Caroline Koen talks about her breastfeeding experience and how the pressure and guilt to breastfeed contributed to postpartum depression. She talks about how a more relaxed attitude about breastfeeding ultimately led to a more positive breastfeeding experience.
For World Breastfeeding/Safe Infant Feeding Month, we are celebrating by interviewing real mothers and talking to them about their breastfeeding/infant feeding experiences. It is my great honor to share with you my interview with Steph Montgomery, writer, public health advocate and mother, who talked about her breastfeeding experiences. She talks abut how safe, respectful and transparent breastfeeding support and education on breastfeeding and supplementation made a difference in her breastfeeding experiences. She goes on to talk about how mothers are treated in health care settings and how the current paradigm that respects only exclusive breastfeeding as ideal harms moms and babies.
I founded (M)Other Milk because I felt I was ill-prepared for the struggles of breastfeeding. Ill-prepared, to say the least. I felt my mom had prepared me well for labor, telling me that it is called labor because that’s precisely what it is — hard work. Breastfeeding, however, was never really discussed.
I was old enough to watch my mom lovingly breastfeed my younger brother, since there was a 12 year difference between us, and it never seemed like there was much to it. Just bring baby close, and off you go.
I think this was part of what contributed greatly to my ultimate shock when I cried out in pain the first (and every time) my baby latched on. I was completely and utterly unprepared for pain, cracked nipples, low milk supply and overwhelming emotions when I realized this was an unpleasant experience (to say the least) and that my baby simply wasn’t getting what he needed.
In hindsight, I think I nearly felt betrayed. How was it women, my mother included, were not sharing any of the challenges surrounding breastfeeding?
As I began to source stories from fellow mothers, I realized there were so many stories, each unique and entirely different. Similar to birth, no two stories were the same.
For World Breastfeeding Month, Fed is Best and (M)Other Milk are collaborating to share mothers feeding stories and showcase the diversity of experiences, to both inform, empower, and support moms across the globe to do what is right for them and their babies. We hope you enjoy this very first podcast.
Abridged Comment Presented on July 11, 2019 at the USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee Meeting in Washington, DC
My name is Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, Co-Founders of the Fed is Best Foundation, a non-profit organization of health professionals and parents whose mission is to research and advocate for safe breastfeeding practices. We do this to prevent the complications of infant dehydration, excessive jaundice, and hypoglycemia from insufficient feeding, all known causes of brain injury, disability and rare deaths. I have come here representing over 700,000 supporters to raise awareness regarding these complications for the DGA committee as they prepare the infant nutrition guidelines.
Washington, DC — On July 11, 2019, Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, Co-Founder of the Fed is Best Foundation and Jillian Johnson, Fed is Best Advocate and mother to Landon Johnson, who died from hypernatremic dehydration while exclusively breastfeeding, traveled to Washington, DC to provide testimonies to the 2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. This is the first year that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) have included pregnancy and birth to 24 months.