0:02

Welcome back

0:02

to another episode of

0:05

breastfeeding talk. I'm your

0:05

host, Jacqueline Kincer. And

0:09

first and foremost, I want to

0:09

apologize for not releasing an

0:13

episode. For a long time, quite

0:13

honestly, a lot of interviews

0:17

and things that I had reached

0:17

out to people for they had

0:20

reached out to me, you just got

0:20

postponed because of the

0:22

holidays. And then with Omicron

0:22

variant of COVID, everyone's

0:26

been getting sick. Thankfully,

0:26

so far, we've been safe in my

0:30

household, but I can't say the

0:30

same for ruin everyone else. So

0:35

that has all lead to finally,

0:35

no, this is the first episode of

0:41

2022. And we're already more

0:41

than halfway through January. So

0:45

thank you for everyone who stuck

0:45

around as a subscriber. And if

0:49

you're new here, definitely make

0:49

sure you are subscribed to the

0:52

podcast. But today, I'm going to

0:52

do a little episode of This Week

0:57

and breastfeeding. And I'm going

0:57

to cover and kind of do a little

1:00

bit of catch up on news, I'm not

1:00

going to cover a whole lot of

1:02

old news, because it's not

1:02

really relevant anymore. But I

1:06

will be kind of going back

1:06

through and pulling some older

1:08

things for you. But I want to

1:08

make sure the content I bring

1:11

you today is really, you know,

1:11

available and accessible to you.

1:15

So I'm going to start out with

1:15

an article that I just received

1:20

the other day. And it was

1:20

talking about the benefits of

1:24

breast milk. And of course, the

1:24

hot topic of the day, we're all

1:28

tired of hearing about it, but

1:28

COVID-19, and antibodies passing

1:31

from vaccinated mothers to

1:31

infants. And we just continue to

1:34

receive more studies confirming

1:34

that this is happening. So

1:38

there's not a single study out

1:38

there that has said that you

1:41

know that you don't pass

1:41

antibodies to your baby, if

1:44

you're breastfeeding or offering

1:44

pumped milk when you've gotten

1:47

the vaccine. So again, this is

1:47

just really promising because

1:51

the trials have not been

1:51

successful for children under

1:54

five yet. And I know that there

1:54

are a lot of mamas out there who

1:58

are really anxious to have an

1:58

infant vaccine against COVID.

2:01

So, you know, this is just great

2:01

information. Because really what

2:06

we want to do, regardless of

2:06

COVID is encourage you to

2:10

breastfeed for as long as

2:10

possible to provide the maximum

2:13

benefit to you and your child.

2:13

So the longer you do it, the

2:16

better. I know there are a lot

2:16

of moms out there who right when

2:20

the pandemic started, but also

2:20

still today are looking at real

2:25

lactation. If they've had some

2:25

breastfeeding challenges and

2:28

stopped ready. It's breastfeeding for whatever reason, or a lot of moms now are

2:30

realizing, hey, you know what,

2:34

there's actually a huge benefit

2:34

to nursing beyond a year or

2:38

pumping beyond a year. And so

2:38

the length of breastfeeding

2:43

duration, at least the the

2:43

amount of mothers who are trying

2:46

to make that happen is

2:46

increasing. So it's really

2:48

great. And other COVID News,

2:48

there's this viral photo that

2:52

went around. It's funny to me,

2:52

because this is like old news to

2:56

me. But there was a viral photo

2:56

that went around of a mother's

2:59

pumped milk that was green. And

2:59

it was green because she was,

3:05

you know, positive for SARS, cov

3:05

two infection. And, you know,

3:11

breast milk changes colors all

3:11

the time, by the way. And just

3:14

because one mother has green

3:14

COVID-19 positive breast milk

3:18

does not mean that every mother

3:18

who is lactating is going to

3:21

have a green breast milk just

3:21

because she's infected with

3:23

COVID-19. So just want to be

3:23

really clear about that. But

3:26

breast milk changes color all

3:26

the time. I suspect quite

3:30

honestly that the breast milk

3:30

change color more having to do

3:34

with what the mother was

3:34

consuming rather than the

3:36

infection itself. Green breast

3:36

milk is usually correlated to

3:40

higher intake of green foods or

3:40

vitamins. So just like if you

3:44

take a lot of vitamins, your

3:44

body will get rid of the rest of

3:47

the sort of the extra by turning

3:47

your yellow, or your pea yellow

3:51

or like almost even like an

3:51

orange color, drink more water.

