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In this special episode, Kristin, host of Ask the Doulas podcast and founder of Gold Coast Doulas,  gives tips on building your supportive birth team. Krisin and Meagan talk specifics on HOW to switch providers if you're feeling the push to do so.Once we have our dream team, we're good and don't have to do any more work, right? Nope! We keep educating and preparing ourselves. That's the way to truly get the most out of that dream team. Kristin's book ‘Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby' is a one-stop shop where you can get all of the education you need for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Her advice is so valuable for VBAC moms and birth workers, too!Supported: Your Guide to Birth and BabyAsk the Doulas PodcastNeeded WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello. Hello. We have a special episode for you today. We have my friend, Kristin, who is actually the owner of Ask the Doulas Podcast on with us today. She is going to be talking about establishing our birth team and the importance of it. We're going to talk a little bit more about what to expect when we might not find a provider that's supportive and how to navigate it. She's going to talk more about her book and so many things. You guys, I'm really excited. Kristin is a woman who has always had a passion for supporting other women both personally and professionally. In college, Kristin served on the executive committee of her sorority and organized events on campus related to breast cancer and other women's issues. After the birth of her daughter in 2011, a new passion awoke within her. Kristin began reading and studying birth from all perspectives, philosophies, and medical approaches. She joined organizations like The Healthy Kent Breastfeeding Collation and used her event coordinating skills to build and promote the organization and create community awareness. You guys, she has done so many incredible things. Kristin's research has led her to learn more about doulas, and in 2012, she hired doulas herself for the support of her second birth. The level of compassionate care and comfort that she received from her doulas ignited a spark within her and led her down the path of becoming a doula herself. And man, can I connect to this because this is exactly what happened to me. When you guys have a doula who inspires you and touches you and motivates you the way it sounds like Kristin did and I did, even though my doula wasn't a hired doula, she was just a nurse that was a doula for the time being, it does something to you. She earned the certification and became teaching sacred pregnancy classes in 2013. But as you'll see, Kristin is a firm believer in achieving the highest level of education available when providing a service. Shortly after, she earned the following credentials-- you guys, are you ready for this? She's amazing. Oh my gosh. Certified Sacred Doula in 2014. She is a Certified Elite Labor through ProDoula. She is the Elite Postpartum and Infant Care Doula through ProDoula. She's trained in Spinning Babies, Newborn Specialist, Mother Ship, Certified Health Service Provider, certified in VBAC. She is certified in transformational birth and a birth coach for the Birth Coach Method. She is a certified pregnancy and infant loss advocate and certified gift registry expert through Be Her Village, who we will talk about. We both love them so much.She is also an author of a book which we will be sharing more about. It's called Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby. So without further ado, we are actually going to be skipping a review today and an educational topic because this is such a great episode to be educated and learn more about what Kristin is offering in her community. Okay, my love. Hello. Kristin: Hello.Meagan: We're officially getting going talking about this amazing topic. Tell me what you think about this. I think sometimes people want to assemble this dream team, but they let finances or even partners or other opinions get in the way.Kristin: Yes. Partner comfort level, especially with VBACs is key, or with clients of mine who want their dream is to have a home birth and their partner isn't supportive, so then they say, "Oh, it'll be with the next baby if everything goes well in the hospital." But then if they're a complication, they might risk out of the option of home. I think as consumers, we don't fully appreciate the ability to choose all of our birth and baby team. We can change providers. I switched providers with my first pregnancy early on because I didn't feel like that particular OB was on board with my plans to have an unmedicated hospital birth. I ended up switching to Certified Nurse Midwives and completely changed practices, completely changed hospitals in fact. It's a lot. Meagan: Yeah.Kristin: But it was worth it. And I had the time where it was easier to switch, but I've had clients switch very late in pregnancy. It was harder to find the right office to accept them, but with VBACs, it is crucial to have not just a VBAC-tolerant provider, but someone who is fully on board with your unique desires because we are all individuals.Meagan: Yes. I love that you said your unique desires. Everybody is different. I think it's really important to tell these providers what your desires are. We have a list of questions that we give people in our course and, of course, on the podcast. You can go down that list and check and be like, "Okay, this provider seems pretty supportive," but you guys have to tailor your questions and your provider. You have to tailor it to what your individual unique circumstances and desires are because everyone's is different. I would love to know. You said, I was realizing that this wasn't the right place. What kind of things were you hearing or being told or feeling when you were realizing that maybe your first provider wasn't going to be as supportive and in line with your unique decisions?Kristin: Just when I was talking about my wishes, I could tell that that particular provider liked structure and patience to get that epidural, and so once I started talking about movement, delivering in different positions and some of the things I had researched-- I hadn't yet taken a childbirth class because it was early in pregnancy, but I had done a fair bit of research before knowing what a doula was. I didn't hire doulas until my second. But I could just tell in that gut feeling which I rely on. Again, we're all unique. And yes, I do research, but I make decisions on am I comfortable spending my entire pregnancy with someone who can tolerate me and will say, "Okay"? But I could tell it didn't light her up. So once I found a practice where my nurse-midwife spent time with me, I had longer appointments, I could ask questions, and she was 100% on board with me, and then I was able to meet the other midwives and the OBs who oversaw them throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. I felt very cared for. And again, we are consumers. Whether your insurance pays for everything or you're paying for part of it, you don't get a do-over of your birth, and so it is so important, especially with that first birth to get the care team that aligns with you. That could be everything from a Webster-certified chiropractor, a physical therapist, a mental health therapist to deal with any anxieties that may come up with having a VBAC and getting a lot of fear-filled advice from friends and family members. I find that again, my clients are all unique individuals, and my students in Becoming a Mother Course, and now the readers in my book, have different goals, so I want them to choose the best plan for them. I love that you have worksheets and templates, but knowing that every situation is different whether it's a home birth, a trial of labor, or a hospital birth, that setting is different and the type of provider whether it's a nurse-midwife or an OB practice, how likely is the OB that is very VBAC-supportive going to be attending your birth? Are there 12 providers or are there only 4? And so there's just so many things to factor in when deciding what is important to you.Meagan: Yeah. That point that you just brought up, are there 12 providers? Are there only 4? Does your provider guarantee that they'll be there? These are things that I think a lot of people may not be aware of that because they found their provider. They're feeling good about their provider. They're jiving. They're having the feels, but then they may not be the ones to be there, so there are 11 other options. It feels overwhelming to be like, "Wait, wait. Do I interview all 11?" Yeah, guys. Yeah. You set up visits. It's okay. Go and see if you can meet with those. Make sure that that full team is aligned. It is a lot. That's a lot to take on, but it's okay to rotate and say, "Hey, I saw Dr. Jack last time. I'd like to see Dr. Joe this time," or whatever it may be. Really, really dive in, find out more about your provider's team if they have a team, and make sure that they align with your unique decisions and desires.Kristin: Absolutely. And that goes for doulas as well.Meagan: Oh, yeah.Kristin: So for VBAC clients, I, over the last couple of years, I do all of the matchmaking, I like to call it, between client and the birth doulas and postpartum doulas on my team, in fact. I like to find out what they're looking for. If they are attempting a VBAC, then many times, they're telling me they want a VBAC-certified doula. I have doulas that have gone through your program and are certified through you and other different VBAC trainings. They're not just wanting VBAC experience like in my early days of having Gold Coast Doulas. Now, they're wanting that certification because they know that information is being updated as things change. And there's more evidence for VBACs. They also want more than just, "Oh, I've attended four VBACs." They want the education behind it. So I think that is crucial. I'm not going to match, unless there's no one else available on my team, a client with someone who is not certified as a VBAC doula.Meagan: Yeah, I do the same thing with my group here where they're like, "This is really important to me. I want this specific type of doula." Some of my doulas have taken The VBAC Link course. And so I'm like, "Yep, this would be who I would suggest." But I also want to point out that even if you assemble your dream team doula, and they've got all the education and information on VBAC, and they're up to date, I want to just point out that it doesn't mean that you shouldn't inform yourself that you shouldn't get the information because sometimes I feel like it's easy to want to just hire your provider or your doula or your person and let them who know VBAC kind of help and guide you. But it is really important. You're doing yourself a disservice if you personally do not learn more about VBAC and your options as well and rely only on your provider or your doula.Kristin: 100%. The doula, I mean, unless you're paying her for it, will not be attending every one of your prenatal visits during pregnancy. The education that you have to make informed questions and decisions surrounding your birth plan or birth preference sheet, so those conversations are critical. The more information you have as a patient, the better. And as we all know, unless you're having a home birth, your visits are short even with a nurse-midwife. And so it's important to have those questions and to have time to really express concerns. Or if you're finding that that practice or that provider is not in line with your plans, then you can look at other options. And the hospital-- are VBACs even allowed at the hospital that you plan to deliver at? Are they going to induce? What are the Cesarean rates? And looking at all of the different options, and if you need to consider NICUs, that's always a factor in hospital selection as well.Meagan: Yeah, I'm going to kind of go back to where we were in the beginning where you realized based after your feelings and other things that this provider was not the right provider for you, you then changed to CNMs and had a much better experience. Can you discuss your process of that change? How did you change? Did you find the CNMs, have them request your information from the OB? Did you do a formal breakup with your OB? What suggestions would you give to someone who is wanting to do that? I know that sometimes, you were talking about it, in the end, it's a little harder to find, so that's why we stress so importantly to find your provider from the beginning. But we know that sometimes things change. So can you kind of talk about that process in then assembling that dream and getting the steps to get to that dream team?Kristin: Yes. So for me, I had asked friends about which providers they had worked with. So the original OB, a friend of mine, it was her doctor, and she had a great experience. I just wasn't feeling it. She had a student. We have teaching hospitals in my area, so there was a student in the room. I wasn't feeling like she was 100% on board. I could tell that she was very medically driven. I wanted essentially a home birth in a hospital. So I talked to more friends and did research online, and a friend of mine had used this particular practice. I ended up going with the midwife that delivered her three children, and it worked out beautifully because it was early in pregnancy. That practice had openings. It took me a while because I was changing hospitals and practices completely. My insurance, luckily, covered all of the options. But that's another thing to look into. Does your insurance cover the hospital where the provider you want to switch to delivers that if it is a hospital birth? Of course, you can VBAC at home in certain states. So just looking at all of the factors that would come into play. So for me, it was dealing with the paperwork of switching out of that practice, getting admitted, and going to that initial get-to-know-you visit with a nurse and doing my labs before I got to meet with the midwife that I had wanted to work with. And so it took a bit. I mean, no one likes to deal with the paperwork and the phone calls it takes, but your health is so important and especially again, for VBACs.Meagan: Yeah. So you essentially did all the paperwork and the transfer yourself.Kristin: Yes.Meagan: Okay.Kristin: I made all the phone calls, dealt with insurance and made sure that the initial visit was paid for along with the nurse visit, and then that insurance was comfortable with me.Meagan: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, I did, when I switched, because I switched it 24 weeks, my midwife just faxed a request to my OB office. It took them a while to send it. We had to ask five times which I think probably would have been faster if I, like you, made the phone calls and did all the things, but I was like in this weird, vulnerable spot of like, I don't want to go back there.Kristin: Right. You don't want to deal with it.Meagan: Yeah, I don't want to deal with it.Kristin: Even just talking to the front desk.Meagan: Yeah, yeah. So we waited for it and they eventually got it. But I think that that's important to note. You guys can make the calls too. You can call and say, "Hey, I'd like to request my records to be printed out or to be sent to this place." Kristin: Yes, and that's what I did. Because otherwise it's six weeks oftentimes or you have to keep calling. They get lost. so I just handled it. But it can be challenging. And as doulas and certainly VBAC doulas, we know the providers who would be not only tolerant but supportive of VBAC. So we get those questions frequently from potential clients and clients of, am I at the right place? And of course, we support whoever our clients choose to have care from. But there's also, if asked, I will tell them about the practice and my own experience as a doula or the agency's experience. And again, in those large practices, there might be four who are so VBAC-supportive. They love it, but then there might be some physicians who are not as comfortable. They feel that a surgical birth might be the better route to go, ad so there's that. So what I like to do as a VBAC doula is to have my clients talk to their provider. Again, go over a birth plan or birth preference sheet and have them sign off on it. That way, if they don't attend the birth, then the other physicians know that this was approved. It's not just a birth plan that is thrown out there, but it has been discussed. It doesn't work all the time, but it has been helpful for my clients no matter if they're a VBAC client or this is their first baby, and again, they have certain goals that they want to achieve like potentially avoiding an induction unless medically necessary.Meagan: Oh my gosh. So I'm just going to re-touch on that, you guys, because that was really, really, really good advice and something I've actually never done or even thought about or suggested to my own doula practice clients. Get your birth preference sheet or birth plans everyone calls a difference. I call it a birth preference sheet, which is a list of all your preferences that you desire. Go over that with your provider, and have them physically sign it. Physically sign it and date it showing that your provider went over it. And like she said, every provider may not be willing to do that, but I will say, if a provider is willing to do that, that says something to me.Kristin: It does. Yes.Meagan: Yeah. Super powerful. Oh, my gosh. Okay, nugget. Grab it, put it in your pocket, everybody. Sign your birth preference sheet so you can have it and keep that in your bag, so if you do have that random on-call doctor who may not even know you or not be so supportive, be like, "This has already been discussed. We were aware of this. My doctor has signed off." Also, you could maybe ask if your provider could make a copy of that and put it in your chart.Kristin: Right. Because yes, it's not just the one that they have on file, but it's also for the ones that you have, that copy that you're bringing and showing the nurse so the nurse and everyone is on the same page. Meagan: Love that. Kristin: And again, with teaching hospitals, you might have residents in and out. There can be some difficult conversations with VBAC and residents who have never seen a VBAC. We're not fully trained yet to support VBAC, and so they might be making suggestions while the provider is not in that check-in. So every state, again, every area is different. I just happen to be in an area with multiple teaching hospitals.Meagan: Same here. We have seen it where I think, I don't want to say this badly. The VBAC world is a world that can have a lot of negativities in it, negative things and big words like uterine rupture. We've got residents who may be coming in and may be training under a provider who has seen a uterine rupture or has maybe molded an opinion on VBAC and is projecting their opinion to that student. Whether or not they're consciously doing it or not, they're saying their opinion, and those opinions might morph that resident's opinion into negative for VBAC. You never know. And so they might be doing things or be more hesitant in areas that they don't need to be, but they are.Kristin: Yeah, it's such a good point. And as you mentioned, I mean, we don't know the traumas that our nurses and medical team, even home birth midwives, have experienced, and they carry that with them. And how can they not? Even as doulas, we witness, but we don't have the liability and the medical training to make it, but we are witnesses of trauma and have our own healing to do to be able to better move on and support the next client. So certainly keeping that in mind that they may have seen something that alters the way they practice.Meagan: Yeah.Kristin: It's not just fear of lawsuits.Meagan: It's really not. It's not. There's a provider here in Utah who is literally so scared of vaginal birth herself. She scheduled all of her Cesareans, even the very first one from the get. She never had trial of labor or TOL. She just doesn't. So can you imagine what her Cesarean rate may be? And she kind of reminds me of the provider you're talking about. She really likes it just so controlled. Come in, start Pitocin, and get the epidural. She likes those things, which we know can sometimes lead to those Cesareans. And so really also discussing with your provider, how do you feel about birth? Have you had babies? And then we have another OB who's like, "I work in the hospital, and I love the hospital, and I trust the hospital system, but I actually gave birth at home with all three of my babies," and so really getting to know your provider, I think, is so good. Okay, let's keep going on this topic of assembling your dream team of experts when planning for birth and baby. What other things would you suggest to our Women of Strength?Kristin: Yes. So as we know, birth is as physical as it is mental, and just the opposite, as mental as it is physical. So preparing with a childbirth class, a comprehensive class, even if you took one before, use the lens of your goal of attempting a VBAC, a trial of labor. And so for us, we happen to teach HypnoBirth at Gold Coast Doulas and that mind/body connection that HypnoBirthing or a gentle birth offers where it's more of using the visualization the way an athlete would in preparing for a marathon or a triathlon, you are using things to reduce fear. You're understanding all of your options. It's very partner involved. I think taking a comprehensive childbirth class, whichever meets your individual goals, is great. That childbirth instructor is a great person to add to your birth and baby team. And then moving your body. So taking a fitness class that is appropriate for pregnancy. So prenatal yoga, there are Barre classes for pregnancy. There are prenatal belly dancing classes, whatever it is. Meagan: Aqua aerobics.Kristin: Yeah, water aerobics are amazing. And so thinking about baby's position and helping labor to go on its own or be quicker. There's acupuncture, acupressure, the Webster-certified chiro for positioning or body balancing experts, so many different options. But I am a big fan of educating yourself and preparing because as you mentioned earlier, Meagan, a doula is not your end all, be all. Just because we have the information and the training, we can't think for you. We don't want to think for you. The more informed you are, the more likely you're going to feel like birth didn't happen to you this time around and you were a direct participant, even if you end up having a surgical birth again.Meagan: Yeah, yeah. Yes. Oh my gosh. So talking about courses, you guys, we have our VBAC course. This VBAC course goes into VBAC, the stats about VBAC, the history of VBAC, the history of Cesarean, the stats of Cesarean, the questions, finding the provider, a little bit more of the mental prep, and physical prep. But when it comes to a childirth education course like with the course that she has, they're on different levels. I actually suggest them both.Kristin: Yes, me too. Absolutely.Meagan: But it's so important to know the information that is in your course. I know you go even past preparing for birth and then birth and then postpartum. You go into all of it. We're going to talk more about it. But you guys, we as doulas, love getting information and we love sharing information. But like she said, we don't want to be the only one that knows the information in a team. When our clients come in, at least here in my group, when our clients come in and they are fully educated and we're like, yes. And then we can come in with our education and our experience and knowledge, you guys, it is a powerhouse team. It is a powerhouse team. We have clients who, when they take child birth education classes like yours, they are able to advocate more for themselves. They feel stronger to stand up and say, "Hey, thank you so much, but no thanks" or "Maybe later," when our clients who haven't had that childbirth education or just any information other than maybe what we're providing, which is great, but not enough in the full length of pregnancy, it's a little harder. We have to try to encourage those clients a little bit more because it's harder for them because they don't know everything. We're there to help guide them and help advocate for them and educate them, but it is very different.Kristin: It is. It's so different. And I feel like, again, partners, especially male partners, want to fix things. They don't want their love to feel any pain, and so they may have the fear of a VBAC. So taking a VBAC class course, having a VBAC doula, giving information is just as helpful, if not more for the partner and their comfort level and to have them fully get on board because they may be resisting and just going along for the ride, but if you can get them to be an active participant in education, then they're going to be able to help you. And sometimes in labor, we get to a point in transition where we can't fully speak for ourselves. But if our partner understands, is educated and on board, and if there's time to talk through the risks and benefits and alternatives with your doula, then yes. But sometimes decisions have to be made quickly, and so for that partner to be informed and educated is crucial.Meagan: So crucial. It's so powerful. My husband-- he was not so on board. He was like, "Whatever. I don't care. You can go to the courses. You can do these things."Kristin: And that's very typical.Meagan: It's very typical. And I did. I did do those things. When I said, "Hey, I'm going to birth out-of-hospital," and he was like, "No," I was like, "Well, sorry. I've done the education. I know this is really where my heart is pulling." We touched on this in the beginning how partners really can influence decision making. And in no way, shape or form am I trying to say partners are terrible or don't listen to your partner or anything like that. That's not the goal of what we're saying is have an educated partner. Know that you can assemble a birth team, like a provider, a chiropractor, a massage therapist, a doula, a PT, or whatever it may be, but don't forget about your partner. Your partner is a huge part of your team, and if they're not educated and they're not able to help guide you through, or if they're not being supportive, find ways to help them be supportive by taking a course with them and helping them realize, oh, VBAC actually isn't that scary. Oh, that chance isn't really 50+%. Oh, okay. Hospital birth, out-of-hospital birth. Yeah. They're both reasonable, and really understanding that.Kristin: Absolutely. And sometimes I find that my students and clients may have not had success with breastfeeding the first time and potentially didn't take a class. So if their goal is to breastfeed or pump exclusively, then taking a breastfeeding class and having that IBCLC as a resource for their dream team in case it's needed because many times, you have the lactation consultant who's teaching the class, at least in my practice, and then they're also available for say, a home visit or a hospital visit, depending on where the class is taking place. And so I think that that's something. Even if it isn't your first baby and maybe you breastfed for a little bit or had supply issues or challenges after a surgical birth, that it is important to consider any education during pregnancy because it's much harder to get that education after you have your baby.Meagan: It really is. I love that you're touching on that, really getting into all the things and having your partner go with you. I remember I was like, I had a C-section, and I was swollen and tired, and I couldn't move very well. I was sore and all the things that sometimes come with C-sections. I'm trying to nurse, and I'm engorged.  I don't feel my letdown, and I'm just so engorged. I don't know. All I know is I have really big, swollen boobs. It's all I could tell. I couldn't latch. My husband was like, "That's it. We're going to the store. We're getting formula." Formula is fine. Not anything against formula.Kristin: He's trying to fix the problem and make you feel better.Meagan: Yep, yep, yep. Trying to fix that problem. But I was like, "No, I really want to breastfeed." At that point, I wasn't able to communicate. Like, I didn't get the birth I wanted. I already felt like a failure because I was actually told that your body failed. That's what I was told. So I was already dealing with this mindset that I failed. I had a C-section. I didn't want a C-section. And now the only thing I could try to do because I couldn't take that C-section back is breastfeed my baby. I wanted to breastfeed my baby. And again, we didn't take those childbirth education classes. He for sure didn't download any apps. I at least had an app trying to help me at that point, but he didn't understand. He didn't understand.And I'm like, no.I'm crying, and I'm like, "Please, just help me. I don't know what I need to help me." And he's like, "No, we're going to the store. Our baby's mad. You're crying." He was trying to fix that problem. But if we had already done that information education before and found that IBCLC before and him understanding how important that was to me, he could have been like, "I'm going to call her IBCLC. I'll get her over here right away."Kristin: Exactly. The last thing you want to do is go into the hospital to see a lactation consultant there if you can even get in.Meagan: Exactly. Yeah. So it just could have been so much smoother. Sometimes I feel like we were against each other at that point because he didn't have any education. With our first, I really didn't have much education. But with our third, it was like he really didn't have a lot of education. and I was over-the-top educated, so I was saying these things, and he was thinking I was demeaning him or saying he was stupid because it was just this weird thing. So if we can just come together with our partners and get all the education and get it all before really, find out a postpartum plan. Find out a breastfeeding plan. Right? Find out what you want. You guys, it just makes the pregnancy journey and the postpartum journey, so much better. It truly makes you feel like you're on that team because you are.Kristin: Yes. Absolutely. And certainly, I mean, you mentioned apps. Not everyone has the means or even lives in an area where they can take a comprehensive five, six, ten-week childbirth class. There are, obviously, online classes. There are some Zoom virtual ones where students are all over the place. But there are watching birth videos and YouTube and in my book, Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby, we talk about apps, so count the kicks. Especially for VBACs, doing the self-monitoring if there's fear of fetal movement and any sort of distress during the end of the pregnancy, then really understanding your own body and doing monitoring. It's not just when you're in your provider's office being monitored. You can make a difference yourself. So having some different apps and some education on your own, listening to podcasts like yours to get this information and reading books. So there's more than if you can't afford a childbirth class like HypnoBirthing, there are still ways that you can get educated and your partner can get educated. So yeah, take a look at all of your options and your budget.Meagan: Yeah, and we talk about this all the time because I love them, but Be Her Village is a really great resource where you can go fill out a registry and, hopefully, get some help for these things. Childbirth education classes, doulas, IBCLCS. But I want to dive a little bit more into your book, actually, while we're talking about different resources. We talked about the childbirth education, but can we talk about more about Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby and how this came into fruition and what all is included in this amazing book.Kristin: Okay, Meagan. So essentially the book came out of our online course. Becoming a Mother launched in the early pandemic when everything was shut down and our classes all had to go virtual. I was fortunate to be in a state where doulas who were certified were able to work thanks to our governor. So we were working, but there was still a lot of isolation even with our clients' prenatal visits. They wanted a connection, so we launched this course. We had talked about and did three live launches, got VBAC from our students, pulled people in from all the moms' groups before creating the first draft of the course. And then the course just led to the book. So the content in Becoming a Mother is what is in the book in a different format. So in Becoming a Mother, we have expert videos, so VBAC specialists and Webster-certified chiropractors talking about what that is. Pelvic floor physical therapists, car seat safety technicians, cord blood banking donation centers.Meagan: Awesome.Kristin: We have the experts speaking for themselves-- a pediatrician. And so in the book, anything that is medical and out of the scope of a doula, we had expert contributors, so I have a pediatrician friend of mine who contributed a newborn procedure section of the chapter and a prenatal yoga studio instructor, she's also a certified body balancer. She contributed to some of the fitness options in the book, and a mental health therapist who is PMA focused and certified contributed to the mental health chapter. We have an IBCLC that contributed to the feeding chapter, and so a lot of involvement, and then sharing client stories throughout the book and then our own wisdom. We have doula tips and wisdom at the end of every chapter. Meagan: Wow.Kristin: And so as clients were asking me for books over the years, I couldn't find anything that was positive. I felt like there were a lot of, this is your cry-it-out method for sleep because we have a whole chapter on sleep and it's very attachment-focused. It's like, one way for feeding, and we wanted our clients, with their unique choices for themselves, to have a book that supports people who want to plan surgical birth like that OB and that's their comfort level and a book for the same person who wants a home birth. You don't have to buy five different books. It's not always Ina May which is a great book but not for everyone. All of her different-- she's got Spiritual Midwifery and so many different books. It is great for grandparents to read and partners but is targeted to the mother or the mother-to-be and is great in preconception in that early planning. But also, we wanted to make it similar to the course and just as valuable for seasoned bombs as it is for new moms. And again, it's affirming. We tried not to have any fear-filled information in a simple, easy-to-read guide that you can pull out for reference and a lot of different, again, apps and podcasts and books to read and resources and evidence-based information about Black maternal health and where we're at in the country now and how the pandemic impacted birth especially, but also that postpartum time.Meagan: Wow. That book sounds amazing. So amazing. And you guys, you can get it in every form, even Audible. I'm a big listener. I like to listen to books. Kristin and Alyssa actually recorded it. She was telling me they had 10+-hour days recording this this book. You can get it, and we will make sure to have the links for that in the show notes. I found it at goldcoastdoulas.com/supportedyourguidetobirthandbaby.Kristin: It's there. You can find it off that website or it has its own page. It's supportedbook.com. Meagan: Supportedbook.com, okay. We'll make sure that's all in the show notes, so you guys can grab that. Okay, so you know a lot. Obviously, you wrote a whole book and a whole course and all this stuff. Is there anything else that you would like to share in regards to just our final assembling of that powerhouse birth team?Kristin: So don't forget, I know we're talking a lot about pregnancy and birth prep, but don't forget your recovery phase. And you had talked about your own personal struggles with breastfeeding engorgement, recovery after a surgical birth. If you have, well, you do have other children at home with VBACs, and so looking at childcare, postpartum doula support, or what kind of family support you're going to have after, it's more than just meal plans and prepping the nursery. We strongly believe that as part of your dream team, the postnatal team is crucial as well. So whether it's a lactation consultant, a pelvic floor physical therapist, if you want to get back to running marathons again or are leaking. I mean, we can all use pelvic floor physical therapy. It's not just the athletes who they support. Some people, again, with building a home or other life occurrences like a wedding or preparing for college, you look at your budget. You look at your main goals. For a wedding, it might be food. For postpartum, it might be sleep. So hiring a sleep consultant when baby's old enough or an overnight postpartum doula or a newborn care specialist. What are your priorities? And take the budget. What might be paid for by insurance or, a health savings flex spending plan that you need to run down? What might be gifted? Like you mentioned, Be Her Village. There are different ways you can budget. And in the book, we talk about all of that and looking at employer plans, how to navigate that, what questions to ask your HR department about other members, like a chiropractor, could that be covered? A therapist? Oftentimes, we don't know our own benefits and certainly, I don't know my husband's benefits fully, so to be able to investigate that early in pregnancy and figure out what might be fully or partially paid for.Meagan: Wow. That is incredible itself. I feel like that's a whole other conversation of, how to navigate how to do that. So definitely go get the book, you guys, because it sounds like there are just so many things in there that are honestly crucial to know. really, really important things to know. You are incredible. Kristin: So are you.Meagan: I just enjoy chatting with you so much. Anything else? Yeah, anything else you'd like to add?Kristin: And obviously, take taking trainings and courses. If I know you have doulas who listen. It's not just parents.Meagan: Yes.Kristin: As doulas go through The VBAC Link. Get certified as a VBAC doula. Keep up with information that is ever-changing. We all want to be the best doula for each of our clients, but I am a firm believer in continuing our own education and that more and more of our clients are choosing to attempt VBACs, and so the more information you can get as a professional, the better you're able to support. It's just not the number of VBACs you've attended anymore. It's clients wanting that knowledge so you can be busier and also a more effective doula by getting that training and then going through the certification process that you offer.Meagan: Yeah, have a directory actually with birth doulas where people can go and find it because when Julie and I created this company way back in the day, we knew that we were just two people here in Utah. We couldn't change the VBAC world. We could give as much information as we could. We could share the podcast. We could do those types of things. But when it comes to birth workers, we wanted to reach birth workers everywhere. It's so great that we have and we're still having more people come on because they're helping people so much. I mean, we know you have doulas that do it all the time. These doulas do help and there are actual stats on doulas that do it. But I agree. If you're a birth worker, stay up to date. Be in the know. Know what's going on because you will likely need to help guide your client through it. Kristin: Then you can charge more. So take that investment in a training like The VBAC Link, and then you're able to charge more because you're more experienced. You have more certifications. So don't look at like, oh, I don't have any money for continuing education. Look at how that's going to change your career.Meagan: Yeah, and I think sometimes too you can charge a little bit more, take less clients, and be more personal with those clients and dive into it. Especially because we do know that VBAC does take some extra stuff that goes on with VBAC. There's some extra work to be worked through. There are some extra things and so yeah, I love that.Kristin: Well, thank you so much for having me on Meagan, I loved our chat.Meagan: Thank you. You as well. As always, I loved our other chat as well. We have to keep going. I think I'm going to order your book today and get going on that. Even though I'm not a mom preparing, I think this would be such a great book to suggest to all of my clients. So thank you for sharing. Thank you.Kristin: Yeah. My secondary audience is certainly anyone who works with families in the birth and baby space, but it is targeted again, just similar to my podcast. It's like I have the listener of the pregnant individual and family, but also birth workers. The book is similar. Thank you for ordering.I appreciate it. Meagan: Yes. And can you also tell everybody where to find you not just in your book, but Instagram, podcast, and all of the social medias?Kristin: So my podcast is Ask the Doulas. You can find us on all the podcast players and you were a guest recently, so very fun. And certainly, we're at Gold Coast Doulas on everything from Pinterest to YouTube to Facebook to Instagram. I don't have separate social sites for my book because I honestly don't have time for that.Meagan: That's okay. Yeah, it's a package. It comes with everything, so you don't need to have another book page. Well, awesome. Well, thank you again so much.Kristin: Thank you. Have a great day.Meagan: You too.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

