Tag: CLC

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Just the Beginning: An Early Stage Career Interview

I thought it might be interesting to speak with folks working in the field of lactation who are all at different points in their careers; someone in the beginning, middle and end of their careers. I was curious to hear their thoughts on the work and if there were any similarities at different stages of the path.

 

The first person I spoke with is Calliope. They are in the very beginning of their career. Calliope became a doula and a CLC in 2022. They have attended four births.  They are primarily a birth doula but have had a few post-partum clients. However, since they are a CLC they say they stay on longer than maybe some other doulas might. They consider themselves a full spectrum doula. While they do not do doula work full time, they try to do it as much as their schedule allows.

What is the process like for you as you are helping these birthing people?

I love taking a doula client any time I can. This most recent one was extra special because she was a friend so we had a jump start on all of the “getting to know you” stuff. But also, it was a totally different challenge to get to know someone in this other way from what our relationship had been up to this point. But the thing I am struck by every time I do it is how do people do this without support? And like beyond that, how am I supposed to ask someone to pay me for this? If you want it, it should just be free flowing from the tap.

And then I am also really amazed and I learn a lot every time. I learn about how different people want to be interacted with both in a doula client relationship and just in life. I get a lot of good practice listening to people. I think it is also really important to be living in a community of support so that if I need a net, hopefully someone will be there to catch me. I think that is quite beautiful.

 

If you could change something in the healthcare system around birth and caring for mothers, what would you like to see?

I think more midwives would be really helpful. No shade to OB’s but I have noticed that sometimes doctors don’t really have the time to sit with a mother and help through what can be a stressful time. It feels a little like we are doing emotional clean-up from that lack of care. Especially first-time parents in a high-risk pregnancy which has been the clients I have had so far. Also, lower cost of care across the board.

Tell me about your work in Texas

I worked through an organization called GALS in Austin, which stands for Giving Austin Labor Support. They are an amazing organization! They pair every birthing person who walks into the hospital with a free doula. The client never pays anything, its state funded so I was paid through the state not from the parents. And I think more programs like that, all over would be amazing.

How do you think that could happen?

I don’t know. But my friend Juju, who is also a doula, and I are making grand plans for someday in the future to start one of here in New York. The success rates at GALS were amazing and they also provided lots of outside support with prisons which I thought was very cool.

When you say success rates, what does that mean to you?

When I think of success rates as a doula I’m talking ideally of a healthy everyone at the end. And luckily for everyone so far that has been my experience. And for the client, I think success is a sense of satisfaction on their part and a job well done. For the birthing person, that this event that is so personal and can really feel isolating is actually a massive empowering success. Empowering is a weird word but the idea that they feel really proud of themselves and they see themselves as incredibly capable.

And tell me about breastfeeding. How has it been helping these folks with breastfeeding?

That has also been great! All four of my clients have been able to exclusively breastfeed. For some of them, I didn’t keep up with after six months but they were all planning on nursing until either they or the baby were done. One of the families I worked with had three kids under five and then the father broke both his wrists so I stayed on a long time with them. I think I stayed for three months. That mother had breastfed all of her kids and had only just recently weaned the eldest. She found breastfeeding to be a huge way to bond with her kids. All of my clients so far have all really wanted to breastfeed and didn’t need much education on the benefits. So, they were all eager to troubleshoot if something wasn’t right. Like the latch or oversupply. Oversupply is the thing that I’ve come across most, which is interesting.

Why do you think breastfeeding was so successful for the folks you’ve helped?

I think for all four of them it was something that they were excited to do and I think that helps tremendously. For two of my clients it was the first baby. And for two it was the second or third and they had varying rates of success the first times around. I think for them it was about getting some external validation that they were doing a good job. Just someone telling them that is really important.

Validation is so important.

Yes. And skin to skin! They were all skin to skin for I think the entire first week! As much time spent skin to skin is key! My third client had a really rough road starting breastfeeding with her previous birth and we talked a lot about spending as much time as possible skin to skin and how helpful it is.

I also make it my practice to make sure we get a good latch before I leave on that first day. I also like to point out feeding cues and particularly rooting. I like to include the partner in this too. It gives them a little game to play, to look for the cues!

What are your goals for the future with regards to birth and breastfeeding work?