3:55

But it can be like a really neon

3:55

color. Similarly, vitamins,

3:59

supplements, foods can also

3:59

alter the color of your breast

4:01

milk. So really, you know,

4:01

there's just so much

4:05

sensationalism over it. I hope

4:05

that the message that came out

4:08

of this was that How cool are

4:08

our bodies, not that green

4:12

breast milk is bad for your

4:12

baby, because it's not really

4:17

the only breast milk that would

4:17

be a weird color that would not

4:20

be good for your baby would be

4:20

breast milk that is a hot pink

4:22

or sort of a fuchsia color.

4:22

That's a sign of a serious

4:26

bacterial infection and you

4:26

should not be feeding that milk

4:29

to your baby. It looks a bit

4:29

like a bright bright version of

4:32

Pepto Bismol. So again, really

4:32

rare. But that's the only time

4:37

that we need to worry about

4:37

color of your milk. Also, if

4:39

there's blood in it, that's

4:39

definitely a sign that you need

4:41

some help but it doesn't mean

4:41

that you can't feed that milk to

4:43

your baby, believe it or not.

4:43

So, um, let me see what else

4:47

here I can chat to regarding

4:47

COVID-19 Ah, here's another one.

4:54

So this is actually a study that

4:54

was published January 14 of

4:59

2020. too, and it was asking the

4:59

question does COVID-19 policy

5:05

affect initiation and duration

5:05

of exclusive breastfeeding, a

5:09

single center represent?

5:09

retrospective study. And what

5:14

they found was that they

5:14

enrolled five, sorry, 454

5:18

eligible mother infant Diane's.

5:18

And, you know, they just kind of

5:24

assessed for, you know, maternal

5:24

age, gestational age, birth

5:27

weight, Apgar scores, things of

5:27

that most of the mothers 86% had

5:33

no known chronic diseases, how

5:33

to normal spontaneous delivery,

5:37

so meaning they weren't induced,

5:37

they didn't have a surgical

5:40

birth. And then 44.7% of the

5:40

sample initiated breastfeeding.

5:47

So either directly at the breast

5:47

or they were expressing breast

5:50

milk during their hospital stay.

5:50

And then they were looking at

5:54

just the prevalence of exclusive

5:54

breastfeeding for the first two

5:56

weeks, three weeks, six months

5:56

postpartum. And they looked at

6:01

those rates. So what they found

6:01

was that the prevalence of

6:06

breastfeeding initiation meaning

6:06

you started it right after you

6:09

gave birth. And exclusive

6:09

breastfeeding in the first six

6:14

months postpartum, were low

6:14

among Saudi mothers. However,

6:19

there were multicenter

6:19

prospective and cohort studies

6:23

that adjusted for, you know,

6:23

typically known factors that

6:26

might confound the data. And

6:26

they were exploring the impact

6:31

of infection control policies on

6:31

breastfeeding. So they're trying

6:34

to take a look at this, but

6:34

they're seeing at least in Saudi

6:37

women, this, this was a study

6:37

done in Saudi Arabia, that the

6:41

rates were lower. And so there

6:41

may be, you know, whether it's

6:45

just sort of the whole hospital

6:45

environment and those protocols

6:48

and things of that nature,

6:48

they're negatively affecting

6:51

breastfeeding. And it's

6:51

unfortunate because, you know,

6:54

we don't want that to happen.

6:54

Breastfeeding can actually be

6:57

literally life saving,

6:57

especially in the midst of this

7:01

pandemic. I know, there are some

7:01

people that don't take it

7:04

seriously. But I have lactation

7:04

consultants on my team and many,

7:09

many colleagues to work in the

7:09

NICU in the hospital environment

7:13

and seeing an infant infected

7:13

with COVID-19 in the hospital is

7:17

very, very scary, and it is not

7:17

minor. So I do hope that people

7:22

take this seriously. Okay, now, let's move on to

7:25

another topic here. So LabCorp

7:33

is this large company in the US

7:33

that does a lot of lab work, if

7:36

you've gotten a COVID-19 test,

7:36

you've probably heard of them.

7:40

But you know, a lot of doctors

7:40

will, will use this company and

7:42

whatnot. Basically, they got

7:42

investigated by the Department

7:48

of Labor. So we're talking about

7:48

people working at LabCorp.

