Dr. M's Women and Children First Podcast

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 16 Issue 13 – Birth Order

Birth Order Birth Order Is Biology, Not Birthright - so says a new paper in MedRxIV (Kramer et. al. 2026) Here is a short field guide to how sequence shapes the immune system, and maybe the brain in children. We’ve treated birth order like personality trivia. First-borns are “responsible.” Youngest are “free spirits.” Middle children… well, we forgot them. This paper suggests something more interesting: birth order is a biologic exposure. Not destiny. Not diagnosis. But signal. Across a very large dataset, the researchers mapped birth order against hundreds of diseases. The effects are small for any single child. But the pattern is consistent at a population level. Children are not born into identical biology, even within the same family. Each pregnancy changes the mother. Meaningfully. Immunologically. Successively. Each fetus inherits a slightly different environment. Epigenetics in full swing. It turns out that sequence matters. What Changes Across Pregnancies? Three levers move, quietly, predictably: 1) The Maternal Immune System Learns Pregnancy is not passive. It is negotiation. The first pregnancy = naïve immune system learning tolerance. Subsequent pregnancies = trained, adapted immune responses That training alters: cytokine tone, antibody profiles, placental signaling The fetus is downstream of all of it. 2) The Placenta Is Not a Copy-Paste Organ... Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #112: Mona Delahooke, PhD – Beyond Behaviors

Today on Dr. M’s Women and Children First, we welcome one of the most important voices in modern child development and behavioral science, Mona Delahooke. Dr. Delahooke is a licensed clinical psychologist, internationally recognized speaker, and the author of groundbreaking books including Beyond Behaviors and Brain-Body Parenting. Her work challenges one of the deepest assumptions in modern parenting and education: that difficult behaviors are simply choices to be corrected. Instead, she invites us to ask a radically different question, what is the nervous system trying to communicate? This conversation sits right at the crossroads of neuroscience, attachment theory, polyvagal theory, developmental psychology, and the lived experience of parenting. In many ways, Mona’s work gives language to something clinicians and parents often feel intuitively but struggle to articulate: behavior is not merely compliance or defiance, behavior is biology expressed through the body. We explore how stress physiology, early attachment, sensory processing, trauma, neurodivergence, and autonomic nervous system states shape the way children interact with the world around them. We discuss why punishment-based models often fail vulnerable children, how “bad behavior” may actually represent adaptive survival responses, and why safety and connection are foundational to learning, resilience, and emotional regulation. For me personally, this conversation resonates deeply with the broader themes we often discuss on this podcast, the interaction between environment, physiology, immune health, metabolism, and neurodevelopment. Mona helps bridge the gap between cellular stress and relational stress, between body and mind, between physiology and behavior. If you’ve ever cared for a child with anxiety, ADHD, autism, sensory challenges, explosive behavior, school struggles, or chronic dysregulation, this episode offers both compassion and a fundamentally different framework. One that moves away from blame and toward curiosity. Away from control and toward connection. This is a conversation about seeing children more clearly. And perhaps, seeing ourselves more clearly too. Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Mona Delahooke. Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 16 Issue 12 – Creatine and Microbiomes