This week, we are happy to welcome to The Hamilton Review - Sarah Siebold, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. In this conversation, Sarah talks about the importance, joy and fulfillment of breast feeding your baby.  New and expecting parents, this episode is for you, enjoy! Sarah Siebold is the owner of IMMA, a lactation consulting practice that offers comprehensive infant feeding support for all families.  She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, studied Human Lactation at UC San Diego, and completed her clinical training at Kaiser Permanente's Baldwin Park lactation clinic and with a private practice preceptor. She is the mother of three breastfed littles, and prides herself on leading her team of IBCLCs to offer in-home, in-office, and telehealth lactation care around the country. How to contact Sarah Siebold:   IMMA Lactation on Instagram   IMMA Lactation Website   Link to check insurance coverage with IMMA Lactation   How to contact Dr. Bob: Dr. Bob on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChztMVtPCLJkiXvv7H5tpDQ Dr. Bob on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drroberthamilton/ Dr. Bob on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.hamilton.1656 Dr. Bob's Seven Secrets Of The Newborn website: https://7secretsofthenewborn.com/ Dr. Bob's website: https://roberthamiltonmd.com/ Pacific Ocean Pediatrics: http://www.pacificoceanpediatrics.com/    

Sarah Siebold is the owner of IMMA, a lactation consulting practice that offers comprehensive infant feeding support for all families. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, studied Human Lactation at UC San Diego, and completed her clinical training at Kaiser Permanente's Baldwin Park lactation clinic and with a private practice preceptor. She is the mother of three breastfed littles, and prides herself on leading her team of IBCLCs to offer in-home, in-office, and telehealth lactation care around the country. How to contact Sarah Siebold:   IMMA Lactation on Instagram   IMMA Lactation Website   Link to check insurance coverage with IMMA Lactation   How to contact Dr. Bob: Dr. Bob on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChztMVtPCLJkiXvv7H5tpDQ Dr. Bob on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drroberthamilton/ Dr. Bob on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.hamilton.1656 Dr. Bob's Seven Secrets Of The Newborn website: https://7secretsofthenewborn.com/ Dr. Bob's website: https://roberthamiltonmd.com/ Pacific Ocean Pediatrics: http://www.pacificoceanpediatrics.com/

Send us a textAre you passionate about helping families and considering a career as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)? With special guests Katie Tims, M.A., IBCLC an experienced lactation consultant and Lisa Brady, IBCLC Mentee this episode is for you! By popular demand, we're diving into the essentials of becoming an IBCLC—what it takes, what to expect, and how to get started on this rewarding journey.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeThe role and impact of IBCLCs.Key requirements: education, clinical hours, and exams.Time, cost, and investment details.Job outlook and career opportunities.Together, we'll share insider tips, personal experiences, and practical advice to help you navigate the process with confidence.Why Listen?This episode is packed with easy-to-understand guidance and actionable steps, perfect for anyone passionate about turning their love for lactation into a fulfilling profession.

It started with a Reel on Instagram. Then it became a plan for a conversation about the differences and the shared mission of hospital-based IBCLCs and private practice IBCLCs.On this episode of the Evolve Lactation Podcast, I am joined by Nicole Longmire, MPH, IBCLC, PMH-C and LeeAnn Contreras, BSN, RN, IBCLC for an enlightening and empowering conversation about this challenging topic. Buckle up as we take you through the bumpy journey of a family from pregnancy to labor & birth through the earliest days of lactation and on to the rest of it…and what families need to know about how lactation consultants in all of those spaces can make it smoother.Evolve Lactation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Here are the links that we mentioned in the episode:Global MilCom BreastfeedingUSANicole Longmire, Mother Nurture Consulting, LLCIBCLC CommissionInland Empire Breastfeeding CoalitionCalifornia Breastfeeding SummitUniversity of North Carolina, Carolina Global Breastfeeding InstituteBaby-Friendly USAWIC (The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, & Children) in the USBaby Café BakersfieldThe First 100 HoursThanks for joining us at Evolve Lactation! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Evolve Lactation at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Lisa Paladino reviews the American Academy of Pediatrics clinical report on ankyloglossia and its impact on breastfeeding. She highlights its strengths and critiques, including outdated references and the lack of recognition for IBCLCs. Lisa calls for a holistic, collaborative approach to treatment, involving lactation consultants, body workers, and other specialists, and advocates for updated research and respect for parents' insights.Takeaways:The AAP report on tongue tie has strengths but needs updates and broader collaboration.A holistic approach should involve IBCLCs, body workers, and other functional specialists.Research needs to be updated, and parents' insights should be valued.Prefer to read? Click here for the blog: https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/blogReferences: Identification and Management of Ankyloglossia and Its Effect on Breastfeeding in Infants: Clinical Report. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/154/2/e2024067605/198022/Identification-and-Management-of-AnkyloglossiaSmart, S., Tseng, R., Kittrell, A., Merkel-Walsh, R., Chan, J., Jones, N., Altemara, J., and Hartwick, E. (2024). International Consortium of oral Ankylofrenula Professionals (ICAP): Position Statement on Ankylofrenula. https://icapprofessionals.com/Ways to connect with Lisa:Become a “Tongue Tie Experts Insider” Support the podcast & get exclusive access to online events - Click HEREFollow us on Instagram and Facebook as Tongue Tie ExpertsDon't miss our *new* Professional's Guide to Tongue Tie in the Breastfeeding Infant Special Coupon Code PODCAST40 to save 40% If you are enjoying our podcast, be sure to subscribe/follow on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss an episode.Special thanks to our sponsor for their support of the podcast. You can check out Light Scalpel here: LightScalpel.com

Janet Jones and Lauren Reyes, IBCLCs and co-founders of Breastfeeding Success, join us to talk about how breastfeeding support has evolved and changed over time. We talk about the ancestral practices and how they differ from modern practices. Breastfeeding Success is a minority and woman owned company established in 2014 with the mission to provide access to high quality lactation care and education to all families regardless of income or insurance. Because of this mission, they never turn any family away. In 2023, close to 50% of the service they provided was uncompensated care. They are the largest provider of lactation services and employer of IBCLCs in the state of Texas with services spanning from Dallas/Fort Worth to Kyle Texas. On average, they serve 4,000 families each month with compassionate, evidence based, patient-centered care. JANET JONES, IBCLC, RLCCo-CEO, Chief Culture OfficerAn International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) since 2009, Janet is a former Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and Women Infants Children (WIC) participant. She cares deeply about equitable access to lactation care, and strives to remove barriers to lactation care — both for families who need it and for a diverse field of individuals who feel called to provide it. Janet serves the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) as Treasurer, and has four breastfed children. She enjoys nurturing all sorts of growing things, from families and babies to her backyard garden and sourdough starter. LAUREN REYES, IBCLC, RLCCo-CEO, Chief Innovation Officer Lauren has been in the lactation field since 2004 and an IBCLC since 2009. Proud to have started her career as a WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, Lauren believes that the lactation profession is strongest when providers reflect diverse education and demographic backgrounds. Lauren is a past board member of United States Lactation Consultants Association (USLCA) and a breastfed breastfeeder of five beautiful sons. On weekends, you'll find Lauren driving kids around Central Texas, training for her next half-marathon, and learning about new tools for her various home improvement projects. Website: www.BFSuccess.comHotline 512-8080-BFS (237) This episode is sponsored by Cheryl Reeley, LCSW. You can reach out atCheryl Reeley LCSW Pregnancy & Postpartum online therapy for womenIG: @‌cherylreeleylcswPlease feel free to reach out to us with any recommendations for show episode ideas. If you'd like to be a guest, email us with some information about yourself and what type of podcast you'd like to record together. Thank you for all of your support and don't forget to follow and review our podcast, Birth, Baby! Instagram: @‌BirthBabyPodcast Email: BirthBabyPodcast@gmail.com Website: www.BirthBabyPodcast.comIntro and Outro music by Longing for Orpheus. You can find them on Spotify!

Bottles are actually not an innate skill.  Babies are born knowing how to breastfeed, and with many reflexes to support the process.  However bottle are not like the breast (no matter how much the packaging claims it's "just like the breast") and it is a skill that needs to be taught and learned, by both parents and babies.  Unfortunately most hospitals and Pediatricians hand out a bottle without any thought into the design, flow rate, or teaching the skill.  Susan Howard works with a lot of bottle refusal babies, and has many classes for providers to learn more as well.  Since new bottles are always coming out on the market staying current on new products is essential to supporting dyads with feeding.  Much of the common "strategies" for bottle refusal usually make things worse, such as "wait until baby is very hungry" or "constantly wiggle the bottle to keep baby feeding".  Learn more about bottle skills here.Podcast Guest:  Susan Howard MSN, RN, IBCLC is a Registered Nurse, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and a leader in women and infant health. She has been in maternal infant health for 27 years first as a labor and delivery nurse, a childbirth educator and as a breastfeeding educator. Susan took a brief hiatus from maternal child nursing to oversee clinical trials at Georgetown Medical Center and was on faculty at Georgetown School of Nursing. Susan obtained her certification as a lactation consultant in 2011. She owns a private practice in the Washington DC area. Susan has advanced training and a special interest in complex feeding issues, including tongue tie, low milk supply, and bottle-refusing babies. She teaches various feeding and parenting classes, and she hosts a popular feeding and parenting support groups.  Professionally, she lectures on supporting the bottle-refusing baby. You can learn more about her bottle skills workshops for IBCLCs that focus on strategies to support the bottle refusing dyad.  Podcast host: Katie Oshita, RN, BSN, IBCLC has over 24 years of experience working in Maternal-Infant Medicine.  While Katie sees clients locally in western WA, Katie is also a telehealth lactation consultant believing that clients anywhere in the world deserve the best care possible for their needs.  Being an expert on TOTs, Katie helps families everywhere navigate breastfeeding struggles, especially when related to tongue tie or low supply.  Katie is also passionate about finding the root cause of symptoms, using Functional Medicine practices to help client not just survive, but truly thrive. Email katie@cuddlesandmilk.com or www.cuddlesandmilk.com 4

What are IBCLCs Afraid of? Episode 364 In this conversation, Lisa Paladino discusses her experiences, as an IBCLC and Certified Nurse Midwife, with 35 years of experience, and the fears that come with this career.. She talks about the responsibility of not missing any medical problems or lactation issues, the fear of not being trusted or taken seriously, and the concern of giving care plans that may not work for families. Lisa emphasizes the importance of developing a rapport with the families and providing education and resources to build trust. She also shares a case study of a baby with a tongue tie to illustrate the decision-making process and the art and science of being an IBCLC.Takeaways: Being an IBCLC is a high-pressure job with a lot of responsibility.IBCLCs fear missing medical problems or lactation issues and not being trusted or taken seriously.Developing a rapport with families and providing education and resources is crucial for building trust.Care plans should be tailored to the individual needs and capabilities of the families.The decision-making process as an IBCLC involves a combination of science and art.More From Tongue Tie Experts:To learn more, download freebies, and for the links mentioned in the episode, including our popular course, Understanding Milk Supply for Medical and Birth Professionals, click here: www.tonguetieexperts.net/LinksUse code PODCAST15 for 15% off all of our offerings.A gentle disclaimer. Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

OT and Lactation can have a very complementary relationship however, sadly it's frequently a complicated relationship instead.  In this episode Katie Oshita and Nat Udwin discuss how IBCLCs and OTs can not only support each other but support families for better results.  OT is all about skills to "do your job" which can mean work skills for an adult, but for a baby their job is eat, sleep, poop, exist comfortably.  In their OT practice, Nat sees a lot of fussy babies, with sleep, feeding breathing and regulation difficulties.  There can be delayed milestones, impaired reflex expression/integration, and asymmetry.  Nat sees many clients virtually, teaching parents how to use play and movement to help their child thrive.   Working together with an IBCLC and OT isn't always necessary but when there are issues needing more support, the results are astounding.Podcast Guest: Nat (Natalie Udwin) is an infant development, airway and reflexive feeding specialist AKA pediatric OT.  On IG, most people know them as "Nat The Baby OT".  Nat's home base is in Atlanta, GA but they also work virtually with families all over the world.   Nat has a B.A. in Studio Art from Whitman College, an M.S. in OT from Milligan College and has been an OT for 12 years.  They have specialized in infant development for 7 years now.  Nat has a 4 year old son named Ari and enjoys anything in or on water, hiking, traveling, abstract painting and drawing and is definitely happiest outdoors.  Sometime around 2015, Nat's eyes were opened to the world of reflex integration, which completely transformed their practice.  Finally, Nat was seeing skills were sticking and carrying over to other aspects of daily life that just weren't happening before for their patients.  It was the "foundational" approach to therapy that Nat had been trying to figure out for years.  After a couple of years of learning to integrate or inhibit retained reflexes, Nat began to ask WHY.  Why were all of these kids retaining these reflexes from infancy into childhood?  What was happening developmentally to change their trajectory?  Nat needed to know.  So . . . Nat dove headfirst into infant development courses.  They quickly learned about the importance of human connection and emotional regulation in early infancy, as well as the developmental importance of strong breathing and oral motor skills to support a lifetime of healthy growth.  It was now all starting to make sense.  The next step was to start working with infants, and to put all of this new knowledge to the test.  Nat, alongside some incredible mentors and colleagues, has spent the past 7 years mastering their understanding of infant development to not only become an infant development specialist, but to create what is now the foundation of a holistic airway focused practice for children of all ages.  Podcast host: Katie Oshita, RN, BSN, IBCLC has over 24 years of experience working in Maternal-Infant Medicine.  While Katie sees clients locally in western WA, Katie is also a telehealth lactation consultant believing that clients anywhere in the world deserve the best care possible for their needs.  Being an expert on TOTs, Katie helps families everywhere navigate breastfeeding struggles, especially when related to tongue tie or low supply.  Katie is also passionate about finding the root cause of symptoms, using Functional Medicine practices to help client not just survive, but truly thrive. Email katie@cuddlesandmilk.com or www.cuddlesandmilk.com 

In this episode of Milk Making Minutes, host Lo Nigrosh explores the deep connection between breastfeeding and airway health with Dr. Shereen Lim, a general dentist from Perth specializing in breathing and sleep. They discuss the impact of oral motor function on jaw development and how issues like tongue ties and high palates can affect breastfeeding and long-term health outcomes, including obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Lim shares insights and solutions gathered from her experience and research, stressing the importance of early intervention and comprehensive evaluations for improving children's health. Parents are encouraged to seek help from airway health specialists and IBCLCs for early assessment and intervention. Dr. Lim also introduces her book 'Breathe, Sleep, Thrive,' which serves as a comprehensive guide for parents dealing with these issues.00:00 Introduction and Personal Experience01:00 Guest Introduction and Background01:12 The Connection Between Airway Health and Breastfeeding02:11 Understanding Jaw Development and Oral Dysfunction05:33 Common Issues and Symptoms in Infants and Children12:46 The Importance of Early Detection and Parental Awareness24:34 Behavioral Concerns and Airway Health28:06 Finding the Right Airway Health Experts30:11 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsFind all of Dr. Shereen Lim's Resources here:https://linktr.ee/drshereenlimTo Purchase Breathe, Sleep Thrive and benefit the Podcast, buy it with this link on Amazon! Book a lactation consultation today or reach out to be on the podcast! https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/Head to Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more Milk Making Minutes episodes!Make your voice  heard on The Milk Making Community Group on Facebook!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-milk-making-minutes--5834691/support.

Can a child's breathing patterns be the hidden cause behind bedwetting? Join us on the Beauty of Breathing podcast as we welcome Dr. Pia Gandhi, a board-certified pediatric dentist specializing in pediatric airway and oral dysfunction. Dr. Gandhi unpacks the complex relationship between disrupted sleep, poor oxygenation, and hormone regulation necessary for bladder control in children. Learn to recognize early signs of mouth breathing, such as chapped lips and restless sleep, and understand the critical importance of early intervention to prevent primary and secondary bedwetting.Discover the pivotal role of tongue positioning and tongue ties in the development of infants' jaws and airways. Dr. Gandhi highlights the dangers of low-sitting tongue posture and the benefits of early interventions like treating tongue ties during infancy. We discuss practical tips for promoting healthy oral habits, such as avoiding pacifiers and soft purees. Parents will find valuable guidance on finding the right specialists, including airway dentists, myofunctional therapists, and IBCLCs, to ensure their children receive the best care.In this episode, we also cover a holistic approach to treating bedwetting and related issues. Integrate therapies like occupational therapy, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and oral therapy to address underlying causes. We delve into the necessity of pediatric dental sleep apnea screening and the importance of recognizing early signs of sleep disturbances. Dr. Gandhi also demystifies tongue ties and offers insights into effective treatments and proper orthodontic appliances. Don't miss this enlightening discussion as we connect the dots between breathing, sleep, and overall health in children. Share this episode to help spread critical information and support more families in need. _________________________________________________________________________________ABOUT OUR HOST: Renata Nehme RDH, BSDH, COM® has been a Registered Dental Hygienist since 2010. In 2016, when she was introduced to the world of "Myofunctional Therapy" she immediately knew that was her calling, especially when she learned that it encapsulated many of her passions- breastfeeding, the import of early childhood development, and airway health. In 2021 Renata founded Airway Circle with the intention of creating a collaborative and multidisciplinary group of like-minded health professionals who share the same passion for learning and giving in the dental health and airway space. Myo Moves - Become a Patient: www.myo-moves.com Airway Circle - Become a Member: www.airwaycircle.com

Queremos que nuestros profesionales de la salud tengan algún tipo de certificación en lactancia por si se tuviera que hacer algún tipo de intervención que cae dentro de su límite de práctica (recetar dietas, ordenar estudios con contraste, recetar medicamentos, evaluar respiración y condiciones cardíacas etc etc etc.) para no tomar una decisión que recomienda erróneamente suspender la lactancia o que ponga en peligro la buena producción. Pero en el día a día, no es necesario que tu especialista en lactancia sea doctor o que se trate la lactancia como algo especial que solo se pueda trabajar con un especialista médico. Esto es porque los estudios avalan el apoyo que puede proveer una persona par, y la realidad que las técnicas clínicas se pueden trabjar por IBCLCs o por paraprofesionales en conjunto con equipos multidisciplinarios. Cuando te dicen que solo doctores o especialistas médicos pueden realizar manejo, evaluaciones, asesoría y referidos, limitan la ayuda alcanzable en un país donde el sistema de salud está en colapso o donde hay larga espera para ayuda que cuando se trata de la lactancia, se pudiera conseguir de inmediato en la comunidad.

Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.Happy IBCLC Day! In celebration, I have a really special episode of the podcast for you. I am so excited to share with you my conversation with my dear friend and fellow IBCLC, Adrienne Guirguis. I cannot begin to count up how much I have learned from Adrienne over the years. She is everything you want your IBCLC to be: brilliant, compassionate, humble, confident, open-minded and accepting. She is a whiz at lactation triage on the hospital inpatient floor, patient and gentle with everyone who is in the room for a lactation consultation, and absolutely ravenous for new knowledge and information. I would never hesitate to refer a client to her for any lactation issue, and I believe she represents the ideal in an IBCLC. Let's get to know Adrienne!Adrienne Guirguis, a board certified lactation consultant, has over 25 years experience in helping breastfeeding infants and their families. She began her journey into the world of lactation after struggling to breastfeed her oldest son. She became an accredited La Leche League leader and was able to help babies breastfeed. Her experience with La Leche League led Adrienne to become a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She has been board certified for 20 years and has experience with a wide range of problems that may be experienced by new families. Adrienne has worked in hospital for over 10 years and then worked in community health for many years. She is a clinical practitioner, working hands on with families to improve feeding outcomes.Adrienne continues her lactation education, constantly attending conferences and courses to stay up-to-date on the information and skills needed to benefit those who most need breastfeeding help. She is a certified Specialist in Orofacial Myology. In 2022 Adrienne completed the Holistic Integrative/Functional Lactation course, a year long program followed by a residency. This course has increased her skills to provide the best care for the families with whom she works.Adrienne also is an educator, working within the community to teach others the skills necessary to become lactation counselors and eventually board certified lactation consultants. She is the President of the Central Valley Lactation Association, an official chapter of USLCA. Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.Adrienne joined me on the Evolve Lactation Podcast for a conversation where we take a look back over all of the settings in which she has practiced lactation care. The diversity of practice settings really sets her apart and gives her unique perspectives on how best to care for mothers and babies. Over the span of more than 25 years, she has seen breastfeeding unfold over the hours, days, months, and years along the entire spectrum of infant and child development. From teaching prenatal breastfeeding classes to private prenatal consultations, from seeing newborns nursing in the hospital to the community clinic to the home visit, and babies and toddlers of all ages in support groups, Adrienne has seen a lot in her lactation career. One of her strengths is connecting with mothers and fathers, building relationships with them so that they can trust her with their lactation needs. Having a newborn brings the new parent into a vulnerable space, and Adrienne has a gift for engaging them in a way that brings them comfort and support so that they can enjoy their baby.In fact, her connections with her clients are so strong and so important to the parents she serves that her private practice's strongest referral source is word of mouth. People trust her with the lactation care of the people they love, and there is no greater testimonial than that. In this episode, we take a ride in our time machine (because we've known each other and worked together for a LONG time!) and reflect on how lactation care has evolved over the years since we first met when she was my La Leche League Leader with my second and third daughters. I love interviewing people on this podcast - even when I already know them, I learn a surprising amount about them by asking questions I'd never think to ask otherwise. Come along with me and Adrienne for our conversation about our work, together and separate, as IBCLCs over the years! If you'd like to learn more about (and from!) Adrienne, check out these links:Visit Adrienne's Website HereFollow Adrienne on InstagramSee Adrienne's recent presentation at the 2023 GOLD Tongue Tie Symposium Mentioned in the Episode:Learn more about Baby Café Bakersfield here Get full access to Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

Bueno, estoy con una carga de trabajo más de lo normal, y me tocó subir un episodio repetido del pasado. ¿Por qué escogí este? Bueno, parece mentira que TODAVIA en el 2024 hay gente hablando de la leche del final, trasera, de atrás o como quiere que le dicen. HOY vi una publicación, y de IBCLCs que están educando, y sentí que me había transportado al 1990 o a una reunión de la organización cuyo nombre no decimos en voz alta. Entonces, grítalo de la montaña más alta. LA LECHE DE ATRAS NO EXISTE.  La ciencia de la lactancia, su anatomía y fisiología, es cambiante, con conceptos viejos reemplazándose con evidencia nueva. Una de estas teorías que sigue siendo propogada por las redes y profesionales desactualizados es la "leche de atrás" (también llamada leche trasera) que no sale hasta el final de la toma y supuestamente es más alta en grasa y sacia el hambre, mientras que la "leche de frente" (también llamada leche de inicio) que sale al principio de la toma y es más para saciar la sed. En realidad, la grasa de la leche empieza a salir tan rápido como 50 segundos luego de comenzar una toma, el contenido de grasa es un continuo durante una toma, no que haya dos tipos de leche diferentes, y la cantidad de grasa puede cambiar en diferentes tomas. Explicamos por qué es importante saber este dato, ya que podemos negarle producción a la persona lactante en la búsqueda de esta leche mítica cuando obligamos a bebé quedarse en el pecho por demasiado tiempo en vez de cambiar de pechos. La leche de atrás no es el único concepto obsoleto que se sigue creyendo. Escucha este episodio y actualízate. Dos artículos que pueden leer en inglés sobre este tema son este y este.

