All About Breastfeeding Podcast: Breastfeeding|mothering|parenting|pregnancy|postpartum|birth|expert Advice

Jessica is from New Jersey. She always had an interest in womens issue and social justice issues. She was a Peace Corp volunteer, helped start up and franchise a non-profit organization, has her MBA, led her to Tom’s Shoes and built and ran the One for One program. She was the first woman to have a baby in the job. Her kids are now 5 and 2 years old now. There was so much to know about being a breastfeeding mom and pumping and returning to work and coordinating it all. She likes solving problems and the information she desperately needed, she just could not find. So, she decided to be the one to write the book she could not find. My first big trip once I returned to work was taking a trip to Nepal, without my son. I learned a lot of practical tips along the way. Like what to do when you are in a hotel room and they tell you they don’t have another refrigerator. Well, you lie! Tell them it is a medical need because when you ask nicely it is easy for them to turn you down. So you lie a little. And a medical nee

Here are a few of my favorite things: My Brest friend pillow: Yes, there are lots of breastfeeding pillows on the market. Not all pillows work well for all mothers. I find that My Brest Friend works well for a nice amount of woman. Selling points: The adjustable strap with a release clip that is silent so you don’t wake up a sleeping baby when you want to remove the pillow. I like the firm, flatt front cushion. When you strap on the pillow, you have this nice firm surface and it stays put. There is no gap between you and your baby, which is what I find, happens a lot with other pillows. It wraps around your body, you can make it nice and snug and it provides good back support, which is also something that is sorely missing with many pillows. https://www.mybrestfriend.com/ Babywearing…. f any kind slings and wraps and front and back structured carriers. It is one of my favorite ways for moms and dads and caregivers to spend quality time with their baby particularly when holding them for an extended period of t

Elisabeth tells us that her mother breastfed all 6 of her children. She has memories of her mother breastfeeding her little sister. Elisabeth grew up in Tuscon, is married , lives in Phoenix and has 2 adult children. She had an emergency cesarean section and tried to breastfeed her son several hours after his birth. She became upset and spent some time crying because she was trying hard to breastfeed but she could not get her son to latch on. She spoke to her nurse and requested the help of a lactation specialist who could help her with breastfeeding. And the nurse took her crying baby from her arms  and she said out loud to my newborn baby, “your mommy is so mean, she won’t feed you.” I burst into tears. The Lactation Consultant figured out that he was putting his tongue on the roof of his mouth and she helped Elisabeth with latch  and within 24 hours her son was breastfeeding well and it went easy from that point on. Chase is now 19 years old, and yet Elisabeth clearly remembers the nurse who said such hars

Susan is the 31 year old mother. Her son John is 2 1/2 and they continue to enjoy a breastfeeding relationship. This does not seem unusual for Susan as she knows she was breastfed until she was 3 years old. Susan planned a home birth with her husband Robert, midwife and midwives assistant and doula at the birth. Her son weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. Breastfeeding for her was something that was not an option and was just something she knew she would do. Susan shares how she navigated the very early days of newborn breastfeeding. She was initially concerned when her baby did not seem to be hungry the first 4 hours. She did realize though that he needed to rest, he pooped and then all of a sudden he was interested in eating and they never looked back. It took her a few weeks until she felt like she found her groove with breastfeeding. It took her a little time to find what positions were most comfortable with John and what felt right for her. While Susan was never approached by a store owner who asked her to not breastfe

New stuff learned about Jessica. She is a twin! Her mother did breastfeed her and her siblings for about 6 months each. Now that Jessica has breastfed two babies, she can really appreciate the fact that her mother breastfed twins. Jessica grew up in South Eastern Pennsylvania She met her husband in college and carried on a long distance relationship. The day after she graduated college, the moving truck came and she left for Rhode Island to be with him. She had her first baby Nathan a few years later and Lucy just 3 months ago. She started her business when she was pregnant with Nathan and has been working from home, until just recently when she started working from an office from outside the home. Jessica shares a lot about her early breastfeeding experience with Nathan. At a certain point, she realized that she had an abundant milk supply and shares some funny stories about milk leaking and milk spraying and brings lots of humor to her breastfeeding experience. Jessica wants to encourage other mothers to br

