Women have long associated menstrual and birth cycles with the moon, a pattern that may be breaking down under widespread circadian disruption.

We have evidence from historical writings about this, and can also compare datasets from before and after the widespread adoption of fluorescent and LED lights to validate these claims.

What I always say is healthy babies can be born anytime of the year, month, or day!

But are there trends?

Yes, and I do hypothesize that women coming back into circadian alignment with their local environments will see stronger patterns.

For example, looking at nearly every birth in New York City for 1961–1963 showed a 10% increase in births during the brighter half of the lunar cycle.

See: Menaker, Walter. “Lunar Periodicity with Reference to Live Births.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 98, no. 7 (August 1967): 1002–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(67)90089-0.

But if you search modern literature, they always say there’s no scientific consensus.

The other question or end of this spectrum is if there is a lunar correlation to fertility, as conception time will obviously influence birth date.

Although current consensus likewise doesn’t support the idea of a lunar influence on conception, a similar 1960’s cohort did find a correlation with higher conception rates after the 3rd quarter of the moon.

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There are at least two major issues with the current state of hospital check in for women in labor.

Those who know my work, know my first issue well: the lights.

We’ve long since established that too bright of light, or light in the wrong wavelength slows contractions and makes them more painful.

So, we need to tune the lights in the birth suite (including the check in areas) to accommodate the known need for a calm, dim, cave-like environment.

The other problem is the vaginal exam, required at pretty much every birth center.

This is a function of impersonal care.

Compare: a good midwife working with a woman she knows well and especially a woman she has seen give birth before, can usually guess by ear how far along a woman is into the labor trance. And in a midwifery context, if the birth team arrives too early, they can simply go home and come back later. However, once a woman checks into a hospital, she can’t easily go home. Therefore, the consequences of checking in too early are much higher in a hospital system, and the vaginal exam at intake exists to prevent that.

The variability in how a woman presents—like being very calm despite being very close to birthing, or very distressed in spite of being hours or even days away from birthing—and the lack of continuity of care combined with the demographic sway towards more first and second time moms and fewer experienced moms giving birth… mean a more objective method of determining “progress” than by ear and intuition, ie, the vaginal exam, is now used to decide if a woman is eligible for her insurance to pay for birth support yet, or not.

But remember, regulations require tracking dilation in spite of the fact that labor dilation is not linear and normal and healthy timelines vary greatly! Any circle of women sharing their birth stories will prove the dilation greatly varies woman to woman and even labor to labor. One woman will do in days what will take another mere hours.

Looking at this intake process question at the statistical rather than individual level makes sense when you overlay that from a billing standpoint, a shorter labor support time is objectively “better” than a long one.

So the vaginal exam at intake, in spite of its problems, is enforced because it prevents women from getting expensive-to-deliver care in early labor that would crowd the birth center and cost more whether from insurance or out of pocket expense.

These two issues of bright light and routine vaginal exam at intake both disturb privacy—an overlooked ingredient to instinctual birthing biology.

To load a laboring woman into a moving vehicle out in public, through a hospital check in process often staffed by strangers and brightly lit by LED lights, and then into a birthing space itself staffed on a rotating schedule where she likely won’t know the nurse(s) and possibly may not even know the doctor in charge of her care is very much disregarding a woman’s usual preference for privacy in labor.

As so many have learned from Ina May, birth is an unconscious, sphincter led response.

From the intake process, I have observed an anemone-like response where a laboring woman clams up, most especially if she is not yet deep enough into the labor trance to have lost touch of normal social behaviors.

Below are the primary mechanistic factors I can tie in to what I’m criticizing about the standard hospital check in process:

• trance state effect where social norms are numbed from the transition stage onward, but not before

• individual sensitivity to artificial light (estimated at a 50-fold range in measured melatonin suppression from the same exact lux level depending on the person)

• variable responses to the sight of medical equipment and whether that equipment feels like safety or a threat

The above factors explain why some women can go through this hospital check in process and still push their babies out within ten minutes of arriving (and I do hear of this all the time). They are already deep into the trance and the medical setting feels like safety and the light isn’t having that strong of an effect on their biology.