I am actually thinking about midwifery school. But I’m on the fence because it seems like you don’t really get as much time with a client and I think that’s the part that I love the most. But I definitely want to keep this work as part of my life. Especially as my friends have kids, I want to be able to support them.

Any other thoughts on the work in the birthing and breastfeeding space?

Yes, I feel very lucky that I know that if I had a scenario with a client as a CLC and I needed more support, like I needed help troubleshooting, I would have you all to call. I think in general, the birth work world could use a bit more community support. I know a lot of doulas and we all think that more community support for the practitioner would be awesome.

Next week, I’ll speak with someone in the middle stages of their career. Let’s see if there are similarities! Have a great week, and may all your ways be milky ways!

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Honoring National Native American Heritage Month

We’re pausing our month-long series commemorating late maternal child health advocates for another important observation: National Native American Heritage Month. It’s our honor to share the work of Indigenous Full-Spectrum Doula Skaniehtiiohstha Kasokeo of A’nowa:ra Owira Doulas serving those on the borderlands of Canada and the U.S. This piece was originally published in 2021. 

——

In a matrilineal society, ancestral descent is traced through maternal lines. Indigenous Full-Spectrum Doula Skaniehtiiohstha Kasokeo of A’nowa:ra Owira Doulas— serving those on the borderlands of Canada and the U.S.– points out that of the hundreds of Native American tribes across North America, many of them are matrilineal and this framework contributes to the interconnectedness of life.

Skaniehtiiohstha Kasokeo

But because of the devastation of colonization and forced assimilation, many of the birth and infant feeding traditions passed down through clans by mothers have been disturbed. Kasokeo and her colleagues are working to empower Indigenous families through birth, restoring these traditions. 

“A lot of things were taken,” Kasokeo says of the effects of colonization. “We all have bits and pieces of that big picture; we’re healing from historical trauma. We can use this time of birth to bring healing to [families].” 

She shares that an elder once told her that through the messages we tell our children, we send messages to our future. 

“I personally relate that back to the birth experience,”Kasokeo begins.“The messages we send about our bodies, our connection to each other and the strength of women, in my mind happens through breastfeeding. Especially in the first hours after birth, the first messages we relate are about our bodies and the connection to babies’ matrilineal line through breastfeeding.”

Kasokeo emphasizes that this path will look different for every person. 

“It doesn’t have to look a certain way,” she says. 

Another doula featured in Reclaiming Birthing Traditions: Indigenous Advocates Talk Maternal Health by Daisy Sprenger echoes this distinction. 

“There is a problematic tendency… to generalize within dialogues about Indigenous communities,” Sprenger writes. “It’s critical to remember that ‘Indigenous’ is a very broad term, and that each community has different practices and traditions. Within these communities …  each mother and family will have different outlooks, personal histories, and levels of comfort and desires.” 

Kasokeo and her colleagues embrace this approach with the overarching theme to give power to women, instilling in them the confidence that their bodies will help their babies to thrive.

The doulas in their group lean on one another, strengthening their collective as support people.  Kasokeo talks about how she, in part, pursued doula work in order to become what she needed.

Sign reads: “My Mom, Sisters, Aunties + Grandmas are Sacred” Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash

When Kasokeo became pregnant at 19, she immediately sought out the very limited midwifery care where she was living in Saskatchewan (Treaty 6 Territory). With only 12 midwives in her entire province, she sent in her application as early as possible, but was denied due to the sheer number of parents seeking out midwifery care. 

Author Amanda Short details that “Jessica Bailey, President of the Midwives Association of Saskatchewan, said that her team of six at Saskatoon City Hospital turns away anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of people asking for care monthly. Across the province, it’s somewhere from 20 to 50 percent.” 

During this time though, she learned about doulas, connected with one in her area and says she “fell in love with everything about it.” 

As a survivor of sexual abuse, Kasokeo says it was important to her to know what procedures were going to be done to her perinatally and to be equipped with as much knowledge as possible. Having a doula by her side helped her achieve that.

Despite laboring for over 20 hours and ultimately deciding on pain medication not originally planned, Kasokeo reports having had an orgasmic birth. She says she thought, “Everybody should have this!” 

During her second birth, Kasokeo hemorrhaged and was later forced to navigate an unjust healthcare system with retained placental fragments eight weeks postpartum. 

Having endured the challenges she found herself in, Kasokeo says she sees herself as well-situated to meet other women where they’re at. 