Breastfeeding is universal, something that all humans, all mammals have done since the beginning of time.   Lactation as a profession is new and has different norms throughout the world.   Rosa Sorribas is an IBCLC in Barcelona, Spain who focuses not just on supporting new parents with lactation and infant feeding support.  Rosa focuses on training new IBCLC's, encouraging more students to learn about lactation to support more and more families.  In this episode Katie Oshita and Rosa Sorribas discuss teaching, lactation, tongue tie and world views on this and more.Podcast Guest: Rosa Sorribas is an IBCLC in private practice in Barcelona since 2008. She is a Computer Engineer working on Internet and databases since 1986. In 2002, after her first daughter was born, she and her husband created CrianzaNatural.com, a Spanish portal and forum with information for an attachment parenting style of life. Since then, she's been involved in breastfeeding groups, such as La Leche League and Areola, which she still collaborates with. She offers breastfeeding and babywearing education in Spain, Portugal, Poland, and online. She's been working as doula in home and hospital births. Her website has been the source of dozens of support groups, many breastfeeding conselours and IBCLCs, and has helped hundreds of thousands of families around the world to get their maternity goals. For the last few years she's been very focused in nutrition after a cancer treatment left some issues on her health. She is now running a weekly podcast and video interview to relevant people addressing topics from conception to teens. In February she will launch a training course to become IBCLC, with the help of several new and experienced IBCLCs that she's been mentoring, in a site called ecrianza.com. She lives near the beach of Castelldefels with her two daughters who were homeschooled for 6 years, her lovely husband and her dog Timi.Podcast host: Katie Oshita, RN, BSN, IBCLC has over 22 years of experience working in Maternal-Infant Medicine.  Katie is a telehealth lactation consultant believing that clients anywhere in the world deserve the best care possible for their needs.  Being an expert on TOTs, Katie helps families everywhere navigate breastfeeding struggles, especially when related to tongue tie or low supply.  Katie is also passionate about finding the root cause of symptoms, using Functional Medicine practices to help client not just survive, but truly thrive. Email katie@cuddlesandmilk.com or www.cuddlesandmilk.com

Tables turned for this episode as Lisa is interviewed by Jacqueline Kincer for her podcast. It's a fun and informative conversation as we muse about what we wish parents and providers understood about breastfeeding and tongue tie from a lactation perspective, the team approach that we both practice, and how we share a mission to help families meet their personal infant feeding goals. Mentioned in the episode: Ongoing sales of both Professional's Guide to Tongue Tie and Understanding Milk Supply for Medical & Birth Professionals All educational freebies and pro and parent's programs: https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/Links Save 15% on any of our courses with the code PODCAST15 Follow us on Instagram and Facebook as Tongue Tie Experts _______________________________________________ About our guest: Jacqueline Kincer IBCLC is a devoted champion of breastfeeding and the visionary behind Holistic Lactation®. As the CEO and founder, she's dedicated to empowering breastfeeding families through virtual lactation consultations, online group support, and the top quality lactation supplements. Use discount code TTEXPERT15 to save on products from Jacqueline's website: https://holisticlactation.com/products _______________________________________________ If you are enjoying our podcast, be sure to subscribe/follow on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss an episode. _______________________________________________ Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

Crystal Nightingale from The Mama Coach joined us a few months ago and is back again today diving deeper into postpartum and breastfeeding than we've ever gone before!Did you know that new research is showing that cold compresses are more effective in helping clogged ducts than warm compresses or showers?Crystal shares her valuable insight gained as a registered nurse and IBCLC of over 10 years. Meagan and Crystal discuss everything from appropriate newborn weight loss to all types of infant feeding to how to have a successful breastfeeding journey starting even before birth. As we kick off 2024, we promise to bring new topics, deeper discussions, and exciting changes that will empower you even more to continue to have better birth AND postpartum experiences.  Additional LinksCrystal's WebsiteThe Mama CoachThe Lactation NetworkHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello, hello you guys. It's 2024. I cannot believe that 2023 went so stinking fast and we're already here. I think the new year is super fun because I think about all of the exciting things that we want to do for the year and we have this extra motivation. Today, we're actually going to be talking about something that we don't talk about a lot on the podcast. This is going to be postpartum. I'm excited to talk about postpartum because, with The VBAC Link, we are all Women of Strength. You are all preparing for birth. You're all preparing for pregnancy sometimes. We're so focused on the birth, but we forget about what comes after the birth. So we have our friend, our dear, dear friend, Crystal. Hello, Crystal. Crystal: Hello, good morning. Happy New Year. Meagan: Good morning. I am so excited to have you on today. Crystal: I'm excited. Thank you. Meagan: Yes. You are a registered nurse, an international board-certified lactation consultant which is an IBCLC and for everyone who has never seen an IBCLC, you guys, I have three babies and I breastfed with all three of them. I've seen an IBCLC with each baby because I've found that each baby is so different. Crystal: Yes. Meagan: If you haven't seen an IBCLC before, I would highly suggest it. They can help so much. But Crystal is from The Mama Coach and she is going to be talking with us today about postpartum and mood stuff and breastfeeding and so many powerful things. So hold on tight. We're going to do a review and dive right in. Review of the WeekThis review is from– I don't even know how to say it– miralamb04 on Apple Podcasts and it says, “A Must Resource During Pregnancy.” It says, “The VBAC Link was most helpful and encouraging during my TOLAC (trial of labor after Cesarean) preparation. I used all of the episodes to everyone's different expectations and outcomes to help me prepare for my VBAC. Finding out I was pregnant six months postpartum after a planned C-section due to a breech baby was frightening at first.”We have talked a lot about this close duration. It says, “I knew immediately I wanted to VBAC and started doing my research. The VBAC Link was constant during my stroller walks with my baby and helped me mentally prepare for my second pregnancy. I used the resources provided to help open up conversation during my prenatal appointments and ultimately advocate for myself and my baby for a planned, hospital TOLAC. I successfully had my second baby via VBAC a few days ago and I'm so happy that I did. Everything I could have wanted and so much more. Thank you, Julie and Meagan.” I love that so much. You guys, this is what this platform is for. It's for you to have the education, the information, and the empowerment to go on and make the best decision for you no matter how that is and what your birth outcome looks like. I love how she said, “To advocate for me and my baby.” Right? Crystal: Yes. Love it. Meagan: I love it. That is so cool.Crystal: Very, very. Meagan: Thank you so much for that review. They touch me from the bottom of my heart and if you haven't, please drop us a comment. Drop us a review. Let us know what you think about The VBAC Link. Crystal Nightingale Meagan: Okay, cute Crystal. Welcome, welcome. Crystal: Hi. Thank you for having me. Meagan: Absolutely. I'm so honored that you are here and taking the time out of your very busy day to talk more about that topic that we just don't talk about. It's not even that we don't talk about it. I think it's just that we don't think about it. Crystal: Yeah, yeah. Meagan: It's so far over there because we have such an event to get through. Birth is an event. Crystal: Yeah, it's huge. Meagan: It's such an event to get through that we can't think about what we're doing here or over here because we are right here in this moment preparing for this event. Crystal: Yeah. Yeah. Meagan: I mean, I have ridden tons of bike rides, races, long distances, and ran half marathons. I'm telling you that at mile 10, the only thing I was thinking about was where that finish line was, not where the next starting line was or that next experience. So I'm excited that you are here with us to talk more about this next journey because it is a whole other journey that leads us down a path through life in general and it can impact us for our next birth. Right? Crystal: Yes. Right. Meagan: It's a circle. It all goes together. Let's talk about it a little more. Let's talk about your professional background. What got you into this? What got you into your passion for postpartum and serving moms and babies through postpartum and through breastfeeding? Crystal: Yeah, so I always knew that I wanted to work as a nurse or in the nursing field. I was just fascinated with labor and delivery and women's health. Of course, being a woman and all of the amazing things that we can do. I had my oldest children younger so I was very naive. After I became a nurse, I really got into postpartum and mother and baby and just seeing new babies come into the world and helping the parents, the whole family, with breastfeeding and helping them take care of their newborn baby and just all of that fascinates me. It's just incredible to me. I've been working with mothers and children as a nurse for a little over 10 years now and you know, just through my time in the hospital and the clinic, I have seen a trend. A lot of parents have the best intentions. They want to breastfeed and they want to do this, but then there is not a lot of support. The WHO, World Health Organization, and CDC all recommend breastfeeding for at least six months, but what? Then parents go back to work at six to eight weeks maybe? Some even sooner. I've seen some moms who have to go back to work within two or three weeks. So just seeing that lack of support postpartum for families just triggered, “Okay.” It's very frustrating to be in a hospital or a large health organization setting and not be able to do as much as I want to because of all of the policies and regulations and things like that. So I teamed up with The Mama Coach to start my own private practice and being part of The Mama Coach has been awesome. We are a group of registered nurses and some nurse practitioners all around the world helping parents to make parenting easier through education, evidence-informed solutions, support, assessment, individualized plans, and all of the stuff to help support parents from the prenatal period to postpartum to feeding and starting solids, all the way up to five years of age with sleep and CPR and things like that. So yeah. That's a little bit of my background. I have four kids and I did not get to breastfeed my older two because again, I was young and naive. I didn't know anything. I “tried” to breastfeed not knowing that cluster feeding was normal. I just thought, “Oh no. I need to give formula because they sent me home with formula.” Then all of a sudden, my milk dried up and I was like, “Oh well. I guess I'll just formula feed.” That wasn't what I wanted to do. I just didn't know how to continue the breastfeeding journey. Meagan: Yeah. This isn't like anything that we talked about, but I kind of am wondering if you know the answer to this. We are talking about how all of these organizations– big organizations– encourage breastfeeding. We talk about how we don't necessarily have the support but not only do we not have the support, but we have the alternatives given to us so easily which I think is great. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it makes it easier or if we don't know. Like with cluster feeding, you think you're baby is starving. You think, “I'm not giving my baby enough. They are always hungry, always hungry and I have to supplement with formula,” when that's not necessarily the case. Why do you think these companies are providing so much formula right out of the gate?Crystal: You know, I'm not sure. I can say it probably is because they are not thinking of the long-term effects of starting formula. If it's needed, how I always was taught especially working in the hospital is that really, formula should be used and treated as a medication. Use if absolutely needed. But, when some staff or doctors or whatever see that a mother is struggling maybe, they don't automatically think, “Let's support her and see how we can help her reach her goal. Let's just feed the baby and deal with it later,” not knowing that that can negatively impact the breastfeeding relationship down the road. You know, like you said, that is there for a reason, and if a baby really needs it, of course, use it. I think the organizations are getting better, but they can still be better. Meagan: Yeah. Do you know what I would like to see more? I know that this can be tricky because of all of the things that are put into our bodies and in this world, but I would love to see milk bank donations more. Crystal: Yes. Meagan: There are certain countries that are literally like Winder Dairy and they bring breastmilk to your porch for people who are struggling. It's so awesome and there are parents out there. There are moms out there who have an insane overproduction, but their baby isn't necessarily using it and it could go to a preemie baby or to a mom that may have a little bit of a rough start or have had a Cesarean under general anesthesia and isn't able to really even be present in that moment. I would love to see that happen more. I don't even know. There are all of the things out there. There are all of the apples off of the tree that I would like to grab and make happen. Crystal: That would be so amazing. Meagan: But they are out there too. So if you are struggling in your breastfeeding journey, it doesn't hurt to ask, “Hey, is there a breastmilk donation in our area or in this hospital?” because there are situations where some hospitals– it's not talked about and it's not big enough yet, but there are banks where people who donate. And because of the craziness in this world, they are really, really strict on who can donate. My cousin did one and you have to check a million boxes to be able to donate. So anyway. Crystal: It makes sense. Meagan: It could be weird to people like, “Someone else's milk, what?” Crystal: I've definitely encountered that before. Everyone has their feelings, beliefs, and opinions, so it's like, “Well, it's there.” I am seeing more hospitals in my area up in northern California have donor breastmilk available in the hospital, but the problem with that is they give the donor milk in the hospital, but when they go home, there is still not that support or continuation of care because now, mom's milk maybe is not quite sufficient yet and how do we help them when they go home? Meagan: Right. Crystal: That's another thing that we're seeing too. Meagan: Okay. So that is a question right there even. We can go home, but I'm going to go back and talk about breastfeeding with that. What do we need to not forget about the postpartum journey during the birth preparation? What are some things that people who are pregnant, preparing for birth, and preparing for their birth– they are so excited. They are figuring out if birth is right for them. What do we need to focus on and not forget about during that pregnancy journey? Crystal: Yeah, so of course, like we were saying earlier, getting ready for birth and preparing for birth is a huge event. We prepare for that and all of that, but then we don't think about like we were saying, the postpartum. Think that postpartum can last a year or two years, sometimes even longer depending on how long you breastfeed if you plan to breastfeed. It takes 9-10 months for your hormones to increase and grow this baby and things like that, then of course, it can take– to me, this is my thinking– at least nine months for it to go back down to somewhat normal levels. If you're breastfeeding, you've still got all kinds of hormones going on. So think about that. Babies have to be fed, so how are we going to feed them? Are you going to breastfeed? Do you know what to expect? Do you know what kind of bottles and what kind of formula to use? Do we know what to expect with just newborns in general and newborn care and diapers? Because babies' poops look funky. They are different from ours, so it's like, okay. All of these things, I feel like if parents are a little bit more prepared, then they will have less anxiousness for one because it's a whole new thing whether you are a first-time parent or even if it's your third or fourth baby– even with me for my fourth baby, I was like, “Wait. Is this normal?” I'm a nurse and I work in the field, but it's so different when you're on the other side. So just to be prepared for that so that way you have the expectations and you know, “Okay, what's normal? What's not normal?” Have somewhat of an idea of how to manage some things and know that there is support out there when you need the support. Meagan: Absolutely. Something that I– with my first baby, I ended up going back to work at 12 weeks postpartum. I already wasn't prepared for a Cesarean, so then I was recovering from that, but when it came to feeding my baby and even my emotional status, I really wasn't prepared for all that was happening in such a short period of time and then to shift. As soon as I started feeling like I was kind of getting the hang of it and things were in control or I had a routine, it was like my feet got swooshed underneath me and it was changing again. I was all of a sudden in a back storage room pumping every three hours. I was storing my milk in a fridge where everyone stored their lunch and then trying to figure out that and trying to get enough production for my baby while they were with the babysitter. It was so much. Crystal: It's a lot, yeah. Definitely, going back to work after having a baby, no matter how soon whether it's six weeks or six months is definitely a big change as well. That's something that a lot of parents aren't really thinking about or prepared for which is totally fine. There is so much more going on at the moment, but knowing that, “Okay. I need to prepare and be ready before I go back to work so I know what to expect.” And like I said, getting some support on how to manage that. Get a plan together. Get a schedule together. Meagan: Yeah. So as a doula, I work a lot with my clients right before pregnancy and sometimes they are a little caught off guard when I'm like, “What's your postpartum plan?” They're like, “Huh? Aren't you a birth doula?” I'm like, “Yeah. I am a birth doula, but I know a lot about postpartum and I didn't plan for it either. Let's talk about it. How are you going to eat so you can feed your baby? How are you going to get sleep?” because just like you were talking about before, a lot of moms have to go back 12 or so weeks after. Some of them two weeks after. We also have an issue with our paternity leave– Crystal: Paternity leave for the fathers or the partners. Meagan: Yeah. We have one week. Especially if you have multiple kids, we have one week a lot of the time and then they're gone and we're like, “What are we going to do?” Get your meal trains. Get your support. Rally up together. Have your birth team. Have your postpartum team. Have a plan. We know plans change no matter what– birth, postpartum, everyday life. I sometimes plan to go to Costco and then I don't go to Costco that day because something happened. Plans change, but if we can have a baseline of an idea, I will be like, “Okay.” I have a friend who gets mastitis with every baby. Crystal: Oh gosh. Meagan: With her third baby, she was like, “I'm going to do everything.” She had her IBCLC to go to the hospital on day one to get a good, established latch. She met with her as soon as she left the hospital. By day four, she was meeting with her again to make sure. You guys, she was on sunflower lecithin. I don't know how you feel about that, but that helped her personally to not be so sticky. She was like, “I have got to get this under control. I have two other kids. I cannot be sick with mastitis.” Then she would end up getting thrush after that so she took a probiotic. Crystal: Oh my gosh. Meagan: There are things we can do and it's really hard to focus on that in the pregnancy stage. Crystal: Yeah, yeah. Meagan: But there are things. We can get on those probiotics. We can contact those IBCLCs. We can have a plan in place so we are not just thrown into the fire. Especially in my case, where I did have a Cesarean and a repeat Cesarean, those were just things that were unexpected so prepare the best you can. I love that. I love your advice. This is so important and get that support. Crystal: Yeah, for sure. I just thought of something because I talked a lot about breastfeeding and feeding your baby, but you brought up a good point. As mothers, we for sure neglect ourselves all of the time so like you were talking about with eating, make sure you eat and hydrate. Moms are recovering too from birth so whether it's vaginal or a Cesarean, planned or an emergency Cesarean, your body is doing a lot postpartum. It's just crazy. Meagan: We're amazing. We are amazing human beings. We are incredible.Crystal: Yes. We are. We are. We so are, but then we have to remember to take care of ourselves as much as possible. That's where the support and village come in because you can't do it all yourself. I guess you could. I'm sure some women have, but you shouldn't have to do it by yourself. Meagan: No, and I think like you are saying, we shouldn't have to but for some reason, we do. Crystal: Yeah. I know. I know. Meagan: We don't ask for help. We struggle asking for support. We struggle spending money on ourselves. We struggle getting postpartum doulas or going to an IBCLC because it costs so much and insurance doesn't cover it. You guys, you are worth it. You are worth it. You are amazing. You grew a human. You birthed a human. You are now taking care of a human. You are feeding a human. There is so much to it. It's okay to get that support and give back to yourself. Crystal: Totally, totally. I 1000% agree. Meagan: Yes and sometimes, that is finding a coach and just getting some advice or talking to someone and just being heard. Maybe you don't physically need anything, you just need to be heard. Crystal: Yeah, yeah. Meagan: Yes. Okay, so now we've had our baby and everything. What can we look for in the first few weeks to know that maybe we need to ask for more help or get more resources or take care of ourselves? What are some things that we can look for in those first few weeks with nursing and postpartum just in general? Crystal: Yeah, yeah. So for moms, I have spoken to a lot of moms who weren't aware that there would still be bleeding afterward so there is that. Meagan: That is a thing. Crystal: Yes, that is a thing. You are still bleeding. That is normal, but obviously, from a nursing standpoint, if there is excessive blood or you are filling a pad every hour, then for sure, you want to reach out. A lot of women tend to swell postpartum. Some are like, “No, I didn't have any swelling during the pregnancy,” then all of a sudden postpartum, you just blow up. Your feet are swollen and things like that. That could be due to some IV fluids or other stuff going on, but for sure, you want to reach out to your provider with that. Contractions and cramping afterward are still a thing, especially with breastfeeding. Some women are just like, “Oh my gosh. I did not know about this.” Some women feel great after delivering. They are like, “Yeah. I don't need to take my meds. I'm feeling okay,” but once they start breastfeeding and they start feeling these contractions, it's like, “I'm in labor again.” That is normal. I know it's uncomfortable, but that is definitely normal. If you still feel that when you're not breastfeeding or it's not relieved with pain meds, then for sure, I would highly recommend reaching out to the provider. Meagan: That can also get worse with each baby, right? Crystal: Yes. Yes, it can get stronger. Meagan: It can last a little longer and be a little bit more intense, yeah. Crystal: I know which is like, “Why? We already went through this. Why do we have to make it worse?” Meagan: Our uteruses have to shrink down. Crystal: I know. It's a good thing. The cramping is a good thing. It's a normal thing. We want that. It controls bleeding. It gets the uterus back down to the normal size and all of that. Engorgement. Even if a mom is not breastfeeding, the body's natural, physiological response is to bring in milk. With the delivery of the placenta, your hormones drop and that triggers, “Oh, okay. Baby has been born. Let's make milk.” Meagan: We have to feed it. Crystal: Yes. So whether you breastfeed or not, if you don't breastfeed, you may not get as much engorgement, but there is still stuff going on there. If you are breastfeeding, you will almost 100% get engorged in the first few days anywhere from day three to five. Sometimes it is a little bit longer, but around there, your breasts will feel really full. Some women say their breast sizes double or triple. Meagan: Mhmm. Crystal: They can get really rock hard. That's pretty normal because your milk is coming in. Getting support with latching well so the baby can empty it or if you need to, maybe you have to pump a little bit, but like I said, of course. Reach out for lactation support because depending on the situation or what's going on, the lactation consultant can further guide you on how to manage that. But lumps, you may feel little lumps in the breast. That is pretty normal. Those are just basically milk ducts that are swollen or filling with milk because of the postpartum period with increased swelling and things like that. After engorgement, I'm thinking of the progression of things, a lot of parents see clogged ducts, but now we know that it's called ductile narrowing instead of clogged ducts. Meagan: Oh. Crystal: Yes. Before, we thought that the milk was getting clogged. Meagan: Getting sticky. Crystal: Yes, then we had to somehow remove this milk plug, but the new research by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is saying that it's not that. It's inflammation and swelling of the milk duct itself that causes the narrowing of the channel or the passageway that milk goes through and that makes it back up. It backs up the milk. Management for that beforehand was warm compresses and massage, massage, massage, dangle feeding or something like that. Now, they are saying that we should be using cold compresses. Meagan: Oh, okay to reduce inflammation. Crystal: Exactly, to reduce inflammation. I always tell parents that if we have a swollen ankle and the breasts are swollen, we wouldn't put a hot or a warm compress on it. Meagan: No. Okay, I'm noting it. Crystal: You would do the ice or the cold compress to reduce the inflammation and when we reduce the inflammation in those milk ducts, now that passageway opens up, everything can calm down, and milk can flow a little bit easier. Meagan: Mind blown!! Crystal: I know. Meagan: That is amazing. That would have been nice to know a long time ago. Crystal: I know. When I see moms say, “Oh my gosh, I have this lump and my breasts don't feel empty even with breastfeeding or pumping. I've been doing hot showers and massaging it.” I'm like, “No. Try cold.” Almost always, it helps. Meagan: I am totally adding this to my doula toolbox. Crystal: Yes. Yes. Meagan: This is really good information. Crystal: It is. It's so amazing when parents come back and they are like, “Oh my gosh. It worked. I can't believe it.” Also, breast tissue is very delicate. It's soft tissue. Some moms are just aggressively massaging their breasts like, “Oh my god. I have to get this out.” You don't want to do that because you can further damage and cause trauma to the breast tissues. Meagan: More inflammation. Crystal: Yes, more inflammation, exactly. Light massage. If you need to, cold compresses for that. For moms, I'm going on and on right now. This episode is going to be forever. It's going to be hours long. That's kind of the basics of the immediate thing that we need to look for in mom physically. Emotionally and mentally, parents are sleep-deprived so we definitely want to make sure, like you said, have those meal trains. I even suggest adding this to the baby registry when you are pregnant like meal cards, Door Dash cards, a postpartum doula even. It's like, “Whoa. Instead of giving me all of this, this is what I'm going to need help with in the first couple of weeks.” I know for me, I guess I'm thinking of myself and my baby, but I'm also thinking of everything else in the house that I need to do like, “Oh my gosh, I need to do the laundry. Oh my gosh. The other kids need to get rides to school,” or what have you. If there is anything, you know how friends and family are always saying, “Let me know if I can do anything to help,” please ask for help because moms and parents need sleep definitely. That helps because, for one, sleep is just a human need. Two, for sanity, and three, because the more rest that we can get as mothers, as a breastfeeding and lactating parent, the better our milk supply will be too. Meagan: Yeah, 100%. Like we were talking about, we are not thinking of drinking and that helps our breast supply. That helps our healing physically and keeps us in our minds. On that topic, Be Her Village– I'm sure you've heard us talk about it. Check out Be Her Village. You guys can create a registry just like Crystal is describing where you can go and register for a doula or childbirth education or money for an IBCLC or pelvic floor health or mental health. All of these things, if this is your registry– Crystal: Pelvic floor health, oh my gosh, is another thing. We don't know about that. Most mothers are just– not that we don't care, we just don't know. There are just so many things going on down there that for sure you need some kind of pelvic floor rehabilitation afterwards even if you have a C-section. Meagan: 100%. It's aggravating. I'm not going to spiral off on this tangent. It's aggravating to me that so many insurance companies do not cover this as a standard part of postpartum. But they're not covering postpartum pelvic floor issues. They're not covering this. Crystal: Yeah. Meagan: I went and it was $250 per visit and as a new mom, especially if we invested in a doula and an IBCLC and a photographer or whatever. Crystal: All of those things, yeah. Meagan: It's like, “Oh, whatever,” and now we have a newborn that has to have diapers at $50/box. It's really hard. Crystal: Right and that's where we neglect ourselves again. Not that we want to, but I don't even know who to blame. Healthcare or insurance or whatever is preventing us from getting the proper care or support. I did the same thing. I just wanted to touch on that. I did the same thing. I was having issues holding my bladder and I asked for a referral from my doctor for pelvic floor health because doing our own research, we're like, “Okay. I think I need to see a pelvic floor therapist.” They did not. They were like, “Well, normally we don't do that.” I'm like, “Why?”I did the same thing. I tried to look into it myself to pay out of pocket and it was expensive and I just kind of gave up and was just like, “Okay. I'll just do my own research and find out some exercises on my own and just do it on my own,” which is sad. We shouldn't have to do that. Meagan: I agree. I agree. Crystal: But okay, so on to what to expect because there are still a couple of other things. There is so much, but I just want to touch on the emotional and the mood disorders because that is very, very important and huge. I always recommend that when moms take classes prenatally they have a partner or a birth partner or something that is along for the ride with them who comes to the classes and things like that. I really recommend that postpartum too. Any time of postpartum class, newborn class, or breastfeeding class, the partner or caregiver should definitely be involved as well as the birthing parent because as moms, we don't initially see that there is something more going on with us for postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, and things like that. It's usually a close family member who notices things going on first. Definitely, I feel like the whole family should be involved in that and if parents are just struggling with coping and with new life as a parent breastfeeding and all of the things, then definitely reach out for support because that can definitely happen with all of the hormones going on and the stress. Meagan: Lack of support. Crystal: Lack of support. Meagan: Lack of sleep. Crystal: Lack of sleep, yes. That's definitely something big. Meagan: I want to talk just slightly about this. It's really hard as a new mom to and I hope this isn't triggering, pass your baby to someone so you can take care of yourself. We had a client years ago that was really struggling. She had a series of things and was really struggling. One of the things that we ended up coming up with was for her to go to her mom's for the night. We came up with a good plan and had help with dad and the kids for baby. She ended up pumping and coming up with a supply and for one night– she did wake up engorged– she slept all night. All night. She went to bed at 8:30. She pumped before and went to bed. She woke up. I think she said it was at 6:30 which is still early, but 8:30 to 6:30 is a good stretch. She was probably so engorged that she had to wake up, but you guys, she was a new person. She said that. She was like, “Whoa. It's like my funk was just sucked out of me just by getting that sleep.” That was really hard for her to do that. Crystal: Of course, I'm sure. Meagan: It was really hard for her to be like, “I'm giving up my baby who is four days old overnight.” It's not ideal. It wasn't ideal, but she spiraled quickly and she got to a place where that's ultimately what she thought was going to be best. Anyway, it was amazing. She still had trials to get through because the next night, she had lack of sleep but she was able to build up that foundation a little bit more by getting a good night's rest. Crystal: Of course. Exactly. Meagan: Her mom seriously had all of these broths and all of this high-protein food and all of these amazing things to fill her being with all of the good things. Crystal: Yeah, because as mom, we are filling everybody else's cup usually, but we aren't filling up our cup. Meagan: Yeah. You don't have to leave your baby with anyone overnight, but going back to that, have someone fill your cup. Have someone fill your cup. Food, all of those things. Crystal: Everything. I've heard of some parents when they finally get three or four hours of sleep straight, they're like, “Oh my gosh. That was amazing.” Same thing. “I feel like a new person.” Just because sleep is a human need, so we need that and if we're just constantly days upon days upon days of getting only 1-2 hours at a time of sleep, that's definitely not sustainable and not enough. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. She started resenting her baby. Crystal: Yeah. Yeah. I've heard of that too. Meagan: She started having anxiety at nighttime. Crystal: Yeah. Yeah. I could definitely see how that can come about for sure especially if you're breastfeeding, especially with that. We all know that of course, breast is best. Breastmilk is best, but we also have to think of the whole picture. I always tell this to all of my clients and patients that I work with. Mental and sleep health is very important. Very. I know breastmilk is too, but you do the best that you can. Meagan: It's like when we're on the airplane and they talk about if we're in an emergency and the masks fall down, prepare your mask on you first before you help someone else. Crystal: Yes. Meagan: It's a similar concept to me where if we cannot fuel ourselves with the oxygen and the sleep and these things, we cannot 100% take care of this baby. Crystal: Right, yeah. Meagan: We can't make milk. Crystal: Right. Meagan: Because our body is going to protect us and sometimes we will see a milk dip with stresses and things like that. I have clients who are nursing really, really well and then a stressful event happens in their life and they're like, “I'm losing my milk. I'm losing my milk. Is my baby not eating enough?” It's crazy how just mentally our body can do that. It can stop making as much milk. Have you seen that?Crystal: Yeah. I have. I have actually. A stressful event or if mom starts a new medication, especially birth control. They don't know. They just don't know. When I talk to my doula consultation, I say, “Any new medications?” They say, “Well, I just started taking birth control but my doctor said it should be fine and won't affect my milk supply.” I'm like, anything new can. It can. Meagan: Hormones. Crystal: It's not to say that we can't get the milk supply back up, but at least being aware of it. Okay, this is why. It's not because of something else or whatever. So yeah. I've seen that. Meagan: Yeah. Crystal: Periods, too. Moms starting their period again, it can–Meagan: Throw it off. Crystal: Every month during your cycle, yeah. It throws it off. Lots of different things that could happen and will happen, so just something to have in the back of your mind like, “Okay. This is what I remember Crystal, The Mama Coach, saying or whoever saying that this can happen, but there are ways to work around it.” Meagan: This next question is a did-you-know. I feel like this is something actually that a lot of people do not know and that is that babies lose weight in the first few days. They can lose even more than the recommended loss if there was an induction, or a lot of fluids, or a surgery. Can we talk about that? Crystal: Yes. Yes. Correct. Meagan: Can we talk about what is normal? Because I feel like again, mentally, there is so much stress on feeding the baby, getting enough, cluster feeding, and all of these things, then we have this baby that weighed in at 7lb, 12 oz and is now weighing in at 6lb, 15oz, and we are like, “Whoa. This is a big loss.” We've got providers freaking out about it, suggesting supplements, and things like that. What's normal? What is the average loss just without induction and things like that? Can we talk a little bit about that so we can offer some comfort to these mamas who might have a baby that's losing weight? Crystal: Yeah, yeah. So babies can lose up to 10% of their birth weight within the first three to four days or so. Normal weight loss is about 2-3% per day. So with that being said, when babies are in the womb, they are swallowing amniotic fluid. They are swallowing, swallowing, swallowing, so technically, they are born full and their first stool is that sticky, black, tarry meconium that is just getting rid of all of that amniotic fluid that they were swallowing while they were in the womb. So that's some weight loss because they are probably pooping five or six times within the first one or two days and it's super sticky. Then, like you said, if mom was inducted or induced or got a lot of IV fluids, antibiotics, and a Cesarean, then they got extra fluids. Anything that mom gets during labor, baby gets some of it too. Really, some providers are saying that a newborn's true weight can be seen 24 hours after birth versus one or two hours right after birth. That weight loss takes into account that. Fluids, getting rid of the meconium, and things like that, and then anything more than 10%, then we get kind of concerned. Like you said, some providers are like, “Oh my gosh. Let's do all of this.” Me, as the lactation consultant, I am less freaked out because I know that especially if a mom is breastfeeding, babies'– we're getting to probably one of our next questions– bellies are really small, so in the first couple of days, they are only taking 2-10 milliliters per feeding which is less than half of a teaspoon up to two teaspoons per feeding. That is the colostrum that they are receiving from mom, that yellow, thick, first milk that is expressed from mom's breast and although it's smaller in volume, it's really packed with a lot of nutrients and antibodies and things like that. It is nutritionally–Meagan: I say dense. Crystal: Dense, yeah. Nutritionally dense. So baby is getting what they need, it's just a smaller volume because it makes up for the fact that it takes a couple of days for mom's milk to increase and increase in volume and things like that. Babies are losing all of this excess fluids, pooping out all of this meconium, and then they're just getting smaller, frequent amounts of colostrum. All of that are factors in weight loss. And then when mom's milk starts to increase around day three to seven, they start taking in more volume and then we start to see some weight gain there. Now of course, as a lactation consultant, we look at the whole picture. What happened with the mom's labor and delivery experience? Is this baby number one or two or multiple for them? Do they have any medical background that might be a factor in milk increasing or milk coming in? All things like that and when I look at that, I'm like, “Okay. Maybe we need to supplement just a little bit if we need to.”And then I will tell moms, “Let's maybe have you pump or hand express. Any extra colostrum or transitional milk that you can express, give that to baby first and we will see how that goes,” especially if they are not wanting to start formula. Every baby and family is different so I look at the whole picture, look at their goals, and see how best I can help them. But obviously, if a baby loses a significant amount of weight like 13-15%, then we are like, “Yes. We probably need to supplement.” So like I said in the beginning, formula is used when we need it if we need it, not just automatically, “Oh my gosh. Baby is at 9 or 10% weight loss. We need to give formula.” I definitely disagree with that. And it's all the parent's choice as well. I give them the options and they decide what they want to do and then I support them in whatever they decide. Meagan: Right. So as we are kind of working on getting our milk to come in and recovering and things like that, we talked about sleep, mental health, food, water, and things like that. That's all going to help our breastmilk. But are there other things that we could be doing or should be doing to help our milk to come in quicker or once it comes in, to help it be more– savory comes to my mind, but really rich for the baby? You just talked about how some babies do lose up to 13% and then I guess a side question is, do we know why some babies lose a little bit more? Is there a reason or is there something that we as parents could do or should we just be like, supply and demand? Nurse your baby. Your milk will come in. Your milk is great. Just because your baby is not gaining as much weight doesn't mean you should shame yourself or your milk is not good enough, because there is a lot of that too. Is there anything you would give us tip-wise to help milk come in? There are a lot of questions within this one question so I'm just going to turn the time over. Crystal: Okay. So yes. The best thing we can do is early hand expression. Typically, after birth, during the first 24 hours, babies are super sleepy. Super sleepy that it's hard to get them to latch or want to nurse frequently. Thinking about how breastmilk supply works, the more you demand on the breast or remove milk, the more milk you will make. So if the baby is sleeping the first 24 hours, the baby is not expressing as much milk and that is where hand expression is important. Frequently, newborns tend to eat at least 8-12 times in a 24-hour period, so if we break it down by hours, it is just so much easier. Every 2-3 hours or so, attempt to put baby to the breast. Do what you can. If the baby is too sleepy or not latching well, then hand express. Hand expression and get out that colostrum. You can spoon-feed that to baby or cup-feed or syringe-feed that to baby, and then you're still stimulating your supply. Sometimes, I hear parents say, “Oh my gosh, the first day or two, my baby was just so good and slept for four hours.” I'm like, “Did you hand express or pump at that time?” We just don't know. They were like, “No, I didn't. I slept too.” I'm like, “I'm glad you got sleep,” but to help your milk supply increase for baby, it is very, very important to express milk every few hours whether it's hand-expressed, latching, or pumping. I'm trying to think what was the other question you had. Oh, how we can make it more savory. I always recommend doing breast massage prior to any breastfeeding or pumping or expressing session. That's just because especially in the first couple of days, colostrum is very thick, so by massaging– and light massage. Not too hard, not too aggressively. You're basically unsticking or loosening up that milk so that way it can be expressed and you can collect that good, sticky, fatty, colostrum or milk. That's for even at any time. You might have heard of a foremilk and a hindmilk type of thing. That's basically when you express, you see a little fat layer in the bottle or in the milk and to increase that, some researchers say that you can't do anything to increase that, but we can help it to come out a little bit more. That's by hand-expressing or doing what we call a breastmilk shake. I've done this myself with my last baby is just doing the breast massage before breastfeeding or nursing. I have seen a thicker fat layer on the milk, so you can do that. Meagan: That's really good to know. With my son, he was kind of small to begin with, but when I would pump, I was like, “Oh my gosh. There is this much fat in this milk.” All of it separated and I had someone kind of suggest that, but it was a warm compress, not a cold compress. It was a warm compress, slight massage, and then nurse or even hand-express for just a second, and then nurse. Crystal: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can do that too. You can breastfeed or even hand-express a little bit too just to help that milk supply especially if baby didn't have a good feeding or wasn't quite latched very well just to ensure we stimulate the breast properly to give that signal of, “Okay, make the milk. Bring the milk in,” and things like that. I just wanted to say as a side note, all breastmilk is beneficial for baby whether you have a thin fat layer or not. Meagan: Good to know. Crystal: Your body still tailors and makes the breastmilk to your baby's needs. Meagan: Awesome. So hand-expressing during pregnancy, we were talking about postpartum, but is it suggested to do a little bit during pregnancy? Crystal: You can, but you have to be considered at least term which is about 37-38 weeks or so, and of course, check with the OB provider because it depends on what risk factors you have. Meagan: Yeah, because it can stimulate. Crystal: It can stimulate because it does with the hand expression, the same hormone is released when you are having a contraction which is oxytocin so it can cause some cramping or contractions so you definitely want to get cleared by the OB first before just starting the hand expression, but yes. Once you get cleared, you can start antenatal hand expression and start collecting. It may be nothing or you might get drops. I've actually tried it on myself before and I didn't get anything. I was kind of discouraged, but I was like, “No, knowing what I know, it's fine,” but it's good practice, too for hand expression postpartum. So practice, collect drops, and then you can freeze it and then bring it to the hospital if for some reason baby needs to be supplemented if they have low blood sugar or jaundice or whatever, so yeah. Meagan: So good to know. Okay, and then last but not least, we have different types of feeding. Bottles, paced bottle feeding, we talked a lot about breastfeeding. Can we talk about all of the different types of feeding?Crystal: Yeah, yeah. So of course, you can do exclusive breastfeeding and that's just feeding baby at the breast, or you can do breastfeeding and pumping so feeding breastmilk in some type of vessel whether it's a bottle or syringe. I typically see bottle and syringe usually especially when the milk volume increases or you could do combo feeding which is breastfeeding, pumping, and formula feeding so you can do a combination of all three. Some moms do exclusively pumping. They don't put baby to the breast at all for whatever reason. It could be their own preference or they were just struggling with latch and it just was not working out for them, or sometimes it takes a long time to breastfeed, 30-45 minutes, so some moms feel like that works better for them to just pump for 15-20 minutes and bottlefeed. Or some, whether it's their own personal preference or medical reasons, exclusively formula feed. With that, when you do any type of feeding other than breastfeeding and you bottlefeed, you want to pace bottlefeed. We do that for several reasons. For one, sometimes, newborns don't really know how to pace themselves and they will just take that whole bottle. Meagan: Chow it down. Crystal: Chow it down in one minute flat and we don't want that because I always tell parents to think about how we eat. We don't just shove food in our mouths. Meagan: Chew your food. Crystal: Yes, chew your food and things like that. One, it can help baby learn how to slow down their feeding and then learn their own hunger cues like signs of fullness which in turn can help in the longer term as they get older knowing their hunger cues and knowing when they're full and not overeat. Then three, it can help with digestive issues. Gulping too much too fast or drinking too fast, they can take in more air which means they will be more gassy and more fussy and then we are like, “What's going on? Why is my baby so fussy?” It's because they are gassy most of the time. A lot of the time, babies are just not very comfortable when they have gas and they definitely express it and communicate that they are uncomfortable, so we want to prevent that. By pace bottle-feeding, we help to remedy that. Meagan: That makes total sense. Sometimes, I feel like when they are gasping all of that air, then they spit up a lot. This is not really one of the questions we talked about, but when a baby spits up, a lot of the time we see it, and it looks like a lot and we are like, “I can't believe I just fed my baby and it's right here on this blanket or all over myself.” Is there a rule of thumb to be like, “Okay, really, that is true. Every little ounce of that just came out?” Or is it like, “Okay, your baby still got quite a bit.” Crystal: That's kind of hard to say because like you said, it does visually look more than it is which is why pace bottle-feeding is important because we want to take frequent breaks, little, quick breaks of a couple of minutes or so to burp, let that move down their belly, and get that excess air out, and then continue feeding. I always recommend that if your baby spits up and it looks like a lot, see how they're doing and go by their cues. If it seems like they are looking for food again, try and give a little but maybe a smaller amount just to see how it goes. Meagan: Mhmm. That's a good rule of thumb. Crystal: Keeping babies upright after feeding, if you can,  will help to lessen the chance of spit-up, but then again, sometimes babies spit up out of nowhere an hour after feeding. Parents are like, “I don't know what's going on. He spit up.” If that happens and you are burping your baby and keeping them upright after feedings, I would definitely talk to a provider because sometimes it can be the formula if they are drinking formula or something to that effect. Meagan: Mhmm. Yeah. Awesome. We've gone over so much. Crystal: I know. Meagan: I want to just end on The Mama Coach. How can people find you? What do you guys offer? How does The Mama Coach? I mean, I know how. It's in amazing ways and who is a good, qualifier to go and find a Mama Coach?Crystal: Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, The Mama Coach is a group of registered nurses all over the world. I am the owner here in Vacaville, California which is in Northern California. Our goal is just to help make parenting easier. Like I mentioned, we do have prenatal services. We have postpartum services and newborn services, helping with any type of feeding even if you are not breastfeeding. Meagan: Sleep?Crystal: Sleep, yes. We have sleep. We help with newborn sleep, toddler sleep, potty training, CPR and choking classes, starting solids as well as one-on-one services here. For me, locally, I do home visits and home lactation visits. I can do any of the workshops one-on-one in home or virtually. My niche is breastfeeding– prenatal breastfeeding education and consultations as well as postpartum of course, newborn care, and sleep because those are all important things. Meagan: Very, very important things. Crystal: Very important. Meagan: You guys make it really, so easy. You just go to themamacoach.com. There is a “Find a Mama Coach”. You can search what you are looking for or you can type in your zip code and you can pull up all of the Mama Coaches near you and go over all of their services. I don't think there is a single one that only does one thing. Crystal: No, we all pretty much do a lot. Yes, correct. Yep. For sure. If you are a new or expecting parent or even a parent of a three-year-old– any parent that is struggling and your baby is five years old or under, we can help you. I am on Instagram. My Instagram is crystal.night.themamacoach. We also have a website like you were saying. The main website is themamacoach.com. We each have our own individual sites as well and I'm sure we'll post that information somewhere, but yeah. Reach out to any one of us and myself if you are in Northern California in the Vacaville area. We, like I said, almost all do virtual and then also locally in person too. I do ongoing workshops and that's always posted on my website in the classes or on my Instagram. Meagan: So amazing. You guys are doing so much. You even have a blog where you can look specifically at pregnancy, newborn, sleep schedules, and parenting in general. I mean, these guys have amazing things so make sure to go follow. We'll make sure to tag you today on our Instagram and our Facebook so you can go and find it. We're going to have the website in the show notes. We'll have all of the things we have talked about and seriously, thank you so much for helping our community because like I said, we don't talk about postpartum as much. We don't focus on it as much. We don't focus on feeding and all of the things, so thank you so much for kicking off the 2024 season with a new type of topic. Crystal: Yes. Yes. Awesome. I was so happy to be on here. Thank you. ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

