All About Breastfeeding

Christine wonders why we are so afraid to be vulnerable. It seems moms need permission to have a different breastfeeding experience. While we don't think they need our permission, it seems that moms have such guilt that having an experienced lactation consultant tell them that it there situation is difficult. It is okay if things are not going as planned. This is hard. And it is okay if you aren't exclusively breastfeeding.

Kellie is originally from Truckee, California which is near Tahoe. She later moved to Sacramento, California where she currently lives now. At first she wanted to be an English Major then a Music Major, then she returned back to being an English major with a minor in music. She taught piano lessons while she was pregnant with her daughter. Kellie worked in the marketing field in corporate America and quickly realized she hated all the bureaucracy.

Laurel Wilson, IBCLC, CLE, CCCE, CLD is an author, international speaker and pregnancy and lactation expert. She served as the Executive Director of Lactation Programs for CAPPA, the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association for 16 years and now is on the Senior Advisor Board. She is on the Board of Directors for the United States Breastfeeding Committee and also on the Advisory Board for InJoy Birth and Parenting. She owns MotherJourney, focusing on training perinatal professionals on integrative and holistic information regarding pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. She has her degree in Maternal Child Health: Lactation Consulting and is an internationally board certified lactation consultant. Wilson is the co-author of two books, The Attachment Pregnancy and The Greatest Pregnancy Ever and contributing author to Round the Circle: Doulas Talk About Themselves. She loves to blend today’s recent scientific findings with the mind/body/spirit wisdom. Laurel has been joyfully married to her husband for more than two decades and has two wonderful grown sons, whose difficult births led her on a path towards helping emerging families create positive experiences. Laurel spends her free time reading piles of research, running in the mountains with her dogs, and kayaking. She believes that the journey into motherhood is a life-changing rite of passage that should be deeply honored and celebrated.

Mary starts off by explaining to us how she came up with the name for her business. It all has to do with, believe it or not, how tall she is compared to the rest of Rhode Island. Mary is a middle child. Her mom breastfed all 3 children and at age 40 was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and is doing well. She had a loving childhood and tells us that having an older sister who is severely mentally and physically handicapped has taught her to be a strong person and to be grateful for every experience she has and to be a patient person. Mary reveals that she met her husband on match.com back in the days when it was kind of “racy.” She knew as a youngster that she would always want to be around kids and music. She is grateful that she has built her career around her family and music and what makes her happy each day. Mary shares with us that she had a very easy time with breastfeeding from the beginning with her baby crawling up to the breast right after birth and she says that it was one of the coolest things that ever happened to her. She realized she had an abundant supply, so much milk that it was spraying all over the place. This actually became a problem for her because it caused her breast pain and the need to pump frequently. Her lactation consultant suggested a care plan to lower her supply so her son could have more comfortable feedings. She went through dealing with oversupply issues and then colic and dealt with it, but realizes now that she was not taking good care of herself and she just did not know any different. She felt this is what life was like with a newborn. Mary was quite transparent and talked about suffering from postpartum depression, which was diagnosed at about 1 year postpartum. Her postpartum reaction was severe and she needed an inpatient program to recover and take care of herself. Listen to her story as she shares from the heart as she had to make some very hard choices. Mary tells us about how she got into blogging and podcasting. She started blogging because she wanted to share stories about her role as a parent and have fun with it. She shares the microphone with her husband Blake on Parentpodcast where she talks about topics that she wanted to learn more information about.