7:52

Essentially, the Department of

7:52

Labor in United States found

7:55

that there were supervisors out

7:55

of California location that

7:58

failed to provide pumping space

7:58

that met the Fair Labor

8:00

Standards Act requirements. So

8:00

there was an employee that was

8:04

interrupted in a private while I

8:04

guess it wasn't really a private

8:07

space, right. So she wasn't

8:07

given a private space, just

8:10

interrupted twice by coworkers.

8:10

And so now LabCorp has to agree

8:15

to provide her with a private

8:15

space, and they actually revised

8:19

their lactation break policy. So

8:19

this sounds like a really minor

8:24

kind of thing, right. But I have

8:24

to say, good for this employee,

8:28

because when you utilize the

8:28

laws and the policies that are

8:32

in place to protect you, you

8:32

reinforce the strength of those

8:36

laws and policies. And when you

8:36

make a big company like LabCorp

8:39

take action, it's something that

8:39

other companies pay attention

8:42

to. So it might not sound like a

8:42

big deal to get interrupted a

8:46

couple times while you're

8:46

pumping milk for your baby. But

8:49

it is a big deal. And you should

8:49

take it seriously. And I like

8:52

that this person went through

8:52

the proper channels to initiate

8:55

change and create protections

8:55

for themselves. So if you're not

9:00

familiar, the fair lab labor and

9:00

Standards Act requires that any

9:04

employer knighted states with 50

9:04

or more employees has to provide

9:08

reasonable break time to express

9:08

breast milk for your child for

9:12

one year after the child's

9:12

birth. Okay, so it doesn't cover

9:15

beyond that if you work for a

9:15

small company that has less than

9:18

50 employees. Sorry,

9:18

unfortunately, you're kind of

9:20

screwed in terms of that. Labor

9:20

Act protection. But you have to

9:26

be in a private space that is

9:26

not a bathroom that is shielded

9:29

from view, it's free from

9:29

intrusion typically means that

9:32

there's a lock on the door. So

9:32

coworkers and the public cannot

9:36

access the space when you are

9:36

using it to produce breast milk

9:39

for your child. So anyway, I

9:39

just think it's great. I think

9:44

it's a win. These requirements

9:44

have been in place for over 10

9:48

years. And the Department of

9:48

Labor does enforce them on a

9:51

regular basis whenever

9:51

complaints are made, so it is up

9:54

to you to make a complaint.

9:54

Obviously, you shouldn't go to

9:56

the Department of Labor. First,

9:56

you should try to work this out

9:59

through the proper channels. in

9:59

your company, if you're not

10:01

getting anywhere, though the Department of Labor is absolutely there for you. Bank

10:03

of America was ones kind of

10:07

caught up in an investigation

10:07

and had to make some similar

10:10

changes. They actually had. You

10:10

know, it was kind of a big to do

10:14

news deal, I suppose. There's a,

10:14

you know, other companies

10:18

sometimes have to pay fines,

10:18

they have to pay back wages, you

10:23

know, various various things,

10:23

right. So you cannot be forced

10:26

to go and pump in a bathroom or

10:26

your car or, you know, things

10:30

like that, right. So, just be

10:30

aware of that. I have a couple

10:34

of great podcast episodes on

10:34

returning to work. One with

10:37

Carly Vincent and one with

10:37

Debbie Jada Gari. I will link

10:40

those up in the show notes if

10:40

you haven't listened to those

10:43

yet. But it's a really, really

10:43

important topic. The last thing

10:47

also I want to include is a

10:47

link. It's not really a this

10:50

week and breastfeeding, sort of

10:50

a news item per se. But it's a

10:53

link from the Academy of

10:53

breastfeeding medicine. I get

10:56

this question a lot on Instagram

10:56

from people, they'll say, I

11:00

learned that I am positive for

11:00

COVID-19. Can I breastfeed my

11:04

baby? Yes, you can. You

11:04

absolutely can. Now there are

11:08

some things you want to know.

