Lactivist Activist

One of my Lactation clients and friend, with her first baby....Their Breastfeeding story and pictures shared with permission. My early Christmas Miracle 🎄 About 3 years ago, while I was working at a hospital owned lactation clinic, I took a lunch break and drove over to Sprouts to find something to eat. While sanding in line to pay, I noticed a darling mom and baby behind me. I smiled at her, knowing she looked familiar. Then this  sweat mother got my attention, and proceeded to thank me for helping her overcome her breastfeeding issues. She told me how much she appreciated my help, and that she went on to breastfeed for many months. Oh my goodness, she made my day...how could it get any better? I floated home in my car back to the clinic 😍 on cloud nine. A simple "thank you" does more to lift a care giver's spirits than anything else! I also really love to find out about what eventually happened to my clients. I returned to the clinic just before my ...

Mom's, I have a question for you: Do you ever remember  receiving a full breast exam during your pregnancy? I mean not just feeling for lumps, but a full breast examination? With a breastfeeding professional who knows what questions to ask that help identify roadblocks that you will likely need help navigating to be successful in breastfeeding.  I’ve learned in the last 22 years as an RN and 11 years as an IBCLC is that all women’s breasts and nipple are uniquely different. Large—small—soft—firm—flat nipples—inverted nipples—everted nipples—large areola—small areola—nipples point straight ahead, to the side, straight down toward the floor...okay, enough said!  But why even talk about this, or have a professional breastfeeding expert to look for breas tfeeding “roadblocks” like truly flat nipples... well, in this particular case, and depending on the consistency of your entire breast tissue, if a newborn cannot feel their mothers nipple in his mo...

lINK TO    pink oatmeal "Tummy-Time"  website January 19, 2014,   By   Chanda  JOTHEN PT, D Tummy time sounds so simple. Although, for many parents, tummy time turns out to be not so simple!  Often times tummy time is easy to skip especially if you have a baby that doesn’t enjoy it.  So, what is the deal with tummy time anyway and why do doctors and therapist’s encourage it? HISTORY In the early ’90s parents were advised that they needed to put their babies on their backs to sleep to prevent the occurrence of SIDS.  With this change,  there was a decrease in the occurrence of SIDS, which is wonderful!  Prior to back to sleep, many babies slept on their stomachs and not their backs, so when you hear parents or grandparents say that they never did tummy time that’s probably the reason why.  Tummy time became a popular concept after the back to sleep change. In 2008 a  survey  of 400 physical ther...

Every week I work with one or more of the "Preferred Providers" in Utah, teaching, helping, and supporting breastfeeding mothers and their babies after a frenectomy. It's very fulfilling to me because  am not restricted from being honest with parents about the signs and symptoms of tethered oral tissues...even saying the words "tongue-tied" (of all the crazy things to say!!) Every single week I hear a similar story,  "I saw 2 lactation consultants, and neither of them looked for or talked to me about a tongue. I even asked the doctor to look at the baby for a tongue tie, and he said the baby didn't have one."    Needless to say, after a few days, weeks, or even months of horrific pain while latching. Macerated, red, blistered bruised, bloody nipples....OR mom's nipples might be okay, but the baby is not gaining weight as expected. Some babies are even severely underweight, despite hour long feedings. Well, guess what? When the p...

Before my daughter was bor n, I knew I was going to breastfeed . Sometimes it feels so cliché to say that out loud; so many women say it. But for me, it actually wasn’t that I wanted to breastfeed, it was that I felt obligated to breastfeed. When my daughter was born, I was a board-certified pediatrician and in the middle of my fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine—I was doing an additional three years of training to become a bona fide “baby expert.” I told every single mother I spoke to that she should breastfeed or provide breast milk, so how could I possibly even consider not doing it myself? In the hospital after she was born, my daughter latched and we breastfed. Now, I certainly had my struggles, but comparatively they were small struggles—of course, I can only say that now, four years later. Trust me that at the time my molehills were the Himalayas, and I still distinctly remember “quitting” on four occasions before we actually weaned at 13.5 months . But looking b...