Mothers’ big helpers: SA mumpreneurs create nation-first ‘help at home’ for new mums

Two SA women are taking Australia by storm with a new business to help new mums in the weeks after giving birth, based on international norms that are often given short shrift in Australia.

It can take years to conceive, nine months to grow a baby and hours to give birth.

What happens after that is a whirlwind of emotional and physical pain, joy, exhaustion, healing, confusion, elation, midnight Googling and coffee refuelling.

What happens after that otherworldly line-crossing moment is the birth not only of a baby, but also a mother.

With six children between them, South Australian women Dr Carla Brion and Nadia Parisi know well the demands of motherhood.

But when it came to finding help in those precious post-partum weeks, they came up empty-handed.

“We knew what we needed, but there was nothing available,” says Brion, 36, a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner and acupuncturist.

It was after the birth of Brion’s first child, Farrah, and Parisi’s third, Aria, that they felt the weight of a gap in post-partum healthcare.

The pair were friends, having met through their work in women’s holistic health, fertility and pregnancy care.

“We went through that post-partum period with our daughters and came out pretty depleted,” says Parisi, 34, a massage therapist and yoga teacher.

“We found with a lot of mums (we treated), we wouldn’t see them after they had their babies. There would be the whole fertility journey and pregnancy journey and then once baby was born you wouldn’t see them until they were trying to conceive again.

“We needed to bridge that gap.”

The Golden Month was born, inspired by traditional post-natal care practices across Asia and Latin America, where mothers are provided the means to rest at home for at least 40 days. Their original offering was The Golden Package: four weeks of in-home massage and acupuncture, emotional support and food aligned with TCM and Ayurvedic medicine.

“We literally came up with a business plan in 10 minutes, wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it on Instagram the next day,” Brion says.

“That night we got home, and within the hour we had a midwife friend of ours saying, ‘I’ve got a client, how can she book?’”

Nadia Parisi and Carla Brion, co-owners of The Golden Month, at their cafe, The Golden Cup, in Jetty Rd, Brighton. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Almost 300,000 babies are born every year in Australia. The Centre of Perinatal Excellence (CoPE) – Australia’s peak body in perinatal mental health – believes almost 250,000 parents have a “tough first year”, and estimate almost 60,000 experience anxiety or depression during pregnancy and the first 12 months of their child’s life.

The figures are based on survey results released earlier this year.

Consequences can be dire.

For Parisi, separating from her husband during her second pregnancy, with daughter, Zara, added stress and shame.

“I ended up in hospital in 2010, six months after Zara was born, with heart complications due to major depletion,” the mother-of-four says.
“My experience led me to focus my studies on women’s holistic health … (so) I knew what I needed after Aria was born, but it wasn’t available.”

A month’s rest isn’t much encouraged in western society, which glorifies women who “bounce back” after pregnancy and birth.

It couldn’t be more different in China, where post-partum women are prescribed a 40-day confinement: Zuo Yue Zi, or “sitting the month”, keeps mum home for 40 days to allow her to rest, recover and replenish her body in alignment with TCM.

Almost 250,000 parents have a “tough first year” and almost 60,000 experience anxiety or depression during pregnancy and the first 12 months of their child’s life.

Family or community members help with household chores so that she can dedicate herself to bonding with baby.
She is prepared foods that are warm and warming, boosted with medicinal herbs believed to restore blood and in turn assist in breastmilk production.

So important is keeping mother warm, there are no cold showers or washing hair and no airconditioning is to be used.

In India, the birthplace of Ayurvedic medicine, the period called Japa varies between 40-60 days.

In Mexico, the 40-day stretch is called la cuarentena (the quarantine). The ideas are the same across the continents.

“It’s about doing as little as possible; resting, eating, drinking and bonding with your baby,” Brion says. “You’re so depleted, coming from that nine months of growing a baby and birthing a baby, which is this out-of-this-world force, and then you’re looking after baby and breastfeeding and all of these things.

“Anything on top of that, that you put yourself through – it’s almost like you’re emptying your energy back and going into the negative.”

In the weeks and months after giving birth mothers are “so depleted, coming from that nine months of growing a baby and birthing a baby... and then you’re looking after baby and breastfeeding and all of these things”.

The Golden Month brings a western approach to care during what’s coined the “fourth trimester”.

But Brion and Parisi don’t expect mothers to stay home for 40 days.

“In China and India, you’ll have your mum and your sister move in so you’ve got company 24-hours a day, whereas if you do it here in our country, it’s very isolating (staying home),” Parisi says. “Women don’t have anyone coming in and looking after them because that’s ‘weird’. It’s not ingrained in our culture.

“So, it’s about being realistic. Don’t run off and do pilates – listen to your body, eat as much nourishing food as you can and have that balance.”

When Parisi and Brion carry out their home visits, they temporarily take on the role of the carer. Mum might take a bath infused with a herbal sitz mixture (said to assist perineal healing), while they put on a pot of herbal tea consisting of da zao (Chinese red date), gou qi zi (Chinese wolfberry/goji berry) and hong zao (Chinese black date). The tea is said to restore yin, blood and Qi (energy).

Mothers are encouraged to wear socks at all times, as energy can be drained from cold feet on to tiles.