My day-to-day work revolves around supporting the current and the aspiring lactation care provider with the resources they need to continue learning, to practice evidence-informed lactation care, and to treat people with kindness and compassion in their contacts with them for the purposes of lactation support. I am immersed in the world of lactation care and the universe of lactation supporters every single day. I am fully committed and I don't intend to retire anytime soon. That's why I read that New York Times article with alarm. There are some very damaging tropes being perpetuated within it. (I refuse to link to it and give them even more website traffic. A quick Google search will bring it up.)The New York Times has pulled out the American journalistic playbook on breastfeeding and lactation once again. They're checking off the boxes on all the false narratives that confound all efforts to truly support people with their breastfeeding goals. Those false narratives:* everyone who is pregnant is pressured by everyone to breastfeed for the whole time their baby is a baby* lactation consultants are overpaid people who exist to take your money and shame you into breastfeeding* if you have problems with breastfeeding, you have to stop and do something else instead* pediatricians are experts in breastfeeding* the Affordable Care Act means that everyone has access to lactation care through their health insurance and insurance companies reimburse lactation consultants for their work* hospitals push breastfeeding beyond the limits of safety* clinical issues in lactation are easily explained or dismissed by people who have not studied them in depth or ever worked with a lactating dyadThank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.Here's what I can't wrap my head around: they could be using their platform to amplify information about how breastfeeding has been found to decrease the rate of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, reduce first-year infant mortality, and reduce lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women and people who give birth, but instead The New York Times is publishing an article that calls lactation support into question and breaks the public trust in the IBCLC. We don't have time for this. Many, many people want to breastfeed and cannot access the clinical and peer lactation support they need to do so. Publishing debate about a complex clinical scenario which impacts a small percentage of lactating dyads in a mainstream publication and then conducting what they called an “investigation” by people who are not experts in clinical lactation is not at all productive and it is, I would argue, harmful. There is tremendous harm in perpetuating the myth that lactation consultants are greedy, unethical people whose only objectives are, according to the American journalistic playbook on breastfeeding to a)overcharge you for their services and b)make you feel bad for how you are feeding your baby. Nothing could be further from the truth in either aspect. I've spent the better part of the past 15 years specifically serving IBCLCs and advocating for the profession and the credential. I've volunteered with ILCA and USLCA, served on the Board of USLCA, served on local organizations and for non-profit AND for-profit companies which serve the IBCLC. I offer specialized services for IBCLCs and those aspiring to earn the credential.I've been a practicing IBCLC since 2009, proudly serving families in California.I could write an entire book about what I have learned from all of those experiences. Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.What I know is that people get into the field of lactation because they uncover that they have a passion and/or determination to break down the barriers to breastfeeding that they or others close to them have faced. It's a good thing they don't get into it for the money because the math does not track. Most private practice lactation consultants do not make enough money to support their families and rely on their significant other's income as well. This is because the market does not allow them to charge as much as they should for private consults. People won't pay it. (And please don't come for me with the insurance reimbursement stuff. Sounds great the way it's written into the Affordable Care Act, but in the real world, insurance companies have made it next to impossible for lactation consultants to be reimbursed, and even when they do, the rates are far below reasonable for the expertise and work that goes into a lactation consult.)Also, let's think about the breakdown of the field for a minute, too. Most IBCLCs in the US are RNs, and most work in hospitals. They are paid an RN salary by their hospital of employment. Their salary is nearly always dictated by their RN license, not by the fact that they have earned the IBCLC credential. (This is why if you look up “average salary for a lactation consultant,” you'll see a number which looks pretty unrealistic.) For non-RN IBCLCs working in hospitals, which is another rarity, the rate of pay is generally lower than for an RN IBCLC. (Most hospitals use their RN IBCLCs in RN roles as well as lactation roles, so that means they have to be paid as RNs.) In my 10 years of hospital practice, my rate of pay was less than half that of an RN IBCLC. It is also a fact that there are a number of IBCLCs in private practice around the country. In some states, there are many, while in other areas, there are incredibly few IBCLCs at all, let alone any in private practice. It is a specialized service of which the general public mostly has a loose awareness only during the timeframe in which they or their loved ones might need it. That's why these falsehoods about lactation consultants are so damaging. We know that many people want to breastfeed because the data shows us that a vast majority of those who give birth breastfeed at least once in the hospital. This is not because of, as the Times puts it, “intensifying pressure to nurse.” (Note that they linked this phrase to, inexplicably, the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidance for pediatricians on Newborn and Infant Breastfeeding, a publication which does not in any meaningful way hold anyone accountable to pressure anyone to do anything, nor is it something the general public would routinely come into contact with.) In fact, many mothers report that neither their OB nor their pediatrician actively encouraged them or educated them about breastfeeding; many report that they were told to switch to using a breast pump or formula if they had problems feeding at the breast. These are commonly offered solutions by people who do not know how to assist with breastfeeding, but they do not solve breastfeeding problems. That can be problematic for people who intended to feed at the breast and now find themselves in a cycle of pumping and bottle feeding or using more formula than they intended. Ok, so if there isn't an intensifying pressure to breastfeed their babies, why do so many new parents put their babies on their chest and help them to latch right after they are born? It's because they want to. They may decide after that to never do it again, or they may do it a few more times, or they may keep on going for days, weeks, months, or years. It's always a personal choice to actually do it, no matter what people are told or what messages are put in front of them (excluding situations of coercive control by a partner who is forcing them to do so.) The emotions around how babies are fed are always going to be intense because parenting a tiny, helpless human brings terrifying responsibility and the physiological reality of pregnancy, birth, and lactation brings waves of shifting hormones that re-shape how people think and act. Lactation care providers use a variety of styles and communication methods to educate the public about lactation, and in one-to-one conversations and consultations with individuals, they work to build a relationship and trust so that they can provide answers, suggestions, and potential solutions to problems. Within that framework of relationship- and rapport-building, they do their best to communicate with empathy, clarity, and respect. What if it's not “pressure to nurse” that is creating this situation where people want to breastfeed but are unable to sustain it, but instead it's a combination of:* lack of widespread access to skilled lactation care by an IBCLC* lack of referrals to clinical lactation care AND peer breastfeeding support * over-reliance on pediatricians to provide information and assistance with lactation, something they are not routinely trained to do* pressure to resume pre-baby activities and outside activities* lack of support for new parents to care for their other children * lack of widespread access to adequate paid family leave * alienation and isolation or harassment of working parents who need to use a breast pump while at work* constant, unceasing marketing of infant formula and other products which interfere with human lactationI've taken criticism for my advocacy for the IBCLC; no process or certification is perfect, and there's plenty of opportunity to get better. We're still a young profession and we should collectively keep our minds and ears open for all of the ways we can improve it. I also embrace that many, many people want to serve families through their pregnancy and lactation journeys without becoming an IBCLC; there are also many who simply cannot due to the resource constraints of the imperfect and evolving process. The impact of the IBCLC credential is documented with strong evidence and has been for a long time. There is also ample evidence of the effectiveness and importance of lactation support provided by individuals who are trained as peers and/or lactation counselors and educators who have taken courses in the fundamentals of basic breastfeeding.Yet this article's very premise calls into question the expertise of one particular IBCLC and casts doubt upon the ability of an IBCLC to make a clinical observation or work with parents to create an appropriate lactation care plan. They think they're being slick by linking to documentation from our certifying board which details how an IBCLC can do their job when it comes to tongue tie in particular, but they present no evidence that the IBCLC they named operated outside of their scope of practice or violated their code of conduct. Then they amplified the false narrative about how lactation consultants are so well-paid, printing the price an IBCLC charged for their professional health care services as a way to imply that this is a high-paying job. The article attempts to explain a complex clinical lactation scenario - that of the infant with tongue function restrictions and its accompanying complications - in a publication for lay persons untrained in the nuance of human physiology. Is tongue tie a relatively rare phenomenon? Sure. Rare isn't the same as non-existent. It's not the problem for all babies who are struggling with breastfeeding, but it may be a problem for some. Calling into question the very people who are trained to assess and evaluate a dyad and provide education on how to mitigate problems is not helpful. Tongue tie is a topic of ongoing study and research within the field of lactation and multiple other health care disciplines, and multiple forms of evidence with varying strength do exist to support explanations and interventions which might be useful when it is implicated. Like many other clinical lactation phenomena which are understood well only by those who practice lactation care and study human lactation (such as the true incidence of insufficient milk production or the effects of medications on human lactation), tongue tie is too often simplified and dismissed by those who publish for clicks and website traffic. Too long; didn't read? Let's not get confused or spend any more energy on this. The worst harm done in this article is not to the issue of tongue-tie, though the article certainly does not helpfully shed any important light on it. The impact of this article goes far deeper. Breaking down the public trust in lactation support and minimizing the impact that it can have on people who want to feed their babies on their bodies and with their own milk is unforgivable. As lactation care professionals, we are not going to make any progress by spending our time debunking specific, clinical misinformation in public forums. (It doesn't work; we've been banging our heads against the walls for decades trying to “bust the myths.”) We are simply giving oxygen to the messages that should be extinguishing themselves. Instead, let's amplify truth and facts. Let's use messaging that resonates. Let's advocate for families to have access to high-quality lactation care and support in all of its forms. Let's not worry as much about these click-bait pieces that distract from the true message that needs to be shared: Breastfeeding is important, and help is available.*I have learned so much about public health and science messaging over the past few years from many sources. Some that are incredibly insightful for me are:The Huberman Lab Podcast with Dr. Andrew HubermanAmerica Dissected with Dr. Abdul el-SayedIf you have a minute to share this article with a friend, I would be so grateful. It helps us have better conversations! Get full access to Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