11:08

Right, though. So you know, just

11:12

if you're looking for some

11:12

really good up to date

11:15

information, the Academy of

11:15

breastfeeding medicine has an

11:17

excellent site with resources

11:17

related to breastfeeding and

11:22

COVID-19. So I would just say,

11:22

you know, check that out,

11:25

they've got just, you know, some

11:25

quick links that you can click

11:28

on and you can kind of, you

11:28

know, do a deeper dive if you'd

11:31

like. But they do update this on

11:31

a regular basis. If you're a

11:36

health care provider, this would

11:36

be an excellent site for you to

11:38

go to, they actually have

11:38

recorded webinars and all sorts

11:41

of things. Again, it's from the

11:41

Academy of breastfeeding

11:43

medicine. So it's breastfeeding

11:43

focused.

11:47

Okay, now, this is interesting.

11:47

This came across the news desk.

11:51

And I have no idea that this was

11:51

a thing. But apparently, in the

11:55

UK, photographing breastfeeding

11:55

mothers without their consent is

11:59

a thing. And it's actually now a

11:59

crime, or at least they're in

12:04

the process of making it a

12:04

crime. So I don't know who's

12:08

doing this. But I think that's

12:08

really messed up. You shouldn't

12:11

be taking photos of anybody

12:11

without their consent, but let

12:13

alone a breastfeeding mother. So

12:13

now it's, it's a crime. So if if

12:20

you see someone snapping a photo

12:20

of you in the UK, while you're

12:24

breastfeeding your baby, you can

12:24

call the police on them. So is

12:29

this is this a thing? Do I have

12:29

UK listeners? Like, is this

12:32

happening? Is this? Is this a

12:32

big deal? I don't what's being

12:36

done with these photos? I'm just

12:36

trying to understand why why

12:39

this is happening. You know, I

12:39

think the world has sort of

12:42

become a strange place as of

12:42

late. But yeah, interesting news

12:47

item before. Sure. So I will

12:47

jump into this one, which has

12:52

been covered in a few different

12:52

news outlets. But there's a new

12:55

study that's been released

12:55

showing breastfeeding linked to

12:59

lower heart disease and a lower

12:59

risk of stroke. So this is

13:04

really cool. So the study

13:04

included data from more than 1

13:09

million women from eight

13:09

separate studies. So that's a

13:14

lot of data points. And what

13:14

they discovered is that

13:16

breastfeeding led to an 11%

13:16

Decrease in cardiovascular

13:21

disease, on 12% reduction in

13:21

strokes, and a 17% reduction in

13:27

fatalities because of

13:27

cardiovascular disease. So

13:31

there's, you know, been studies

13:31

have showed an association

13:34

between breastfeeding and the

13:34

risk of cardiovascular disease

13:38

and the mother, but they weren't

13:38

consistent, there wasn't a huge,

13:42

you know, obvious association

13:42

between the two. So now, they

13:46

did more in depth studies. And I

13:46

think it's just absolutely

13:50

amazing. So sometimes we focus

13:50

on the benefits of

13:54

breastfeeding, or specifically

13:54

breast milk to infants. But

13:58

there are benefits to you as a

13:58

mother. So if you know

14:02

cardiovascular disease, runs in

14:02

your family, you know,

14:06

breastfeeding for as long as you

14:06

can with each child that you

14:10

have, is going to create a

14:10

really significant benefit for

14:15

you in terms of reducing your

14:15

risk of cardiovascular disease,

14:19

strokes, and death due to

14:19

cardiovascular disease. So I

14:23

love that I love when new data

14:23

like that comes out and I love

14:26

when it's a really large sample

14:26

size, like more than a million

14:29

women. Okay, um, let's see where

14:29

we go next.

14:34

I like this one. Okay. So I

14:34

don't know what publication this

14:37

is. It's in Australia. I mean, I

14:37

know what it is because I'm

14:41

looking at their website right

14:41

now, but just say I haven't

14:43

heard of that not familiar with it. Maybe if you're in Australia, this is like a huge

14:45

sort of blog, publication

14:49

outlet. It's called Mamma Mia.

14:49

And it was actually a really in

14:54

depth sort of interview. first

14:54

person perspective. And the

14:58

headline knows I thought, right

14:58

Feeding would be a no brainer.

15:01

The reality was much more

15:01

brutal. Well, this is great

15:05

timing, because today I made a

15:05

real basically about on

15:09

Instagram, if you don't know

15:09

what a real is, by the way,

15:13

follow me on Instagram, I have

15:13

so much good content over there.