But the moms who go in before that trance has fully set in, and especially if they also perceive the medical setting as threatening, and additionally sit on the more sensitive to artificial light side of melatonin suppression curves, these moms may have a very very difficult time ever settling in to the labor trance at all after the anemone response (or sphincter contraction, if you will) from the bright and privacy-invading check-in process. These are the women I hear from over and over who had a labor progressing fantastically at home, but that stalled at the hospital and didn’t recover without intervention.

My recent light and labor class talks more about how the lights actually should be, and how to protect yourself from hospital lighting if you do decide to birth in that setting.

I’d love to hear from moms and birth workers in the comments about how they experience the hospital check in process, and how it could potentially be improved in the future.

Comment

Link to my recent light in labor class here:

https://www.brighterdaysdarkernights.com/p/how-to-use-light-and-darkness-in

Sleep is the daily rhythm it seems most people are most concerned about in regard to a new baby.

Just how many times as a new mom do you get asked about baby’s sleep?

But how little do we actually understand the development of sleep patterns, especially in the context of the greater bucket of circadian health?

Sleep is the most well-known output of the circadian rhythm, but it’s not the only one!

Babies are born with immature circadian rhythms, and it takes about 2-3 years for their rhythm to fully mature.

Here are the most important stages of circadian development in a baby:

1. Body temperature rhythm (warmer in the day, cooler at night)

2. Melatonin rhythm (higher in the day, lower at night)

3. Sleep rhythm (consolidating toward the natural darkness)

4. Digestion rhythm (consolidating toward the natural daylight)

In my own understanding, early childhood circadian health can much more easily be assessed by understanding digestive rhythms, because they are a little further out on the periphery.

Join us for Sleep Like A Mother: Circadian Postpartum Planning at the end of the month by grabbing a ticket here.

A baby who is happily weaned and potty-independent has a fully mature circadian rhythm, whereas sleeping through the night does not indicate full circadian development.

From the archives to explore circadian development further:

• Circadian postpartum

• Circadian babyhood

• Quantum breastfeeding

• Circadian polyphasic sleep

• Practitioner polyphasic sleep training

Remember: Circadian health matters from preconception onwards across the whole lifespan!

Here’s a simplified version of what that can look like through the ages and stages (note the adolescent phase delay and cortisol spike—yikes! Sure explains a lot, doesn’t it?):

Are modern manufactured lights contributing to the rising c-section rates?

I never would have jumped to this conclusion myself, but when I was putting together my most recent class… the story just put itself together.

Here’s the gist of how changes in lighting and increases in c-section rates correlated:

Pre 1800’s, all the light we had to illuminate childbirth was rich in infrared—sunlight or firelight.

Then we got incandescent.

Then fluorescent—think of the 50’s institutional vibe and how different that was. This was the height of the twilight birth era.

Then fluorescents got compact and entered our homes, too.

(Cue widespread circadian disruption among pregnant women, and the concurrent fact that women who go postdates and get prescribed induction tend to have lower circulating melatonin)

Then we got LEDs.

Then the LED’s became more efficient and even more widely adopted.

Each level of efficiency stripped away more of the energy intensive frequencies.

But, the cost was that it turns out, ou…

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Light starts affecting physiology the moment you change it, it works whether everyone believes in it or not, and it can be used alongside any of your other strategies.

You can prepare your circadian rhythm before labor starts, but even if you are just learning about this on the day of labor, you can still use light effectively for stronger, more frequent and less painful contractions.

You’ll learn exactly what kind of light you’ll want to have and why, based on the stage of labor and what time of day it is.

If you are already in the birth suite, you’ll learn how you can create your own cave and what to do about the moments after birth to increase your chances of everything going smoothly.

Light modulation is what I believe to be the most actionable tool we have to improve birth outcomes and experience in the modern era.

In the Q&A, you’ll also hear touching testimonials, real birth stories, and the experience of a community midwife who has been using circadian lighting at the births she attends.