Here at The VBAC Link, we want to empower you with better birth experiences AND better postpartum experiences. The Lactation Network does just that. Caitlin McNeily is Vice President of Consultant Relations at The Lactation Network, working closely with thousands of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants in all 50 states. Her background in medical device sales led to the creation of Ashland Breast Pumps. It was through this work– connecting with new parents desperate for help– that led to The Lactation Network.Chrisie Rosenthal is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Director of Lactation Content and Programming at The Lactation Network.She has helped more than 7,000 families through her successful private practice, The Land of Milk and Mommy. She's worked alongside large pediatric practices in Los Angeles and as a hospital-based IBCLC. In addition, Chrisie is the author of two best-selling breastfeeding books: Lactivate!: A User's Guide to Breastfeeding published in 2019 and The First-Time Mom's Breastfeeding Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide from First Latch to Weaning published in 2020. Caitlin and Chrisie are both moms who had breastfeeding struggles of their own. They are passionate about helping other moms have the care and advice they wish they had!Additional LinksThe Lactation NetworkHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Meagan: Hello, Women of Strength. We have an amazing episode today for you with our friends, Caitlin and Chrisie. They are from our favorite, The Lactation Network, and are IBCLCs with The Lactation Network. We are going to get into the topic of how The Lactation Network came about but also, all of the questions and what it means to work with The Lactation Network and an IBCLC. We talk so much about preparing for birth and then birth. We talk a little bit about postpartum. We are starting to get more into postpartum because it is a really important topic, but this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because I have had three babies and three pretty different experiences. I've had some challenges along the way, so we are excited to welcome our guests today talking about breastfeeding and pumping and going back to work and all of the things and what it looks like to work with an IBCLC through The Lactation Network. So, welcome ladies. Caitlin: Thank you. We are so excited to be here. Chrisie: Thanks, Meagan. Meagan: So excited to have you. I think maybe we can just start off right off the bat with what is TLN? We've been talking about it for a little while now, but what is The Lactation Network? How did it start and where are you today? Caitlin: Yeah. My name is Caitlin McNeily. I am the VP of consultant relations at TLN. TLN stands for The Lactation Network. We are the largest network nationally in the U.S. of IBCLCs, lactation consultants for short, but IBCLC stands for Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultants. I am based in Chicago and have been with TLN since its inception and have seen it through a couple of iterations and have watched it grow as my fourth baby, as I sort of lovingly refer to it as. I do have three kiddos of my own– 13, 11, and 8. I had very different nursing experiences with all three of them. All three of them were C-sections and all of those were equally as different. So you know, when starting TLN, so much of it was very much in my wheelhouse at the time. I was pregnant with my third baby and going through that whole process. I wish I knew then what I know now about all of the amazing support that a lactation consultant can offer. The way that TLN was born, I think, is relevant to cover briefly but essentially when the Affordable Care Act mandated coverage of breastfeeding support and supplies, I was brought into a company to start a breast pump, what we call a DME which is a durable medical equipment company. I won't get in the weeds there, but essentially, we provide equipment directly to patients and we handle the insurance component. It started with the breast pump DME, getting parents the essential tools that we need, certainly in the U.S. with limited maternal leave. We certainly need breast pumps if we expect them to continue their breastfeeding journey. That was where the business really started. Roughly 12-18 months into that endeavor, a lot of these parents were calling me back postpartum saying, “Hey, you were really helpful at getting me a breast pump, but now I'm really struggling with my breastfeeding journey. Can you help me?” I myself am not clinical, so it wouldn't have been appropriate to try and troubleshoot their nursing issues. I leave that to the experts now. At the time, what happened was I reached out to an IBCLC locally here in Chicago and started sending her on some visits. Now, because the Affordable Care Act mandates that this care be covered, it was seemingly going to be a smooth transition from breast pumps into breastfeeding support. There is some lack of understanding, a lack of a pathway into insurance reimbursement for lactation care and I met that head-on by working directly with insurance providers and working through some new pathways that they could adopt to be able to cover this care for patients. As soon as there was progress made there with some insurers, we were sort of off to the races. Then what happened, was more lactation consultants were hearing about us. I was reaching out to more lactation consultants around the country as our patient base started to grow. It was very much an organic growth process, very supply and demand if you will. Now, our first visit was in 2016 so fast forward to 2023 and we've helped over 300,000 individuals with their breastfeeding journeys. Meagan: Wow. Caitlin: Yeah. It's a huge nod to the exceptional care of our IBCLC network. It's also really just standing up the reality that parents in this country deserve lactation care. I think a lot of times, we get very stuck in the conversation or drama or consideration around breastfeeding when the reality is lactation care is human health care. When you birth an infant, you are going to experience lactation on a variety of levels and in a variety of facets. However, this is a physiological and biological reality of the birth process and bodies that birth babies and lactate deserve healthcare surrounding that. Meagan: Amen. Caitlin: That is just our steadfast mission is to make this care accessible to all birthing families. Meagan: I love that so much. I love that you say lactation care in general because we are all going through different experiences. We all have these babies and then we are like, “What do we do with these things that are making milk? How do we feed these babies and how do we go back to work?” And all of the things, right? I love this network so much. I can literally scream it to the rooftops, you guys. This is amazing and it should be something that everyone gets. So you work with insurance, but are there still insurances that maybe aren't quite there yet? How does that factor in? Caitlin: Yeah, yeah. That's an excellent question. We are dogged in our pursuit of expanding lactation care within insurers that we do work with currently and expanding it into different pairs that are not currently working directly with The Lactation Network. We have no intention of stopping that mission or slowing down that mission. Our goal is to hold insurance companies accountable for this very essential care. The economic argument, the healthcare outcome argument– these things are black and white. There really is no gray area as it pertains to the benefit of taking care of lactating parents. In addition to insurance, understanding the importance of this care and the true economic value of this care, employers are starting to perk up as well meaning they want to make sure that when one of their parents goes out on maternity leave that they are set up for success in this arena because the statistics of predominantly women of childbearing age dropping out of the workforce to take care of their infant and their health and their mental health and their homes and all of those things. It can't be overstated how beneficial it is for employers to take care of their employees in this capacity. They will have easier times recruiting. They will have easier times retaining top-tier talent. This generation of women having babies and families bringing babies into this world are very contemplative when they choose what business they want to enter into agreements with. So much of that right now is based on the benefits base. They want to know that their employer is going to support their endeavors at home to keep them productive at home and happy at work.Meagan: Oh my gosh. Yeah, when I was working, I had my daughter and then I went back to work. I just remember the stress of, “How am I going to do this? How am I going to pump and keep my milk supply and feed my baby and do all of these things?” At the time, my work was like, “I guess you could go in the back storage room.” That was about all they gave me, then I was like, “Okay, well the milk has to be refrigerated.” They were like, “No. You can't. No. Bring a cooler.” So every day, I was trucking in this big pump and this cooler and all of these things. It would have been so nice to have more of that support. I probably would have stayed longer-term maybe. I don't know but it would have been nice to not feel– I mean, I still felt more support than I know some, but I still was like, “This is weird. They are not gung-ho about this.”Caitlin: Yeah. It's not ideal. Meagan: Yeah. It wasn't ideal. Caitlin: It's not ideal. Yeah. I think to paint the picture of what is available through The Lactation Network for those types of parents, it doesn't matter if you are staying at home or going back to work. It's not a one-size-fits-all-all, but the lactation care cadence that should be commonplace is that it should be preventative. That is where it falls in the Affordable Care Act. This is preventative care because as I mentioned before, your body is going to do this. Much like we go to scope out a pediatrician prior to the baby being born and then we go for our 7-day check-up and all of these things, we are really passionate about trying to shift the paradigm to match that type of preventative care as it pertains to lactation. What that can look like is a prenatal visit, a 3-day postpartum visit– so the day after you get home from the hospital, and then we can have adjustments because baby adjusts so much as your milk comes in and those first two weeks are so substantially different. You can have a troubleshooting visit. You can have a plan to go back to work and create a pumping schedule visit, storing milk. Occasionally, we'll run into a case of mastitis or clogged ducts. Oftentimes, when a parent goes back to work, their milk supply can drop a little bit. It can be just trying to engage in a new schedule with your breast pump, engage in a new schedule with waking up early, stress,  hydration, and eating at work. Those things can all play into your milk supply. Working directly with a professional to a) set your mind at ease, but also to adjust that plan accordingly. Those visits can go all the way through weaning. This is really a journey. It's a personal journey and this is where I would love to kick it to Chrisie because we are so fortunate to have her at TLN. She is just a top-notch human being and IBCLC on top of it. I think she can shed some light as to why TLN is so passionate about the IBCLC certification and why we only work with IBCLCs. Meagan: Yeah and more even on what IBCLCs truly do. We are talking about what those look like, but what more do you do, Chrisie, for parents? Chrisie: Yeah, thank you, Caitlin. I'd love to start with just what an IBCLC is because I think that there is a lot of confusion in the space of lactation caretakers to use that word, right? Lactation providers. IBCLCs are unique in that we are the highest credentialled healthcare providers specializing in lactation. We are truly the gold standard. One of the things that exists– and I always say that I love all of the supporters. I love all of the educators. There is a place for everybody, but I think it is important for families to know what differentiates an IBCLC. IBCLCs typically, it takes about 3-5 years to become an IBCLC. That includes a program that takes 90 hours of education in human lactation, coursework in 14 health science subjects, 300-1000 hours of supervised clinical experience, and then passing boards and recertifying every five years. It is definitely an in-depth program and process. Meagan: Very. Chrisie: Yes, absolutely. At TLN, we only work with IBCLCs. I think that's important to mention. We connect these families with that gold standard in lactation care. As IBCLCs, we are working with the pediatrician and with the OB. We are focusing on the parent-baby diad and what breastfeeding looks like. Consultations definitely differ from LC to LC. We all do it a little bit differently, but in a typical consultation, we're going to meet. We're going to go over your medical history. We're going to do an in-depth, deep-dive into how feeding has been going. We will probably observe a feed if that's applicable. We're going to talk about your feeding challenges, your feeding goals, where you want to go, and what's getting in the way of that. I always make lots of space for parents to ask whatever questions are on their mind and make sure I share evidence-based information, then at the end, we're going to create a plan for a follow-up and a plan for how to get from A to B and solve whatever issue it is that we are looking at. That's typically what a consult looks like. As I said, we're all a little bit different. I stay in touch with my patients in between consults. You know having been there that questions pop up all the time, just little questions. How long can I leave breastmilk out for? Just little things, especially if you're a first-time parent. I always say that even for parents who have done this before, every baby is different. Every breastfeeding experience is different so as Caitlin said, really think of LCs as being there from beginning to end, from prenatal to weaning is so important. We know that it makes an incredible impact on the breastfeeding journey for parents and for babies. Meagan: Oh my gosh. Yes. I mean, I wish because I had a baby and then I was meeting with an IBCLC days later but I was already days behind in engorgement and a really upset, hungry baby. It wasn't that I couldn't feed my baby, it was just that my boobs were really rock-hard. I remember when I met with an IBCLC, she was like, “It would be really hard for you to latch onto a rock,” with my mouth like this. She was like, “We've got to soften these up.” I was like, “I don't even know.” I was just a mess. If I had had that care before I had my baby, we would have been able to do exactly what you said– go over my plans, go over my goals, and come up with things to look for and what to know, then I would have had your help way before I was days past my breaking point of my husband being like, “I'm going to the store,” and I'm like, “I just want to feed my baby!” Chrisie: Exactly. I think that happens all the time, Meagan. I think that families are starting to take prenatal breastfeeding classes which is amazing. I always recommend my families do that. I think a piece that really needs to come to light is the value of prenatal consultation. It's exactly what you are talking about. Meet with your IBCLC one-on-one consultation before baby is here. I highly recommend doing it if it's not your first baby and if it's your second baby. Talk about what happened last time. Talk about a plan for ideally how to avoid those speed bumps the next time.Also, if this is a new IBCLC to you, you're going to get a chance to connect with them before the baby is here and find out how they work and find out if you will work well together. Is this the person you want to support you in your breastfeeding journey? But to your point, we're also going to talk about how to navigate those first few days, how to reach out for help, when to reach out for help, common speed bumps that happen including engorgement which you just mentioned, and how to navigate that. It really lays the foundation for getting off to a good start. Meagan: Absolutely. I just think it's so beneficial and what's so great about The Lactation Network is that it's really so easy to get a consult and get going. You've made it so easy. It's a matter of clicking, filling out a form, and starting your consultation. Right?Chrisie: Yeah. We have IBCLCs across the nation in every state. If you don't have an IBCLC, we will connect you with one. We will check your insurance to make sure we can get you covered, then right. It's just a matter of scheduling. The other thing that I think is really important to mention is that IBCLCs practice in different ways. We have IBCLCs who do home visits, who have offices that you can come to, and who do virtual consults. Many of my families like a combination of those. They might start off with an in-person but then maybe move to some virtuals for follow-ups. There are lots of different ways to do this. I also think that sometimes people if they don't know what to expect in a lactation consult, they might feel like– I'm just going to give you an example– they have to do a feed or maybe they have to do a feed virtually and that's not always true. I think maybe they picture a very invasive physical exam. That is not true. So I also think that another thing that comes up is home visits. Sometimes people worry about, “Oh my gosh, postpartum. My house is a mess. I don't want anybody to come in.” Oh my gosh. Don't worry for a second about that. That is the farthest thing from our minds as LCs. We will come to you in the space that is most comfortable for you, take care of you, and make sure you have all the information and support that you need. Meagan: And truly make our lives easier and take out the question even before birth. There are different types of birth. Even like Caitlin just said, she had three C-sections. I've had C-sections. There are vaginal. There is VBAC. There are unexpected C-sections and planned C-sections. There are a whole bunch of things that happen in birth. We know that medication, fluids, and all of the things that happen– trauma responses and all of these things can impact maybe how and when our milk comes in. Then also, our mental state. I remember with my first, I came out of my C-section and I just remember being in my hospital room dozing off, coming up, and then there was a new person holding my baby. Then I'd doze off and wake up and then a new person was holding my baby. All I could think was, “What's going on?” That's all I could think, not, “I need to feed my baby. Everyone needs to leave. How do I feed my baby? I'm not awake enough to feed my baby.” You know? Should I have started pumping? There are all of the things. Do you guys have any tips even before scheduling a consult that would maybe say, “Hey, look out for these or do these things? Different births can impact the way that milk comes in and things like that.” Chrisie: Yeah, I think it is important to acknowledge that especially in the first few days how the birth that you have absolutely does impact your early breastfeeding experience. In fact, I recently found a study that points out that women who deliver by VBAC are 47% more likely to initiate breastfeeding than women who deliver by a scheduled Cesarean. Meagan: Whoa. Chrisie: I know, right? I felt like that was a little shocking when I saw that. We know that women who deliver via Cesarean birth are more likely to experience early difficulties with breastfeeding. They are less likely to have their baby to breast within 24 hours. All of that to say, it's an added layer of significant complication in terms of initiating breastfeeding. I always like to tell my families, and in a prenatal consultation is definitely something that we cover, what your birth plans are, what your birth history is if you've had a baby before and how that will impact breastfeeding and what your struggles were the first time. I'm going to give you another example. If you have a long labor and you have a lot of IV fluids, that can postpone your milk transitioning. It can make it harder for your baby to latch. Your baby is more likely to lose a lot of weight quickly which means your baby is more likely to be supplemented in those early days, especially in the hospital. All of these have a real impact. Those are the things we are going to cover. With a Cesarean, there are positioning considerations. We're going to probably move that baby off of the torso and find positions that are more comfortable. Typically, these challenges are surmountable in the first few weeks so I never want to paint the picture that these are things that we can't have a plan for, but I think having a plan is key. Having the support is key. Having those conversations and having somebody that you can reach out to when you are experiencing any breastfeeding difficulty. Caitlin: I would like to piggyback on that. I think that a lot of people are like, “Well, I'm not one of those people who has a birth plan,” because the joke is always as soon as you make your plan, it changes. Meagan: It all goes out the door. Caitlin: Exactly. But I do think to Chrisie's point, in hindsight, my first C-section was emergent and I was put under for it. All was well. Everything worked out, but even for my second and third, I wish that I had spoken up about different things. If I have to go under again, this is what I want to have happen. Remembering that when you're in your labor and delivery suite, let everyone know, “Hey if this does have to go to a C-section, I want it communicated to the OR that I want the baby put on my chest immediately after delivery. I want it communicated that my intention in PACU is to immediately initiate breastfeeding and get skin-to-skin. Those are things where we can have all of the best intentions in the world, but it is worthwhile just thinking through some different scenarios. I think it is helpful to quell any of that anxiety because to Chrisie's point, these things are out of our control and that is totally the job of the medical professionals to take the best care of us and our babies, but it is definitely possible to just have some of those high-level thoughts and conversations. For my daughter, she was my second C-section. I was conscious, but even then, it was sort of not really outwardly known that you could request immediate skin-to-skin, and then in PACU, the nurse wasn't really working with me on breastfeeding very much. I lost some of that time and skin-to-skin that you only really realize later because you're so in this mentality. It's just such a whirlwind in the best possible way. They are the greatest moments ever, but really put pen to paper and think through some of those different scenarios. That's why that prenatal visit with an IBCLC is so amazing because when you are meeting with your OB, they are really just making sure that everything is going smoothly. That's not to say that they are not spectacular. Doulas are certainly helpful in getting some of these plans together, but as it pertains to breastfeeding and the potential different delivery methodologies, an IBCLC is really the best person to set you up for that type of success. Don't overlook it. We can't get all of the answers from Google. Breastfeeding is a very biological experience. We tend to like a lot of quick answers and quick fixes. Just knowing that you have time, relax into it, and reach out for help. It's definitely the way to be prepared. You've made your Pinterest-perfect nursery. Let's focus on what the actual delivery and feeding is going to look like because right after that baby arrives, that is where all attention goes. Meagan: Yeah. When we actually started talking about TLN, we had someone write in. She was like, “Can I do a review on an IBCLC and how important it is?” It impacted her. She had three C-sections. She had a history of getting mastitis with every single baby so she ended up working with an IBCLC before she had her third C-section that was planned and they worked on all of these things. She was able to avoid all of the things that she had last time. She was like, “She was literally at my hospital bed the day I had my baby.” They had scheduled it because it was a scheduled C-section so she was like, “I will come. You tell me when.” She was like, “It was so impactful. It made my experience with my newborn so much more powerful,” because she was able to take out the stress and the question and all of those things and have more of that Pinterest-perfect birth experience. It was so powerful for her. I think it's so important to talk about those things. You know, she said, “If you can, get skin-to-skin in the OR. Do these things and then I'll meet you later.” She did all of those things. She just said it was totally life-changing. Caitlin: I'm happy that you brought that up, Meagan. I think a great question for your delivering hospital is, do you have an IBCLC on staff and will I be able to see them? Because having one on staff doesn't mean that you will be able to see them necessarily. If it is an extremely busy, university-setting hospital, they may have four or five lactation consultants, but they are really, really regulated to NICU. So ask those pertinent questions because once you've had your prenatal visit with a TLN IBCLC, you have their contact information. You can even, if you're having a C-section, schedule your first postpartum visit for the day you get home or the day after you get home depending on how long you are going to stay in house. There are really ways to be so prepared in that capacity. For in-hospital care, it's really important that you know going in if you're going to have that bedside care from a hospital-based IBCLC. That would definitely be a valuable question to ask when you are preparing to deliver. Meagan: Absolutely. Chrisie: I will also piggyback on that. It's such a great point because having worked in a couple of big hospitals here in Los Angeles, and I don't know if this is true for every hospital, but even if there is a hospital IBCLC, we are often stretched pretty thin. One of the things that I tell my families when I connect with them prenatally is to request to be seen by an IBCLC when you move to the postpartum floor. I know from my experience that families requesting to be seen were at the top of the list. The next group was the patients that either the nurses or the doctors wanted to see to round on. The third group who might not get seen are the families that seem to be doing okay and haven't asked for a visit. Again, that was my experience, but I think it helps to ask. That's a great thing to have your support person do to advocate for you. Ask your nurse or the charge nurse to have the IBCLC come by every day when you're in the hospital. Meagan: Yeah. I mean, one of my experiences, and this is why I think having an official lactation consultant, an IBCLC, is because I did request and they said, “It's the weekend. They're not here.” So to your point and to Caitlin's point, asking ahead of time, “Hey, do you guys have IBCLCs? Not only do they have them, but do they work 7 days a week?” Because I was on the weekend and then I had these C-sections and then days later, I finally found an IBCLC and I was so far behind when I maybe could have connected. Maybe it could have even been a virtual like, “Hey, how does this latch look? It's hurting,” or all of these things. We could have nipped a lot of problems in the butt honestly. Chrisie: Exactly and then to compound that issue, I often hear from families that while they are in the hospital, they will hear a lot of conflicting information about breastfeeding from different care providers and it's so frustrating for them. Most families are coming from the place of, “I'll do whatever I should be doing, but please provide a consistent plan.” That is where either the IBCLC on staff or the IBCLC you've connected with prenatally can jump in and help you and be the person who clarifies that plan for you and gives you a way forward.  Meagan: Absolutely. Well, we have some questions that people from our VBAC Link community on Facebook asked if you don't mind. I would love to ask some of them. This one was from a mom. It says she is due in April. It says that she is a stay-at-home mom and has a toddler as well. Her goal is to exclusively nurse because she thinks that pumping will be too much. “How do I navigate nursing a newborn and caring for a toddler's schedules, general trips, etc.” She nursed and pumped last time. Chrisie: Such a great question. First, again, huge plug for a prenatal consult right there. Let's have a plan. Let's have a plan. Then, I'll just share a couple of tips that I give my families in these situations. The first one is babywearing. Babywearing makes such a huge change. It really helps keep that newborn close. Skin-to-skin has so many benefits. We know breastfeeding does better when babies are skin-to-skin. Babywearing is just skin-to-skin while your hands are free and now you can also take care of your toddler. I'm also going to say a huge plug for support. We know where those difficult moments tend to be. The first six weeks, growth spurts, let's plan for them. If you are alone with your baby and your toddler, let's have a plan for support. Who is offering to come help? Who can help you take care of the toddler? Can somebody come to relieve you so you can get some shifts? Is it in the budget to hire a postpartum doula to come and support you? Support, support, support especially in those early weeks. Then as we progress a little farther into the breastfeeding journey, I always like to share with my families some tips for navigating feeding times with a baby while also having a toddler because you probably know this, but it tends to happen that you put the baby to the breast or to the chest and then your toddler wants your attention. Meagan: Mom!Chrisie: It's not a coincidence, right? It's the moment when you're doing this thing. “Oh, I'm really not available.” So how do we navigate that? Again, having a plan in advance. Maybe we reserve some special toys or activities for nursing time. Make it positive. Maybe that's also snack time for your toddler. Maybe as breastfeeding gets a little bit easier, you're able to have your toddler come sit with you and read a book. But basically have a plan to make breastfeeding a positive experience for your toddler as well so it's not set up as this competition for them trying to get your attention during that time which is really difficult for parents to navigate. Meagan: Yeah. I love those tips. This other question from this mama says, “I will be tandem nursing when my next baby comes. My first daughter has a slight lip tie and has always had a little bit more shallow of a latch. Just wondering if there are any ways to get a solid latch if the next one comes with a slight lip tie. It didn't seem to affect my first daughter getting milk out while nursing, but I do think it caused my supply to never really come in fully.” Chrisie: Yeah. Yeah. So love that she is asking this question in advance for sure. There is a lot we are still finding about restrictions or ties. One thing I would look into in this situation is if the second child does have a lip tie, is there also a tongue tie happening? Often, we know when there is a lip tie, there is a tongue tie. Not always, but often. That's when working with an IBCLC, they're going to help you navigate what's happening with breastfeeding and do you need a referral to what we call a preferred provider? Typically an ENT or a dentist who specializes in ties. Let's have that baby evaluated by the specialist. Let's find out early on. Are there any lingual or bilingual restrictions that are preventing the baby from removing milk both efficiently and comfortably for the parent? Information is key there, right? Especially if we know there is a history. IBCLCs in your community will be able to give you the names and contact information for those preferred providers so that we can find out that information right away. I also love that she brings up an important point about supply. Sometimes, very strong supplies can mask tongue ties and lip ties even and really make those issues not so obvious in the beginning, but then they might show up later on. Like she said, maybe it affected her supply. I often see people who do okay even though their baby has some restrictions, but then the 3-month regulation hits, and suddenly their nipples are sore. Suddenly their supply is really feeling an impact and it's because there was an underlying restriction this whole time. Meagan: Yeah. Chrisie: So early information, let's find out. Meagan: Yeah, I was just going to ask you if IBCLCs can technically diagnose a lip or a tongue tie or if they can say, “Hey, it looks like maybe there is something going on.” I also had some restrictions. I had some issues in the beginning with my milk coming in. I talked at the beginning about how I was a little bit out of it. I had a rocky first start, but then when my daughter was five, she went to the dentist and the dentist said, “How did she eat? How did she eat as a newborn?” I was like, “We had our troubles, but we got through it.” He was like, “Good for you. She actually has a severe lip tie. We actually need to take care of it because it's going to start impacting as her teeth are coming in.” It was so thick. I was like, “Oh.” So yeah, those two questions. Can an IBCLC diagnose or can they just say, “Hey, it looks like we may have some restrictions here. I would suggest you go to this provider.” Chrisie: The latter. We are not allowed to diagnose. It is not in our scope to diagnose, but we do connect you with the appropriate medical provider who does. Meagan: Yes. Chrisie: They will do an evaluation and make a recommendation. Meagan: Obviously, we love our pediatrician and we love our docs, but my pediatrician, I asked and she was like, “No, not at all.” Sometimes, I feel like pediatricians aren't as skilled as IBCLCs at recognized, so maybe they can't diagnose, but they can recognize and get you to that next-step provider to help your feeding journey and your supply and all of these things be better in the end. Chrisie: Exactly. Exactly. I second that. I also love pediatricians so much, but IBCLCs are really the experts in navigating the lactation aspect and referring you to again, what we call a preferred provider for evaluating lip ties and tongue ties. Meagan: Yeah. I love that. Again, a whole other reason why we need an IBCLC through The Lactation Network. Okay, so this question, I think again plugs into getting that prenatal or that consultation before. This mama says, “I would like for my husband to take some of the nighttime feedings to allow me longer stretches to sleep.” We know sleep is so important. It says, “He wants to help with this too. Is there any way to do this without negatively impacting breastfeeding or getting up in any way to pump?” You know, having her to actually lose sleep and giving it to the husband in a bottle. It says, “There is conflicting information online and I've heard from most mothers that they just end up doing the nighttime feedings anyway. Maybe their spouse could help with diapers instead.” This is such a good one because sleep is a good one we know for our mental health, especially after birth and recovery, especially if we've had a long birth or a Cesarean and things like that. We just need that sleep, but how can we help our partners be involved without negatively impacting? Chrisie: Yeah, I love that question. I will also say that it taps into something I hear all the time which is about conflicting information online. There is so much conflicting information about breastfeeding online. To be honest, there is so much bad information about breastfeeding online which again, is a plug for an IBCLC. That's why you need that expert in your back pocket to be the person who says, “Okay. Here is the deal. Here is what we need to do.” In this specific example, I do have this conversation all the time because I think one thing that is important to note is that I find the first six weeks to be the hardest for so many reasons, right? But if you're a first-time parent, I know it's common, and I felt this myself, when it's your first baby and you're doing this for the first time, it can feel like, “Oh, this is what it feels like. I'm never going to sleep again. Oh my gosh. This is what breastfeeding is like.”I think it's important to know the different stages, what breastfeeding looks like, and what sleep looks like at the different stages. So just having those expectations and that information can go a long way. In the first six weeks, babies tend to be nocturnal. They tend to be more alert at night. Nights are tough for the first six weeks. Throw in growth spurts where we have all of the cluster feeding. Nights tend to be a little bit harder during those times. We know that. We know that sleep is going to be tough in the first six weeks. It's important to know that it does get better. It usually does get better after what we call the six-week growth spurt. That is one factor. But to answer the specific question, I like to talk to my families about what I call tag-teaming at night which I think is what she is asking about. Once we introduce a bottle, then you do have a little bit of play in terms of how the partner can support those nighttime feeds. Again, it's such an important topic to talk about before the baby gets here. How are we going to navigate nighttime feeds? It's so important. Sleep is so important. One possible scenario and this really depends on the specifics that are happening within the family, but once we are introducing the bottle, it might be possible for the parent to pump before they go to bed. Maybe the partner grabs the next feed with a bottle and then the parent who pumped right before bed is able to skip that feed and then grab the next feed. So we kind of pre-pump essentially. This plan works for some people. We do have to introduce a bottle. Where a lot of people go as well, the standard information is that I shouldn't introduce a bottle until 4-6 weeks so that plan is not going to help me. My take on that is that we don't always have to wait 4-6 weeks. Let's talk about the specifics that's happening with your baby and your family. But also, it is important to note that in general, we do need a one-to-one ratio,  one pump session for every bottle in order to protect your supply and preserve your breast health. If we go too long, especially in those first six weeks, if we go too long before removing milk from the breast, we can get clogged ducts. We can get mastitis. We can get other issues. Now, unfortunately, prolactin which is the hormone that is driving a lot of this, peaks in the middle of the night. So often, we have our strongest supply right in the middle of the night. So how are we navigating all of that? That's what comes down to the specifics of the IBCLC putting together a plan for you and your family. I will say that generally, we are usually able to carve out a longer stretch of sleep for the birthing parent after that six-week growth spurt. But absolutely, sometimes we can if we just take that scenario. Maybe the other parent or a support person is giving a bottle and it means you wake up, do a 15-minute pump session, and go back to sleep. That might be a lot faster than the process of feeding a baby from beginning to end. These are all things that we look at creating a plan for. Meagan: Yeah, plans are important. Caitlin: They are. They are. I'm not clinical, so mom to mom we're saying a lot of things that can be interpreted as overwhelming. I want parents so much to settle into this amazingly delicious life moment and we are very much a fast-moving and fast-paced world. This time is so precious. It's so amazing. You will just want to inhale your new baby. It's so– I just think giving yourself permission to take those 4-6 weeks to really just rest, recuperate, and establish that connection. Your brain is going to really go to Target. Find some time to go to Target. Maybe that's with a support person, so that if you get there and 15 minutes later, you need to ditch your cart and go nurse in the car, someone else can stand with your cart or they can say, “This is totally fine. I'll put back the items and we'll meet back in the car.” If you are feeling that real urge to get out and do things, make sure you get out and take a walk. I saw a really funny meme yesterday where it said, “Nap when the baby naps.” It's this new parent with a stroller outside and she lies down on the sidewalk. Obviously, that's great advice, but in practice, it's difficult so just know that you will rest. You will sleep. It is the best, most special time and we are here to help you prepare for it the best we can. It's not a Google time. It's not something that you can really search Google for all of these answers. It's important to go into it knowing you can trust yourself, trust your body, and advocate for help. This used to be done with a huge village. We lost that village a bit. Bring in an IBCLC in early and often to be that outside person who comes in and is solely focused on this feeding relationship to nourish yourself, your baby, and your family to give you, your spouse, the grandparents, the siblings– all will be impacted by this peace of mind and this support. It's very, very crucial and lovely. I wish all of you tons of snuggles. Meagan: I literally just got the chills. Such a powerful message right there. So, so powerful. Women of Strength, if you want to schedule your consult right now, all you've got to do is click in the show notes or you can go to our Instagram and look in our bio. It's really easy to schedule a consult and start your plan today. Then one last question– if we have IBCLCs maybe who are listening, because we do. We have such a large birth community who listens. They may want to join The Lactation Network. How could they do that or is that possible? Chrisie: Yeah, absolutely. Caitlin: Yeah, absolutely. I would encourage anyone listening to check out our website. It's tln.care. T as in the, L as in lactation, and N as in network dot care. Come visit us. Come ask questions. We are just so, so passionate about this space and are so grateful that we have had this time. Meagan: Well, we love you guys so much. We are so grateful for your time. We just know that you are literally changing lives all over. Thank you so much.  ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome to my IBCLC© Day 2023 Series! Each day I'll share with you one piece of insight about our work. (If you're too excited and you just want to read them all now, go here and download the whole list) Let me know in the comments if you agree, disagree, never thought about it this way, or whatever you're feeling! 1. Even when you are an IBCLC, you won't know the answer to every question your client or patient asks.Really - you won't. They will have questions you could never have imagined. This goes for questions you will be asked by nurses, doctors, neighbors/strangers who found out you "do" lactation, and more.But here's the beauty: you will know how to find the answers they seek. There will be time to locate it. As you gain experience, you will begin to more easily navigate between those questions which actually have answers and those which do not ("there's really no research about this; that's why we base our practice on what we DO know and what makes sense biologically.")You have your textbooks and study materials, you know about great websites for credible, evidence-informed lactation information, and you're building your network of lactation colleagues so you can seek guidance and expertise. You are helping, even when it takes a bit more time to locate the answers your client is seeking.We don't know everything we need to know right now, and science takes time because science is a process, not an endgame. Keep your mind open always to the wonder of human lactation and how it hits differently for every person. Keep asking questions.Keep learning (and not just from formal continuing education opportunities - learn from those you serve, read your journals, spend time discussing cases and concepts with your peers, including those in other health disciplines).Most of all, keep listening. We may hold expertise as IBCLCs, but there is always more we can learn.2. The lactation plan you & your client or patient created might not be the one they decide to use.Circumstances change. People change their minds. Regardless of how much time you and your patient spent creating the "perfect" plan for them and their goals, by the next time you see them or speak to them, they may have moved on to a different plan.It's not a reflection of your worth as an IBCLC, nor is it an indication that your plan was not good. Your responsibility is to create the lactation management plan with your patient (and to document it).The patient is in charge of using the plan, and they can use it any way they want - as a strict guide to exactly what to do, as a list of suggestions, or as a way to understand what it will take to meet their goals and then make a decision about what they really want.When you learn that the plan is no longer in place, adjust your thinking, clarify what they need next, and be there for this next step. Show up for your client and their goals, even when they're shifting, and you can rest assured you are doing your job well.You cannot have an agenda in this work. You are not here to make people fit into a plan that feels right to you. You have to learn how to identify your personal biases about childbirth, lactation, and health in general; then you need to learn how to allow your professional responsibility to your client to override your personal biases.Supporting someone to meet their lactation and infant feeding goals is about building a relationship with them. It's not easy for people to trust you, a stranger, when they are in the midst of experiencing the emotions and the whirlwind of life with their new baby. Remembering that can help you enter into each new dyad's space with grace and respect. And keeping that perspective can help you navigate one of the more difficult - and sometimes surprising - realities of lactation care.3. You won't "click" with every client.It's just not going to feel comfortable with everyone. You may get off to a rocky start in conversation, you may feel unqualified to help them for some reason, or you may even actually be acquainted with them in some other arena of life, leading to some bit of awkwardness.Build your relationships on respect and trust, and you'll find that people who may not seem to "like" you are actually quite glad to have your help. Show them that you are reliable and competent, and if there is a connection outside your lactation relationship, be very upfront with them about your commitment to confidentiality and protecting their private information.You are going to connect easily with many of the people you serve, and when you encounter clients who leave you feeling a bit challenged, always be honest with yourself and take time to consider why it feels strained. Lean on your network of lactation colleagues to help you understand these moments, and you'll find that everyone has these kinds of different relationships.What it looks like when you imagine a day in the life of a lactation consultant can be very different from the reality. You might envision feeling a real sense that you are making a difference every single day - changing lives, making people happy, squishing adorable babies. But the reality can feel very different. It's important to know that going in so you can be prepared to remind yourself what you need to do to safeguard your own well-being in this career.4. You may not feel like you accomplished very much at the end of a day of lactation work.There's no inbox and outbox in lactation work. Even if you work somewhere that provides you a list of patients to see on your shift or you start the day with your schedule of client appointments, results are not obvious and easy to see in this job.You may walk away from a day feeling as if you worked really hard and have no idea if you actually helped anyone. You may wonder if you are making a difference. Useful feedback can be hard to come by.Focus on this: your role - and the commitment you made as an IBCLC - is to show up for people who are seeking or who require lactation support and clinical expertise, and to provide that to them in a competent and compassionate way. Did you do that?You did. Even if you could never get that one baby to latch, and the mother you've been working with for 5 weeks is still struggling with milk production, and the parent on the phone is not seeming to accept the realities of the lactation plan you helped them create - you showed up for them and gave them the support they needed in that moment.It can be really hard to see how much your presence, support, and clinical assistance mean to people. It can be even harder if you work in a setting where your co-workers do not value your knowledge or what you do, or where they question your impact because they misunderstand breastfeeding in general. It is in these moments that you must widen your gaze - look up and out to the larger lactation field and seek the professional support you need from your network of colleagues. You are part of something much bigger, and it helps to remember that every day.5. It may take time for your clinical lactation input to be accepted by the rest of the health care team - even if they knew you before as an expert with a different credential.It's true. Think of it this way: when you declared your intention to become an IBCLC, a slight separation emerged between you and the people you knew. You felt it. Some of them were incredibly supportive and respectful, while others put up a little wall (or a big wall). Why did this happen?It's the passion thing. They don't have it, and they might have some resentment and conflicts built up around it. They're putting that on you. YOU represent breastfeeding and lactation now, and some people are going to have a problem with that (which can feel like they have a problem with you). It can feel like you are being accused of “going to the other side.”Accepting this is something that is often unexpected when becoming an IBCLC. After all, we think lactation is fascinating and awesome, and it can be difficult to comprehend that others do not. It's ok - the world is made up of people who are fascinated with all kinds of different and amazing things. That's what makes life interesting!However, when there's a lack of respect, that's when it starts to impact your work. If you're included in multi-disciplinary rounds in the NICU, but your input is consistently dismissed or ignored outright, it may be time to gently inquire of leadership as to how you can best fulfill your role there. If the pediatricians are not referring patients to you as the in-house lactation consultant, you may need to address how your role has been presented to them.Essentially, these situations are usually opportunities to clarify your roles and responsibilities, and they are a great way to spread education about lactation. The most important point you can often make in these cases is a clear reminder that all health care workers have a responsibility to avoid their own personal biases about lactation when providing health care.On the surface, it seems like a passionate interest in human lactation and a deep commitment to learning and serving others would be all you need to become a truly wonderful lactation care provider. However, we are (like everyone else) human beings with complicated internal lives, and there's more to it than that.6. Your personal lactation experiences can have a positive or negative impact on your practice.Yes, you read that right. It's not just others in health care who can develop biases which impact their practice - we passionate supporters of lactation can have this problem, too!Here's why: though you may have learned tons of information, accumulated hundreds of hours of clinical experience, and passed a rigorous examination for board certification, you may not have had the opportunity to debrief your own personal lactation and birth experiences in a way which highlights your potential problem areas.Biases can also form as a result of events that occur along the way in your lactation career - like when you miss something important, there's a negative outcome in one of your cases, a client who complained about you, a wave of similar cases, etc.These problem areas can be hard for you to see objectively, and they can absolutely influence the way you practice lactation care. It's possible for your own fears and anxieties to influence your actions, recommendations, and ability to counsel others objectively. It's not always obvious, and it can definitely leave you feeling like you are not effective in your role.However, there IS a way to ensure that your personal lactation story can be used for good and woven into your actual mission and vision as a lactation care provider. Through a series of intentional exercises and coaching inside Mindful Lactation Counseling, you can do the work to open your mind and refine your ability to provide excellent lactation care.Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.One of the modules inside Evolve Lactation Community is a guided workshop called Mindful Lactation Counseling. It's designed to help you uncover opportunities for personal growth in your lactation career, like revealing your biases and transforming your personal lactation story into a useful tool.I'm obsessed with creating ways for you to build your resilience and strengthen your foundation so that you can impact more families through your personal touch as you provide them with lactation care.Whatever we're sharing, it helps us to feel less alone in this work. If you're interested in learning more about how to join Evolve Lactation Community so that you can access the Mindful Lactation Counseling Workshop, drop a comment below with the word “mindful” and I'll send you some details!7. At the end of the day, your time and attention are what your clients and patients most appreciate and value. They want to feel heard.It's normal to feel some pressure around trying to “fix” the issues your patients and clients are experiencing. You may also feel pressure from those around you, others on the health care team, and even from your own mind as you try to make sure you are doing what you set out to do when you joined this field. While the general population outside of Lactation Land may imagine that lactation consultants are most known for latching babies and helping people make more milk, we know the truth: new parents want to be heard. They want their own infant feeding goals to be recognized and elevated. They want their IBCLC to listen to them and to sit with them.Sure, they want credible and practical information, clinical techniques to improve their latching and milk expression, guidance on how to navigate all that a breastfeeding journey brings with it - but most of all, they want to be part of something. They want someone to listen to their birth story. They want to know they're not alone in their pain or discomfort with a poor latch, their night waking, their frustration at washing pump parts AGAIN. They want someone who understands and can remind them that things will get better and that what they are doing is important.You can do this better than anyone because you have developed your counseling and communication skills and you have the evidence-based knowledge to back up what you are saying. You can support new parents because you - as one of the very few people on this planet with the IBCLC credential - understand how lactation fits into the context of not only infant and child development and nutrition, but also the biology and personal development and mental health spectrum of an adult navigating parenthood.Your knowledge is critical, and your clinical skills are vital. What your clients respond to is how they are treated and how they are respected. Build the bridges your clients ask for by asking really great questions, listening to them tell their stories, and offering them all of the options you know, customized to their needs. They will remember you. And you will know that you are impacting lives in a positive way. Asking REALLY GREAT QUESTIONS is one of the hallmarks of an excellent IBCLC. I've got a free checklist of 5 great questions to ask during a consult - you can download that here. If you'd prefer to hear me talk through the questions and give some background as to what makes them really helpful, you can listen to this podcast episode here. I'd also like to share this link to my totally free videos!I truly hope you have appreciated this series and I look forward to hearing from you in the future! Happy IBCLC Day! - Christine * Information about the IBCLC© credential and how to pursue it can be found at www.iblce.org * Information about IBCLC Day can be found at www.ilca.orgEvolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

