Child Brain Development and the Impact of Wireless Radiation | Dr. Stefanie

Transcript has been edited for clarity.

00:00 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

The brain. It has all of these pathways. Every baby is born an absolute genius, but I had a patient that like, literally would have to plug herself in. She needed to ground herself. We are changing, our systems are changing, our world is changing. We think about cell phones and like, my mom wasn't holding a cell phone when she was nursing me. I think the Aries technology is really cool. In that way you do get that opportunity to still experience things but at the same time have that adaptability, that harmony with the system, to allow yourself to adapt to what's going on around you so much better.

00:36 - Michaela (Host)

Welcome to the Wave Forward, the podcast that dives deep into how technology shapes our health and well-being, from digital wellness to tech innovation, to the effects of electromagnetic fields. We cover the environmental, social and physical implications of technology. Ready to navigate the digital landscape with confidence, set your dial to discovery and tune in. You're listening to the Wave Forward, dr Stephanie. Thank you so much for joining the podcast. Okay, so I know you kind of specialize in children brain development or child's brain. But let's start with the very beginning of your journey and how you kind of came to that.

01:21 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah. So my brother was born with spina bifida, which means that his spinal cord was kind of sticking out of his back when he was born, right. And so growing up, my parents always had him at a pediatrician. He had 18 surgeries by the time he was 18. So I really fell in love with the whole doctor scene and being a pediatric doctor was really like what I wanted to do. But my mom also raised us in a more natural mindset, so she would always try to be like, okay, they want to take this medication, let's try this instead. Like you know, just different things like that.

01:58

So when I got to college, I was ready to go pre-med and become a pediatrician was my goal, and so I spent the day with my pediatrician. I was a nutrition major and as I was spending time with her I realized that all she was doing was writing scripts and I'm like - that's not very fun. I remember particularly one kid was really overweight, he had some weird skin stuff. There was something else going on with his ability to learn. There were all these different things that are happening, and I was like that kid's diet is terrible. And she was like Stephanie, I know more, you know more about nutrition than me. And I was like okay. And so I realized that wasn't what I wanted to do. It just wasn't.

02:44

And so my mom had always wanted me to be a chiropractor. I thought it was really boring. She took me but I just would go get adjusted and leave. You know, I never understood the impact of the nervous system. And so she found a chiropractor in Chicago that actually like pediatrics, and he was like, you know, you can be a pediatric chiropractor. And he explained to me the nervous system, like the fact that the brain controls the whole body with, you know, through the communication with the spinal cord. And so I was like, oh wait, this is awesome actually. So I decided to become a chiropractor and going through chiropractic school, I decided to specialize in pediatrics, and so pediatric chiropractic has always been my love, you know.

03:25

And as I was in school, I really started to understand how, how the brain develops and how certain things impact development, and I discovered this method called the Doman method, and it just was mind blowing to me. I couldn't wait to have kids to get to do some experiments on them, and so now I have three kids and I have gotten to do a lot of these principles and my kids have just been. It's been so much fun. So I think it brings so much purpose to parenting. But also it's amazing to see, you know, so many people say like your kids are so advanced, your kids are all these different things. I think they just have no interference, like they've gotten to grow and develop the way that we're meant to grow and develop, and so I just think that they're normal, you know, and so it's been so fun.

04:17

I had my second and I thought, oh my gosh, people need to know about different things that they can do for their baby's brains. And I wanted to do it. I took a ton of videos and I just never started it. And then I had my third baby, which was kind of a surprise, and I felt like it was like my sign, like it's time for you to do this, it's time to go on this journey, and so I started an Instagram page it's called Building Brilliant Brains, and it blew up, and so that was just a year ago.

04:53

My daughter is only 16 months old, and I think it's been so eye opening to see how many moms out there really truly want to play an active part of their child's development, and so that's what I get to do. I get to show people different activities, different things that they can do, like different exercises that they can do with their baby, to build their brains. That in turn turns out like you get a smarter child, a child that loves to learn. I think one of my biggest things is, I just want my kids to love learning, because then you can do whatever you want, you know, if you just fall in love with learning, and so learning is just like a super important piece of brain development, and so I've just had a blast with it.

05:33 - Michaela (Host)

That's so cool. I feel like instilling the love to learn is so important because it gives your kid the confidence that they really can do anything, because it's like you truly can do anything, as long as you're willing to put in the time to learn. Because a lot of people grow up not wanting to learn and not loving to learn just because of our system working in school.

05:58

It's like sit down, shut up, don't move. You know all this stuff. Um, so I've been kind of like stalking your Instagram the last couple of weeks and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's so amazing, it makes me want to have another kid. Cause now. I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so many other things that I could have been doing, but a lot of it, too, is like if you're letting your child play outdoors or it kind of is happening naturally, when you're letting your child just explore Like a lot of what I was seeing you do with babies, like going in, like, you know, putting them in the air or having them climb or like whatever it's like oh yeah. Like if you're just letting them have explorative play, they're getting a lot of these sensations that are unlocking brain development. It is really cool because it comes innately and within us.