15:16

If you are not following me on

15:16

Instagram, you are seriously

15:18

missing out. And don't make

15:18

money from posting on Instagram,

15:21

by the way. So it's not like,

15:21

I'm trying to sell you anything

15:23

here. But seriously, I put some

15:23

seriously amazing content out

15:27

there. And I mean, just go check

15:27

it out. If you're not already

15:30

following me. It's out holistic

15:30

lactation that'll be linked up

15:33

in the show notes, of course. So

15:33

anyway, I made this real today

15:37

about how just you know birth.

15:37

You know, breastfeeding,

15:40

breastfeeding is natural. Okay,

15:40

we get that. But like one of my

15:45

amazing lactation consultants,

15:45

Gina from Spain says, and I

15:50

don't know if I can actually credit her on this quote, because she thinks she might

15:52

have gotten this from somewhere else. But breastfeeding is

15:53

natural, like walking and

15:57

talking is natural. Not like

15:57

seeing and hearing is natural.

16:03

Right? So you get the difference, right? Like it's a process to learn to walk, to

16:05

talk to, you know, verbalize

16:10

sound and turn it into something

16:10

that someone else can

16:13

understand. That takes time.

16:13

Right, it's a process takes a

16:16

lot of practice. So does

16:16

breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is

16:19

not an exception. So I love the

16:19

the first sentence of this

16:22

article, it says have boobs will

16:22

breastfeed at least I thought

16:25

that would be the case. So this

16:25

mother goes into all of her

16:29

expectations of breastfeeding

16:29

and how those didn't work out.

16:33

So she's 44 year old mother. And

16:33

she didn't really didn't give it

16:38

a second thought. She just

16:38

thought, of course, I'm going to

16:41

breastfeed. Like she just

16:41

thought I just make the choice.

16:44

And making the choice is what

16:44

happens. And she's not alone in

16:47

this right. There are so many

16:47

moms out there, I was one of

16:51

them with my first like, if I

16:51

just decide to breastfeed, that

16:53

means I will breastfeed. I

16:53

really didn't know. And then we

16:56

hear this old adage, you know,

16:56

breast is best. And so we just

17:00

think, you know, that's what

17:00

we're going to do. So this mom

17:03

had an unplanned C section at 39

17:03

weeks. So I mean, she was still

17:07

full term, right? And but it was

17:07

in a pandemic. So that's, you

17:12

know, not easy, right? Already

17:12

having a pandemic, baby. So then

17:17

she had a baby with a poor

17:17

latch, the feeding wasn't going

17:21

well, she had a bunch of

17:21

visitors coming that she

17:24

probably wasn't expecting. And

17:24

there's just a huge disruption

17:27

of breastfeeding. By the way,

17:27

please put visitors off like in

17:31

those very, very early, early

17:31

postpartum days. I mean, unless

17:34

it is someone really significant

17:34

to you personally, that you

17:37

really want to be there in your

17:37

space, make them wait, though,

17:41

they'll come in three weeks, I

17:41

promise they're not gonna not

17:44

want to come. Okay. So the

17:44

problem is, is a lot of visitors

17:47

are there to see the baby.

17:47

They're not there to see you.

17:50

Or, you know, they're, they want

17:50

to see you, right, but I mean,

17:53

come on, let's be wrong. They're

17:53

there for the baby. No, no.

17:56

Early postpartum visitors are

17:56

there to help you out and caring

18:00

for your baby. They're not there

18:00

to take the baby from you and

18:03

disrupt breastfeeding, which is

18:03

usually what happens. So this

18:06

mom explained that kind of

18:06

happened. Eventually, the baby

18:09

ended up dehydrated. I don't

18:09

know all the circumstances of

18:11

this. But I will tell you from

18:11

reading her story, either. She

18:17

just had no idea how to get like

18:17

a proper latch for this baby,

18:20

which is very common, by the

18:20

way. Or her baby had something

18:25

like a tongue or lip tie,

18:25

because she said the baby was

18:28

dehydrated. She had to go to the

18:28

ER on the second day home. Her

18:31

nipples were on fire. She had

18:31

mastitis. She had like, she had

18:35

a huge jump. Right. So that

18:35

didn't help either. Right. So

18:40

you know, it just she then she

18:40

ended up having a formula to the

18:42

baby and like this is not

18:42

normal. Okay, so does it happen?

18:46

Is it common? Yes. But it's not

18:46

normal. It's a sign of a

18:48

problem. And what sucks for this

18:48

mom, is that she didn't get the

18:52

right help. So I like articles

18:52

like this because they bring to

18:56

light the real challenges that

18:56

moms face. But I also vehemently

19:00

dislike articles like this.