Cuando se mira la preparación que tiene la persona que lleva la certificación de IBCLC, se entiende que cumple con los requisitos que llevan los profesionales aliados de salud en Puerto Rico y otras partes del mundo. Tenemos la capicitación y el límite de práctica para realizarle exámenes físicos tanto a adultos como en infantes en la evaluación de la lactancia. Aunque no recetamos o diagnosticamos, podemos describir y referir a profesionales que sí lo hacen, a la vez que podemos hacer recomendaciones de intervenciones dentro de protocolos escritos y nuestra experiencia profesional. Lamentablemente, hay algunas personas que dicen que las IBCLCs no pueden hacer manejo clínico o que son IBCLCs y limitan sus propias prácticas al no hacer este tipo de intervención. En este episodio hablamos de cual es nuestro límite de práctica comparado a otros profesionales de la salud, y los documentos que apoyan nuestra intervención clínica. Lee el CCP (Código de Conducta de Práctica de la IBCLC y su "Ambito" [Límite] de Practica de Consultoras de Lactancia Certificada IBCLC según definido por la IBLCE (Junta Reglamentadora de Consultores en Lactancia), y el Standards of Practice for the IBCLC en inglés según la Asociación Internacional de Consultores en Lactancia (ILCA). ¿Te gustó este podcast y quieres ser auspiciador/a/e? Visita nuestro patreón. 

It was with our second cohort of teaching future lactation educators that my colleague and I realized that some of our students needed more than just knowledge and information. They were in tears as they absorbed the information about how human lactation works and best practices. Some were angry, too, that they were given bad information when they were trying to breastfeed. They followed us into the restroom to talk about their personal journeys, they sat with us at lunch and let their stories unfold, and they bonded together over what they had experienced.These folks, themselves, needed post-lactation counseling. They needed help understanding what had happened, a chance to think it all through without the fog of being a new parent, an IBCLC to help them re-frame their story into something they could use as a teaching tool and a springboard for motivation. Aspiring lactation consultants are not required to undergo any type of formal or informal debriefing process about their own lactation and birth experiences. Considering that these are some of the most transformative experiences of one's life, this is surprising and disheartening. Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.Years ago, when I first learned from a licensed medical social worker about the debriefing process she underwent in her professional training, I immediately wondered why this was not a standard part of the process of becoming a clinical lactation care provider. Some of us had the opportunity during our mentorship to participate in conversations and/or deliberate opportunities to discuss and process our lactation and birth journeys. However, without a requirement to make sure this happens somewhere along the way, new IBCLCs are minted every year who could be unknowingly bringing their distress, trauma, and grief over their own personal experiences into their work helping others. What's important to understand about that is this: not only can that potentially impact the lactation care being provided to clients, it can also potentially make the work of lactation care more difficult and for some lactation care providers, unsustainable in the long-term. I am really focused on making the work of lactation care fulfilling and sustainable. I want to see the brilliant people who are working so hard in this field have a clearly defined personal mission, all the tools they need to do the work, and the resilience they will rely on over the years. I do not want to see us losing people because they burn out early, feel undervalued, and get frustrated at their perceived lack of impact.That's why I care about folks having the opportunity to do some self-reflection about their own experiences and how they are impacting their work. At its core, this is about offering lactation and birth workers a guided plan for examining their own birth and lactation journeys, the stories they have told themselves and others, and the ideals that guide their work. With that self-reflection, they can then begin to see if there are places where their own experiences are leaking through in the care they give. Consider this: of all the angry, tearful, and frankly sad stories we see new parents sharing on social media when we bring up childbirth and breastfeeding, some of those folks are going to be inspired enough, mad enough, courageous enough to enter into this arena of care. But there's no built-in place where they will get to process their own baggage as they get educated. They may learn the facts and the science of human birth and lactation, but they won't by default be given the chance to unpack their own experiences. Unfortunately, that is likely to impact their counseling abilities as well as their own job satisfaction. For now, let's start with this: I shared above that I really want to help you grow and thrive in your lactation career by building resilience. Click here to download a mini-workbook where you will revisit your motivations and mission for doing this work. I'd love to see your completed worksheets and start a conversation about your mission! You can DM me on Instagram @IBCLCinCA or email me at Christine@EvolveLactation.org. Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

Esta semana continuamos nuestra conversación con la Lic. Valeria Caraballo, Patóloga SLP de Alimentación y Tragado y Asesora en Lactancia Certificada CLC, de Itti Bitti, Puerto Rico. Esta semana exploramos más sobre las formas que pueden colaborar las IBCLCs y otras especialistas en lactancia con las SLPs especializadas en alimentación infantil, por qué no todas las personas que son patólogas del habla saben de la lactancia, y cuales pudiera ser algunas de las razones del aumento en anquiloglosia, o frenillo lingual restrictivo. ¿Será la suplementación con el ácido fólico sintético, como sugiere una investigación, o es la evolución por el pobre uso de la mandíbula y el tragado asociado con el amantamiento como sugiere este libro recomendado por Valeria? Escuchen y compartan sus opiniones en nuestras redes. No olviden visitar nuestro patreon.

