
“The fourth trimester exists,” Dr White said. “And if we forget about it or we don’t take care of the mum during that highly crucial and sensitive period, the whole family will collapse.
“After birth, often the focus suddenly becomes all about the baby. Baby is important, of course, but now Mum has so little time and mental space to prioritise her own care.”
The fourth trimester is a crucial period for mums to heal and receive support for their post-birth recovery. (Photo: iStock/Yanuar Dani Alfarizi)
Bundle, the osteopath, said that during this period, the demands can be intense for mums. Feeding a newborn for hours each day – and night – often leads to upper back, neck and shoulder pain. The lack of sleep from waking up frequently to attend to the baby also makes recovery harder. And hormones fluctuate in many different ways.
“I usually see mums around six weeks postpartum,” Bundle said. “We osteopaths do a lot of work to open up the joints that get compressed from feeding posture.”
Osteopathy can also support caesarean-section recovery through gentle scar work and mobility exercises, she added. Similarly, Dr White said that chiropractic care may help with nerve-related discomfort, sleep issues and tension.
Doulas like Sarah often check in with mothers after birth to see how they are coping. Some also serve as a coordinator, liaising with other professionals like lactation consultants, massage therapists, and physiotherapists, to help the mum recover from the birth and be in the best state to care for their babies.
At Kindle Space, Ho keeps the door open long after delivery. She regularly sets up community gatherings for mums, no matter the age of their children, to connect with other women and feel less alone.
“Mums are welcome to join and stay in Kindle Space as long as they want to – six weeks postpartum or six years postpartum,” she said, sharing that members can return for postnatal yoga sessions, movement classes, breastfeeding support, or simply to sit and talk with other members.
“Holistic care is to make sure the mum feels well supported,” she said. “A calm and supported mother is not a luxury – it’s more than essential because she is the foundation for the future.”
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...