06:43 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

You know, I really think that we're designed to want to like show our babies everything, like have them feel different things and things like that, and like especially dads. But I do feel like there's a lot of fear out there too, especially as I've started to post and a lot of these things come up. You know, like I can't even tell you how many people - like I love to toss my baby in the air and how many people are like, aren't you giving your baby like shaking baby syndrome? I'm like, oh, are you scared to do this? Like, so there's a lot of things like that that you know or you know just little there's.

07:14

You know, a lot of the things in our environment aren't designed for brain development, even down to, like footie pajamas, you know, covering those little feet up. Like we get so much information through our feet and we want to cover those feet up and it's just blocking that information, you know. And so I think that, and the containers that are designed for babies that we're we're putting on lying face up, they just can't learn anything from that position, you know, and so those are, those are different things that I just I love exposing moms to and I love giving them that opportunity to like really give their baby the best environment for brain development.

07:52 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, Because when you're, especially when you're like a new mom, I feel like everything feels so scary and like so scary, so many different, um, you know opinions out there about what you should and shouldn't do, and like all of the things and realize like how resilient these babies are, like how they really are how strong, how capable they are so soon too, like so early on in their development, which is wild.

08:22

But I still remember that though, just like that phase where you're like, oh my gosh, gosh.

08:26

I'm scared to do anything. And then you start to just like, realize, like, oh, like you, you start to find your flow, maybe not always, but I feel like I did as time went on. As a mother, it's like, and as I, you know, had my second child, it's like you. You start to like the little bit more rowdy play and all the things that you're a little bit nervous of. I start to like - okay, I'm just not going to watch you guys get rowdy, but I know it's necessary.

08:54 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

It's funny. It's funny to think about because, if you think about it, newborn is born like almost blind, almost deaf, like completely immobile, unable to speak, you know, and it's like the growth and development process is to get all of those things and so, like the that's part of I think we forget that that's our job as parents to like really help them develop independence. I think you, you think that when they're like five or six, but like not when they're newborns, but the quicker that you can get there it also it's really cool the way that the brain develops, that you go from like that primitive mind of that you know the automatic kinds of things, to then developing to that like more conscious, conscious thought, and that's where you really can learn, really can take in a lot of information. So it's just cool to take babies through those steps and you can do it on purpose. It oftentimes happens with a bunch of happy accidents too.

09:48 - Michaela (Host)

Sometimes it's just having consciousness, like knowing that these are the different things that they need, Cause I didn't know that, you know, like when I was first starting in motherhood, I didn't know that that, like keeping their feet bare is good and, like you know, not swaddling them all the time, and these things that I'm kind of learning from you.

10:04

I didn't know that, but it also kind of happened naturally in the way that we lived in our family, but like having that knowledge I like, I'm like when I have my third child, I'm like having that knowledge is going to be so good, so you can just make more conscious choices like not necessarily like force it, but give like purpose to all of the things.

10:31 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

It just creates so much purpose. I've really seen it in dads. Like you know, newborns, what do you do? Like they eat, sleep and poop, basically, right, that's what everybody says. And and it's so funny because my husband I felt like, because he knew all these things and I was so in love with all of this stuff, like that was his job, and he loved the newborn phase because he felt like he had such a purpose and he was doing things so differently and so like on purpose, you know, and so it definitely made the whole experience so much better for dads.

10:58 - Michaela (Host)

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11:02

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11:15

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12:06

Okay, so can we go through a little bit of what is like, what are the best things for a newborn? I know you said they're born blind. They're basically just like this you know, new pocket of open container, learning all this new information, like what is happening there and how can we support that particular part of development.

12:30 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah, so babies are born with primitive reflexes, which means that they don't consciously think, for example, if you put your finger I'm sure you know this one if you put your finger in their hand, they grasp right onto you and they can't let go. You know what I mean. And that's to like hold on to you. And the big thing is with that is, you know you want to stimulate that so that then it can then grow the brain into a more conscious piece of the brain. So that is a very immature brain. When the brain is just doing it automatically, it's not consciously trying to think of any of those things. So stimulation of primitive reflexes are, you know, one of the best things that you can do is have that baby on their belly as much as possible, because it gives them the opportunity to integrate a lot of those reflexes and it gives them independence and mobility, Right. But even prior to that, they don't want to move if they can't see. So doing things to stimulate their ability to see, like looking at their pupillary light reflex, for example, like you know, our pupil goes in and out depending on how much light is out there to come in, right. And so you know, I doubt very many parents or dads come home from work or whatever you know, saying hey, how many times did you take the baby outside? You know it's one of those things that does happen fairly naturally. But I know in my program I love to have people just stimulate that light reflex with a little flashlight just to make sure that they can see faster, and then going into contrast colors, like black and white, like really early. And there's a crawling track that I'm working on right now that basically you can lay your baby face down as like in a really safe environment so that they can really get that feeling of moving forward because it's going to develop crawling as a huge part of brain development. So those are, those are some really big things I love, you know, anytime that you can have your baby barefoot.