In 2017, she and her colleagues formed A’nowa:ra Owira (Baby Turtle) Doulas serving those in Akwesasne, Canada and surrounding areas.

Akwesasne is a uniquely situated point on the map. Joshua Keating writes in The Nation That Sits Astride the U.S.-Canada Border: “This Mohawk community is home to around 13,000 people and sits astride the world’s longest border (three hours’ drive northeast of Syracuse or two hours’ travel southwest from Montreal), not quite a part of either country, but not quite independent either…The town has three different governments: one elected council recognized by Canada, one by the United States and a traditional government affiliated with the Iroquois Confederacy, of which the Mohawk are one of the six constituent nations, or tribes. All told, including the United States, Canada, the state of New York and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, there are eight governments with some level of jurisdiction over a territory with an area of less than 40 square miles…” 

Kasokeo explains that this means not everyone has access to the same health care systems, so she and her colleagues work to fill in the voids that many families face when in need of maternal child health care. 

As the world learns to manage life amidst a pandemic, she and her group are beginning to open up more meetings and social gatherings in hopes of reaching more birthing and lactating individuals. 

Recently, Kasokeo completed the online Lactation Counselor Training Course (LCTC). 

“I loved the training!” she exclaims. The myth busting and the counseling skills were notable, and she says she appreciated the convenience of being able to simultaneously learn and stay at home with her children. 

Kasokeo admits that covering the counseling skills stalled her at times throughout the course; she says she felt guilty reflecting back on past clients and how she might have interacted with them differently and better served them.

“I needed to find the confidence in myself,” she adds. “It was really scary for me, but the course has given me the tools to be confident in my ability to become a lactation care provider. Moving forward, the number one thing will be not making assumptions and asking people to clarify things.” 

Kasokeo’s fascination with and passion for maternal child health persist, and she says she would love to network with others. She is particularly interested in learning about how to nurture a homegrown organization with limited funds. You can reach Kasokeo directly at skasokeo@anowaraowiradoulas.org  or connect with A’nowa:ra Owira Doulas here and here.

Esther nurses baby Aven. Image from ‘Visualizing change’ a piece about Andrea Mietkiewicz’s, RN, CPM, CLC and filmmaker Nicolle Littrell’s work. Read it at https://www.ourmilkyway.org/visualizing-change/
For more pieces honoring Indigenous experiences, check out:  
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Lindsey Brown McCormick’s, PhD, LPCC-S, PMH-C, CLC light bulb moment

[Photo by Andrea Piacquadio]
We consider ourselves life-long learners here at Healthy Children Project. Sometimes learning occurs gradually, and sometimes there are the ‘light bulb’ moments.

We put a call out to our followers to share “Aha!” moments with us. Maybe it was a myth busted during the Lactation Counselor Training Course (LCTC) or maybe it happened during a visit with a dyad.

We also called for stories about your babies’ and children’s ‘light bulb’ moments. When have you seen your little ones’ faces light up in discovery and understanding?

The call for stories is still open! Please send your reflections to info@ourmilkyway.org with “Light Bulb” in the subject line.

Lindsey Brown McCormick, PhD, LPCC-S, PMH-C, CLC is the owner of Women Thrive Counseling & Consulting LLC. This is her light bulb moment. 

——

Dr. McCormick
Used with permission

I did not go into the field of mental health counseling with the goal or intention of working with mothers/birthing people and babies. It was never on my radar as something that clinicians even specialized in. The birth of my daughter changed everything for me. 

I’ve been working in the field of trauma and traumatic stress since 2010. My spouse and I welcomed our daughter, currently our only child, into the world November 2021. I was induced and labored for 22 hours before I was whisked away into the operating room for an emergency cesarean. Though everything was seemingly normal on the surface, between the complications faced in labor and the OR, internally I was far from okay. The spiral of postpartum anxiety had entered the chat. 

It was after we came home, in the stillness of the village that lived so far away, crying on my couch with a cluster feeding newborn, I realized two things: 1) I didn’t know anything about perinatal mental health, and 2) I didn’t know where I could even go to learn. 

