Transcript:
Hey, everybody, Heather here was some good news for you. If you’ve been wanting a lactation consult with me, but you’re not really sure how to go about it, I finally can take some insurance. So if you have Blue Cross Blue Shield, Anthem, or Cigna PPO, there’s a very good chance that you can get your visits a hundred percent approved with me.
So if you fill out the short form, it’ll take less than two minutes in the show notes with your insurance information, we’ll know in as little as five hours if you’re approved and then we’ll throw you right on my calendar. And then we get to hang out. And guess what? It’s not just one visit. I can see you prenatally.
I can see you before you go back to work. I can see you when you start solid foods. I can see you through weaning. I mean, we got this whole journey covered. So shout out to those insurance companies for valuing this as work, and I’m here for you every step of the way. So click the link in the show notes to learn more about my private consults and make sure that we can get you what you need.
I look forward to working with you.
This is Maureen Farrell and Heather ONeal and this is The Milk Minute. We’re midwives and lactation professionals bringing you the most up-to-date evidence for all things lactation. So you can feel more confident about feeding your baby, body positivity, relationships, and mental health. Plus, we laugh a little or a lot along the way.
So join us for another episode. Welcome to the Milk Minute Podcast, everybody. Hey guys! We are back in the studio, really excited to talk about some current events today, but also current event in my life is that I started a new medication and I feel a little bit weird. So I’m sorry if I’m a little bit weird in this episode.
Is she weird or is she more normal? Is this just who you’re supposed to be all along? I can’t say, but we’ll see what Wellbutrin does to my wellbeing. Sponsored by Wellbutrin, I’m kidding. If only though. They probably have a lot of money. Yeah. Call us, Wellbutrin. And thank you for being breastfeeding friendly.
If you haven’t checked out our PPD PPA episode, we will link that in the show notes. If you are struggling with any or all of the mental health crises that can come with having a baby, please go check out that episode and talk to your provider about medications because you deserve to feel awesome. Yeah.
Yeah. And really like, I had a great talk with my, I see a family doctor about this. Cause I’m, I’m waiting to see a new psychologist and it’s kind of in this weird in-between now. And basically, she was like, how are you? And I was like coming in for my annual visit because she can’t prescribe medication if I don’t come in yearly.
And I was just like, I, nothing is good. Nothing feels good, pretty much ever. And I’m falling the fuck apart. So how can we fix that? And we had a great conversation about it and talked over all the different options. And then it was great because after we were pretty settled on Wellbutrin, she was like, well, you’re still breastfeeding. I don’t know how safe that is.
And I was like, okay, here, let me look it up. You should download this app because it’s really easy. And then we looked at it together and she was like, oh yeah, these warnings make a lot of sense. Like, how do you feel about it? It seems like there’s not like a very black and white recommendation.
I was like, I feel fine. My baby’s like 13 months old. It’s fine. Did you share with her the infant risk app or the LactMed app? The infant risk one. Yeah. And guys that app is $10 a year. So if your provider can’t afford that, I have questions and they should all have it because breastfeeding is very common as it turns out.
Yeah. And the LactMed app isn’t, you can’t get it anymore. They’re like not, you know, they’re not updating it. They’re not like it’s not in app stores. You can just use the website now. Oh, okay. But yeah, the infant risk app it’s nice cause it’s like at a glance. They don’t actually have as detailed information on there as you find in the LactMed website, but it’s like color coded, which is nice because you’d be like, Ooh, that’s yellow.
Let’s talk about the risks. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s a good thing to share with your providers if they’re not familiar with it yet. I guess I just have a couple things, a couple updates. I started a postpartum support group out of my business, Breastfeeding for Busy Moms in Morgantown, West Virginia. So that’s going to meet on Wednesdays and it’s for babies zero to six months right now because my office is not giant.
And I think the mobile babies from six to 12 months deserve a space all their own, where they can actually run around and get into stuff while everybody’s talking. So I’m very excited about that. We finally are going to have a place for people to come with their babies and kind of just feel more normal and talk. And it’s donation only, and there’s going to be snacks and I’m working on getting that program grant funded so we can make it sustainable.
And there will always be an IB CLC present. It’s not meant to replace a private lactation consult, but it is meant to be a place where you can come and find community and also, you know, weigh your baby. You’re welcome to weigh your baby while you’re there. And if you have any concerns, we can help you get set up with an appointment. Or just like the easy questions, right?