This week Lori talks about meeting Stacy, who was tearful and exhausted when she came in for her consult.  She talked about having a good breastfeeding experience with her first baby and yet with her second baby, she was in so much pain.  Stacy was not quite sure if she could continue breastfeeding as it was really taking it’s toll on her.  Lori shares how she was able to help Stacy understand why breastfeeding her baby was so painful.  She was able to help her understand what an immediate care plan would look like while she was working on resolving her breastfeeding issues.  While this was certainly far from the most interesting or difficult lactation problems Lori has dealt with, it was one that she remembers quite vividly.  It represents what all mothers want – They just want the simplicity of being a mom and being able to breastfeed their baby, in comfort and joy.  With all the tools and tricks of the trade and the care plans we give moms, and sometimes it seems to complicated,  all she wants is to simply

Eve went to school for music and graduated as a classically trained vocalist and graduated with a music degree. She had every intention of going to NY and becoming rich and famous. Six months after graduation she realized that was not going to happen. Needing to pay the bills she got a job with Quickbooks. In Sept of 2001, her sister was suppose to be on Flight 93 and she lost 30% of her clients that day. Mad and angry, she joined the Navy. Eve planned on making that a career, but after the birth of her first baby, she realized she could not deploy. So, she went into the reserves, went back to Quickbooks. After the traumatic birth of her first baby for which was diagnosed with PTSD, she decided she wanted a very different experience with her second and planed a homebirth, she encapsulated her placenta and went “full on” crunchy and this was life changing.

This week Lori talks about some of the exciting shows that are coming up over the next few weeks.  Lori shares with All About Breastfeeding listeners that not all shows are going to be with all women as she has interviewed a few guys and they will be sharing some interesting information and personal thoughts about their experiences in the breastfeeding world.

Brandy grew up in a traditional household for the time. Her Dad worked outside the home and her mother was a stay at home until she returned to school years later and became an RN. She feels good about being brought up in a family with strong work ethics and with a philosophy that said:  family is everything.  She is the middle child, with  brother 4 years older and another brother 4 years younger than her.  Brandy made me laugh when she revealed that as a youngster she  wanted to own a candy store. As a young adult, she wanted to be a lawyer, however, ultimately went to school and became educated in HR work.  There was something about everything being black and white  that really attracted me to the law.  However, I eventually became involved with HR  and started my own content writing firm and Mom-mentum became a client of mine. I  Was member first after the birth of my second baby.   Had first baby and allow as okay and had lots of control and 5 yers later, experiencedm ore of a challenge than having the f

Jan tells us how her childhood experiences, specifically her relationship with her mother, paved the way for her future as a psychotherapist. She describes herself as a late bloomer, in more ways than one. For example, she enrolled in Graduate School when she was 48. Jan describes how she felt when her mother told her that at 3 weeks old, Jan rejected her as she did not want to breastfeed. She shares some intimate moments related to breastfeeding her babies and how shocked she was that breastfeeding was very different with her second baby than with her first. Jan talks about the difficulty she had breastfeeding her son as she suffered with postpartum depression. She felt devastated by this and needed to get help for her depression. Jan shares her mother guilt about how her postpartum depression affected all areas of mothering her son. She also talks about her role as a Library Program Coordinator and facilitator trainer in Mom-mentum and what this means to her.

Kate is from Ohio and still lives there.  She is the oldest of 3 girls. My father was a phys ed teacher and a coach.- Typical family structure I grew up in.  Traditional family structure with the father that goes to work and the mother that says at home.  I was the athlete in the family. My father taught me how to fix cars. I would mow the lawns and I would travel with him to tennis matches  and he also taught me to fix cars. I remember we went on vacations with the money my moter saved.  My mother was an avid couponer with the basement filled with her coupons which were labeled and categorized and this is the money we used to go away on vacations.  Kate tells us that her mother and grandmother did not breastfeed and while they were supportive of her desire to breastfeed, they did not know how to really help and support her.  She entertains us with many stories of her breastfeeding days with all 3 of her children, from very difficult breastfeeding start with her first baby to a very easy, pain free, carefree

Lori talk about how badly she needed to find a peer support group of other New mothers in her community.  She talks about the excitement and joy of being a new mother and at the same time of being lonely once she stayed home all day with her daughter.  She did not have any mom friends in her neighborhood and craved the friendship and support of other moms.  Lori shares the  lengths she went to so that she could find her peer group and how she finally found her way to Mothers Center groups.