In the following weeks, my spouse would arrive home from work and I would dump everything that I had discovered that day onto him. I was so energized, so eager to learn, and I was jumping into the deep end of this new clinical niche. I enrolled in a perinatal mental health training program. Upon completing that, I enrolled in the Certified Lactation Counselor training course. Bridging these disciplines, as a practitioner, just made sense to me. There can be a significant amount of mental health problems that arise from attempting to body feed: anxiety, trauma, and grief, to name a few. And, as an attachment theory and parenting nerd, I absorbed research on skin-to-skin care like a sponge. 

As I’ve continued to specialize in this field, I greatly appreciate the value of blending perinatal mental healthcare and lactation care, the healing benefits of skin-to-skin care after a traumatic birthing experience, and the neuroscience of matrescence and infant (0-3) development. It’s provided me opportunities to learn more about the relationship between my daughter and me. It’s positively influenced my parenting style. It’s positively influenced my approach as a counselor and an educator. There are FEW psychotherapists who have lactation credentials out there, and I feel honored to be one of them. 

 

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Conflicts of interest everywhere one turns

The authors of Call to end sponsorship from commercial milk formula companies published in The Lancet last month urge all health-care professional associations (HCPAs) to commit to ending sponsorships from companies that market commercial milk formulas (CMFs) by the end of 2024.

Greed depicted in an image that is part of a series of prints of the Seven Deadly Sins, engraved by Pieter van der Heyden after drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. More at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/338698

The CMF industry targets healthcare providers, because they understand providers’ influence on parents’ decisions.

The group of leading HCPAs  is working to compile case studies, references, guidance on how to manage without sponsorship, and more to help any associations in ending such relationships. 

The effort is not a restriction on parental choice, and the authors recognize that all healthcare professionals (HCPs) must support parents on a case-by-case basis. 

Instead, this work focuses on combating the inappropriate marketing of CMFs which interferes with parents getting accurate information to make decisions. The 2023 Lancet Series offers much more information on the industry’s tactics. Find it here.

The CMF industry has its tentacles tangled in affairs beyond the health care provider-patient relationship, raising concerns about conflicts of interest everywhere one turns. 

Healthy Children Project’s Karin Cadwell, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANLC, CLC, IBCLC points out that other fields have separated themselves from industry.  For instance, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) will not accredit an organization that it defines as a commercial interest. The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) adopted policies opposing gifts to physicians and medical students from the pharmaceutical industry in the early 2000s. This piece describes some of the more recent policies governing physician interactions with industry. 

Yet, formula companies and breast pump companies are right in the middle of the baby feeding arena at conferences, like at  WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). 

Industry at conferences 

Rob Revelette MD, PhD FAAP questions the AAP’s relationship with formula companies in this essay where he notes that the AAP, both at the national and state level, accepts money from formula companies for advertising and sponsorship of meetings.https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/335169

Greed Breaks the Bag (“La codicia rompe el saco”)
Leonardo Alenza y Nieto Spanish
1807–45
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/335169

Saroj Jayasinghe offers in Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship of academic conferences: ethics of conflict of interest, “The most definite way to prevent COI is to completely avoid industry funding of conferences…” 

Because this isn’t always feasible, Jayasinghe writes, it is crucial to establish these proposed guidelines:  “(1) avoid the sponsors having any influence on the decision-making of conference; (2) avoid promotion of specific products; (3) transparency of sponsorship; (4) develop guidelines for future interactions; (5) consider contextual factors such as the trust in the profession and social roles of physicians; (6) ensure that the long-term objective of the organisations is independent of influences of the industry.” 

Dr. Revelette points out that The Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health and the British Journal of Pediatrics have both cut ties with formula companies. He writes that “The time for the American Academy of Pediatrics to do the same and comply with the Code is long overdue.” 

CMF companies in science 

CMF marketing commonly and effectively uses science to build brand credibility and influence the scientific community as Rollins, et al detail in Marketing of commercial milk formula: a system to capture parents, communities, science, and policy.

‘Landscapes and seaports’ (Paysages et ports de mer, dans des ronds)
Stefano della Bella Italian
1639
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/412519

The authors detail how they misrepresent research and their sponsorship of journals and conclude “the capture of science as a strategic objective of CMF marketing fundamentally shapes medical practice in addition to boosting CMF sales. Science is used in a pincer movement: parents looking to resolve problems accentuated by marketing, with health professionals offering marketing-constructed solutions.” 