14:22

Obviously you don't want their toes freezing off, but like spending most of the time we're not situations and keeping our babies in cold situations for a long period of time. So I really think we miss the boat with, like you know, covering up their feet too often, whether it's with socks or footie pajamas I know, I know a lot of the times footie pajamas specifically like we end up leaving in them, sometimes all day, you know, and so that's that's why I'm just like I just try not to even use them at all, you know, because otherwise you just their feet end up being covered up all day, and so it was just little things like that that I think have made a huge difference. Another thing that I think is really different that I love to teach about is hanging.

15:07

Hanging is something babies can do right away, because they have that strong grasp reflex and they're designed to hang. Their bodies are designed to do it. They're designed to do it actively, though, you know it's not, it's not you holding their hand and bringing them up. It's like them grasping onto your thumb and you can really pull them up, and that is really a huge part of like chest expansion and helps us breathe better, um, so increases our, our posture. So there's just so many benefits, so many fun little things that you can do with your newborn, you know, to help their brain and bodies develop properly.

15:47 - Michaela (Host)

I saw that you have like. I saw, I've seen you do things with paint brushes and also with dry brushes. So are there like particular dry brushes for babies or can you use anything?

15:54 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

So I do recommend a specific one.

15:57

It's like on Amazon, it's like $7.

15:59

And it's like just the reason I like that one is just I don't get to feel all the dry brushes, but it's the consistency that way, that the way that it feels you want it to be soft but hard kind of at the same time. You know, because you really want to be able to stimulate those senses, that just dry brushing your baby can just stimulate a lot of that brain body connection. And so just almost like, hey be aware of these toes, hey be aware of this leg. You know, especially when you see asymmetries in a baby like, for example, babies that have kind of that janky crawl where they bring their leg up, skin brushing can make a really huge difference there. Sometimes you'll see a baby always bring one arm up to move, like an army crawling, but they won't move that other arm. It's a really good way to stimulate communication between the brain and the body.

16:45 - Michaela (Host)

So are you just doing the hands and feet, or do you do the whole body?

16:49 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Mostly just the hands and feet you can do. You can do other pieces of the body, but like really for this specific reasoning, like I typically will just do, like hands and feet and arms and legs.

17:00 - Michaela (Host)

And okay. So if my children are older now I mean they're not old, they're still kind of toddlers, they're three and five. So is it like should you? Should you still do it at that point?

17:14 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

It's not going to be as big of like an impact, but it's still so good for them. You know, any kind of sensory stimulation while the brain is still developing, I mean that massive brain growth happens till six. You know, there's just all of these connections being made and the cool, if you really understand the brain, it has all of these pathways and it's, you know, every baby is born an absolute genius because they have more connections than Einstein did at his smartest moment, And so the cool thing about that is the more connections that you can pass and connect. Then the brain doesn't prune them off, which basically means, like you're, they eat away at those connections and we don't need them anymore.

17:57 - Michaela (Host)

And so we're going to just focus our energy elsewhere.

18:00 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Exactly, exactly, and so that's why. That's why early learning you know, if you think about languages, babies that are around multiple languages when they're little have no problem learning it. Right. They have the perfect dialect, they have the perfect accent, they have you know, it's all, it's all perfect. But they get to be seven, eight. You try to teach them. It's like it just takes so much more effort, but still a seven or eight year old is going to learn it way faster than a 20 year old. Do you know what I mean? And so it's like that concept that the more things that you can get into the brain early and those connections being made, it makes learning just so much easier.

18:39 - Michaela (Host)

And you end up having, like I said, that kid that just loves learning, because it's easier for them to learn, you know we started doing this thing where it's like, okay, they've watched a movie so many times, like my son really loves the Sonic movies, for instance, and it's like, okay, they've watched this movie a hundred times. I'm like now if they want to watch it, they have to watch it in Spanish, because they've watched it enough times, yeah, to know what what they're saying.

19:02

And then to be, yeah, I'm like this is a great way to get them to start.

19:06

So I used to be a holistic nanny, so I lived in Australia and I worked with kids and we would do like daily yoga and I'd teach them how to eat off the rainbow and teach, like um, just like emotional connection and how to express their emotions, just different things like that.

19:27

And I remember I didn't actually work with this kid. It was a friend of mine's kid, but he was like four years old and his dad was from America, but his mom was half Italian and half Brazilian and I remember taking him for a walk to go get ice cream one time and he would just be popping in and out of Portuguese, Italian and English and like I could be like, okay, let's talk in this, and then like, and he could tell me anything in any language, and it was just like, oh my gosh, and it wasn't like they taught him that, it's just that they speak all of those languages all the time because their families are, you know, all speaking different languages. And he was just around it that he picked up on all three and it's just like wow.

20:10

So we started doing sign language with the boys and I'm really trying to get some other language in before they get to that age where it's starting to get a little harder. But it's like because I do like that. I wish as a kid that my parents had exposed me to more languages, because now I'm trying to learn Portuguese and it's like, oh my gosh.

20:34 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

I always like that's the one piece of brain development I'm always like oh, I feel like I'm missing out on that part of it because I think it would be such an awesome thing, but we don't have that in our household either.

20:47 - Michaela (Host)

Um, okay, so when did you start? Cause I saw that you, uh, I saw you unpacking a bag and one of your videos and you had an EMF blanket in there. You were kind of aware of EMF at some point. When did that kind of hit your radar? Cause I feel like it's a very out of sight, out of mind type of thing and there is, I don't know. I feel like it kind of comes into people's radar in different ways. So how did that hit your radar?