I finally figured it out. Over the past five years, I've been creating so many presentations and tracking so many ideas. I want to make these presentations accessible to more people, and I also want to keep creating new ways to share what I know and what I have learned. Learning from podcasts - from just listening to experts talk through things - has become such a huge part of my life, and I feel like it would be such a great way for others to learn and keep building their lactation knowledge. I have also been writing here on Substack for a while, and I love it! There is so much about this format that makes it a logical choice for someone with ideas and knowledge to share them.Which brings me right to the point…I've got notebooks filled with ideas of things I want to write for you AND talk through for you in audio format. I have created more than 20 separate CERP-level presentations over the past 6 years or so. Many of them have associated handouts and guides to supplement the learning process. I have published 24 “official” episodes of The Lactation Training Lab Podcast (which will now be transitioning to the Evolve Lactation Podcast and be available right here for you.) It's time to bring them all together and make it easier for YOU!Using Substack as my platform, I can write for you AND record for you. You'll have ONE place to find everything, and it will be organized. You can share ONE link with your colleagues when you want them to hear something you learned or that resonated with you. You can read things, and you can listen as well. You'll get updated when there's something new, and we can chat about it in the comments so that YOUR voice can be heard as well. I'm adding a Paid Subscription level ($8/month or $75/year) to ensure I can provide you with all of the rich background you need, like references from journals, links to related resources, and all of those downloadable handouts I mentioned above. This is my livelihood and my expertise, accumulated over more than 23 years in the lactation field, and I am confident it is worth the subscription price I am offering.I envision you listening while you walk or work out or do stuff around the house. I can see new IBCLCs listening in between consults or on their way to the hospital or clinic for their shifts. I can imagine IBCLC exam candidates listening in over the months/years they are studying for the exam. I want to be a consistent mentor to those who are in the process of becoming a lactation care provider. Clinical mentorships can be fleeting, but I'm going to be here, writing and podcasting as I continue to learn and gain insight as a lactation consultant. Social media is fun and exciting, but it disappears, and I don't want to spend all my time creating things that hardly anyone sees. I'll still be hosting the amazing Evolve Lactation Community membership because, well, it works. Members love it, I love it, and it's a valuable learning opportunity. The most loved part of it is the coaching calls, and now members have the option of scheduling private coaching calls with me in addition to attending the bi-weekly group calls. (If you're not a member and you are interested in a coaching call, check out this link here.) In A Nutshell:This Substack newsletter is going to get better and have more content, PLUS I am adding a podcast to it. It will be simple. Stick around. Love ya, Christine Get full access to Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

"No mother should have to go through this". Join Lisa as she chats with a like-mined IBCLC Danielle Gauss, aka the "Booby Fairy", about many topics related to professional and personal journeys, and how they intersect, including: - How breastfeeding experiences can be different between first and second babies (hint: it doesn't always get easier). - How breastfeeding challenges led to post partum depression for Danielle. - How, even as a doula, Daniele didn't realize that she needed an IBCLC. - How hospital IBCLCs are often limited or "gagged" from discussing tongue tie. - The links to ADHD, sleep, and airway (yes, this keeps coming up on our podcast) that has been a part of Danielle's family's story. - The aspects of IBCLC care that elevate us to advanced practice status. - Taking care of survivors of abuse and ALWAYS asking permission to touch everyone. - How we honor the story of the mom, the infant, and the birth. And the need to stop blaming mothers! ______________________________________ Tongue Tie Experts freebies and pro and parent's programs can be found here: https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/Links Save 15% on any of our courses with the code PODCAST15 For info on Sara Finn's Easy Business Bookkeeping Program, advertised on the podcast https://www.sarafins.com/TTEpodcast If you are enjoying our podcast, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss an episode. Please rate, review and share with your networks. Let's educate the world about tongue tie. Thanks so much! Follow us on Instagram @TongueTieExperts ______________________________________ About Danielle Gaus: Danielle Gauss is an IBCLC and Certified Childbirth Educator and the Author of “The Booby Fairy's Guide to Breastfeeding”, She is the co-founder of Tongue Tie Tribe, an advanced practice private lactation and body work team. Danielle has been married for 22 years and is the mother of two beautiful adult girls. You can find her here: https://daniellegauss.com/ including her book, The Booby Fairy's Guide To Breastfeeding ______________________________________ Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

I attended an in-person conference and came away with some big realizations about the state of our work and advocacy. There have been some big shifts in this field which have led us to a place where new parents are becoming more likely to be encouraged to feed human milk than they are to breastfeed, regardless of what their own plans are and outside of the realm of informed decision-making. There are some huge gaps in understanding and some really influential marketing problems creating a growing voice that is, in my opinion, shifting sentiment away from breastfeeding. Formula, infant feeding product, and breastfeeding support product manufacturers and companies continue to spread divisive and confusing messages that cause stress for new mothers and fathers, while well-meaning folks engaged in providing health care - and lactation care - are starting to equivocate on how important breastfeeding itself really is. In a room filled with people whose job it is to support breastfeeding, I heard an overwhelming message that “everyone pumps now anyway so we can't be talking about breastfeeding - it makes people feel bad.” Wow, sounds familiar. That's what everyone said/still says when we talk about breastfeeding and formula feeding and guilt. So here we go again with a whole new line of marketing - yes, marketing - that we need to spend time navigating. We need to be clear: companies that make formula, pumps, bottles, and breastfeeding tools/devices are working as hard as they can to trick us, manipulate us, and change our behaviors to benefit them. All of us. They need us as lactation care providers and other health care providers to market for them and endorse the use of their products, and they need parents to buy their products. It is an entire system, it is extremely well-funded, and we can't be lulled into thinking that they are “only trying to help.” They are not. They are trying to get people to buy things. They are trying to get us to market for them by being advocates for the use of their products. “Things” are not always bad, but neither are they always needed, and using them when it's not indicated can lead to lactation problems. If the loudest message we are all hearing is that breastfeeding is too hard for most people and many folks don't make all the milk their babies need, what choices will that lead to (for new parents and for lactation care providers)? If the general sentiment is that most people are “too stressed” by breastfeeding and infant sleep and that it's “always” or “usually” problematic for parents' mental health, what lessons and messages will we collectively start sending in our effort to support people better and prevent mental health crashes?If lactation care providers are constantly posting on social media about lactation complications and negative messaging because those posts are click-bait and they earn them paying clients, how are they meeting their obligation to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding? How are they educating the public? Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.I'm starting to see some similarities here to the conversation many have in the birth field about how most medical obstetrical providers have “never” or seldom seen a non-interventional labor and birth. As more and more (and more!) of our lactation clients are using pumps and bottles while leaning away from breastfeeding and we become more educated and skilled in how to support them, are we losing touch a little bit with what it's like for people who are breastfeeding without using any “stuff?” They have critical and time-sensitive lactation support needs, too. I've really been leaning into my own deepest interest in lactation care: early lactation support and the fundamentals of human lactation. I have wondered if that's just my brain saying “I can't possibly catch up with all the new stuff," but I don't think so. Rather, I have realized that it is going to be critical to continue to strengthen the knowledge and advocacy capacity of the legions of lactation educators and counselors out there. There are far more folks engaged in everyday lactation support who are tasked with non-clinical tasks and the application of what we think of as “fundamental lactation skills” than there are clinical lactation care providers (IBCLCs).  By its very nature, it is critical that this non-clinical workforce remains steadfast in ensuring that every parent in their sphere of influence is given the building blocks they need to make healthy choices in feeding their babies and is protected from the harmful messages that create doubt and fear. Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This means we have to keep talking about the WHO Code, about ethical lactation care, about the scientific evidence base for what we teach and do. We have to keep participating in local and regional coalitions and task force efforts to educate our communities and our peers. We must continue to model the best counseling skills we have to create an environment where new and expecting parents can repeatedly encounter positive, practical, and truthful messages about how to prepare for and how to navigate lactation.I'm not saying that lactation care personnel should be going into every interaction with an agenda of persuading people to breastfeed and avoid using products. What I am saying is that lactation care personnel are literally the last line of defense that parents and families have when they are facing strong and persuasive marketing messages by companies wanting their money. We need to make sure that as professionals, advocates, and compassionate humans, we are avoiding even the appearance of being influenced by product marketing. We need to actively work to educate families using the evidence on infant feeding practices and outcomes, and we need to be at the absolute top of our counseling game so that families are able to connect with and trust us. It's a nuanced and careful game. It's hard to say some of the things we have to say to parents. We've always had to tell parents things they did not want to hear. It's important that we continue to be honest about what we know and don't know even while we are providing the most supportive care and encouragement that we can. I'd love to hear from you: what's the toughest truth you have to tell your lactation clients? Get full access to Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC at ibclcinca.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and welcome to Tired Moms Club with Be My Breast Friend. My name is Kristen and I am your host aka CLC(Certified Lactation Counselor), aka mama to four, aka that dancing boob you can find over on Instagram. Allow me to hang out with you for the duration of your pump sessions. We're going to talk about everything from pump reviews to product reviews. We'll bring on some of my most favorite IBCLCs, to mom entrepreneurs and everyone in between. I'm gonna fill that void. I'm going to keep you entertained and we are going to get down to what is the most exciting product out there right now. We'll cover what's going on out there in lactation space and beyond. So hang out with me. Enjoy your time, sit back, relax, have a let down and allow me to fill this pump session with entertainment, laughs and some of the coolest people I know!Follow Kristen on Instagramwww.bemybreastfriend.combemybreastfriend Amazon storebemybreastfriend YouTube

"Outsourcing your health to someone else hardly ever works. You must be educated to be empowered in your health journey" Nicole Jardim. This episode features Nicole Jardim, certified women's health coach, author and podcaster. We discuss her challenging journey through tongue tie (and other tether) release, including: - How she discovered that she had tethered oral tissues - How she prepared for the procedure - What the journey has been like, and her recommendations for other adults considering release. Nicole is the author of Fix Your Period: Six Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodiness, and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balance and host of the podcast The Period Party. To follow Nicole: Website - https://nicolejardim.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nicolemjardim/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nicolemjardim/ **************************** It's the perfect time to sign up for Professional's Guide To Tongue Tie in the Breastfeeding Infant Click through to hear all about it - including the 4 LCerps for IBCLCs and the private learning community. It's for all health care professionals and it's at your own pace. Hope you can join us. Use code PODCAST15 to save 15% For all Tongue Tie Experts freebies, and pro and parent's programs https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/Links Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BreastfeedingTongueTie/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonguetieexperts/ __________________________________ Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

In this episode, Jacqueline is joined by team member, Gina Nigro, a bilingual IBCLC who has helped support families for over 25 years. They discuss the importance of supporting all mothers with breastfeeding choices, the cultural differences when it comes to motherhood, and how to find support within your community as a new mother. The best IBCLCs have their own personal breastfeeding experience and understand that all babies are different. They also have the luxury of trusting the process and being able to convey the value and normalcy of small steps toward a better breastfeeding experience. In this episode, you'll hear:About Gina and Jacqueline's partnership and how Gina got started in birth workCultural differences when it comes to maternity leave and breastfeedingHow to build and sustain new relationships as a new motherWhy you should have a support team going into new motherhoodA glance at this episode:[3:02] How Gina got her start with birth work[5:42] Gina's experience as a first-time mom getting support from a Le Leche League group[9:36] What is the dynamic of support groups and how they work[12:43] The connections we form with other mothers when we go through motherhood[20:36] How do you know if you're getting enough support[25:25] How to not lose yourself when putting your baby's needs first[30:20] Working with families as an IBCLC and adapting to their lifestyle[32:12] Some differences that have changed with breastfeeding in the last 25 years[40:02] Where to find reliable resources as a new mom [51:02] Gina shares about her time living in Spain[55:56] How to build new relationships as you enter motherhood[1:04:57] Maternity leave and cultural differences[1:10:08] The ripple effect of breastfeeding supportRelated Links:Le Leche Leauge International WebsiteGina's WebsiteWork with GinaRead the Happiness articleRead the Postnatal Depression article Holistic Lactation WebsiteDiscount on Products Use Code ‘PODCAST15'Follow on InstagramBook an Appointment

We're sharing our most downloaded episode in 2022!One of the first things on our minds as soon as we have our babies is feeding them. Those first few days can feel like a blur and if you're choosing to breastfeed you may be feeling overwhelmed by ALL of the things you need to learn seemingly overnight. If you're worried about if you're producing enough or whether your baby is eating enough, or what the heck is happening to your nipple, don't worry.Today, I'm here with our special guest, Sally Wright, an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and mother of five, to help clear up the confusion and pump out the facts you actually need to know!Sally grew up in Hawai'i and now lives in Utah. She is the mother of five children, including a set of twins. She has been an IBCLC since 2016 and has served as a volunteer Leader with La Leche League since 2006, providing community breastfeeding support. Sally especially loves helping parents of multiples meet the joys and challenges of a life with abundance. When she's not working with nursing families, Sally is driving her kids around to basketball or skating, or playing with her dogs. Sally shares a collaborative practice with three other experienced IBCLCs called Motherfed, located in downtown Salt Lake City.Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @myessentialbirth and for even more great info head over to www.myessentialbirth.com to check out the totally FREE Pregnancy Guide & other incredible downloads.Looking for all the FREE downloads and links mentioned in this episode? Go to www.myessentialbirth.com/podcast, click on this week's episode, scroll to the bottom of the page and download away!Links Mentioned:My Essential Birth CourseMy Essential Birth InstagramHow to find Sally and get care from Motherfed!

What's all the hype about IBCLCs anyway? Don't they just help babies latch? We IBCLCs know so much more than just latching and positioning. Our education and training is extensive, and although I wish that culturally we were not necessary because people fed their babies from their bodies anywhere and everywhere all the time, and from our earliest moments we picked up on how to do it– that is not the case. On this episode, Lo pulls back to curtain to talk about the training and knowledge that IBCLCs have so that you can feel confident in your decision to invest your time and energy when you are having struggles feeding your baby!In this inspiring story you will hear about: Lo's journey to becoming an IBCLC The pathways to IBCLC Educational requirement for IBCLC Clinical Requirement for IBCLC Testing Requirement for IBCLC How you Will Feel After working with an IBCLCHead to Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more Milk Making Minutes episodes!To book a lactation consult with me, e-mail: lo@quabbinbirthservices.comJoin The Milk Making Minutes Facebook Group to talk about the structural barriers that make breastfeeding so difficult and work together to chip away at each one.To buy books about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and parenting, and to support the show while doing it, go to my bookshop!Follow me on IG @milkmakingminutespodcast to laugh about breastfeeding and to see photos of guests!

In this episode, Lindsey and Jodi discuss how perinatal education supports community building, shared decision making, and improves outcomes for pregnant people and their families. Jodi is the Director of Prenatal Education, New Parent and Prenatal Teacher, Workshop Coordinator. She is interested in all things birth, but also really interested in the newborns and their brain development in that first 1000 days - it's so fascinating!  She has have been a nurse since 2001, most of that time she spent in labor and delivery and postpartum.  Her most favorite job is being a mom to my 4 children ages 17, 15, 13 and 10.  She loves watching them grow and learn new things!Learn more about Amma classes and resources at https://ammaparenting.com All Amma teachers are either Registered Nurses, IBCLCs, and/or Lamaze or ICEA certified Childbirth educators.Follow on instagram at @ammaparenting and on Facebook at Amma Parenting Support the show

Lactation Counselor vs Lactation Consultant... I've seen Lactation Professionals excluded from continuing education training because... they're not International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. I've seen IBCLCs call other Lactation Professionals dangerous and harmful or have heard them tell parents to only seek the advice of an IBCLC. Well, I'm here to clear the air and tell you what the difference is between an IBCLC & CLC. You'll be surprised to know they're not that different. *CORRECTION* CLC Training is 5 days. It just felt like a week*. Resources from the episode: IBCLC Scope CLC Scope What's The Real Difference Between a Lactation Consultant and Lactation Counselor The best time to start preparing for a better birth is during pregnancy! I've curated a checklist to help you prepare for the fear-free, in-control, informed delivery you're looking for! We've also included things like when to start planning for your baby shower when to start buying baby items, and divided everything by trimester! Get The Checklist You can also take my quiz on how to avoid a c-section and get tips on how you can avoid getting an unnecessary c- section. Just head to my website and click the banner. Instagram Website --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thebirthrebel/support

Welcome back to the Birthing in Finland podcast and to today's episode with our nest doula Maria Fernandez! This episode will be all about breastfeeding in the early days of newborn life. You'll find out what a pregnancy person needs to know about breastfeeding, whether or not you should prepare the body for breastfeeding, prenatal colostrum expression, the most common issues in the first weeks, and how to know if the baby is getting enough milk. We then moved into talking about getting breastfeeding help in Finland and asked the question where can people find breastfeeding support and when should they ask for support. I asked Maria a few questions about her role as a lactation consultant as well such as how long does she work with families, and how does she help with supplementing if needed. We ended the conversation by making a connection between postpartum rest and breastfeeding. Listen until the end to find out what that connection is. Let's get started on this super interesting and important conversation! Show notes: 1. Maria's Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/eyogadoula/ 2. Maria's reel about IBCLCs https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cg2FFulqoQs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link 3. Finland's breastfeeding peer support charity https://imetys.fi/ 4. Jack Newman's book https://www.adlibris.com/fi/kirja/dr-jack-newmans-guide-to-breastfeeding-9781780662305 Mentioned topics: What does a pregnant person need to know about breastfeeding? Should you prepare the body for breastfeeding in any way? Prenatal colostrum expression - should you do it? The first days of breastfeeding, what are the most common issues? Searching for the nipple and getting the search reflex How to know that the baby is getting enough milk How can someone get help with breastfeeding in finland? How does a lactation consultant help with supplementation? How a lactation aid works Hhen to ask for help How long can a lactation consultant help the family? The connection between resting in postpartum and breastfeeding

Have your attitudes about birth and breastfeeding changed over the years? Have you ever wondered why it feels like an uphill battle to feed your baby in the way that feels right for you? Does it sometimes feel like you are bracing yourself for conversations about birth or breastfeeding when you are headed to appointments with your providers or those of your children?My guest Lisa Paladino was a Labor and Delivery Nurse before she ever became a mom, and said she didn't know what she didn't know about breastfeeding before she had her own baby. After her first experiences giving birth in the early and mid 1990s, a fire was ignited in her to learn more so she could have better experiences and so she could do better for her patients. She went to conferences and then went back to school, eventually becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife and an IBCLC.When she had her 3rd biological baby (but 5th baby altogether, listen to hear how that happened!) she was finally able to have a satisfying breastfeeding experience, even though that baby was born with a cleft lip. In the decade that Lisa was having her own babies, she saw a huge difference in her own family's attitude toward breastfeeding, and in the public attitude in general.Working as an IBCLC she also realized she didn't know what she didn't know when she wasn't able to help several people in her clinic in the same week and felt very defeated. She went to a conference on Tongue Tie, not really understanding how it could be possible that so many babies could be impacted, and it changed the course of her whole career. She is now a Tongue Tie expert who brings other experts together, and teaches courses on tongue tie too!To learn more about all the services Lisa offers, including her courses for professionals (not just IBCLCs) go to her website!To listen to my tongue tie story on Lisa's Tongue Tie Experts Podcast, go here!Follow Lisa on Instagram @tonguetieexpertsHead to Apple Podcasts or Spotify for more episodes!Join The Milk Making Minutes Facebook Group to talk about the structural barriers that make breastfeeding so difficult and work together to chip away at each one.To get individualized lactation support from me, Lo, go here.To buy books about pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and parenting, and to support the show while doing it, go to my bookshop!Follow me on IG @milkmakingminutespodcast to laugh about breastfeeding and to see photos of guests!

Erika Higginbottom MS, OTR/L is an occupational therapist and owner of OT By Mommy, a private pediatric practice, on the North Shore of MA. She specializes in the precrawling infant and pre/post frenectomy therapy. Erika has trainings in the Tummy Time! Method, pre/post frenectomy care, sensory processing, visual-vestibular techniques, oral motor skills, and more. She is also mother to a toddler and infant, who have inspired Erika's practice through their own journey with tongue ties and oral function. Topics we discussed: - What is an Occupational Therapist? - How did Erika come to work with babies with tongue tie? - What is sensory processing, sensory integration and how does Tummy Time play a role? - The complexities and team approach that is vital to successful outcomes for families Erika's Website: https://otbymommy.com/ It's the perfect time to sign up for Professional's Guide To Tongue Tie in the Breastfeeding Infant The Autumn sale is going on now. Click through to hear all about it - including the 4 LCerps for IBCLCs and the private learning community. It's for all health care professionals and it's at your own pace. Hope you can join us. For all other Tongue Tie Experts freebies, and pro and parent's programs https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/Links Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BreastfeedingTongueTie/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonguetieexperts/ __________________________________ Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

Joan Comrie is a SLP who has worked closely with IBCLC's to support tongue tie families. In a world where IBCLC's and SLP don't always see eye to eye on how to work with families struggling with infant feeding, Joan was able to work on a "dream team" with an IBCLC in a NICU for many years.  While SLPs are more focused on suck and swallow mechanics, and IBCLCs are more focused on supporting the dyad, they both can educate and support each other as professionals to help families with complex feeding issues.Podcast guest: Joan Comrie is a speech pathologist that has worked in pediatric dysphagia for over 35 years.  She started in the NICU helping mommies and babies fulfill their breastfeeding goal through creating a “Dream Team” with Lactation.  She transitioned to her own practice in the 90s. Joan has helped over 10 thousand patients many with complex issues related to TOTs, airway and GI issues. Joan is a constant learner earing multiple continuing education award through her national certification (ASHA). She is a teacher at heart.  She always opened her practice to grad students. She has lectured and consulted to organizations internationally and here in the US, lectured at the graduate level and presented at conferences including ASHA, NOMAS, Neonatal Network and ILCA.  There are many parent and professional how-to's in publication which anyone can download on our website feeding.com, as well asmany parent how-to videos on her youtube channel. In her mission to teach, she provides a course in which LC can learn about the coordination of suck swallow breathe and the sensory motor patterns of feeding to help the LC understand infant feeding and when to engage the help of a SLP on the feeding dream team. You can find her course at feedingacademy/thinkific.comPodcast host: Katie Oshita, RN, BSN, IBCLC has over 22 years of experience working in Maternal-Infant Medicine. Katie is a telehealth lactation consultant believing that clients anywhere in the world deserve the best care possible for their needs. Being an expert on TOTs, Katie helps families everywhere navigate breastfeeding struggles, especially tongue tie and gut/allergy related issues. Email katie@cuddlesandmilk.com or www.cuddlesandmilk.com

Should we release tongue ties to prevent future problems? Join Lisa today as she considers if tongue tie should be released to prevent the future problems of speech and airway disorders. You'll hear a bit of her story as well. It's the perfect time to sign up for Professional's Guide To Tongue Tie in the Breastfeeding Infant The Autumn sale is going on now. Click through to hear all about it - including the 4 LCerps for IBCLCs and the private learning community. It's for all health care professionals and it's at your own pace. Hope you can join us. For all other Tongue Tie Experts freebies, and pro and parent's programs https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/Links Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BreastfeedingTongueTie/ __________________________________ Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

In this episode, Lisa is excited to interview Dr. Jessica Leighton, one of the first graduates of the program, Professional's Guide To Tongue Tie in the Breastfeeding Infant. As a Pediatric Chiropractor, and mother of two children who both had lip and tongue ties, Dr. Leighton knows first hand how troubling they can be to new parents and infants. In working with local IBCLCs, birth providers, SLPs and pediatric dentists, she strives to help families manage and correct the effect that oral ties have on them and their babies, as well as educating other professionals regarding proper assessment and management options. Listen to learn: - What a pediatric chiropractor does and how it mechanically and neurologically helps infants with TOTs. - The SAFETY of pediatric chiropractic - How to know that a chiropractor has proper training and credentials to work with infants and children. FOR THE FREE WEBINAR MENTIONED IN THE SHOW CLICK HERE: https://bit.ly/5TongueTieFacts Tongue Tie Experts freebies, and pro and parent's programs https://www.tonguetieexperts.net/Links Organizations mentioned in the episode:drop The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association https://icpa4kids.com The American Chiropractic Association Council on Pediatrics http://acapedscouncil.org/ The International Affiliation of Tongue-tie Professionals https://tonguetieprofessionals.org/ The International Consortium of Ankylofrenula Professionals https://icapprofessionals.com/ __________________________________ Please do not consider anything discussed on this podcast, by myself or any guest of the podcast, to be medical advice. The information is provided for educational purposes only and does not take the place of your own medical or lactation provider.

In this episode, Jacqueline addresses the nuances of pumping and shares some of her best tips for a successful pumping journey. Through Jacqueline's experience and collaboration with other IBCLCs, she brings you the facts and knowledge of just how challenging pumping can be, and how to have a successful pumping experience. Jacqueline shares these tips with you to empower you, encourage you, and let you know that you're doing the best you can.If you've been struggling on your pumping journey this episode will provide some amazing tips and tricks to stay motivated while pumping, along with some suggestions on how to find the best pumping supplies. In this episode, you'll hear:How mindset can affect your milk supply & keeping a positive perspectiveWhy having the correct flange size is crucial to your pumping journey, and how to properly fit for your sizingHow to choose a breast pump that is right for you Pumping supplies that Jacqueline recommendsJacqueline's best tips for a successful pumping journeyA glance at this episode:[3:59] Mindset around pumping and why you should create a pumping plan[6:41] Jacqueline describes silicone breast pumps and how they differ from a regular breast pump[9:14] Why some might experience better results with a manual breast pump[11:04] Different types of electric breast pumps and how to determine what's best for you[12:06] Why it is important that you get the correct flange size and how to find your size[20:33] Jacqueline shares tips on how to stay motivated while pumping[23:30] Jacqueline's recommendations on what to buy for optimal pumping success[25:54] Why lactation needs to be addressed when pumping[27:18] What triple feeding is and when to stop[29:05] Special features on pumps that you probably don't need[33:15] How to get the most out of what your insurance provides[40:15] Jacqueline shares a quick story of how flange size can affect your milk outputRelated Links:Pumpables Discount: 10% Off with Coupon Code SHOP10-HLACTATIONPumpables InstagramJacqueline's ‘4 Easy Steps to Using the Haakaa Pump' VideoHolistic Lactation WebsiteFollow on InstagramBook an Appointment

In today's episode, Jacqueline chats with Pediatrician, Dr. Rebekah Diamond about all things breastfeeding, motherhood, and babies. This episode is a meeting of two very different types of baby experts. Jacqueline and Dr. Rebekah Diamond are in two different professions that often have different approaches, philosophies, and even different pediatric politics. This is a conversation that bridges the gap between IBCLC and a Pediatrician.In today's show, we discuss:Some of the biggest breastfeeding struggles moms are experiencingMyths and common misconceptions about tongue tiesWhy pediatricians and IBCLCs should be working together and not against each otherA Glance at This Episode:[2:14] How Dr. Rebekah Diamond became a pediatrician and why she got into this work[14:23] Some of the biggest barriers to breastfeeding success from a pediatric point of view[32:55] What Dr. Rebekah Diamond sees with tongue ties, and her thoughts on them[47:09]What's in Dr. Rebekah Diamond's upcoming book, what she's advocating for and what she hopes her book will accomplishRelated Links:Parent Like a Pediatrician BookDr. Rebekah Diamond's WebsiteHolistic Lactation WebsiteFollow on InstagramThe Nurture CollectiveOur Advanced Lactation Formula supplement for naturally increasing & sustaining milk supply

Sometimes events or issues in our personal lives affect our lives as business owners and IBCLCs. Today we are discussing how to bounce back when these things happen.Let's be honest, life happens and we can't always prepare for things that happen but there are some things we can do ahead of time to make sure that our private practices and our clients are taken care of.We are not always in the right mindset to handle these situations when we have an emergency going on or when we are sick so doing this now before an event happens will help not only your business but your peace of mind.In this episode, we are sharing our stories of how we had to step back in our businesses along with all the mistakes we made.“Life happens and we have to be very gentle with ourselves.” In this episode, we will cover:Why you should create policies and procedures for if you needed to step back from work (5:22)The importance of networking with other local lactation consultants (8:33)Focusing on yourself and your needs and trying to release the pressures around the clients' needs or business needs (11:56)How to handle when you are ready to go back to work (21:22) Like this episode? Want more?The LBC podcast is ALWAYS free, thanks to contributions from supporters. Every contributed dollar counts and so do our contributors — as a thank-you gift to our top-tier members, we offer monthly LIVE Deeper Dive sessions with experts and access to all previous Deeper Dive sessions — check out our upcoming Deeper Dives and become a member! All contributions count; join at one of our starter levels here! Links and ResourcesCheck out the Clinical Complexities in Private Practice individual topics: https://paperlesslactation.com/courseCheck out our deeper dives and become a member: https://paperlesslactation.com/lactation-business-coaching/Check out our upcoming Deeper Dive into Marketing with Shondra Mattos, IBCLC http://lactationbusinesscoaching.com/ If you like what you heard today, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram and leave us a review on iTunes.  About UsLeah Jolly is a private practice IBCLC with Bay Area Breastfeeding in Houston, Texas.Annie Frisbie is a private practice IBCLC serving Queens and Brooklyn in New York City and the creator of the Lactation Consultant Private Practice Toolkit.