Beyond the twinkle lights class recap

Best lights for nighttime labor at home:

• Red LED strips along the floor for safe navigation

• Plug-in nightlights in amber or red with light sensors (they flip on automatically as you walk by)

• Beeswax candles (I used this lantern with these 12 hour burn candles for my most recent birth)

• Incandescent bulbs in lamps (this company ships even to California)

• Himalayan salt lamps with incandescent bulbs inside

Best lights for hospital births:

• Red light glasses (blue blockers) and/or a sleep mask

• A red light panel or portable lamp you can control

• A few Beacon Lights by Block Blue Light (indestructible, amber or red options, brighter and dimmer settings) code NIKKO for a discount

• A Strainless lamp (incandescent, has a dimmer knob, excellent color fidelity) code AMANDALIZ for a discount

Class resources:

• MyCircadian app lux meter by

• Brewer Diet for Pregnancy diuretics information

• Summer without the AC community discussion post

• Quantum Newborn Jaundice text-based course

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We covered tongue-tie and oral restriction, and how Dr. Neel uses touch, light and empathic abilities to support infants and adults.

This interview is one I definitely recommend to any family considering a tongue-tie release, as surgery can help, but isn’t always necessary and doesn’t always work.

We also talked about light, the mouth, diastases, and so much more.

Listen in, and if this message resonates, connect with Dr. Neel for support on his website here.

Also, in case you missed my interview on Dr. Neel’s podcast Compromised to Alchemized where we dove into the health of the thyroid, you can catch up on that below:

Thank you to everyone who tuned into our live podcast recording! I’m in the process of getting more expert interviews cued up for this Summer.

I’m chatting about dates with an awesome building designer, a childbirth coach, and a few others for another great series.

I was also featured on a few incredible podcasts recently including Awakening Spaces, Regenerative Health, the Evolving Wellness Podcast and more. I will be sharing those interviews with you all soon, too.

Sign up for updates if you haven’t already! I appreciate your support.

Social cues are circadian cues.

We were never meant to spend our days alone with our babies.

This is one of many things that has gotten easier as my family has grown.

Reading or hearing first time moms sharing their experiences brings me back to those long, painful days.

Thirteen hours alone at home with a new baby in a new town… gosh those were the loneliest days of my life just waiting for my husband to get home.

Three things that changed:

1. We moved back to my hometown

2. We decided to homeschool and networked with amazing women ahead of me

3. We had more children—with a teenager and four younger ones now, there’s hardly a dull or quiet moment and I am surrounded be hilarious social chatter all day, everyday

My energy and sleep have never been better; I feel strong and amazing.

When I have low moments, as we all do, I have the mental ease to just sink into them …

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It’s estimated 2/3 women will have uterine fibroids by age 50, and fibroids are the leading cause of the recommendation for hysterectomy.

If you have or treat uterine fibroids, you know what a confusing and difficult situation it is.

Looking at the research through a quantum lens, I see a few huge areas for potential noninvasive strategies to reduce the likelihood of getting uterine fibroids, increase the likelihood of slowing or reversing their growth, and for generally supporting wellbeing for women who have fibroids.

The preventable risk factors for uterine fibroids with particularly “quantum” possibilities for intervention: inadequate time outdoors, inadequate darkness, inadequate movement, and too many endocrine disrupting chemicals.

This post is grouped with my Quantum Anemia Theories series because heavy bleeding can lead to an anemia…

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Layered on top of all three sit the culture + tradition + skills components, which is where I like to start my consultations.

When working with a client (or yourself), my opinion is that the best entry point is what is already happening in the kitchen.

A sudden full blown switch tends to produce weeks of digestive (and kitchen) chaos and a likelihood of feeling like a failure and defaulting back to old habits.

This is why I always like to start with what is already happening and choose the easiest nudges toward better health.

Can you source locally in bulk at a discount for some of your staple food items?

Is there a new tool, like a better pot, cutting board, or knife, that would remove some of your dread around a certain cooking task that needs to be done but you hate doing?

Is there one small habit or recipe you could add?

In last week’s class for paid subscribers, I shared some of the things I have learned about managing the kitchen, which is really where the magic happens for diet.

Some of my best kitchen & cooking tips:

Ask for help.

Children can be in the kitchen as company before they are useful, then graduate into real tasks. You can add a food prep component to your baby shower planning and people will probably be happy to oblige the new mom in helping her stock up her freezer and pantry with meals.