21:09 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah, so I will say this, I think it's been on my radar for a long time, I believe, like it's so important for people to have awareness around it, because there's a huge lack of awareness around like the EMF piece of it. Not exactly sure when it just like hit, hit me, and I think I have always been worried about it more for my health, like even when I was working to get pregnant. That whole process like we really, you know you want to decrease your stress load, and so part of that would be, you know, put our, put our Wi-Fi on a Christmas tree timer so that it would just go off at night, so that we really weren't bombarded at night. Um, we would try to do, you know, little things like that. We have a grounding, a grounding sheet on our bed, like you know, just all of those types of things.

21:59

I even had like a thing that I would put over my belly when I was, when I was pregnant, just like a I don't even know exactly what it was, almost like a tank top, but just part of it that just went over my belly that had some protection to it.

22:12

Yeah, just because you know that those, those skulls are so thin and especially when you're you know, your first, have a baby, you've got this. You know how thin that skull is. You can feel that soft spot on the top, so there's really no protection there. And so I feel like I had a lot of patients that had kids that when they would go into places like Target or Walmart and those big tens that, like those, those signals were bouncing off the walls, they could see a huge difference in their child's behavior when they would go into places like that. And they had, you know, that experience and really feeling like it was the EMFs that were in the buildings that would kind of make their kids go crazy, you know, yeah, especially like the metal buildings like the metal buildings and the EMF, like it's just bouncing off.

23:05

Yeah, and so that, I think, is probably what brought my awareness to it in the beginning. And you know, obviously, being a pediatric chiropractor, I'm obsessed with health and so anything like that. It does make sense to me that there's radiation. Then I saw, you know, the, the measuring tools that you can utilize, and I have one in my house just to understand and have a better understanding of, like, what things you want to stay away from, and I really gained the knowledge of, like distance is a big deal.

23:35

Even when it comes to baby monitors, you know I like to be able to see my babies, but my monitor is seriously all the way across the room and it only turns on when the baby moves. I just think that there's a lot of things that I try to teach my patients about, like, for example, even just nursing and having your Apple watch. It's like literally sitting right next to your baby's head. Or you're scrolling on Instagram, and you know, just, I've also seen parents. I get on my parents in my office all the time about this. But they'll come in and they have their, they have their baby in the car seat Right, and then their phone is tucked in the car seat and I'm just like, okay, just any place else, any place else, do not put that in there.

24:28 - Michaela (Host)

You know, yeah for sure, yeah for sure. I feel like having kids, I always was kind of aware of it. My mom was very health conscious, like I feel like she kind of really took a turn. She was diagnosed with MS whenever I was a kid and she was a nurse for a really long time, and then she just took a turn completely and like healed herself of MS and like just went down this completely holistic path.

24:51

So I kind of, you know, started kind of getting you know those insights from my mom, um, and so she was always talking about EMF, but it was just one, and I was very health conscious, like even in my, like my late teens, but it was one of those things that was just. It was so, you know, like it was invisible, and so it was just so easy to focus on the things that you actually can like see, like I can tell that when I eat foods it's making me feel this way, and like when I drink alcohol it makes me feel this way and I eat sugar, whatever, like those are such easy things to measure and to see and you know, especially as you start like getting them all out of your life and then implementing them back in.

25:29

But EMF was one of those things where it was like you know, you just forget that that's a factor. And then now, having done these interviews because even when I started this podcast I really didn't have a whole lot of knowledge on EMF. Like I knew for me it was something we were really conscious of in our household.

25:48

I had seen the research. I'm one of those people where it's like I can. I'm so bad at being able to regurgitate research, but I will do research on certain things and then, once I've decided how we're going to respond in our own family, I just completely forget it.

26:01

It's like you know what I do, that research yeah, it's in there somewhere, and then it makes you look so dumb because you're like, oh my god, I can't tell you why we cut this out of our house anymore. It's just been so long and I know that we needed to do it and like you know what I mean. Like, yeah, so having done these podcast episodes and really get the, getting the information from real experts, has been so life-changing for me in the sense of realizing that like, okay, there's all of these things you know, like I have a lot of opinions about things that people probably wouldn't agree on, you know, with me on, and I could, like really be a loud voice on those things or whatever. But for me there's so many things that if a parent was to do education on, they're going to gain resources to give them choice in the matter, even if it feels like you don't have a choice.

26:48

If you look for the information, you'll find it and then you get to choose how you proceed, going forward with diet with you know a lot of things, but for me, EMF was one of those things that I was realizing that we really didn't get a choice in the matter, like we were fighting over all of these other things that we think are killing us, whether it be pesticides or heavy metals or you know whatever and then, all, while we're doing that, this thing is just being deployed throughout the entire world, that we really had no say in the matter, and so that's really what I started realizing, like, okay, this is something that I really feel important to be an advocate for, because we are going to have to give our kids resources in order to contend with this new environment.

