Pregnancy and the Vaginal Microbiome
Join Dr. Moira Bradfield Strydom and Rhiannon Hardingham 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.
Your Instructor
Dr. Moira Bradfield Strydom (PhD) is the founder of Intimate Ecologyclinical and education services. She is a Naturopath, educator and researcher with over 20years clinical experience who 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 (vagina, bladder, seminal and penile).
Moira recently completed a PhD through Griffith University which focussed on the vaginal microbiome and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis.
She also has a Bachelor of Naturopathyand a Masters degree in Acupuncture from Southern Cross University.
In addition to her role as a Naturopath, Moira has lectured extensively at a tertiary level and in the area of holistic genitourinary health, educating her fellow practitioners to offer support in an often-overlooked area.