Invest in real tools.

Sharp knives, solid cutting boards, and silverware that feels good really improve the experience of cooking. Many women I know who say they hate to cook are working with dull, flimsy, uninspiring equipment.

Buy in bulk.

Bulk buying simplifies the diet choices available since you have to make bigger investments at a time, meaning your budget (and pantry/fridge/freezer space) may be allotted to more of a fewer number of items. I really find it also helps my budget stay available for the food I had intended for us to eat because once it is bought and in the home, I am obliged to cook it. And you can often get bulk discounts.

Pick the No’s that matter.

Two examples from my family: artificial food coloring (because of its potential for neurological effects and how poorly it is regulated in the US) and commercially produced crackers (which trigger carb-chasing and rashes in my household). The list will look different for everyone. My No list used to be a lot bigger! I’m moving from tightly restrictive to more grateful and accepting.

Use the “never skip twice” or “never skip thrice” rule for healthy habits you care about.

If a habit slips, don’t let two days in a row pass without it. This helps me flow with inevitable habit disruptions without feeling like a failure and helps me not abandon my good intentions altogether just because I slipped up once.

Front-load food and water in the morning.

A slice of lemon and a pinch of mineral salt is how I usually start. Many pregnancy symptoms ease with this single change. The same for children and bedwetting: hydration delivered late in the day comes out at night. I find it’s just much harder to catch up if morning hydration is missed.

Here’s some more of the nutrition stuff we talked about

Folate, iron, and the cofactor problem in most prenatal supplements:

Almost every pregnant woman hears that she needs to supplement for iron and folate.

Folate use depends on DHA, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, choline, the full B-vitamin family, and several amino acids working together.

What those cofactors mean is one isolated source of folate does not guarantee the folate cycle will run smoothly.

The same is true of supplemental iron.

Driving isolated iron up without phosphate, vitamin D, and the rest of the supporting cofactors can tank other parts of the system.

And the same with messing with insulin and ignoring all the other metabolic hormones!

Local, seasonal variations

The mainstream “local seasonal” recommendation works differently depending on latitude and season. Lily Nichols’ research shows healthy pregnancies sustained on as much as 30 percent carbohydrate near the equator and as little as 2 percent in polar regions.

I think understanding the food culture you grew up in, what you agree with and where you are forging your own path is wise to reflect on.

Food is more than merely nutrition, and treating it as some kind of ideal to attain is just not as comforting or fun as chasing the flavors and experiences of home and belonging through meals.

Imported food: I think how food travels matters

Trade routes are ancient and I believe the desire for new tastes is built in and healthy.

My considerations when buying imported foods:

1. Dehydrated foods (especially sun dried), which are harvested at peak ripeness, keep a stable shelf life, and are lighter to ship

2. Fermented and pickled foods, also transported well historically

3. Flash-frozen foods, which retain a comparable nutrient profile (texture changes; nutrition largely does not)

4. More caution with canned goods, partly because of can linings if you aren’t doing your own canning

5. Caution with imported carbohydrates if you live in a polar or even temperate climate because of light/dark and metabolic hormone interactions and possibly deuterium

Sourcing quality food

1. (USA) Azure Standard convenient for one stop for bulk meat (cases from specific farms), line-caught fish, produce and other groceries, plus I love the “drop” system as yet another way to build local community

2. Local CSAs, you may be able to find one using a platform like https://www.localharvest.org/csa/ and customize your shares

3. Cow/pork shares split across families

4. Work-trade arrangements on local farms, gleaning parties

5. Mindset! Farmers markets are not just for shopping! They are also and maybe even more importantly a relationship-building entry point to your local farming community

References mentioned:

1. Lily Nichols, Real Food for Pregnancy and Real Food for Fertility (the latter includes a section for men)

2. The Brewer Diet for Pregnancy

3. Quantum Anemia series

4. Folate series

5. Full class citations at the end, and in my Circadian and Quantum Research Library

The perinatal nutritional arc:

Specific concepts I find helpful for preconception, earlt pregnancy, late pregnancy, labor, early and late postpartum.

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Enjoy!