19:00

Because essentially what it's

19:03

saying is if these things happen

19:03

to you, then you know,

19:07

breastfeeding just you know, it

19:07

wasn't gonna work out for you.

19:10

And that sucks. No, stop this

19:10

narrative. I am so tired of

19:15

hearing this. Okay, I am so

19:15

tired of hearing mom's sob

19:18

stories. And I'm like, excuse me

19:18

at what point in your story. Did

19:21

you meet with a lactation

19:21

consultants? Oh, you didn't?

19:24

Okay, well, and I'm not not

19:24

saying like, you know, it's the

19:27

mom's fault that she didn't meet

19:27

with one right? You don't know

19:30

what you don't know. And that's

19:30

fine. But we've got to stop

19:33

publicizing these stories and

19:33

acting like there's no way

19:37

breastfeeding was ever going to

19:37

work out for this mom because

19:40

she was 44 years old because she

19:40

had an unplanned C section

19:42

because her baby how to pour

19:42

latch. None of those things mean

19:46

that breastfeeding can't work

19:46

out for you. Not a single one of

19:48

those things. I've worked with

19:48

the most horrendous awful,

19:53

terrible breastfeeding

19:53

situations. And you can turn it

19:56

anything around anything with

19:56

the right help but you I

20:00

wouldn't expect you to do it on

20:00

your own. I mean, you're already

20:02

in the midst of it with postpartum and healing from pregnancy and birth and all of

20:04

these things, right? So anyway,

20:09

this mom basically went on to

20:09

say that she sort of

20:11

internalized this shame that

20:11

something was wrong with her

20:16

body. And she hadn't, you know,

20:16

done what she needed to do to

20:20

effectively breastfeed her baby.

20:20

And, you know, then she says,

20:25

See, this is the problem, right? You don't get the right help, and you go to the hospital. So

20:27

the nurse, you know, threatened

20:29

to put a feeding tube down the

20:29

baby's throat, if she didn't

20:32

start to get with the

20:32

breastfeeding program. I'm

20:34

sorry, can you please go make a

20:34

complaint to that hospital? That

20:38

is not okay. Is not okay. First

20:38

of all, no one should ever talk

20:41

to you like that. Second of all,

20:41

you might be exaggerating for,

20:44

you know, the purposes of making

20:44

this article a bit more

20:47

entertaining. But Third of all,

20:47

why was the nurse working with

20:50

you? Where was the ibclc? So

20:50

we've got to demand better as

20:55

patients, and unfortunately, it

20:55

is upon you as the patient, I

20:58

cannot create systemic change. I

20:58

do what I can I teach

21:03

professionally, I do a lot of

21:03

things professionally, that

21:07

really aren't in the public view, I don't talk about them a whole

21:09

lot. But I can't change the

21:11

hospital system. I can't change

21:11

governmental policy, I'm just

21:14

one person. So I would really

21:14

encourage you to advocate for

21:18

yourself and go, Yeah, that's

21:18

not, that's not okay. That's not

21:21

good care. Let's help me get

21:21

better care. So and I know

21:25

that's hard to do. So, you know,

21:25

have a doula do that have your

21:29

partner to that have, you know,

21:29

another family member or close

21:31

friend, someone else can help

21:31

you with that, because it's a

21:34

lot again, to put on yourself.

21:34

So, you know, here's the thing,

21:39

I'm not saying like this mom

21:39

failed, because she didn't hire

21:41

a lactation consultant. That's

21:41

what I'm saying. But what I am

21:44

saying is that the fact that she

21:44

didn't meant that she was very

21:49

likely to fail, because

21:49

depending on the medical system

21:52

to fix breastfeeding for you,

21:52

they're not interested in that.

21:55

They're not, they're interested

21:55

in getting that baby calories,

21:57

which of course, every single

21:57

lactation consultant is to, but

22:01

we're also interested in you and

22:01

your goals for breastfeeding.

