As the owner of a couple of doula agencies and a doula trainer who teaches around Canada, I often get approached by lovely folks who are interested in introducing their products to me, asking if I can give them a shout out.

I could not resist when when I was contacted by a small, Vancouver Island product company named Matraea.  Co-founded by midwives Kate and Selina, they identified a lack of access to safe, effective, natural products to support pregnancy,birth, breastfeeding, and babies in their community.  Like the go getters they are, they took it upon themselves to remedy the problem.

These are women after my own heart…deeply experienced, fiercely committed to excellent care of the hundreds of families they’ve served over two decades, and hubs of their community.  I readily agreed to test out some of the products Matraea sent over here to the MotherWit HQ here in Montreal.

When the package came in the mail all the way from BC, I was impressed just by the look of the products.  They are beautifully packaged, something anyone would be proud to offer a loved one as a gift, or use themselves.  I felt great being able to provide something so pretty to my clients.

Let’s start with Blooming Baby Belly Tea.  Full of deeply nourishing herbs like raspberry leaf, nettle, and hibiscus packed in a cute little tin, I thought this would be a perfect treat for my Birth Essentials Prenatal Class.  I made a pot and had it steeping before my class arrived.  When they came into the room, I got a few comments on how nice the tea smelled.

My class members all tried the tea.  The dads, too.  Quickly, the pot was finished.  So I made another.  By the end of our time together that day, three pots of Blooming Baby Belly Tea had been drunk, clearly having been enjoyed thoroughly.

I often talk about the deep, nutritive benefits of the herbs in this tea.  The issue is that many pregnant folks don’t like the taste,  Combined with tasty ingredients like cinnamon and hibiscus, however, Blooming Baby Belly Tea makes getting the proven benefits of the herbs easy and enjoyable.  This doula loved it too!

I also received Matraea’s Calming Spritzer and Refreshing Spritzer.  I popped them into my birth bag and used them with one of my labouring clients whom I knew enjoyed aromatherapy.  As a doula, I use essential oils a lot for balancing out the environment to support the birth.  Having some of my favourite oils premixed in such a pleasing way was handy.

I liked the texture of these sprays a lot.  Many times just water and oils don’t mist well, but these sprays misted really nicely and dispersed well, having a soft quality.    And oh, the scents!  Heavenly!

The refreshing spritzer was perfect after a long night of labour.  I sprayed it in the room to greet the sunrise, and the birth attendants perked up.  It smelled like Christmas morning, soft and uplifting, absolutely right for a birthing.  The labouring mother mentioned that it make her upset tummy feel better, too.

During a couple of anxious moments, I kept the Calming Spritzer going.  It was actually a hospital staff member who commented on how good the room “felt”.  Scent is a powerful thing. I have often found mixes containing ylang ylang essential oil can be very strong, but this was balanced out perfectly so that it was gentle and soothing.

What I appreciated most about Matraea products?  You can feel the love and care tucked into them.  They are crafted to nourish families and to make them happy.  I can get behind that.

MotherWit loves Matraea!

http://www.matraea.com/

Love,
Lesley