The two minute questions. Exactly. I don’t know if there are any two minute questions, but we’re going to see how it goes. We sure try to pick those for our episodes. And let me tell you what none of them are. They aren’t. And that’s okay. That’s what we love and we’re happy to do it. So that’s exciting news.
And I’m looking forward to that this upcoming Wednesday. I’m excited for you. Maybe I’ll be able to stop by sometime. Oh yeah. Oh, they love it. Every time Maureen shows up, it’s like, Maureen’s here! OMG!
Can I tell you, Heather, I recently had the opportunity to go to one of the local hospitals up here when I was working. And I don’t think I’d actually done that since the podcast started and it turns out everybody knows me there. Oh yeah. And that was very funny. And my client was like, oh my goodness, this is kind of like being with a celebrity.
I had no idea. It was wonderful. We’re boob famous, you guys. It’s not quite as cool as being legitimately famous, but I’ll take it. Yeah. I since I kind of live in the middle of nowhere and don’t interact with people every day, I sorta forget it. I’m like we just record this thing sometimes and it just goes out into the nether world and happens.
You just keep showing up Maureen, I’ll let you know when you hit it big. Ok great. Let me know. Yeah, just something cute that Heidi said the other day, you know, she’s three, almost three and a half now. And I said, Heidi, if you were an animal, what would you be? And she said a giraffe. And I said, why? And she says, so I could have two ears.
And then you’re like good goals. But you already have two ears. And she looked so upset. She was like, no, not wheelie. She’s like, no, not really. I want a big giraffe ears. I was like, I get it. I get it. I think that means you have to go and get her like a headband with giraffe ears now. Well, we are going to Disney World, even though I said that I wouldn’t do that.
When are you going to do that? Well, my grandma lives in Florida and she’s, you know, getting older, we want to go visit her. She had a fall recently, and so we’re flying into Orlando and I just didn’t want to be those parents that are like, all right, kids wave to Disney World on the way by. I get that. We’re just going for two days, but we are going to Animal Kingdom.
So she’s going to get to see the giraffes with two ears. She will count all their ears for you. Let me know how many there are total. Yeah. All right. So what are we doing today, Maureen? Do you want to bring us in?
Today we’re going to do a current event, but I’m just going to, that’s a teaser. Cause I’m going to thank a patron and read a question first. Oh, you’re going to tease us like that. Okay. We’re going to thank Tiffany G who’s from Virginia, but by way of West Virginia, which is cute. We love that. She’s our new patron. Thank you so much, Tiffany. Tiffany is also about to have her third baby. Might be giving birth right now. Oh my gosh. Not sure. So also does our professional transcripts and I laughed really hard when I saw that she became a Patron.
I was like, do you not do enough for us, Tiffany? I’m okay with that. She was like, well, you’ve helped me so much. She’s like, honestly, the best education I could ever get is doing your transcripts while breastfeeding and being pregnant. She was like, it’s crazy how much I’ve learned. And I was like, yeah, you basically just got a thousand hours.
Like you could probably sit for your IB CLC exam right now. Oh, goodness. Yeah. Well the best of luck to you, Tiffany. Hopefully when you’re listening to this, you have a sweet baby in your arms or you’re just like relaxing in a hot tub somewhere waiting for baby. So anyway, that’d be nice. Okay.
Our question for today though, is from a new patron. She is Cecilia in Italy, which is glorious. Anyway, what she’s asking prompted by Episode 94, which she just listened to, she was looking for expert advice, ongoing braless while breastfeeding. She’s always hated bras and didn’t really use them before getting pregnant. But when her baby Mateo came along, her boobs got much bigger as they do for many.
I’m sure Heather can empathize from going from the mini boob situation to having some larger breasts. Anyway, for Cecilia, they started feeling heavier and she started wearing bras without really thinking. Now it’s warmer. She doesn’t want to wear them anymore. We all hate bras in the summer, but she’s wearing them mostly to avoid stretch marks and trying to not like hurt her back with the extra weight.
So anyway, are these scientific reasons? What should she do? How can she not wear a bra? Okay. So first of all, your stretch marks appear because of either collagen or a lack of collagen in your skin. So I don’t know if this is a hundred percent true, but I have heard this from multiple sources that if you are a taller person, you actually have less collagen.