Babies are born equipped to absorb UV light much more rapidly than adults through two mechanisms:

1. Lower melanin levels, so they have less shielding

2. Higher vellus hair content (the super soft, uncolored hair or “peach fuzz”), which may absorb UV light approximately 250x as fast as normal hair

These physiological conditions seem to allow babies to meet their UV light requirements in a very short amount of time without experiencing dehydration, heat fatigue or sunburn

In un-supplemented individuals, solar-derived Vitamin D is thought to make up approximately 90% of serum levels1.

And yet it is common to find even highly educated researchers making claims such as “low compliance…

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My food philosophy includes cultural heritage, nutrition, timing, ingredient sourcing and storage, skill and creativity.

But above all, food is probably one of my very favorite things to talk about.

You all asked for my food philosophy, so I set up today’s call. Here’s the link to join us at 1 PM Pacific: Nikko’s Food Philosophy (Group Doula Care Session for Brighter Days, Darker Nights community members and guests).

RSVP

Before the call, I thought it would be fun to share one of the strangest recipes in my cabinet: Vital Garlic Chutney from Mama’s Menu by Ameya Duprey.

For those who have oxalate sensitivity1, I am very sorry you will not be able to enjoy this recipe with us. The photo from my cookbook tells you everything you need to know about how well loved this recipe is (and that I often cook one-handed with a baby or toddler in the other):

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“lucky” “privileged” “elitist”

Yes, I have had all these names thrown at me for shring my reasons for avoiding daycare.

Online anyways, and especially on mom-Substack.

In real life, people don’t tend to be so quick to call names and throw labels.

But what does daycare have to do with my mission here?

Daycare, even high quality daycare, seems to disrupt the circadian flow of cortisol for the majority of youngsters1.

And unnatural cortisol patterns and circadian disruption in early life are correlated with lifelong outcomes, especially mental health outcomes.

Inside my circadian pregnancy & babyhood workshops I teach how the first 2-3 years of life are foundational for circadian rhythmicity across the lifespan.

The patterns set at this time tend to be carried forward for the rest of life.

I wouldn’t ever take daycare away from those who want to use it.

But to say daycare is always a good and necessary thing is absolutely a slap in the face to the intelligence and resourcefulness of mothers.

Mother…

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You may have been recommended intravenous iron if you are low ferritin in pregnancy, postpartum, or preconception or if you have anemia that doesn’t respond to other interventions.

Before you decide yes or no—or which formulation to choose—here’s what the current research shows about a real but often-overlooked side effect and how to reduce your likelihood of having it. This directly relates to what I share about circadian and quantum biology.

Start Here: Why IV Iron?

The first question isn’t which IV iron formulation (we’ll get to that). But it’s really whether IV iron is necessary.

I started this Quantum Anemia series because so many people have reached out to me who don’t want to supplement with iron, who can’t tolerate it (nausea, constipation and other side effects), or, they have taken iron and it didn’t work to correct their energy levels or anemia.

Before considering an infusion, most providers first work with oral supplementation.

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Intake

Absorption

Recycling

Toxicity reduction

These each play a role in optimizing iron levels for healthy blood.

This video recording is from a guest expert presentation I created for the Sol Circle membership by Carrie B. Wellness.

She has guest lectures every month (I’ll definitely be back to teach again in the future), plus she herself is of course a fountain of wisdom!

Here’s where you can learn more and see if you might like to become a member of Sol Circle by Carrie B. Wellness.

Questions about anything in the presentation? Leave a comment or head over to the subscriber chat.

Founding members can also send me a DM:

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In pregnancy, blood volume expands by 50%

But red blood cells (RBCs) only expand by 30%

This is why some people say you probably aren’t anemic even if you test that way while you are pregnant.

I’ll start this post by saying I agree the test —> infusion pipeline has serious problems.

Here’s where the narrative that you can’t be anemic in pregnancy concerns me: inadequate blood volume expansion is one of the most dangerous situations for baby.

Baby is fed by the placenta.

The placenta is fed by the mother’s blood.

When the mother doesn’t have enough blood volume expansion, her body responds as though she is hemorrhaging. This means her body has to pull resources back to her own core body functions to preserve her own life.

Thus, not enough blood for the mother = not enough support of the placenta.

