Lo's sister Amy is on the podcast, and it was a delight to have one hour to chat with her about breastfeeding! She has 6 children, three of whom she birthed and breastfed. She had a really tough first experience, that was made even more challenging because she took custody of her three older children when her first biological baby was 4 weeks old and she wasn't even in the swing of things with breastfeeding. Getting her first to latch was very challenging and if it wasn't for lifelong athlete mentality, she would not have made it through. Her second and third were not *as* challenging, but she did have an accidental homebirth on the exact same day that Lo had her homebirth! You can reach out to Amy at [email protected] --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Kerry had very little breastfeeding exposure before having her first baby. She was pressured into a C-section where her baby was immediately put into an isolette. She was given very little support initially and she was given incorrect information. On her final day she was able to get breastfeeding support from an IBCLC which made all the difference. Kerry was breastfeeding when her oldest was a year old, when she discovered she was pregnant with her second. She continued to breastfeed throughout the pregnancy, despite being told misinformation about breastfeeding through pregnancy by her OBGYN. She felt confident in her decision because she had read Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breasteeding During Pregnancy and Beyond and educated herself about breastfeeding during pregnancy. Her second baby was also delivered by c-section, but this time she asked to hold the baby immediately and made it clear what she needed from the hospital staff to support breastfeeding. She tandem nursed both kids until they were 4 1/2 and 6 1/2 and threw a weaning party when they stopped breastfeeding. Ten years later, she had a third child who was born at home vaginally. Kerry discusses such topics as postpartum depression, pumping for work, tandem breastfeeding and weaning a toddler.  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Gretchen is a busy working mom of three who was determined to breastfeed not only because she knew it was best for her kids, but also, as she put it, because she wanted the ease to be able to "move around with my breasts and a diaper in my back pocket. And a change of clothes in the other and call it a day." Gretchen also knew she ONLY wanted to breastfeed her kids for about a year, once teeth were in the picture she wasn't interested in continuing. This conversation is chock full of practical advice, but will also make you giggle. My good friend Gretchen is a delight, and I know you will walking away loving my friend as much as I do.  If you want to get to know Gretchen better and feel she can help your family to improve at-home learning (i.e. reduce homework battles, understand what the teachers are asking your kids to do while IMPROVING your connection with your kids) check out her amazing organization Co-Teach and get to work with her (or another great Co-Teacher) personally. Want to have more personal conversations with podcast guests and with me? Have breastfeeding questions you wanted answered in a group setting? Want to talk about the show with other fans? Head to The Milk Making Minutes Keep the Conversation Going Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/730763011615148 Do you live local to North Central Ma or or Southern VT, or NH and want an in person lactation counseling session? Go to my website: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/lactation-services Want to share YOUR story? Do that Here: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/podcastguestrequest Follow me on IG @milkmakingminutespodcast --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Laura really didn’t know what to expect when she had her first baby. She had one friend who was willing to share breastfeeding details with her, but other than that did not know many other people who were very open about their breastfeeding journeys. She was adopted and so giving birth and breastfeeding brought a host of new new feelings she didn’t expect before becoming a mother. Breastfeeding did not come easily for Laura. As a busy mom or three children, you can hear her busy life in the background throughout the episode! The background noise gives us a tiny glimpse into Laura’s every day life. Many of us can relate. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Sarah has four kids ages ranging in age from 14 to 8 months. She had difficult births with most of her babies, but always assumed breastfeeding would be the way she fed her babies. She was concerned it would be difficult because her nipples are typically very sensitive, and she thought she would endure a lot of pain. but it turns out breastfeeding was a completely different sensation for her and she was able to feed each of her children for well over a year (and most of them for years). She nursed despite an autoimmune disorder, through a lung biopsy, while traveling with infants that were weeks old and during bouts of mastitis, to name a few challenges. Despite all of this, Sarah views her breastfeeding experiences with joy and is glad to have had this time with her children, even has she still nurses her youngest.  