One government employee, a practicing physician, who asked to remain anonymous suggests that “most academicians can’t survive (as academicians) without getting sponsor grants for research”. That’s because public funding has decreased in the last couple of decades.  

Patricia Baird notes in Getting it right: industry sponsorship and medical research “…the pharmaceutical industry has become the single largest direct funder of medical research in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.”

The anonymous physician says that the number and type of potential competing interests do not tend to concern him especially when there is supplementary data available for review. 

He shares that “Most multi-center studies are done by funding from sponsors since no one Institution has deep enough pockets to do these critically important studies.  I get red flags going off and my ‘BS detector’ starts sounding when I see a small, short author list with a single sponsor funding the study that lacks supplementary data and is making extraordinary claims.” 

One of the touted benefits of working with industry in research is the development of new therapies for patients, as Baird writes and is also noted in ‘Deal with the Devil’: Harvard Medical School Faculty Grapple with Increased Industry Research Funding. 

However, Baird shares: “…a lack of balance in research activities, with a focus mainly on potential medications, is likely to divert talented researchers from the pursuit of profound scientific questions, or divert them from the pursuit of questions without market relevance but with an aspect of public good. A company has little incentive to support trials evaluating whether inexpensive, off-patent drugs, or whether nonpharmaceutical interventions, could replace their profitable patented drug.”

Because profits are foremost for industry, Baird continues that “it is unrealistic to expect drug companies to stop making drugs to treat diseases that result from [unhealthy behavior].”

This reality, Baird goes on, “highlights the need for funding of research into new and effective ways to get people to change behaviour, and of research into policies that provide incentives and support for healthier behaviours at a population level.” 

*Ahem… Family-friendly policies that support breastfeeding and adoption and adherence of the Code!*  One has to wonder, would maternal infant health look differently if we put as much effort into breastfeeding and supportive policies as we did responding to the formula crisis? 

One group, the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) conducts the BMS and CF Marketing indexes which assess the marketing policies of the 20 largest baby food companies globally. This spring, the organization released the Breast Milk Substitutes and Complementary Foods Marketing in the United States: Launch of the 2024 Country Report as a complement to the indexes. The recording of this event can be accessed here. 

ATNI has created a model policy for companies’ full compliance with the Code. 

Interestingly, ATNI itself has been criticized for its interactions with CMF companies. 

During the release event, ATNI presenters addressed their involvement with CMF companies. It was reported that ATNI consults independent expert groups and releases their methodology on their website. It was also stated that ATNI engages companies at certain points in their process, but that companies cannot decide whether or not they will be evaluated and do not have influence over the research results.

CMF business affairs within nations 

The United States has an enmeshed relationship with formula companies.

L’Avarice (Greed), from “Les Péchées Capitaux” (The Deadly Sins)
Jacques Callot French
ca. 1620
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/417673

For instance, in Scorched Earth Legal Tactics author Valerie McClain illuminates that “Both the CDC and the FDA have foundations that partner with corporations that donate to their organizations. While these US governmental bodies are not allowed to take money directly from corporations, their foundations through partnerships donate for programs run by the CDC or FDA. The CDC Foundation has a long list of partners who donate various amounts.” 

McClain goes on: “From a political science perspective, corporations entangled with governmental agencies is part of the definition of fascism-a merger of state and corporate power. Every US governmental agency that I have seen has a foundation. So one gets the impression that is one way to pretend that corporations have no influence on governmental policy.” 

She details some of these relationships with specific dollar amounts in the remainder of her piece. 

In another revealing article– The U.S. Government Defended the Overseas Business Interests of Baby Formula Makers. Kids Paid the Price.— author Heather Vogell demonstrates how “the U.S. government repeatedly used its muscle to advance the interests of large baby formula companies while thwarting the efforts of Thailand and other developing countries to safeguard children’s health.” 

And there was the disgraceful act when the U.S. opposed a WHA resolution in 2018 and “blackmailed” Ecuador. 