27:26

It is a new environment and it sounds very ‘woo woo,’ but it feels very much so, like an experiment. Totally experiment, yeah, but I started with the EMF blankets too and like, would put them over my belly and then, after my sons were born, like anytime I was using my because I worked from home always so, um, I would always have the blanket just covering their, like you know, main organs and stuff, so that it wasn't that that much going in.

27:58 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

I mean, I think it's one of those things where, like we don't know everything about them, we don't know how, like the long-term effects I mean we think about cell phones and like I mean my mom wasn't holding a cell phone when she was nursing me. You know, this upcoming generation, I think, will tell us. But it's like when I think about things like EMF blankets or turning my Wi-Fi off at night or you know different things like that, I'm like what are really the negative effects of trying those things and doing some of these things? You know it's like if there's any and if there's any benefit. And, like you know, I even have like a little, a little um like thing that I put on my kids at kids ankles, and you know just things like that that a lot of people are like, well, what does it do? And I'm like I'm doing anything. To be honest, I hope that it's protecting my child and I think sometimes the intention behind it is there as well. I think anything that we can do to be healthier, to, to protect our systems.

29:05

And you know, this EMF stuff is, it's definitely real. I remember -this was years ago but I had a patient that like literally would have to plug herself in. She needed to like ground herself sometimes because the EMF - she was so sensitive. And there's just certain people that are so much more sensitive. We even turn our electricity off in our bedroom because our fuse box is right there. And the difference in my dreams is shocking. You know there's an impact, you know, and so just in that factor it's like why not do all the things to protect ourselves from this stuff? We can't do everything, you can't really. I mean, you can't go to the store and function in the world without being exposed to EMFs, like it's going to happen.

29:45 - Michaela (Host)

So you had to just do everything in your power to protect your system and your family, and especially those little brains, talking about brain development and you're you're doing all of these things like, you're basically turning on these electrical signals, like when you're talking about these communications, like you're helping those communications, it's like those are tiny electrical signals. We are electrical beings.

30:10

We use electrical signals to communicate to turn this on and off to move our hand this way, you know all of the things and even to detox and to get things out of our system. It's all through electrical signaling. So when I'm talking to these functional medicine doctors, they broke it down in such a simple way like, of course, outside communications that our body does not recognize is going to impact the way that our brain communicates to the rest of our body. It's like the rest of our body it's like and the difference I mean we're cause. So there are long-term studies that are coming out. I think, Robert Kennedy JR has talked about it a little bit and there's been some, some big voices that have talked about it a little bit, still not like a whole lot. Like I still would love to see more people talking about it.

31:00

But there are some studies that are in animals, like with like 900 megahertz, which is back when you were using like 2g phones, like way back like before we had like a smartphone that are coming out now saying, Okay, yeah, they are causing like tumors in the brain and different things in these animals, but it's like okay, so we can clearly say we don't have enough research, you know, for children, you know pregnancy, all of these things. We do have a lot of research that indicates harm and now all of this research that's coming out, that's like clearly harmful, is all based on, you know, frequencies that are like so out way lower, way lower.

31:40

Like when we go to yeah, it's like 900 megahertz to 300 gigahertz, which is kind of like the top tier of 5g, is thousands and thousands of times different. Like I have to say this almost every podcast episode, because I'm like if people are coming and listening to that, you know just one episode. It's like I want you to get that piece of it, because so many of the arguments around EMF is that, well, everything has EMF. We're surrounded by EMF all the time. We always have been since the beginning of time, and it's like, yes, absolutely Like literally everything has an electromagnetic field. But understanding those wavelengths and the difference in wavelengths, like, um, I haven't had them on my podcast yet. I really want to Dr. Dogris, but he's talked about this about how, um, you know, all of the electronics are pumping out like digital square waves that are basically look like this.

32:29

And then we want like sine waves, which are those like really coherent waves, and when we're getting those super boxy waves, they're basically just like bouncing off ourselves and open, opening up those voltage gated calcium channels and allowing toxins to flow in. So the impact is definitely there and it's real, but now it's like everybody I've talked to. All the researchers are like we know it's harmful.

32:48 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Now we just need to know it, to what extent it is and how we also need to do research on what are the best ways to move forward, like that's what we really need to know because, like this, technological world is advancing and we just can't and it's only going to advance. I thought about oh, do I want to just move to some remote crazy place you know to be away from? But the truth of the matter is like, I don't even want that.

33:19 - Michaela (Host)

We have to figure out how to live in it, you know, yeah that's why I really liked Aries Tech, because, like, I had really explored all the different options a lot, like I really had done all the things. I also have a grounding mat. I think there's so many things you can do. I think that's also a really important note is like even though I'm a huge advocate for the product, I think we should be doing anything and everything we can, especially when it comes to children, to help give them the most they can get - you know like give them the most protection you can possibly give them with all of this stuff.

33:48

But the reason I really leaned into Aries is because when I started getting into it, I was like okay, well, we can't walk around with Faraday cages completely around us. Also, what does that do to our internal signals If we have like the EMF beanie on a kid's head and like covered them completely in EMF blockers? Like what is that doing to the actual communications in their own body?

34:12 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

I don't know.

