This week Kendal shares with us her experiences of antenatal expressing after finding out she had Gestational Diabetes and talks about how she gave this milk to Eddison by syringe before getting into the swing of latching her at the breast. After a week long stay in hospital, Kendal and Eddison have a positive and relatively uneventful breastfeeding journey. At 7.5 months, Kendal returns to work as a ECE teacher and when Eddison continues to refuse a bottle, they find ways to make it work and are able to keep feeding until 18 months. Kendal talks about demand feeding, feeding in public and comments she experienced that made her more determined to push through. Their journey comes to an abrupt end when Kendal suffers recurring mastitis with hospital admissions and she talks openly about how hard it was for her knowing they were both ending something they loved but not on their terms. Lots of wonderful parenting reflections shared, thanks so much Kendal!

Bec shares her three massive journeys of feeding her four beautiful children from mastitis and a near ICU admission, to twin feeding twins with lip ties and then a happy long breastfeeding journey using nipple shields. Bec strongly believes it's okay to not be okay, and eloquently describes challenges for her mental health and subsequent diagnosis with postnatal depression and PTSD when Maci was 7 months old. She also shares how this affected her feeding journeys and periods of burnout with her subsequent children. Bec is the motherhood role model we all need- showing how much strength we can draw from speaking our truth. She is such a pleasure to listen to and I'm so grateful she came along to share her story.

Sarah shares with us her journey of having her son in 2001 and her daughter in 2018. She eloquently describes the climates of infant feeding at both times where she was a new mum. For Sarah, challenges feeding her eldest son led her to use formula to best protect her mental health and well-being. Later she shares how the second time around she wished to breastfeed and when that also didn't go to plan she became an exclusive expresser. Sarah's story is littered with insightful comments about motherhood as well as some funny anecdotes from her time as a parent. Sarah also teaches transition to parenting education and does in-home consults with new mothers under her business Routachment. We are so grateful Sarah wanted to share her story with us, this one is a great listen!

Philippa shares the surprise of finding out she was having twins in her first pregnancy and the research she undertook to help be successful with feeding later on. After a short NICU stay, Philippa talks positively about breastfeeding and puts this down to the support she had, the information she sought out and trying to be happy with the way things are going and not hard on herself if they didn't work out. When we talked to Philippa she had made it to six months of feeding her twins are shares all the tips and tricks for how she made it work for her. As Philippa says, it's so wonderful to hear a positive story of multiples and we're so glad she shared hers with us. Thanks Philippa!

Shaina has two beautiful little boys, Harvey & Henry, and has had quite different feeding experiences with both. She talks us through her positive breastfeeding journey with her eldest Harvey and her amazing introduction to motherhood with him. She has great support and introduces a bottle for feeding expressed breast milk early on, and goes on to decide to introduce formula. Shaina goes on to share the journey with her second born where she gets mastitis and begins to notice Henry is quite unsettled. She explores what might be wrong, looking into allergies, doing special diets, cutting out coffee and playing a bit of a guessing game to assist his colic. She sought the support of health professionals who go on to identify a tongue tie, and diagnose silent reflux. Shaina found support in her Plunket nurse whom she found amazing, and she experiments with feeding positions. She finds that the only way he would feed properly was in the front pack, continuing to do this until he was about 9 months old. Shaina goes on to introduce formula and has to again be creative in the way she gets him to take a bottle. She describes how her husband supported and dealt with these challenges too. Shaina’s story is so wonderful and her tale of the issues and guessing game of what was going on is bound to resonate with so many of you. Thank you so much Shaina for joining us.

The lovely Kelsie talks through her raw experience of becoming a mum to her first born, Brookie, and navigating motherhood whilst overcoming post natal depression. She starts off breastfeeding Brook but after facing huge challenges, she decides to move to formula. Kelsie shares the amazing support she has from her husband Sam, and the steps they took to develop plans to overcome their challenges together. Kelsie goes on to discuss the journey with her second born, Kennedy who was born prematurely at 27 weeks and the preparation she did for feeding her before she was born. We also chat to Kelsie about the important role that formula and bottle feeding has had in her personal journeys. Kelsie's story is one of emotion and heart, it’s so incredible that she has shared this and we hope that others out there can take from it what you need.

Chris shares his and Marc's journey of bringing their two beautiful babies Lucas & Lillian into the world via their surrogate Nadine. While Nadine was pregnant they researched the many methods of infant feeding and decided they would like to use a mix of donated human breast milk and formula. Upon reaching out to their communities they were blown away by the response and Chris share's his milk recipient knowledge. Thanks Chris for sharing your story with us!

Abbey shares her journey beginning with combination feeding after leaving an abusive relationship as a young mum to her first daughter. Later she meets her husband and love of her life when she falls pregnant with twins. Determined to breastfeed them, Abbey stays strong when struggling to make enough milk following her emergency c-section. She enlists the help of an LC, and supported by her husband is able to feed them until their 1st birthday! With her last child, Abbey knows something is different and is unable to continue breastfeeding due to her daughters allergies. Her self-described rollercoaster of a journey lead her on an empowering path and her wisdoms run deep. Her experiences led her to start The Mums Clique in order to support, protect and empower mothers on similar journeys to her own. Thanks for coming on the podcast Abbey!

Kayla shares her journey of being a first time mum and the challenges of feeding her son Lachie who was unsettled and showed signs of discomfort. After seeking medical help, Lachie is diagnosed with severe reflux (GORD) and as a result, it is recommended that he has Nissan Fundoplication surgery. Along the way, Kayla shares her raw experience of how this all impacts her family, the challenges of tube feeding and Lachie's recovery after surgery. Kayla’s decision to follow her instincts is bound to resonate with many of you.

Em shares with us her self-described positive journey of exclusively breastfeeding her two babies. She shares her "list" of products that got her through, and the patience and wisdom that motherhood and breastfeeding instilled in her. She shares her experiences of feeding in public and extended breastfeeding before weaning at 16 months. If you're preparing to breastfeed, and wondering how to get off to the best start, then this is the episode for you!