22:04

And it matters not just how much

22:04

weight your baby is gaining, and

22:08

how much they're drinking, it

22:08

also matters that your breasts

22:11

aren't in pain, that they're not

22:11

bleeding, it also matters that

22:15

you're meeting the goals that

22:15

you would set for feeding your

22:17

child. Right. And if we have to

22:17

adjust those goals, we have to

22:20

but no one worked with this. So

22:20

I just find this also, you know,

22:26

disappointing. In the end,

22:26

obviously, she, you know, kind

22:29

of came to terms with us. But

22:29

she ultimately makes it sound

22:35

like her physical circumstances

22:35

and her environmental stress

22:39

were immutable properties that

22:39

led to the decline of

22:42

breastfeeding. And I would argue

22:42

that, yes, sometimes that is the

22:46

case, especially in a resource

22:46

limited area. But I would say

22:51

that, more often than not, it's

22:51

not physical circumstances that

22:57

are responsible for you not

22:57

breastfeeding, it tends to be

23:01

systemic ones, it tends to be

23:01

financial ones, it tends to be,

23:06

you know, your level of

23:06

privilege that facilitates that

23:10

for you. So this mom was

23:10

actually really lucky in the

23:13

sunset, she was able to access

23:13

immediate pediatric care, go to

23:18

the hospital, you know, get her

23:18

baby fed and back up to proper

23:22

weight. And a lot of things, you

23:22

know, I didn't hear any mention

23:25

here of, you know, not getting

23:25

access to that type of care. So

23:31

she, she did have access to

23:31

that. And that's really, really

23:33

great. At the end of the day,

23:33

I'm really glad that she got

23:36

this intervention for her child,

23:36

because can be very damaging if

23:39

she didn't, but I would so love

23:39

to see more articles like this,

23:44

of like, telling the story of

23:44

this massive downhill trends.

23:47

And then I hired an ibclc and

23:47

she saved the day might be a

23:53

little biased. Again, we're not

23:53

all created equal. Okay? Just

23:57

like every doctor, every

23:57

plumber, every cell phone

23:59

provider, you know, they're all going to be different, right? There's good ones, there's bad

24:01

ones. But gosh, you know, I just

24:05

hate to hear stories like this,

24:05

where a mom has gone through

24:09

weeks of suffering that was so

24:09

unnecessary had she just got the

24:12

right support to begin with. So

24:12

anyway, I wanted to share this,

24:15

I'll link it up for you to read.

24:15

It was very entertaining the way

24:18

the way she wrote it, and it was

24:18

very brief. But I just gosh, you

24:23

know, I just I just feel for

24:23

these moms like, because what

24:28

ends up happening is that that

24:28

whole fed his best argument gets

24:31

fed right? Well, Formula saved

24:31

my baby because they weren't

24:34

able to get enough breast milk.

24:34

No formula didn't save your

24:38

baby, per se. I mean, formula

24:38

was a necessary way to feed your

24:41

child. But there are other

24:41

things that really could have

24:43

worked right. And maybe

24:43

breastfeeding, you know,

24:45

wouldn't have been possible in

24:45

the end or it wouldn't have been

24:48

able to be what she had hoped it

24:48

could be. But I just wish that

24:54

the mom had other options,

24:54

besides being forced into

24:57

something that she didn't

24:57

originally intend So I think

25:00

that's just an important

25:00

distinction to make. And I

25:02

really wanted to share that with

25:02

you guys. So that pretty much

25:06

wraps it up for today's episode,

25:06

I'm going to link up these

25:10

articles in the show notes if

25:10

you're interested in reading

25:12

them yourselves. Or if you're

25:12

looking for references to

25:14

anything, I really would

25:14

encourage you to check out the

25:18

link for the Academy of breastfeeding medicine, if you're interested in COVID-19,

25:20

and how that affects

25:23

breastfeeding and lactation and

25:23

sort of guidelines of things you

25:26

should do should you become

25:26

infected or have some sort of

25:29

issues there. Again, it's

25:29

something that they update very

25:32

frequently, and it's a really

25:32

great trusted resource. So if

25:36

you haven't already, go follow

25:36

me on Instagram, subscribe to

25:39

the show. And I promise there

25:39

will be more episodes coming.

25:43

We've got a really cool episode

25:43

coming up with a pharmacist that

25:48

specializes in lactation. So for

25:48

all of you who are wondering how

25:52

do I find out if a medication or

25:52

supplement safe during

25:55

breastfeeding if it's okay to

25:55

take for my milk supply, things

25:57

like that. This is going to be

25:57

the amazing episode for you to

26:01

listen to. So make sure you

26:01

subscribe so you get alerts for

26:03

any new episodes that drop