34:14 - Michaela (Host)

So for me, giving, giving ourselves just an extra boost to contend with what is inevitable and what is always going to be here now I don't think we're going backwards, I don't think we're ever going to get, you know, all of this stuff taken down or stopped or whatever.

34:29 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah.

34:30 - Michaela (Host)

I enjoy being at a podcast with you and I like being able to use my phone to work and work at home and you know, all of these things I enjoy. I'm totally pro technology.

34:37 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

But as far as like protection, I really loved Aries because I was like, okay, this makes sense, it makes sense to be using your body's frequency and just giving that extra boost so that you can contend with what's going on here, because that's really what we're going to need to do is adapt to what's going on Well, and that's like that's exactly what I that's how I always think of it too is like anything that's going to give your body the ability to adapt, because we are like, we are changing, our systems are changing, our world is changing, yet, you know, our, our genes haven't changed in 20,000 years, so it's like you know, when you think about that, like, what do we do to protect that system?

35:18

And so it's the same thing, like I think about supplements all the time, like different ways to just, you know, anything you can do to boost your health, boost your body's ability to adapt. I think the Aries technology is really cool in that way, because you do get that opportunity to still experience things but at the same time, have that adaptability with the system to allow yourself to adapt to what's going on around you so much better.

35:46 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, I feel like no, it's. Who did? I have a talk about this with Someone one of the podcast episodes. She was like you got to know when to block EMF, when to modulate EMF, like when to just kind of work with it and like boost your systems, and you know what was the. She had another one, but she had all of these different things like knowing when to use certain things, Cause we still unplug our wifi at night, we know we still use a grounding mat, we still have our EMF blankets, like if the kids are you know. Uh, we kind of got rid of our iPad now, but when they did have an iPad and we were on the road or something like that and they were using it I have the EMF blanket over their large organs and stuff like that.

36:25

So, like I'm just I'm like, yes, please, let's do everything we can. And then also, like diet plays such a huge factor, I'm sure like, is that a big part of what you? So do you still treat clients or are you now mostly just educating and working in home?

36:38 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

No,I still work at an office. I'm in Huntersville, North Carolina, and we have a huge practice here. It's mostly pediatric focused. My husband's a chiropractor too, so we have five other doctors in the practice with us. So it's just this big, awesome place. And, yeah, I do work three afternoons a week. I homeschool my kids, so I stay at home in the mornings, we do school in the mornings, have fun, and then, I work three afternoons a week. I love what I do and I think adjusting kids and babies and pregnant mamas it's just always going to be like where my heart sits. So it's awesome to be able to always have my hands in that. But my practice runs really well like on its own now. So it just has given me a little bit more freedom to do even more of that big purpose and, you know, getting moms to understand the important things about brain development with their babies.

37:35 - Michaela (Host)

So where? What is your place called? Cause I have family that lives in North Carolina.

37:40 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

It's called Adjusting the World Chiropractic.

37:48 - Michaela (Host)

I'm like, are these podcasts really just for me? I don't know, because sometimes I am. No, I mean, like that was in my area and then I asked her where she was and she was like an hour from me and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm coming to see you immediately. Yes, I live in central Texas and she was based in Dallas. Was saying that she loved my stuff. I was like, oh, my gosh wait.

38:21

Layla Doolittle did yeah, oh my gosh, that's so amazing. I love that so much. Okay, so y'all have connected. That's super cool. Um, yeah, do you treat like all children or are you mostly like um, with like mostly babies?

38:36 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

We treat everybody. Yeah, we definitely. I mean I think that I'm well known in the area for for like especially with lactation consultants and you know different different um pediatric ots and pts and some pediatricians to like send a lot of people to us because it was pretty well known in the area for for what I do, you know, um, but love, I love taking care of all ages. It's, it's so fun to take care of these little kids and really get them to understand but basic concepts with health, you know, and taking care of themselves and seeing them like experience the health and what that looks like, especially when it comes to you know their movement, their diet, you know all supplements, all the things I love taking care of kids.

39:21 - Michaela (Host)

So rewarding. It's gotta be so rewarding to have a parent come in and be like, oh my gosh, this thing that we've been dealing with forever, you know, has. Do you see a lot of um like as you're stimulating, stimulating the brain and stuff. Do you see a lot of behavioral changes?

39:36 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Oh yeah, absolutely. A lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of parents, will say, oh my gosh, I'm just bringing my kid in for an attitude adjustment today. That's awesome. A lot of the times when you think about it, when a kid is maybe starting to get sick or has had extra stress at school, they bring it home. And a lot of the times, you know, with the adjustment, that's really what chiropractic does too, is it like? Optimizes the body's ability to adapt to stress.

40:02

And so, whether it's EMF and it's funny because we've always had the three T's and it's, you know, thoughts, traumas and toxins but we've had to add the fourth T being technology, because it is, it's a huge stressor. You know that back when chiropractic first started 1895, like that wasn't something that they had to address, but we do. You know not only the technology of EMF, but also the posture that comes along with it. You know you're sitting here like that. We're seeing these kids in crazy positions just because of using technology. So technology is a big reason that kids are in our office.