One of the first things on our minds as soon as we have our babies is feeding them. Those first few days can feel like a blur and if you're choosing to breastfeed you may be feeling overwhelmed by ALL of the things you need to learn seemingly overnight. If you're worried about if you're producing enough or whether your baby is eating enough, or what the heck is happening to your nipple, don't worry.Today, I'm here with our special guest, Sally Wright, an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and mother of five, to help clear up the confusion and pump out the facts you actually need to know!Sally grew up in Hawai'i and now lives in Utah. She is the mother of five children, including a set of twins. She has been an IBCLC since 2016 and has served as a volunteer Leader with La Leche League since 2006, providing community breastfeeding support. Sally especially loves helping parents of multiples meet the joys and challenges of a life with abundance. When she's not working with nursing families, Sally is driving her kids around to basketball or skating, or playing with her dogs. Sally shares a collaborative practice with three other experienced IBCLCs called Motherfed, located in downtown Salt Lake City.Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @myessentialbirth and for even more great info head over to www.myessentialbirth.com to check out the totally FREE Pregnancy Guide & other incredible downloads.Looking for all the FREE downloads and links mentioned in this episode? Go to www.myessentialbirth.com/podcast, click on this week's episode, scroll to the bottom of the page and download away!

Join us for a chat about breastfeeding, gathering your support team, what to expect early in postpartum, pumps, and more. Carrie and Sarah do not hold back! And they have their own upcoming podcast, the Boob Half Full Podcast. These ladies are so fun and incredibly informative.My top takeaway: Build your support system early! Find a lactation professional in your area while you're still pregnant so you have someone to call when you're in the thick of it.The Boob Half Full PodcastThe Boob Half Full Podcast is a collaboration between both Carrie and Sarah!bhfpodcast.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/boobhalffullInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/boob_half_full/Resources Carrie & Sarah mentionedPostpartum Support International:https://www.postpartum.netLa Leche League: https://www.llli.orgGlobal Health Media Project Videos: https://globalhealthmedia.orgKelly Mom: https://kellymom.comThe Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine: https://www.bfmed.org10% Happier meditation app (what Sarah uses): https://www.tenpercent.comBooks:The Breastfeeding AtlasThe Melanated Mammary Atlas: https://www.mmatlas.com/product- The Womanly Art of BreastfeedingFind Carrie HereMidwifery & Women's Health Care in Anchorage, AK: https://mwhcanchorage.comIn-clinic or virtual visits, you don't have to be a current client to make an appointment.Find Sarah HereJust Call Sarahhttps://www.907justcallsarah.comjustcallsarahak@gmail.com

We are so excited to rebroadcast this episode all about the power of collaboration with Nikki & Nikki.Do you know that kismet moment when you start talking to someone and the brimming over of idea-sharing makes you feel like you are on to something? Something that hasn't been created yet and there is a big need for it in the world. Like you and this person can literally come together and give birth to something unique and extraordinary, just like the one-of-a-kind tiny humans with which we work.That is exactly what happened when we met and decided to collaborate on LBC. Here's the thing, we are not the only ones connecting with colleagues and germinating ideas that can help to create the IBCLC world in which we all want to live. That is why we were SO excited to welcome Nikki Greenaway, IBCLC, aka Nurse Nikki, and Nekisha Killings MPH, IBCLC, RLC - the dynamic duo that makes Nikki & Nikki - to our most recent podcast episode - The Power of Collaboration. Their collaboration grew from identifying gaps and disparities in the pathway system and a deep desire to demystify and open up the process for black and brown people who want to affect change in the breastfeeding world. Nikki Greenaway, aka Nurse Nikki, is a wife, mother of three, Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She is one half of Nikki and Nikki Lactation Career Consultants where she assists black lactation specialists to register for the IBCLC exam.  In addition to co-founding the New Orleans Breastfeeding Center and Cafe au Lait Breastfeeding Circle for Families of Color, she is also the proud owner of a maternal-child health mobile clinic and a health consulting firm providing maternal-child health training and resources to community organizations.Nekisha Killings MPH, IBCLC, RLC is an equity strategist, international board-certified lactation consultant, and maternal and child health advocate. Her life's work is focused on advancing equity in the field of lactation. Nekisha authored the chapter titled Cultural Humility in the latest Core Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Lactation Care. She acts as Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Lactation Education Resources, and consults organizations on creating and implementing strategies to better support marginalized communities. She is co-founder of Nikki & Nikki: Lactation Career Consultants, which is dedicated to equipping aspirants of color to sit the IBCLC exam. You will definitely want to carve out the time to listen and learn about how these two amazing IBCLCs balance their passions for bettering the world for all while putting family first, managing their private practices, and carving out time for themselves. Because if you're anything like us when an idea starts to germinate, it can be hard to slow the train. Tune in and grow with us!"It's like a switch comes on when someone really gives you confidence that you can accomplish anything. You start to believe in yourself. And it makes all the difference in the world.” In this episode, we will cover:How Nikki and Nikki first came to be (11:10)Demystifying the process for others (16:10)Using support to keep you on track and focused (20:18)What they would change about the lactation industry (29:16)The importance of serving while also being compensated (37:46) Like this episode? Want more?The LBC podcast is ALWAYS free, thanks to contributions from supporters. Every contributed dollar counts and so do our contributors — as a thank-you gift to our top-tier members, we offer monthly LIVE Deeper Dive sessions with experts and access to all previous Deeper Dive sessions — check out our upcoming Deeper Dives and become a member! All contributions count; join at one of our starter levels here! Links and ResourcesNikki and Nikki on Instagram: instagram.com/nikkiandnikkiibclc/Nikki and Nikki on Facebook: facebook.com/NikkiandNikkiIBCLC/Nikki and Nikki by email: nikkiandnikkiibclc@gmail.comNikki and Nikki's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCySgoTbyiCpREfGELEoeCKQ?fbclid=IwAR2733X67pT4PZZiY_d9PE8HFyAWxKm4gR3bhecJjh6tTzpOAaBXaqQ3EZoHow Did I Miss That?: Breast Assessment and Non-White Skin TonesNational Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC) Lactation Education Resources:goldlearning.com/ce-library/all-lectures/breast-assessment-and-non-white-skin-tones-detailJoin our next Deeper Dive: learn.anniefrisbie.com/deeper-diveListen on Patreon: patreon.com/lactationbusinesscoaching If you like what you heard today, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram and leave us a review on iTunes.  About UsLeah Jolly is a private practice IBCLC with Bay Area Breastfeeding in Houston, Texas.Annie Frisbie is a private practice IBCLC serving Queens and Brooklyn in New York City and the creator of the Lactation Consultant Private Practice Toolkit.

Chris is a registered nurse and has been a board certified lactation consultant for over 29 years.  She has  worked in the world of mother-baby care at the Baby Friendly Hospital – The University of Cincinnati Medical Center for over 40 years.    She has been published in peer-reviewed journals on many topics related to breastfeeding and human milk.  In 2018 she published her first book Under One Sky:  Intimate encounters with breastfeeding moms and babies.  This is a wonderful collection of stories of women that she has cared for over the years.  If you would like to listen to my first interview with Chris, please go to Episode #   Last year, she published a second book, A Lullaby:  Reflections for Caregivers of Breastfeeding Families   Are you looking for help with breastfeeding?   https://www.aabreastfeeding.com/ Breastfeeding class http://www.aabreastfeeding.com/breastfeedingclass Grab Your Ebook - The New Mother's Survival Guide - Practical tips for the new mother: https://www.aabreastfeeding.com/fourth-trimester-ebook/ Grab your  free Ebook Opt-in Signs breastfeeding is not going well   http://www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/bfsigns/ Subscribe on itunes the All About Breastfeeding show HERE: https://apple.co/2FJGwsV Listen to the All About Breastfeeding show HERE: http://bit.ly/1MOl4lb Like us on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/2dNPlsC Follow us on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/2BfEIJ2 @breastfeedingaz Follow us on Pinterest HERE: https://www.pinterest.com/lorijisenstadt Follow us on Instagram HERE: https://www.instagram.com/allaboutbreastfeeding

If you're a new parent and wanting resources this is the episode to tune into or share with a friend who would benefit from this information. Connect with Robin www.sdbfc.com https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoBreastfeedingCenter https://www.instagram.com/san_diego_breastfeeding_center/ https://www.youtube.com/DIYbreastfeeding/playlists Robin Bio Robin Kaplan has been an IBCLC since 2009, the same year that she opened up the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. She founded the San Diego Breastfeeding Center Foundation in 2016, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce breastfeeding/chestfeeding disparities among families of color and low-income families, as well as provide scholarships for women of color to become IBCLCs. Robin was the founding host of the Boob Group podcast and published her first book, Latch: a Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage in 2018. Robin is currently attending the Functional Nutrition Alliance to become a Functional Nutrition Counselor. In her free time, Robin enjoys hanging out with her two teenage boys, hiking, traveling, weaving, relaxing at the beach, cooking, and searching for the best chai latte. Where to connect with Andrea Website: https://andreaclaassen.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/seasonallivingmamas Freebie: 5 Day Ayurvedic Challenge- https://andreaclaassen.com/5-day-ayurvedic-challenge Divine Body Wisdom Book- https://andreaclaassen.com/book Andrea Claassen Bio Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and Wild Woman Project Circle leader who has been in the wellness space since 2007. Her mission is to help people slow down, tune in, and connect to your divine body wisdom.  She does this by teaching her Peaceful Power Practices centered around movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com

We can not believe that it has been 10 years since we became IBCLCs!No matter how long you've been in business, it's important to always reflect on what you've learned and how you will keep growing.In this episode, we are doing just that! We are talking about how our businesses have grown, what we would have done differently, and the danger of thinking you have learned it all. “I wish I'd recognized that the only person I needed to prove something to was myself” In this episode, we will cover:Studying while also running a business (2:05)The importance of reevaluating your goals (6:36)How sometimes your plans don't happen how you think they will (12:12)Why you should always be learning (19:14) Like this episode? Want more?The LBC podcast is ALWAYS free, thanks to contributions from supporters. Every contributed dollar counts and so do our contributors — as a thank-you gift to our top-tier members, we offer monthly LIVE Deeper Dive sessions with experts and access to all previous Deeper Dive sessions — check out our upcoming Deeper Dives and become a member! All contributions count; join at one of our starter levels here! Links and ResourcesCheck out the Clinical Complexities in Private Practice individual topics: https://paperlesslactation.com/courseCheck out our deeper dives and become a member: https://paperlesslactation.com/lactation-business-coaching/  If you like what you heard today, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram and leave us a review on iTunes.  About UsLeah Jolly is a private practice IBCLC with Bay Area Breastfeeding in Houston, Texas.Annie Frisbie is a private practice IBCLC serving Queens and Brooklyn in New York City and the creator of the Lactation Consultant Private Practice Toolkit.

Kristina Chamberlain, CNM, ARNP, IBCLC graduated from the University of Washington Midwifery Program in 2005. She became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant that same year. Kristina holds a license as a Certified Nurse- Midwife and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and has focused her career on lactation and breastfeeding medicine for the last 10 years. Kristina believes that breastfeeding success is directly related to the support someone receives and she believes everyone should have access to a lactation consultant. Currently, she is the Clinical Director and Lead Faculty of the UC San Diego Extension Lactation Program. Her passion is training future IBCLCs so that this kind of support is offered to everyone who wants it. She also continues to work with breastfeeding dyads in the clinical and telehealth setting. Kristina lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two daughters, whom she breastfeed through lots of challenges, thanks to her lactation support team! Conferences: https://nursing.uw.edu/community/events/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D146860216 https://www.eventscribe.net/2021/ILCA/aaStatic.asp?SFP=QkJFWlZKREpANzczMkBNYWluIE1hcmtldGluZyBQYWdl

“Should Doulas Be Licensed?” Ring of Fire Episode 11! Recently doula care has been approved for a pilot program for Tricare members, Alex and Emmy sit down to talk about how they feel about licensing doulas. Digressions include: reading our listeners thoughts on the topic, what Alex thinks the true role of a doula is, Emmy is a true Hufflepuff, and Alex and Emmy finally disagree on a topic! Leave a comment or send us an email if you have thoughts on this topic! And if you're a birthworker and interested in being a guest on the pod send us an email! Join us live every Friday, 7pm MST on twitch to be a part of the conversation as we are having it! Email: ringoffirepodcast@gmail.com Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ringoffirepodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirepodcast Meet Alex: https://www.alexbarrdoula.com/ Meet Emmy: https://birthwizard.com/ 3:30 talking about tricare covering doulas and IBCLCS and details of what they are covering 1040 we read responses from our viewers, and instagram about their feelings about licensing of doulas 14:00 we talk about the “slippery slope” fallacy and how it applies to this idea 17:00 Alex talks about the role of a doula 19:00 Emmy talks about the role of the nuclear family and its effect on the rise in doulas 23:00 Emmy talks about the different professions operating outside of insurance 26:00 Alex talks about the issue she has with he large doula training organizations 32:00 We talk about if licensing would create “better” doulas 38:00 Would doulas running some type of governing board allow for more control 42:00 Alex talks about the history of midwifery being licensed 46:00 Emmy talks about the difference between hospitals in 2020 versus now 49:00 Alex talks about how the advocacy is the most important part of her job as a doula 50:00 We talk about the positive path we see for licensing 53:00 Emmy talks about the similarities between patient advocates and doulas 55:00 We talk about the importance of childbirth education

“Should Doulas Be Licensed?” Ring of Fire Episode 11! Recently doula care has been approved for a pilot program for Tricare members, Alex and Emmy sit down to talk about how they feel about licensing doulas. Digressions include: reading our listeners thoughts on the topic, what Alex thinks the true role of a doula is, Emmy is a true Hufflepuff, and Alex and Emmy finally disagree on a topic! Leave a comment or send us an email if you have thoughts on this topic! And if you're a birthworker and interested in being a guest on the pod send us an email! Join us live every Friday, 7pm MST on twitch to be a part of the conversation as we are having it! Email: ringoffirepodcast@gmail.com Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ringoffirepodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirepodcast Meet Alex: https://www.alexbarrdoula.com/ Meet Emmy: https://birthwizard.com/ 3:30 talking about tricare covering doulas and IBCLCS and details of what they are covering 1040 we read responses from our viewers, and instagram about their feelings about licensing of doulas 14:00 we talk about the “slippery slope” fallacy and how it applies to this idea 17:00 Alex talks about the role of a doula 19:00 Emmy talks about the role of the nuclear family and its effect on the rise in doulas 23:00 Emmy talks about the different professions operating outside of insurance 26:00 Alex talks about the issue she has with he large doula training organizations 32:00 We talk about if licensing would create “better” doulas 38:00 Would doulas running some type of governing board allow for more control 42:00 Alex talks about the history of midwifery being licensed 46:00 Emmy talks about the difference between hospitals in 2020 versus now 49:00 Alex talks about how the advocacy is the most important part of her job as a doula 50:00 We talk about the positive path we see for licensing 53:00 Emmy talks about the similarities between patient advocates and doulas 55:00 We talk about the importance of childbirth education

Carmen Baker is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) with a BA from Princeton University in Art and Archaeology. Her sons, born in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 2000, continue to be her inspiration. Through and with them, she has experienced so many of the challenges and joys of breastfeeding and parenting. These have challenged her to thoughtfully explore concepts and ideas that formed her beliefs in the importance of listening to your gut and doing what feels right for you, your child and your family. Her repeated interactions with so many families has led her to see that there constantly is a tremendous need for loving breastfeeding support with up-to-date research and evidence based information as its foundation, for all those individuals caring for young children. Carmen has been helping parents breastfeed their babies since 1998 when she became a La Leche League Leader, continuing on as an IBCLC since 2005 working in private practice doing home visits, and since 2008 adding work in the hospital setting. From 2008-2011, Carmen was one of the IBCLCs that followed and counseled approximately 900 mother/baby couplets as part of a research study at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. From 2011-2012, she worked as Breastfeeding Manager for North Hudson WIC supervision several Breastfeeding Peer Counselors and seeing a few hundred participants. Since then she has been working as manager of the Lactation Program at Hoboken UMC and Christ Hospital seeing over 1200 dyads a year. In all three of these settings, Carmen has encountered many situations of high medical complexity which have provided invaluable perspective into what parents experience with these challenges while trying to establish and succeed in breastfeeding their babies. Carmen is a conference speaker, and over the last 15 years some of the topics have been: The First Three Days, Tongue-Tie and Its Impact on Breastfeeding and Beyond, Economics of Breastfeeding. She helps manage and run a New Moms Support Group in the Hoboken Area, and she is involved in NJ State Groups that help advocate for legislation that protects and promotes access for breastfeeding services to all. Carmen is passionate about the work she does and she truly loves nurturing new families through their breastfeeding journey and tailoring solutions to suit their unique needs. For more information about Carmen, go to http://www.breastfeedingmomma.com/ Please click the like button above and leave a review if your favorite podcast app has that ability. Thank you! Visit http://drlaurabrayton.com/podcasts/ for show notes and available downloads. © 2021 Dr. Laura Brayton

If you've listened here before you will know that the research doesn't support the idea that extinction sleep training methods, like crying it out or controlled crying, actually improve our infant's sleep (or children's for that matter). Despite parents reporting improvements, when we look at objective measures of sleep, the sleep of children pre- and post-sleep training is actually no different. Many of us see this as a bit damning for sleep training, but what cannot be denied is that sleep training may improve parent sleep and in cultures where sleep is hard to come by and expectations for parents are through the roof, this is not something to be overlooked. This week, I was able to chat with Dr. Levita D'Souza about this very tension - how do we balance our infant's needs for proximity and support as well as their biologically normal sleep rhythms with a parent's need for more sleep in an unsupportive culture. We both know that only if we can start to address this issue will we be able to move away from our sleep training culture. I hope our conversation can help move this issue forward. Dr. Levita D'Souza: www.centreforperinatalpsychology.com.au/psych…ouza/ For those who are interested in an in-depth look at the science on sleep training, you can check out this eLearning Module (available worldwide, continuing education credits for IBCLCs and Australian midwives): https://www.breastfeedingconferences.com.au/conference_details.php?conferenceId=110

Melanie Silverman, Chief Clinical Officer at Pacify, joins us today to discuss her background and the ways her company meets the needs of breastfeeding families. While not a replacement for in-person care, Pacify offers parents 24/7 support for breastfeeding questions and help. While Pacify is not a replacement for in-person care or working with complex issues like tongue tie, it augments breastfeeding medicine with its accessibility to families across the US.In this episode you'll hear:What Pacify does for new parents, all over the United States.Why Pacify sis o important to new parents--breastfeeding can be an amazing way that new parents can improve their own health and the health of their babies. The main issues we see among new parents — also address, that they feel alone (especially during COVID-19!) and are wondering whether they are doing this "breastfeeding thing" correctly!  Breastfeeding can be an incredible equalizer. The vast majority of new parents struggle with the same questions about breastfeeding.  Pacify hears from non-birthing partners, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and others who call in for help.We really need to listen first, rather than come in with our own agenda and provide care without judgement. Diversity among IBCLCs — why it matters and ways that to address itLINKS:Pacify website: https://www.pacify.comPacify App (get 20% off with code holisticlactation)Pacify on InstagramPacify on TwitterMelanie on LinkedInMy WebsiteBuy the Advanced Lactation FormulaConnect with me on Instagram & Facebook!

Moming With Miya is back for Season 2, a Pregnancy and Parenting Series. Join the Host Tamiya as she and special guest Melanie speak about the importance and benefits of breastfeeding. As the Founder of Mamello Lactation Services Melanie also talks about how she got started in birth/breastfeeding work, her own breastfeeding journey, and why representation during lactation support is important, especially for families of color. On this episode we also discuss each of the different lactation professionals such as Peer Educators, CLCs, and IBCLCs. Tamiya a mother of 4, wife, doula, breastfeeding peer educator, and the founder of The Motherhood Academy. The Motherhood Academy (TMA) is a NJ Nonprofit with a mission to educate, mentor, and support mothers of color though all stages of their pregnancies. In addition to the Academy's Motherhood 101, crash course in pregnancy and parenting, and mentor program TMA also hosts Mom's Night In events where mothers can virtually connect while doing guided activities. Melanie Hutton is a mom of four; two daughters, ages18 and 13, a son eight years old and her for baby a chinchilla. Melanie has worked in maternal health in various ways starting in 2011 as a peer counselor with the local WIC program. After venturing back into the medical field for a short time she was called back to work specifically with Black women to combat Black infant and mortality rates in New Jersey. Melanie also has been working toward building her personal practice Mamello Lactation which serves families in Northern New Jersey with Lactation, pregnancy and birth support. In her spare time Melanie enjoys listening to music, hanging out with her children, and enjoying time outdoors.

In this episode of The Lactation Training Lab Podcast, I'm breaking down why we need everyone to be mentoring! Clinical experience is a critical part of preparation for working in lactation, and IBCLCs need to meet the demand today. Here are some practical suggestions for getting started and some inspiration to make sure you don't procrastinate on this essential part of your lactation practice! 

Welcome to Episode 9 of The Lactation Training Lab Podcast, a special episode created for my podcast audience AND the attendees of the 2021 California Virtual Breastfeeding Summit!  In this episode we discuss the origins of The First 100 Hours concept and how it can ensure we are providing excellent early postpartum lactation care, properly utilizing trained lactation care providers in hospitals, and enabling IBCLCs to practice their specialty.  Additional information about The First 100 Hours Masterclass is available at christinestaricka.com 

To celebrate Black Breastfeeding Week, we welcome Semone Williams as a guest lactation expert. Semone is currently preparing to take her IBCLC exam and has significant experience helping hundreds of families in their breastfeeding journeys. She is a Peer Counselor through WIC and a Lactation Counselor at Augusta University Hospital, as well as currently holding the position of chairperson of The CSRA Breastfeeding Coalition in Augusta, GA. Semone shares her own breastfeeding journey and how that led her to pursue becoming an IBCLC herself. She discusses the needs she sees in our own community in Georgia, as well as larger issues facing black mothers throughout the country. Points we discuss in this episode include: ● When black moms feel encouraged in their BF journey, it makes a big difference in how they keep going. ● We need more black moms supporting black moms. ● ROSE (Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere) is an incredible resource for black breastfeeding women: www.breastfeedingrose.org ROSE FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/BreastfeedingRose/ ● It's so important to win grandma over in supporting breastfeeding, because the matriarchal structure is huge in the black community: women want to make their mothers proud. ● Utilize all the help available to you, from BF support groups, to lactation counselors, to friends and family, and more. WIC has phenomenal Peer Counselor BF support services that are often under utilized. ● The infant mortality rate for black babies is 2.3 times that of white babies and black babies are 3.8 times more likely to die from low-birthweight complications than white babies. HIgher BF rates could literally help save lives. What should we all be doing? ● Support black IBCLCs! We need to see them working in more places and also fulfilling prominent leadership roles. ● Don't count yourself out. You have the ability to breastfeed and even help other women breastfeed! ● ALWAYS look at another race with the same compassion as you would your own. See the need and meet it. Be gracious and encourage mom.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a mom across the pond? Well, today we give you an insight into the breastfeeding culture in the US vs. the UK. My two special guests are both private practice IBCLCs, who are here to talk to me about what it's actually like to support families in each culture. Our very own USA based SB Expert, Allison Alexander, LPN, IBCLC talks it out with me and our special guest J'Nell Metherell IBCLC from Milton Keynes, England. Together we uncover what breastfeeding support, education, and provider referalls are like in both places. To learn more about J'Nell and read her blog that got our attention click the link below: https://www.breastfeedinghelp.co.uk/post/when-shit-gets-real And of course for more blogs, resources, and awesome freebies head to the Successful Breastfeeding Blog https://www.successfulbreastfeeding.org/blog

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a mom across the pond? Well, today we give you an insight into the breastfeeding culture in the US vs. the UK. My two special guests are both private practice IBCLCs, who are here to talk to me about what it's actually like to support families in each culture. Our very own USA based SB Expert, Allison Alexander, LPN, IBCLC talks it out with me and our special guest J'Nell Metherell IBCLC from Milton Keynes, England. Together we uncover what breastfeeding support, education, and provider referalls are like in both places. To learn more about J'Nell and read her blog that got our attention click the link below: https://www.breastfeedinghelp.co.uk/post/when-shit-gets-real And of course for more blogs, resources, and awesome freebies head to the Successful Breastfeeding Blog https://www.successfulbreastfeeding.org/blog

What happens when 4 My Favorite Murder fans sit down and discuss breastfeeding? There is definitely some Georgia and Karen channeling.  The Doulas sit down with Toronto IBCLC Taya Griffin to discuss all things breastfeeding, how doulas and IBCLCs work together more.