Think of the placenta like a plant that needs its roots to be well watered.

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Here’s an easy strategy to help your baby understand the difference between waking up from a nap and waking up in the middle of the night:

• if it is daytime, bring them outside right away for a minute (or more) of natural light

• if it is nighttime, keep the lights dim (under 1 lux, and definitely no more than 5 lux)

Fine tune or amplify the strategy:

You can reinforce the daytime signal in many ways.

You can speak up joyfully when they wake.

Tell your baby how happy you are to see them awake, and even sing them a bouncy wake up song.

If you are brave enough to do elimination communication (EC) and have a private yard, this is an opportune “pottytunity.”

This is because for most of humanity we voided outside and babies are still primed that way.

When they wake up, if you take their diaper off outside, the light and air will very likely help cue them to void in their potty.

When they wake up in the dark, there are also multiple ways to amplify the signal to go back to sleep.

Keep your voice low …

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Class Resources:

• Anemia series on Substack: Quantum Anemia Theories Series

• Folate series on Substack: Circadian Folate Series

• Daylighting post on Substack: How far would you go to cure depression?

• The 2018 review paper on EMFs and the blood system: Jbireal, J., Elsayed Azab, A., & Ibrahim Elsayed, A. S. (2018). Disturbance in haematological parameters induced by exposure to electromagnetic fields. Hematology & Transfusion International Journal, 6(6). https://doi.org/10.15406/htij.2018.06.00193

• The 1919 article framing light as “modern hygienic propaganda”: THE COMPOSITION OF THE BLOOD IN SUNLIGHT AND DARKNESS. (1919). Journal of the American Medical Association, 73(19), 1446. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1919.02610450042017

• The iron recycling paper: Slusarczyk, P., & Mleczko-Sanecka, K. (2021). The Multiple Facets of Iron Recycling. Genes, 12(9), 1364. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12091364

• The ferritin/electron tunneling paper: Perez, I. D., Lim, S., Nijhuis, C. A., Pluchery, O., & Rourk, C. J. (n.d.). Electron tunneling in ferritin and associated biosystems.

• The history of ferritin discoveries paper: Arosio, P., Cairo, G., & Bou-Abdallah, F. (2024). A Brief History of Ferritin, an Ancient and Versatile Protein. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(1), 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26010206

• My Zotero research library login if you are a member here, or purchase access here

• The polyphasic sleep/darkness class login here if you have access, or purchase access here

• The Brighter Days, Darker Nights community chat for more Q&A here

• Email me for info on my practitioner training options: nikko@brighterdaysdarkernights.com

Thank you to everyone who attended live and for watching the replay! It’s wonderful to know such amazing and thoughtful people.

Slides and complete video for paid subscribers.

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When I started the Quantum Anemia Theories series last year, I wanted to offer new perspectives that would help people feel better and navigate anemia diagnosis.

Conventional treatments often rely on an overly simple model—if anemic or low iron, supplement with iron. The problem that got me looking deeper on this: many people don’t tolerate iron, and iron supplements can have terrible side effects.

It turns out, having healthy blood depends not only on iron intake, but also iron absorption, iron recycling and preventing iron toxicity.

Thus, the test-iron/prescribe-supplement model is leaving out major and important aspects of iron metabolism.

If the problem isn’t intake (and in many cases, it isn’t) adding iron isn’t necessarily going to help you have healthy blood cycle as a whole.

Today’s post is about the roles light plays in these processes, some syncs a…

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Children don’t think in clock time.

This is a big cause of bedtime battles.

They are fully in tune with their body clock.

So instead of speaking to their mind, speak to their body in the language that controls their sleepiness: darkness.

Clock time doesn’t dictate bedtime—the light outside does.

The sun is going behind the horizon… time to light the candles and turn off the lights.

Bye bye, sun!

If the light is low, it’s so much easier to guide children to bedtime than if the overhead white light is on telling their bodies it is still noon!

How can your voice chanting a random number convince them their body is lying!? It can’t.

Speak to their body with dimness instead and you will have a much easier time.

This bedtime ease is all the more likely if you have brought them outside first thing this morning already to replenish their melatonin stores after the p…

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