40:38 - Michaela (Host)

You know wild and the lights. It's like we just really started getting. We, we, we've been doing the EMF thing for a long time but now from these interviews I've learned a lot about like the circadian rhythm and like light. And I remember I was sitting outside. So I was sitting like outside of our front yard on a picnic table with my husband and the kids were inside watching a movie, and it had gotten like we were watching the sunrise and so it had gotten dark and I looked in through the window and I just saw the entire living room was blue, like I couldn't see the tv because the tv was on the wall and I was just like yeah dude, they are literally submerged in blue light right, like do you see this?

41:17

And we got to do something about this. Like you're, they're literally being like in it. Like you can see, it's hard to tell when you're in there and you're watching a movie. And I don't like you know, we really love watching movies, so we've been really trying to find our flow with that.

41:29 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Like a family cuddle movie time.

41:32 - Michaela (Host)

But yeah, but like just seeing it from the outside, I was like, oh, they're like submerged. They're submerged in blue light. That's so wild. What is that doing?

41:41 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

You know one thing I need to research this a little bit more but this is something that cause we like to do movies sometimes too, and so we've tried to really stick with like projectors just to decrease that blue light. We have a projector, like we have a movie room upstairs. We do that sometimes but also I bought a huge one for outside by our pool and it's just this huge movie screen and like it just projects onto it and I think that really helps save the blue light piece of it.

42:13 - Michaela (Host)

That's such a cool idea. I have a projector and we do do outdoor movies sometimes, but I haven't even really thought about that. Like we could totally just set that up in their room or something.

42:22

It's one of those things like we're a huge movie fan, like we love cuddling and watching movies together and so I'm like and and we're kind of late nighters because you know, we've never really had - Atlas is in in nature school now, so he does go to school three days a week, but we've never really had like a normal schedule because of how we work and everything.

42:39

So we've really got to get on some kind of new schedule though, because we'll be up till 11 o'clock with our kids. It's like we can't do that, but that is so interesting. So, like, how do you go about? Like, what is the first? You said what were the four T's?

42:53 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

So thoughts, traumas, toxins, technology, so chemical, physical, emotional, and then technology.

43:04 - Michaela (Host)

So you're heading in from all different angles when they're coming in and like what? Are kind of like what are the, what are like the, the tell factors that something is not in alignment, like what are you looking for? What would I be looking for when I'm like okay, I know that they need to get some adjusting.

43:20 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yes. So it's funny because, you know, subluxation that's what, that's what we treat as chiropractors. It's called subluxation and it's just, you know, misaligned in the spine and it interferes with that communication from your brain to your body. And so a lot of people will be like, oh, you know, it's constipation. Is that something you can deal with as a chiropractor? I'm like, absolutely Like, if it, that's a miscommunication between your brain and your body, like, well, my kid has a cough. Like we're getting adjusted, help it. I'm like, absolutely the communication from the brain to the lungs.

43:53

So it's really hard to say like, oh, my gosh, there's just like you know this one specific thing. But you know, we, when we look at kids, we like look at their leg length. So when they're laying face down, if they're, if their feet are even, um, we look at their posture. You know, are there, do you, are you seeing asymmetries in the system? Um, but a lot of the times I mean in babies, you know a lot of the times it's just we have to feel them. It's hard to know if your kids subluxated without, like a chiropractor checking them out, you know.

44:22 - Michaela (Host)

Is it good to have an adjustment? Like after birth, like is that? I mean I imagine that's pretty traumatizing.

44:28 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

It is. That is like one of the most, you know. It is funny because it's one of the harder, harder traumas on a system and especially seeing such and a lot of people think, oh like, like they were just lifted right out. No, like, it's pretty, it's a pretty traumatic experience for the baby's body to go through the birth canal or through that C-section opening, and so it's, yeah, it's so, it's great to have, I mean, most of my patients.

44:53

I take care of lots of mamas through their pregnancy, so they typically make that appointment as soon as they feel comfortable getting into our office. So sometimes we see them on the way home from the hospital. It's so cool, you know. And so, yeah, it's just. Yeah, it's great to have the spine checked.

45:09

But you know, colic constipation, ear infections, is a huge thing that has a lot of research that we get a lot of referrals in for is like those ear infections. You know, behavioral disorders. Just a lot of times kids are stuck in that state of fight or flight and it's oftentimes coming from the spine, and so we can whether it's coming from the spine specifically or not, from an injury, or whether they're just more stuck in that sympathetic mode, we can calm their nervous system through a chiropractic adjustment. So that makes a really huge impact on getting a kid from you know that crazy state, you know that fight or flight state where all the blood is out of the extremities, and calming the system and bringing the blood flow into the, into the core so they rest and digest so much better. So those are the things, especially specifically for kids, I would say we play with that like parasympathetic versus sympathetic nervous system. Like getting each child out of that sympathetic mode so that they can grow and develop optimally is really like our biggest goal.

46:14 - Michaela (Host)

This is kind of an off question, but do you see any specific correlation to certain emotional responses? Like whether like differences, like okay, if they're experiencing depression or anxiety, or like you know, I don't know what else there would be, but like, are you seeing any actual like connection with it's usually this part of the misaligned? Does that make sense?

