By Sola Ogundipe

AN encounter with Bridget Osho is a delightful experience. Wife, mother, entrepreneur, writer, and researcher all rolled into one, Bridget defines herself as “a woman on a mission to support women on their journeys to motherhood from pre-conception through the post natal period”. A holistic fertility therapist with a difference, Bridget is on a mission to stop women losing their pregnancies.

Bridget

Currently studying for a PhD degree at Birkbeck, University of London, her research is focused on determining the factors for stillbirth occurrences and being able to detect vulnerable women at risk of losing their pregnancies. Her ultimate goal is to contribute some knowledge, however little, to better understand and prevent stillbirths.

And without doubt, Bridget, now a proud mother of two healthy children conceived naturally, is effectively helping women improve their chances of conception and pregnancy and to have healthy babies using natural and holistic methods through the practical and effective solutions through her brain child — Cherie Mamma.

Through online courses, workshops, one-to-one consultations, private coaching and other resources to women who are planning to get pregnant or who already are benefiting, she is making a difference.

It all began in 2009, after she suffered a stillbirth at nearly seven months into pregnancy and doctors couldn’t really tell her why.

After going through a difficult period during which she tried to come to terms with the loss, Bridget was motivated to begin to think of ways to help her and other women during pregnancy. And so Cherie Mamma was born.

Cherie Mamma is a platform that offers holistic fertility therapy to help couples resolve fertility challenges. This platform offers a form of healing that considers the whole person – body, mind, spirit and emotions— in order to achieve a successful pregnancy.

“Through Cherie Mamma, I started to create products and resources to help women through pregnancy. I collaborated with midwives, nutritionists and fitness instructors to provide useful tools. After a while, I decided to study to become a holistic fertility therapist so that I can help women directly.

“The more I researched, the more I became convinced that the holistic approach is a viable way to prevent and treat most preconception/pregnancy complications. In fact, this is probably true of most diseases.

This discovery was also strengthened by research carried out by Oxford and Harvard Universities which confirmed that 8 out of 10 couples struggling to conceive only need to make slight but consistent changes to their lifestyles in order to conceive healthy babies.

“I therefore promote natural fertility solutions to the prevention and treatment of most fertility problems. This takes the form of a holistic approach which is rooted in a healthy lifestyle and the use of natural remedies from around the world, the healing power of food and the use of alternative and conventional practices.”

A health geographer, from her first degree when she studied malaria prevalence in a Nigerian city, Bridget is fascinated about the dynamics of health and disease.

“I am always asking why some people are more vulnerable to disease than others,” she confessed. So it was no surprise that she focused on respiratory diseases for her Masters degree in Environmental Management, worked as a Geographical Information Systems, (GIS) analyst for about six years.

From her perspective, the principle underpinning this is that the body needs to be balanced in all these aspects to achieve optimal health. “Once there is an imbalance in one or more areas, normal bodily functions such as conception become very difficult.”

To this end, Bridget utilises cutting-edge natural and holistic strategies to recognise and correct imbalances. “These strategies gently stimulate the body’s own healing process. Some are Nutritional Therapy; Manipulative Body Therapies such as massage and acupuncture; Body-Mind Intervention Techniques like visualisation techniques and the use of herbs and supplements. Since these methods are based on natural techniques, they generally do not have side effects and are very gentle on the body.”

Bridget argues that data from Havard and Oxford show that for 80 percent of couples, these natural strategies are all they need to resolve infertility, while for the remaining 20 percent who need medical treatments, these strategies can also facilitate their treatment and help to reduce side effects.

In one of her discussions on natural fertility treatment, Bridget observed that many women already have a good idea of medical fertility treatment. She said women already know that doctors can sometimes help with fertility problems by giving medicines, doing surgeries and advanced solutions like IVF and IUI. But apart from the occasional notice or advert that promises some miraculous recovery from fertility problems or the herbal mixture suggested by well meaning friends, most people have little contact with natural fertility treatment.

“Natural fertility treatment seeks to understand and correct irregularities in the system to make conception occur. In most cases, it is holistic in that it examines and seeks to treat every aspect the person instead if just focussing on one aspect.

“So for instance, if a woman is not ovulating, the natural fertility therapist will be interested in your menstrual period, your sleeping habits, headaches if any, your work-life balance and many other things. This is built on the premise that every part of the body works together and disharmony in one part will often cause problems in other parts.

“The natural fertility therapist will then create a personal treatment plan for the person who might include things like suggested lifestyle changes, diet changes, herbal supplements, relaxation techniques and even other alternative treatments like acupressure! So don’t expect a quick fix or a quick answer to the question, what supplement should I take?

Bridget says natural fertility therapist won’t force a treatment place on the client and so will always try to adjust treatment plans to suit the client’s beliefs and preference where possible because it is important for the client to be happy with the treatment and not be another source of discomfort.

“Natural fertility treatment certainly works! It has been practised for centuries in many parts of the world with resounding success. What’s more, there are cases where it resolves problems which medical doctors haven’t been able to resolve. Contrary to what many people might think, there is a science to natural therapy”.

If you have suffered a stillbirth and you are willing to participate or volunteer in research into the occurrence of stillbirths, Bridget is just the person to contact.

To begin your own gentle and natural fertility treatment, simply get started with an assessment during a personal preconception strategy session. This is a consultation during which any imbalance(s) is identified and a treatment plan is put together for you.

A natural fertility treatment plan is usually a combination of the strategies highlighted earlier. This is very useful because it is personal and it takes the guesswork out of your journey. You will know exactly what you need to do to improve your chances of conceiving naturally.

Bridget holds a Q&A session every Friday at 5pm – 6pm on www.facebook.com/cheriemamma or contact her at [email protected].

So if you are trying to have a baby and are tired of taking drugs, some of which have terrible side effects or haven’t worked for you, why don’t you try natural fertility therapy? You might be pleasantly surprised at the outcome!