Creatine and Microbiomes A new 2026 Cell Metabolism study explores a compelling and increasingly central idea in modern biology: the gut/brain/immune/metabolism axis is not just associative, it is mechanistic. Specifically, Dr. Lu and colleagues investigate how the gut microbiota can directly influence depressive behavior by reshaping systemic and neural metabolism. This is another in a long running list of papers describing the amazing work that bacterial commensal microbes do for us. In this case, our minds and moods. "Although peripheral-brain crosstalk regulates energy metabolism, its role in depression remains unclear. Here, we used metabolic profiling to reveal elevated fecal creatine alongside reduced plasma and cerebrospinal fluid creatine in both patients with depression and mouse depression models. Exogenous creatine produced antidepressant-like effects mediated by gut microbiota. Bifidobacterium pseudolongum was identified as a significantly reduced gut bacterial species in depression, correlating with impaired creatine absorption. Subsequent supplementation with Bifidobacterium enhanced the antidepressant effects of creatine. Mechanistically, B. pseudolongum-derived acetate promoted the creatine transporter (Slc6a8) expression in intestinal epithelial cells via histone acetylation. The Slc6a8 mediated the antidepressant-like effects of creatine. Neuronal creatine deficiency influenced energetic metabolism and neurophysiological function. In patients with depression taking antidepressants, co-administration of creatine and Bifidobacterium increased plasma creatine levels and reduced depression scores. These findings identify the Bifidobacterium-creatine combination as a promising antidepressant strategy and highlight the critical role of gut-brain energy metabolism in depression." "The brain, as an energy-intensive organ, relies on precise metabolic regulation to maintain synaptic plasticity, neurotransmitter synthesis, and stress response systems. Accumulating evidence implicates energy metabolism dysregulation as a hallmark of depression. Neuroimaging studies using positron emission tomography (PET) have identified marked glucose hypometabolism in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of patients with depression. Cerebral mitochondrial dysfunction and ATP imbalance have been mechanistically linked to depression progression. Notably, emerging studies emphasize the bidirectional interplay between peripheral metabolic signals and central energy regulation, which is fundamental to neural metabolism. Clinical observations such as fatigue, appetite dysregulation, and unexplained weight fluctuations in patients with depression further suggest systemic metabolic disturbances spanning peripheral organs and the CNS.." (Lu et. al. 2026) This is next-level medicine. Mental health can no longer be framed as a disorder of genetics, experience, or circumstance alone. This work opens a clearer window, showing how the microbiome participates as an active partner, shaping brain function through the metabolites it helps produce and deliver. Compounds like creatine are no longer just peripheral players. They become signals, fuel, structure, and information, bridging gut and brain, metabolism and behavior.... and more Enjoy, Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #111: Duey Freeman, MA – Attachment

Welcome back to Dr. M’s Women and Children First. Today’s conversation moves into one of the deepest layers of human development: attachment, relationship, and the way early experiences shape the architecture of our emotional lives. My guest today is Duey Freeman, a licensed therapist, teacher, mentor, and internationally respected voice in attachment theory, human development, and relational psychology. Duey has spent decades teaching therapists, graduate students, and helping professionals around the world, developing a practical framework for understanding how connection, or the absence of it, shapes the nervous system, identity, and the capacity for intimacy. He has logged nearly 80,000 direct clinical hours and co-founded both the Gestalt Equine Institute and the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies. What makes Duey’s work unique, and it is unique, is that he does not approach attachment as a sterile academic theory. He approaches it as lived human experience. His work centers on a simple but profound truth: what is injured in relationship is often only healed in relationship. In this episode, we explore how attachment patterns emerge in childhood, how they quietly shape adult relationships, parenting, stress physiology, and even our sense of safety in the world. We discuss the roots of attachment theory through the work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, and we move into modern concepts involving trauma, nervous system regulation, emotional attunement, and relational repair. We also touch on an uncomfortable reality in modern culture: many people are surrounded by communication yet starving for authentic connection. Children especially do not simply need instruction or behavioral management. They need co-regulation, attunement, eye contact, emotional presence, and secure relational anchors. This conversation is not just for therapists. It is for parents, physicians, educators, coaches, and anyone trying to understand why humans behave the way they do under stress, conflict, intimacy, or loss. Duey brings an unusual combination of wisdom, groundedness, tenderness, and clinical depth to this discussion. I have heard him frequently called Yoda, and if you knew him, you would immediately understand and agree with that moniker. You can feel that he has spent a lifetime studying not just psychology, but people. So sit back and enjoy this remarkable conversation with Duey Freeman on attachment, psychology, and the relational foundations of being human. Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 16 Issue 11 – Magnesium

Screenshot Magnesium Magnesium is a major cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body, less a supplement than a piece of physiologic infrastructure. It is required for energy production (ATP), insulin signaling, protein synthesis, blood pressure regulation, and proper muscle and nerve function, essentially touching every major system we care about. And it goes deeper: magnesium is necessary for the creation and protection of DNA and RNA and for the production of glutathione, one of our most important intracellular antioxidants/detox mechanisms. About half of our magnesium is stored in bone and most of the rest in soft tissues, with less than 1% circulating in the blood, tightly regulated by the kidneys, so the serum level we commonly measure is a very limited window into total body status.... Enjoy, Dr. M