46:40 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah, so just speaking specifically of anxiety and depression, those actually are controlled by the same bone. C1 is the top bone of the neck, so it's you know you've got your skull and then right underneath that is your C1. And that C1, basically the brainstem, goes through that before it turns into your spinal cord. So there's so many more nerve endings at that C1. So C1 is one of the areas that we focus on and really like have good ways to measure, you know, if something's going on in that specific area of the spine.

47:19

And so that I mean I've, we've had this is wild but like we've had parents that have brought their kids in for other reasons, you know, and end up getting their C1 adjusted. And a lot of the times the parents are like so did you guys put your child on a medication? Like what has happened? There's so much you know, I mean that's happened so many times that they think you know, like all of a sudden their ADHD that you know is making them crazy and not able to sit still in class. You know they're getting adjusted, calming their nervous system and they're able to pay attention and learn you know so yeah.

47:54 - Michaela (Host)

I can imagine how us looking down all the time at our phones and stuff is impacting that particular area.

48:01 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah, and it does. It puts so much tension and pressure. And the Atlas, that top bone it's funny that you named your kid Atlas because it's like so many of my favorite bones. But anyways, that Atlas should be pointed up at a 30 degree angle and because of posture and looking down all the time it does, it starts to decrease and that puts pressure on that brainstem which can create a lot of that. Along with you know, our immune system is oftentimes cut like very controlled, through that C1. So it decreases our immune system, our body's overall ability to heal. I mean, it just impacts so much because the brain communicates everything through that pathway.

48:36 - Michaela (Host)

So C1 is a big one. How many times do you like suggest a child get adjusted? Like how often?

48:37 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yeah, typically what we do is we do an evaluation and it's going to be different for every kid, you know, because it depends on what's going on and how tight things are in the upper neck, like just different things, like that it's going to be. It's going to be different for each kid.

48:58 - Michaela (Host)

So should I find an actual pediatric chiropractor?

49:04 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

I think so. You know, most chiropractors are going to be able to address kids, but if you really want the best care, a pediatric chiropractor. I was certified through the ICPA, which is the International Pediatric Chiropractic Association, and they have programs that you can get certified through and there's tons of them. They're all over the country and there's a cool website, icpa4kids.com, that has a place you can actually look up pediatric chiropractors and you can find people that yeah, have been certified.

49:33 - Michaela (Host)

What was it called?

49:35 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

icpa4kids.com. Like the number four.

49:40 - Michaela (Host)

That's super good to know. I love that. So do you offer any programs for people who are not in your area to help them with.

49:49 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Yes, I do, we have. It's funny, I'm like in the process. This is only a year old so it was going to take off so well and, having three kids, it's been hard to create stuff, but I have a whole, a whole line of things that I'm getting ready to work on and open up. The only product that I have right now is a diaper changing checklist, which doesn't have anything to do with the diaper change. I just wanted to pair it with a routine that we do several times a day, and so it's just available right now, from zero to 24 months, and it's you know, all the, all the things that you should do, because it does progress right.

50:30

When they're, when they are first born versus, you know, six months old, their physical body is going to be really different and their reflexes are going to be more integrated at that point, and so it changes as it goes through, but it's lots of. It takes about five minutes. It's a five minute routine. You do each yeah, Each time you change your kid's diaper and it's brain building activities, and so you really don't have to do a lot of things outside of that, but that makes a huge difference in overall brain development. So it's, it's on my website, my website's buildingbrilliantbrains.us

51:08 - Michaela (Host)

And what's your Instagram?

51:19 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

It's building brilliant brains

51:19 - Michaela (Host)

And what is your actual practice in North Carolina and what's it called Huntsville?

51:20 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Huntersville. It's just north of Charlotte.

51:22 - Michaela (Host)

So if you're in that area, go check her out. You have to be like one of the leading pediatric chiropractors in this, because I really haven't seen a whole lot of that going on.

51:33

Like as far as specific information about child development I really like, as I've been in that holistic world and and, and you know, natural world for so long but I really haven't seen a whole lot of that. So when you reached out, I was going through your profile I was like, oh my gosh, she's like doing this whole new thing I haven't really been paying attention to. Now have to have another kid just to do it. Yes, okay, well, I'm so excited, maybe we can schedule some kind of giveaway of Aires Tech products at the time that this goes live.

52:02 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Oh, I would love that. Yes, okay, let's do that.

52:05 - Michaela (Host)

So if you're watching this, we will have a giveaway that goes live for any Aires Tech project, which is EMF modulation, and it's so non-invasive, it's such an easy thing to implement into your world, into your life. You can wear them. So if you're breastfeeding, that was one thing that I really liked is to wear my modulation device, like I always wear it now, but as breastfeeding, just so I knew that my baby was also getting that extra boost and stuff. So, and if you guys want to check out the show notes, we'll link your website and all the things to wave.airestech.com, so you can take out all the show notes and go find Dr. Stefanie, because she's amazing. I'm so excited. Thank you so much. I really love this conversation.

52:45 - Dr. Stefanie (Guest)

Thank you so much for having me. It was so fun.

52:48 - Michaela (Host)

All right, guys. Bye. Hey guys, thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like, subscribe and check out the show notes at wave.airestech.com.