Interesting. There’s actually a, a provider I used to work with who’s very, very, very tall. And when she was pregnant, this other resident would always make fun of her. They’d be like good luck with all those stretch marks and you’re going to tear your vagina and everything else cause you’re so tall. And I was like, I’m going to throat punch you. Please stop doing that.
It’s also linked to how much cortisol you have. And just genetics, right? Some people could gain a pound somewhere on their body and have a stretch mark and other people, that same body part could expand 10 times as much and have no stretch marks. And how fast, how fast the skin had to stretch.
So, you know, I didn’t get any stretch marks with my second pregnancy. But with Theo, oh yeah, my first one, I went from zero, like AA to a D cup in one shower. It just like happened. And so my skin was not ready for that. No, and like, I got a lot of belly stretch marks in my first pregnancy, basically none in my second. And I already had stretch marks all over my breasts, just from puberty.
Like I got them as a teenager and I’ve had them ever since. Yeah. It doesn’t have anything to do with a bra really. It doesn’t. So there’s some controversy as to whether or not wearing a bra, like maintains breast firmness and perkiness and whatever. And there was a small study that showed that actually going braless meant that your breasts like had more elasticity and were a little bit higher, but it’s, it’s been called into question.
The big thing is like, bras can be important for your health if you have very large breasts and it’s causing you pain and problems. But, if that’s the case, like a regular Walmart bra is not going to be what you need. You need kind of like a special supportive bra made for someone like that. Everybody else can pretty much just go braless most of the time.
And actually, I really think that nature had us evolve to have a toddler strap to our back with a baby wrap, to keep us a little bit more upright around our bust, like criss crossed over the bust with a toddler on the back to make you stand up straighter. Yeah. Most of us don’t do that. We don’t walk around every day with a toddler on our backs while breastfeeding on the front, but that kind of makes sense to me in my mind, but I’m all about not wearing bras.
I don’t wear one to bed. If you leak, whatever. I actually wear them more in the summer because I need something to absorb sweat, or it literally runs from my under boob down my belly all day. Yeah. And I don’t wear them in the winter. Well, my hack in the summer, cause I really hate wearing bras is to baby wear and just make the panels of the fabric wrap really wide and not wear a bra and just put your baby directly against your skin.
And then if you need to, you can put a little sweater on top and no one knows you don’t have a shirt on or a bra on and it keeps your baby really close to your skin. And I mean, it is a little sweaty, but literally every part of having a baby and breastfeeding is just wet all the time. So like pick your poison.
Yeah. I mean, here’s my thing with bras, wear them if they add comfort. Don’t wear them if they don’t. Right. I will say my other sweat “hack” when I don’t want to wear a bra is I’ve gotten like cammies before and cut the top off so they’re just a tube. And then I roll them up and stuff them under, and then they go around my body, but they’re not like tight and constrictive and they just stop the constant pour of sweat.
I hate it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but anything that is like, I don’t even if the bra is completely like wireless, seamless, I feel like I’m getting squeezed by a snake. I hate it. And I hate turtlenecks. I’m just like such a freak. I don’t like anything on me. I think those are all normal things or they are for me.
I hope so. Anyways, Cecilia, I just imagine you in Italy right now, braless, I mean, do you even have to wear a shirt in Italy? Could you just wear no bra, no shirt? Just walk around? That’s what in America I imagine that that’s true. But when I, I spent a summer in Italy as a teenager and I don’t remember that being like universally true, but that was a long time ago.
I want that for you Cecilia. I really do. Thank you so much for becoming a patron by the way. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. The short, the short answer is no, you don’t have to wear a bra. Yeah. The short answer is do whatever makes you feel best. There’s no real science behind it. Maybe one day there will be.
Are you guys tired of not knowing what to do with a little amount of Haakaa milk and how to store them? Or are you worried about what is going to happen to your milk in the car if your ice packs don’t last? Are you also worried about what you’re doing with all the single use plastics that you’re storing your milk in?
And are you ready for products that are going to last you beyond breastfeeding? I know I am. Me too. And that’s why I use the Ceres Chiller and the Milkstache from Ceres Chill. First of all, it’s a woman owned company, which I love to support and it’s changed the lives of us and our patients. These products are very well-made and they are made to last beyond breastfeeding.
