Arielle de Martinez is an herbalist, mother, and the founder & CEO of SubLuna. Driven by a passion for sacred self-care and plant wisdom, she creates botanical remedies designed to foster deep physical resilience and inner calm. I’ve become a big fan in my own postpartum, and if I told you all the gummies I take from them and share with my toddler and husband, you’d laugh. I can’t recommend everything I’ve tried from SubLuna enough, from the gut gummy to the cool girl matcha. I’m in love with how resourced I feel in my toddler mama era.
As a first-time mom, the herbal terrain can feel “scary.” Like, the whole internet says it’s all unsafe and you’re going to do irreparable harm to your baby if you take herbs! Sometimes at Milky Oat, when we have customers doing our 2-Day Trial during pregnancy to plan ahead for their postpartum meal delivery, we’ll get a lot of fear about even culinary herbs. I hold these mamas with love because I know they only want to do the best for their baby. You speak about feral herbalism, and address some of the fear. Can you speak to this and how more mothers can tune into the wisdom of the herbal realm?
It's interesting to me because so many mothers have woken up to the negative parts of having medicalized beliefs about pregnancy and parenting (esp. in infancy), but I find herbs are a topic that many of them don't want to touch—for me, it's a way to truly free yourself from an industry that doesn't serve you. Of course the medical model doesn't want us using herbs to heal ourselves, so of course it's highly discouraged during pregnancy. I always find it ironic that a woman will be planning an intervention-free home birth and then is scared to use ginger or oregano in her cooking!
The medical model does a great job of disconnecting ourselves from our bodies via fear, and reclaiming the ability to work with herbs during pregnancy can be a really powerful way to reclaim that body literacy and confidence. (Of course, it also is important to point out here that in the medical world, prescription drugs are considered safe until proven dangerous during pregnancy, while herbs are considered dangerous until proven safe.)
The conversation is the same as breastfeeding and herbs—it's so highly customized to your body. A woman who has to fight for every drop of breastmilk that she produces may not want to consume sage, but a woman who has an ample supply can likely enjoy the sage stress-free. It's always about the quantity and frequency of dosing yourself as well; you can always start small and then take more if needed after checking in on your body.
I LOVE your gummy line. I’m currently taking the kids detox/gut gummy, beauty babe, and the shroom stack! My one-year-old takes the nourished child gummy from time to time (although he’ll eat all the ancestral food on his plate) and we both love taking the Healthy Child gummy for times when we’re traveling or around a lot of people. What inspired you to start making gummies? I love the traditional meets modern approach. If you had to pick one gummy for the postpartum mama, what would you choose?
I clearly remember the moment of inspiration for gummies (it started with Nourished Child) where I had realized my daughter had an iron deficiency and I hated every single iron supplement for kids on the market. I thought, "I wish there was a way I could get her to take beef liver, but not in a capsule, like a gummy," and then a lightbulb went off!
I loooove beauty babe for postpartum mamas—it's so hydrating and replenishing in a time where moms really need that. The shatavari in it is so gently supportive of that big hormonal drop that comes after birth, the glycine and tremella help with that breastfeeding thirst, and the herbs like goji and jujube are common replenishing, blood-building herbs already used in postpartum.
What would be your top herbs in general for the postpartum cocoon? I’m taking your reishi and feel like it's essential.
I love our detox & chill for postpartum—I drank it every day during those last few weeks of pregnancy and first few months of postpartum and still think back on that time fondly because of that daily drink. It hits every box—gentle liver support to help with all the hormones of birth and postpartum, blood building and replenishing herbs to help fortify, and also helps support breastmilk production! I love it with maple syrup and steamed raw milk.
I definitely love reishi for postpartum as well, and milky oats I think is an essential too—it just does such a great job of helping the body during high-stress times and pairs great with reishi. If I had to choose one more herb for postpartum, I would add in something nutritive, like nettle or oatstraw.
How do you nourish yourself while raising little ones and running a business? What are your go-to rituals?
Lately my nighttime ritual has been my late-night snack of ghee from Good News Ghee—she has a blend called "the mama" with sesame seeds, shatavari, and honey that's so good, and a blend called lunar cacao with cacao, honey, and lavender and it's incredible. I look forward to it every night! I also make sure I take my reishi daily to help with mom overwhelm and also replenish from the depletion of the espresso that I refuse to give up. And of course, I take all our gummies—the beauty babe, balanced child, and cherry chocolate nourished child are my favorite mid-afternoon snack. I am a big fan of a big plate of bacon, raw milk cappuccinos, and eating a medium-rare ribeye at least once a week :)
Looking back at your own postpartum experiences — is there anything you would have done differently? Any advice to a future mama?
My two postpartums were very different, but I loved them both! My first I truly was riding a high of being a mom for the first time—I was elated. I also really prioritized staying in and basically just did skin-to-skin for my entire maternity leave. My only two regrets from that postpartum were my nutrition (I lived on trail mix and prepackaged snacks because the breastfeeding hunger was REAL and I didn't really understand the importance of nutrient-dense foods) and how short my maternity leave was (I was self-employed so it was only 5 weeks). It was brutal to go back to work so soon, and that's why with my second pregnancy, I closed my salon and went full-time SubLuna as soon as I found out I was pregnant!
Favorite beverage at the moment?
Our newest herbal electrolyte, Mermaid Water—it launches early June. It's a cucumber mint spa water type beverage with sea moss, horsetail, and glycine. It's super hydrating and cooling for the hot summers here in the Dominican Republic. I'm also drinking our Shroom Brew in the afternoons when I want another espresso but know better :) I froth it in a little bit of nut milk (I love the nuttiness the nut milk adds) and then do equal parts water so it's cortado style :)
What are three things lighting you up in this season of life?
After-school family swims with my girls—in the Dominican Republic, nobody uses their pools during the winter because it's "too cold," so this time of year once the pool water warms up we really love to do family swims after school or before bed. It's a great time to connect all together as a family.
Planning our summer family vacation—I am taking the girls to Disney for the first time, but we are going to do Disney in Paris, and I don't even think that requires an explanation as to why we chose that location!
I have recently started playing padel and am really enjoying it. I play with the most supportive, loving group of women every morning during the week, and I love the cardio and sweating and feeling a noticeable change in my ability. I'm not super competitive, but it's fun to get better at something and build community around a shared hobby!