An administrator from Breastfeeding Advocacy Australia (BAA) explains their country’s involvement with industry: “…Our Government gave the Formula Industry co-operative body, the Infant Nutrition Council (INC) a government grant to expand their international markets. This government one was for India, a country working hard to improve breastfeeding. Last government gave a grant for expansion in Cambodia, a country with historically high breastfeeding now rapidly plummeting. It is immoral and unjust. We must fight for women and babies. It gets worse here in Australia as a developed nation who is enabling this industry. One of our main research organisations SAHMRI has joint trials with Nestle and validates their participation. Unsurprisingly, the result of one trial we’ve seen requires the administration of a Nestle product as an outcome. Then our Doctor group the RACGP, the doctors that virtually all Mums and Bubs see, has their annual conference sponsored by Nestle and that’s just what we’ve seen publicly stated. There is probably much more. We have much work to do.” 

Until our governments do a better job of protecting health over profits and untangle their industry ties, how can we, as maternal child health advocates,  turn down the commercial noise when its notes seem to play everywhere? 

Steven R. Brown’s, MD, FAAFP American Family Physician editorial Physicians Should Refuse Pharmaceutical Industry Gifts offers guidance that is easily adopted for those working as lactation professionals. 

Certified Lactation Counselors should remember the specific line in the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice (ALPP) Code of Ethics for Certified Lactation Counselors (CLC) which reads that we must “Abide by the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes and subsequent resolutions which pertain to health workers.”  

The aforementioned Call to end sponsorship from commercial milk formula companies is a promising launching pad in the dismantling of inappropriate care provider- industry relationships. It signifies progress and as BAA offered, we have so much more work to do.  

 

Further reading/ related resources 

 

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Brenda Hwang’s, MA, CCC-SLP, CLC, CDP light bulb moment: “My colostrum is in fact enough…”

[Photo by Andrea Piacquadio]
We consider ourselves life-long learners here at Healthy Children Project. Sometimes learning occurs gradually, and sometimes there are the ‘light bulb’ moments.

We put a call out to our followers to share “Aha!” moments with us. Maybe it was a myth busted during the Lactation Counselor Training Course (LCTC) or maybe it happened during a visit with a dyad.

We also called for stories about your babies’ and children’s ‘light bulb’ moments. When have you seen your little ones’ faces light up in discovery and understanding?

The call for stories is still open! Please send your reflections to info@ourmilkyway.org with “Light Bulb” in the subject line. 

This is Brenda L. Hwang’s, MA, CCC-SLP, CLC, CDP illuminating moment. 

******

Myth – You have to feed formula in the beginning until your milk “comes in.”

FACT – You do not have to feed formula if you do not want to and your colostrum IS ENOUGH. 

I had an incredible breastfeeding journey with my first born that lasted a little over two years. It was difficult for me to think about other moms not having a positive breastfeeding experience. 

That is when I decided to become a lactation counselor. During my training, I remember learning about helping mothers feel confident about their milk supply (when there are no medical reasons to be concerned about). I remember being fascinated with the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative and researching if there were any near me for when I deliver again or to recommend my patients to go to for the most pro-breastfeeding support. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. 

When I gave birth to my second born, I remember feeling overwhelmed by so many emotions following childbirth. I remember trying to remind myself that this was typical as our hormones are off the charts after experiencing what the amazing body just went through to bring new life into the world. I felt like there were so many things that I had little or no control over, but what I did have control over was advocating for immediate skin-to-skin and the opportunity to breastfeed my daughter. That made me feel grounded and confident. 

However, that night came and my daughter wouldn’t stop crying. The nurse would come in and out of our room always looking angry, telling me that my supply was not enough, and that I needed to give my daughter formula for her to stop crying. I kept advocating for myself and reminded my husband that –

  1. Formula was not what we planned for or want, 
  2. I have colostrum and,
  3. My colostrum is in fact enough and the best thing that we can give to our daughter right now. 

Although I knew this was true, the sad little cries broke my heart and the nurse’s comments and facial expressions made me feel uneasy. 

Even with the breastfeeding education that I had, she eventually made me believe that perhaps I was wrong and what I had was not enough for my daughter. I dozed off crying quietly to myself, feeling like a failure as a mom. This was my Ah-Ha moment. I thought, “Wow, that was terrible and unfortunately too common of an event that mothers often experience in the hospital.” I would never wish for any mom to feel that way – to feel like she is not enough, or a failure as a mom.

I am now dedicated to providing breastfeeding education during pregnancy… to help moms feel prepared for the first few moments after baby is born. I strive to find a role in the hospital in order to advocate for parents who wish to breastfeed and to provide timely interventions so that they too can have a positive breastfeeding experience. 

Thank you for reading my story.



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