Sarah mentions milkies milk savers in this episode: https://www.amazon.com/Milkies-Milk-Saver-Breast-Collector-Storage/dp/B007HYL9TS She also mentions the haaka milk collector: https://haakaausa.com/products/haakaa-silicone-milk-collector-1-pk?variant=35554460041365 Be among the first to join the new Milk Making Minutes Facebook Group to keep the conversation going. You can interact with Lo and other podcast guests, ask your breastfeeding questions, and get to know other podcast listeners! https://www.facebook.com/groups/730763011615148 If you are local to Massachusetts, Southern NH or Southern VT and need in person lactation support go to my website for more information: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/lactation-services If you would like to read a transcript of the show and see photo's of Sarah's family you can find that here: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/new-blog/2022/5/6/sarah-talks-about-breastfeeding-her-four-children --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Melissa (she/her) was a yoga instructor and took hypnobirth classes and read all the books after becoming pregnant in her late 30s for the first time. Earlier in her life she had breast reduction surgery which she knew could impact her ability to feed human milk to biological children, but didn't expect to ever give birth to her own children, so wasn't worried about it at the time. After two births that went exactly as she hoped, she struggled to provide enough milk for the first but was still welcomed for over a year by a local breastfeeding peer support group. She was producing enough milk with her second baby (who came 18 months after her first), but the baby struggled to suck strongly enough to ingest enough milk. This required her to adjust her baby feeding goals not once, but twice.  Resources: La Leche League International: https://www.llli.org/ Dr. Sears Books: https://www.askdrsears.com/books/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Elle (she/her) always assumed she would breastfeed her children when she had them and that it be an intuitive experience. The daughter of someone who gave birth to all her children at home and seemed to effortlessly feed them all at the breast, Elle assumed that would be her story too. She was thrown for a loop when her first child was born early and required an extensive NICU  and further hospital stay. This made it hard for her to trust her intuition after her first child required so much medical intervention initially. Despite the initial struggles and insecurities, she found a groove and exclusively breastfed both of her children for three and over four years (still going strong with the second!).  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Danielle (she/her), mom of three kids, assumed she would breastfeed and dealt with the disappointment of needing to change the plan not once, but twice. Looking back she can see that she wasn't given the right supports at crucial moments and that she did not know enough to ask for them. When her second was born she tried hard to both care for her oldest and pump to provide milk for her baby who was diagnosed with a tongue tie while taking the necessary steps to resolve it. She worked around the clock to pump milk for her second, and by the second month made the tough decision, for her own sanity to switch to formula. By the time her third was born, she wasn't even sure she could handle the disappointment of trying again and not being able to feed at the breast. But she gave it one last shot and was finally able to have the breastfeeding experience she had been longing for, but not without difficulty.   Visit Danielle's blog here: https://agaggleofgriggses.com/?fbclid=IwAR2QPIh1AoHF798GhM_Qr337XbO9LYqPpl4P6gZpfmqRKH8uINO_d1F1g4Q The convenient pump Danielle mentions that she used while driving is the Baby Buddha: https://babybuddhaproducts.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0umSBhDrARIsAH7FCocR2KQDRk0T9roPpdurxeWLVd4Q2UfaPpysA32dpLy5_cyHnnB1N5oaAicnEALw_wcB This is the Dairy and Soy Free Facebook Group Danielle mentions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/foodintolerancebaby --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Sarah struggled with miscarriages before giving birth to her children which meant that while planning to feed her babies she really just thought about the immediate future, making it difficult to do any long term planning. Having planned for unmedicated childbirth, she received very little support once she went into labor, beyond being asked if she was "ready for the epidural". But when it came to feeding her babies, she learned to tune into them and their needs, and is still leaning into that intuition today even as her children are 9 and 6.  If you would like to read a transcript of the episode you can find it on my website here: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/new-blog/2022/4/7/sarah-talks-candidly-about-learning-to-tune-into-her-babies-while-drowning-out-the-noise-with --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support

Kasondra (she/her) has delivered four babies which is why this episode is so long! She adapted her goals based on what worked for her, and what was best for her mental health at the time. She also experienced miscarriages and loss, which played into her decisions about feeding her babies. Having grown up with breastfeeding as the norm, she expected breastfeeding to just happen for her. Luckily, this is what happened with her first, but due to some medical complications, she was nutritionally depleted by the time she had her second, and after trying to breastfeed, made the decision to formula feed in order to preserve her mental health. By the time her twins were born, she was determined to breastfeed them, despite her care providers warning her to keep her expectations low. She worked very hard to make it happen, but she was able to exclusively breastfeed her twins! Listen to hear more about the impacts of miscarriage, the intersection of mental health and breastfeeding, and how every baby feeding experience truly can be different.  If you prefer to read our interview, you can do that on my website: https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/new-blog/2022/4/3/a-breastfeeding-story-with-kasondra-breastfeeding-formula-feeding-and-twin-breastfeeding-after-miscarriages-and-mental-and-physical-health-struggles Links that Kasondra mentions in her episode: https://www.mybrestfriend.com/ https://kellymom.com/ https://haakaausa.com/products/haakaa-silicone-breast-pump-with-suction-base-5-oz-1pk-1?variant=27408158017 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/milk-making-minutes/support