Start to Stop Toddler Breastfeeding

Engorgement, clogged ducts & mastitis are words all breastfeeding moms are familiar with.
They can be scary & overwhelming, particularly at the beginning of your breastfeeding journey, but can pop up throughout the duration of time that you are breastfeeding - mainly when significant changes are happening in your life, including night weaning & complete weaning.
To further complicate things, there has been a fundamental shift in the way that science and leading lactation organizations and experts understand these conditions - this has resulted in the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine completely overhauling their Mastitis Proctol. This means that the approach both lactating people & those who support them take when addressing engorgement, clogged ducts & mastitis has changed, or needs to change.
This is relevant to those who are early in their breastfeeding experience, of course, but it’s ALSO relevant to those who have been breastfeeding for a year or more. You are more likely to be supporting friends & family members when they are encountering these things, and you are more likely to be using methods you were told to use when you face them yourself - but those methods are likely based on an outdated understanding of what engorgement, clogged ducts & mastitis are and could be creating MORE issues than they are solving.
In this episode I break down:
-> The big change
-> Each condition in the Mastitis Spectrum of Conditions
-> Support for general treatment & prevention
-> The role stress plays (and what to do about it)
DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice.
Resources & Citations:
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Mastitis Protocol.
Quoted study:
Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2006, July). Psychological stress and the human immune system: A meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychological bulletin.
Study on EFT Tapping efficacy
"Burn Out" Book by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
Strains to look for in a probitic: Lactobacillus fermentum and
Ligilactobacillus salivarius

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
Love this episode?! Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @own.your.parenting.story and tell me all about it. <3

This week I'm answering a coaching call question from an extended breastfeeding mom:
"My toddler often doesn't accept dad at night when she wakes up crying. I am and have always been the preferred parent. I have just found out about a work trip I need to take which will have me away from my 2-year-old overnight for the first time. Typically, I feed her to sleep and to resettle throughout the night. If I am out of the house for bedtime, she does goes to sleep for other people, but it often takes a lot longer than if I am doing bedtime.

Wondering if you had any tips that might help them both prepare for my work trip over the next few weeks and allow dad to be involved in general?"
While there are a lot of things can be done to indirectly support a family in this situation, in this podcast episode, I break down a simple 3 part strategy to support a non-breastfeeding parent & a breastfed toddler for their first night(s) alone together.
Whether you decide to night wean ahead of time or not (and I do explore this a little more in the episode), bolstering and leveraging your child's connection with the person who will be caring for them is key to a relaxing time apart.

1. Find more opportunities for playful interactions between dad & kiddo (without pulling back from your own playful interactions with your child.)
2. Utilizing "bridging" tools to help your child feel connected with you even when you are apart and help that separation feel less scary and intense.
3. Expand the non-breastfeeding caregiver's capacity to hold space for the feelings that may come up.

Resources Mentioned:
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/serve-and-return/

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
Love this episode?! Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @own.your.parenting.story and tell me all about it. <3

The shirt-pulling, screaming, and demands to breastfeed have gotten to the point that you find yourself dreading them before your toddler has even thought about breastfeeding again.
When they do, inevitably "ask" to breastfeed, the fear of reinforcing all of their bad behaviors reverberates through your body as you quickly try to decide if you will hold the boundary; or give in to their demands this time.
...and the guilt that comes from the fact that they "act" so poorly can be crushing. Did you cause this behavior with your bad parenting? Will they end up as disrespectful teenagers? Will the choices you make today define their character as adults?
Man - the pressure that mounts in those moments is crushing!
But what if there is another way?
In this final podcast episode of season 1 of Start to Stop Toddler Breastfeeding I break down:

• What respectful behaviour is and isn't
• The truth about the magic words: "Please" & "Thank You"
• Rewards, punishments & reinforcing behaviours
• How to support your child in the moment
• How to raise an empathetic, respectful human who has integrity
• How to support YOURSELF in the moment

Looking for the episodes I mentioned at the beginning to re-listen to during the holidays?

1. Episode 25: 5 Ways to Navigate Judgment & Social Pressure While Extended Breastfeeding
2. Episode 23: Cavities, Teething & Toddler Biting While Nursing
3. Episode 20: Breastfeeding A Sick Toddler: (Why, How & What to do when they are well again)
4. Episode 13: Milk Supply - maintaining, upping & drying up after the first year
5. Picky Eating & Breastfeeding with Krystyn Parks

References:
Harvard Making Caring Common Project

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
Love this episode?! Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @own.your.parenting.story and tell me all about it. <3

Breastfeeding & weaning your toddler with confidence and connection isn't impossible. But the reason it feels that way (at least some of the time) isn't your fault.
In today's podcast episode I break down the first of 3 cultural traps that keep you stuck and frustrated on your natural term breastfeeding & toddler weaning journey.
(The other 2 are available in my free instant-access workshop here!)
The trap? The belief/instinct to start by changing your child's behavior first.
What does it look like?
->Deciding it's time to wean
->Shorten feeds/dropping feeds/reading the weaning story books
->...and your child asks to breastfeed more, not less (and at an increasing volume.)
Tune in to learn how to get un-stuck from this trap (and avoid it if you haven't fallen in yet!)

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
Love this episode?! Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @own.your.parenting.story and tell me all about it. <3

"They swarm me whenever I sit down and will SCREAM until I breastfeed them - and then they are off to play. They never want snuggle without breastfeeding. I feel like all I am is a milk machine." <- Have you ever had these thoughts?
I know I have!
This week I challenge the cultural narrative that we are only milk machines, unpack the ways that this belief impacts our moment-by-moment breastfeeding, and leave you with some practical tips to connect with your child beyond the boob.
Note - I'll take things a little slower until the New Year, so stay tuned for new episodes on a slightly less frequent schedule.

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
Love this episode?! Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @own.your.parenting.story and tell me all about it. <3