When Parisi carries out her “closing the bones” massage, she’ll happily tend to baby if required.

The same goes for Brion and her acupuncture, which she’ll tailor to mother’s needs – soothing anxiety or abdominal pain, or improving sleep, for example.

Therapies are also modified for mothers who delivered their babies via caesarean section.

Food arrives weekly, and simply needs to be warmed before consuming.

A 40-day recharge has real, tangible benefits for both mother and baby, Brion explains.

“Research shows it actually helps with quicker healing, better outcomes for mother, better feeding outcomes for baby – baby thrives better – and less chance of depression and anxiety,” she says.

“It’s got that ripple effect. And it’s not just in the period of the first month or six weeks – it’s to protect yourself in the future.

“The saying is how you spend your first 40 days is how you spend your next 40 years.

“It safeguards your health and your fertility, your hormones, even the way you go through menopause.”

Acupuncture is provided for mums.

As are nutritious, replenishing meals.

In its humble beginning, The Golden Month was a two-woman show. Brion and Parisi were conducting all the home visits and would cook the meals in their personal home kitchens, their kids running around at their feet.

“A few months in, it just got too busy,” Parisi says.

“We were getting so many inquires from Byron all the way up to Queensland, so we got a chef in Byron for a while.

“Then we had a Melbourne kitchen, and things got a little hectic. It was hard to manage and maintain consistency.”

Three years in, the pair have about 30 people on staff, the vast majority women, who are contracted to carry out treatments in SA, WA, Queensland, NSW, Victoria and ACT.

They’ve cared for hundreds of mothers in their homes and delivered food to thousands of families across the country.

Food preparation recently returned to Adelaide, following a brief stint in Sydney (due to refrigerated courier limitations), with two full-time chefs and a kitchen-hand on deck.

The recipes combine Parisi’s knowledge in Ayurveda with Brion’s TCM.

Both are natural, holistic systems of health that draw on the medicinal properties of herbs, spices and other foods.

Examples include herbal congee, supercharged with Chinese mushrooms and dressed with black vinegar; Ayurvedic kitchari; chickpea and sweet potato pie; and blood nourishing soup. There are also breakfasts and snacks, including the cult-favourite, caramel lactation slice.

“We’re the first in Australia to do this, especially the food and in-home care combined,” Parisi says, adding that they’ve received interest from people in the United States and Canada.

“(They) ask, ‘do you want to franchise here?’ and we’re like, ‘ahh! Not yet!’”

The Golden Package is an investment. It costs $1750 for four weeks of food and in-home treatment, including two acupuncture and moxibustion treatments, two “closing of the bones” massages, herbal sitz pack for four baths, a turmeric “mama mylk” drink and TCM recovery tea.

Weekly and monthly meal deliveries can be ordered separately (from $230), as can a month’s worth of in-home treatments ($1100).

Funnily enough, the women find it’s not mothers from the wealthier suburbs who use their services, but rather those who “don’t have a lot of money”.

“They’re the ones who save for it, because they’re like, ‘I need this’,” Parisi says.

“Especially second-time mothers.”

They want women to consider their services for baby shower gifts – The Golden Package, they say, is the equivalent to 20 bunches of nice flowers.

The pair has also created a vast range of dry goods, including ingredients for soups, drinks and Choc Chip Mama Cookies, moxa sticks and womb balm, with prices from $8. They’re stocked at Brighton Foodland, as well as being available online.

“We developed the dry goods to ship to everyone we can’t service, so that we can look after everyone in some way,” Brion says.

Nadia Parisi and Carla Brion know first-hand the challenges of motherhood.

The next step of The Golden Month journeymanifested into a cafe, The Golden Cup, at the end of February, for which Parisi and Brion brought in good friend and barista, Raiya McPherson.

The light-filled space on Brighton Rd, Brighton, was promoted as a safe space for both mothers and babies. It took off.

“It was incredible; we had to turn people away in that first week because we were full,” Parisi says.

“Women have told us it’s the first time they feel comfortable breastfeeding in public and I just find that really beautiful. That's everything.”

The Golden Cup serves coffee and plant-based brunch and lunch, including affordable options for the kids (soup and soldiers, for instance, costs $8).

Light timbers and thoughtful accents are throughout, from pink, arched feature tiles to crystal-look glassware. There’s a small play area at the back for tiny tots.

There’s also a freezer full of take-home family meals, cooked on site.

Dahl, vegetarian cannelloni and Parisi’s own “Nap sauce” are on high rotation.

“The family meals are for everybody, not just post-partum people,” Parisi says.

Prices range from $15 for a generous two-serve, to $40 for six.

“They’re very popular – we have people drive down from the north to buy a heap and pop them in their freezer.”

Eventually, Parisi and Brion will offer delivery of the family meals to cater for a larger area. They’re also working on a book, which will feature TCM and Ayurvedic teachings, self-care techniques, aspirational musings and recipes.

It’s been a whirlwind few years for the two women who scribbled a vision on a piece of pad paper back in 2019.

Their dream for the future is for post-partum treatments to be recognised by Medicare.

“We would love for it to be more accessible, where you get a Medicare rebate,” Brion says. “It just needs to be normalised and essential.”

For more information, visit the Golden Month website.