Julia grew up in a family with one brother.  She really had no idea what she wanted to do as a career when she grew up.  She did always know that she wanted to be a Mom.  She decided to take on the challenge of law school and this is what she did before opening up the birth center.  Julia is the Executive Director  of Babymoon Inn, which is a free standing birth center in Phoenix, Arizona.  Her first breastfeeding experience was really hard and quite painful.  She did get through it and it worked out.  With her other 3 children breastfeeding went fairly easy and she was grateful for this. Julia talks about how she practices child led weaning. As the Owner of Babymoon Inn a free standing birthing center in Phoenix, AZ, she has the pleasure of meeting and working with hundreds of families who take the tour of the birthing center and decide to received midwifery care and plan on a birth at the Center.  Julia shares times when she has witnessed breastfeeding mothers respond to calls to action of offering their pu

Lori worked Full time for quite a few years before becoming pregnant with her first baby. She was very excited for her baby to be born and really looked forward to the time she should be staying home with her baby during her maternity leave.  Lori is quite crafty and loves to cook, however, working Full time did not allow her to spend time becoming really good at a few of the crafts that she was teaching herself.  She had several projects that were long and drawn out and other projects she was  aching to start.  Lori assumed that there would be plenty of time to work on these, during her babies nap time.  She worked right up to the day of her due date.  It took another 3 full weeks for Alisha to be born and during that time she took care of all loose ends and was truly ready for this birth.  Alisha was born on June 27th and discharged from the hospital when she was 3 days old.  Lori talks about the first few weeks postpartum and how the death of her beloved grandmother during this time impacted her postpartum

Anastasia had a planned homebirth with a midwife in attendance.  She gave birth to a beautiful daughter named Vivian.  She was awake and active and yet remained very uninterested in breastfeeding her first 24 hours of life.  Each time she was brought to the breast, she showed no interest in sucking. This began a very long journey with major breastfeeding struggles.  Poor feeds and several bouts of vomiting up any milk she had taken in from a bottle, sent Anastasia and her husband Matt to the hospital with Vivian.  This began what turned out to be quite a few months of pumping and bottlefeeding.  Anastasia spent quite a few months working with Vivian, trying to help her learn how to breastfeed. The night in the hospital and seeing her newborn with tubes and wires, Anastasia talks about feeling scared. She was traumatized and now lacked the confidence that her baby would get enough milk from breastfeeding.  She talks about how her emotional health was greatly affected by how hard breastfeeding was.  She shares

Lori will be sharing her personal experience when she nursed her first baby, in public for the very first time.  If you would like to share your “My first time” story with our listeners, go tocontact me page and send us your story.  We will share your story on our website and perhaps read it out loud on a show – with your permission, of course!

Fiona shares her journey into becoming an IBCLC. Like so many of us who came into this  profession, it was the birth of her first son that sparked her interest in helping other mothers breastfeed.   When she was in the UK, Fiona  worked in maternal health.   The  standard of care at that time was for moms to breastfeed for 6 weeks.   She was living in Toronto at the time she had her first baby.  The expectation was for her to breastfeed for 6 weeks.  Fiona shares in detail how she broke that mold, went on to breastfeed longer than expected and increased her breastfeeding knowledge as she had more babies and grew into motherhood.  Fiona gives very detailed information on the roles and titles of the various breastfeeding helpers and how she has been able to clearly define the roles to mothers she meets.  We also learn how a chance meeting with a representative from GOLD Online led to her current position with GOLD.

Not knowing anyone who breastfed their baby, or never having seen another woman breastfeed her baby, I had no frame of reference , no role models in the breastfeeding arena.  There was 1 book on the library shelf and it was The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, written by a group of woman from La Leche League.  I did not get this book until after my daughter was born.  So, the breastfeeding class was the only place I received information on preparing for breastfeeding and what to expect when my baby was born.  There were many days and nights that were filled with painful breastfeeding and major sleep deprivation.  I learned a lot along the way.  Humor was helpful. My baby getting bigger was helpful. It took us a while, but soon breastfeeding became enjoyable and easy.  Through my experience I learned to work hard to not judge another mother for the choices she makes.  We are all doing the best we can. I choose to focus on education and support.

Come along with us on Tressa’s breastfeeding Journey. She shares with us personal stories of the early days of breastfeeding her first baby, breastfeeding during a pregnancy, what life was like tandem nursing, night weaning her toddler and child – led weaning with both her girls.  Tressa really gives us a window into her early mothering days and humbles us as she shares her personal story of going through postpartum depression and how she helped herself get through it.

As a lactation consultant, I have long since recognized the lack of information mothers have about breastfeeding. Not only about early breastfeeding difficulties, but also how this impacts their postpartum lifestyle. Breastfeeding comes fairly easy for some mothers and I want them to know that it may not come easy for your sister or best friend. I want you to know that you can be of great help to them.  You can provide emotional support, practical help and suggest they seek professional help.  For some mothers, early breastfeeding is more challenging than they thought it would be. It is very emotional and exhausting for some mothers.  When this happens, we tend to become very overwhelmed, isolate ourselves and some mothers become depressed.