Yeah, they’re good looking products that you can use again and again, maybe even for a bottle of wine on the beach. I use my Ceres Chiller every single time I pump out of the house and I never have to worry about having access to a fridge, bringing a cooler, making sure I put my ice packs back in the freezer after I use them, none of it.
It’s a very high quality thermos that keeps your milk cold or warms it up depending on how you want to use it. So if you would like to get your very own chiller or other products from Ceres Chill, follow the link in our show notes and use code MILKMINUTE15 at checkout for 15%. That’s MILKMINUTE15, for 15% off.
Okay. I will finally do the reveal. We’re talking about formula shortages and relactation today. Yeah. We wanted to bring you in slow to reduce the fear-mongering that has been going around the internet and the media, and just give you the actual facts of how we got here and then what you can do about it.
And we want to go about it that way, because we really are always cognizant of not adding to the problem. And we want you to come away from this episode, feeling empowered. Knowledge is power and not afraid. Absolutely. And if you guys follow our social media, which, you know, I am particularly active on, you’ll notice I really have been very careful with what I’ve been saying about this because obviously people are scared and feeling really sensitive, and there is a lot of weird stuff going around from lactation advocates right now. And I do not, at first, I was like, I’m just going to not be a part of it. And then the other day I was like, all right, I have to say something.
I can’t like not claim these people. I have to be like, you know what? We need to do better. So maybe I should start by talking about that for like a minute? Well, you know, we’ve had a lot of people reach out to us for comments. You know, we were quoted in the local newspaper, like, “Lactation Consultants Speak Out About Formula Shortage,” but in the interviews we’ve had people ask us like, so how does this affect you?
Like you’re a breastfeeding professional, so like, what do you have to do with this? And it’s like, okay, where do I even begin? Like, first of all, 42% of parents feed some formula within the first year of life. Like a lot of our clients are mixed feeding, so, okay. And I might argue to say like, maybe the majority of them are, because that tends to be when people seek our services is because they are mixed feeding and they’re unhappy about that.
Right? Exactly. So. Just also wanted to mention on that note, that lactation professionals help with formula feeding as well as suck training for bottle feeding. So it’s still in our arena. So please don’t forget to phone a friend and make a consult if you need something with your formula fed baby. You know, there is no formula expert out there that has a formula clinic that you can go to and ask formula questions to.
It’s kind of us and your pediatrician. So it’s kind of like an in-between space and definitely ask the professional you’re talking to you, like how much experience do you have with this? Because it varies, right? Your pediatrician might be like, well, I tell people to feed formula all the time, but I breastfed my own kids. Where your lactation professional might be like actually, every single client I’m seeing now is formula feeding and I’m really experienced with it.
Right. And so I would say also shout out to nutritionists because they also play a role in this too, because formula is complicated. Yeah. Formula gets real complicated, much less complicated to just put a baby on a boob if that’s an option for you. Which obviously we are experts in, but between us nutritionists and pediatricians, we should be able to answer any formula questions you have and work together as a team to make sure that your baby is getting the formula that they need.
And also meeting the goals that you have set as an individual person. Right. And I really want to put some context here, right? And before we talk about what we’re going to do about all this, maybe let’s just go over what happened, because I think a lot of people have been caught off guard by the severity of the formula shortage, all of a sudden.
And I think this has happened with a lot of scarcity that’s gone on since the pandemic. People are losing faith in the system that has kept us streamlined for so long. And you know, it’s calling into question other things. And it’s creating a lot of anxiety and fear in people on top of things like scarcity with money and economics and inflation.
And so let’s talk about how this formula shortage specifically happened. Yeah. And also guys like we’re going to do our best today, but we’re not going to cover everything. So right off the bat, if you want more information about something, check out the WHO. Check out Healthy Children, the AAP, LA Leche league, all those are great sources.
And those are all going to be in our professional transcript, which is linked in the show notes. If you want to go through and read all of those things. Okay. Okay.
So food scarcity for babies is not a new issue on a global scale. It’s actually something we’ve been dealing with for a really long time. It’s just that it’s really new in the United States. Right. And I think that’s a hard pill for everybody to swallow. Right. It’s like that, I don’t want to like call, call us out as a country, but I kind of do. No do it. I think that a lot of people in this country don’t have a really good, accurate view of what’s going on around the globe.
We are, I mean, we’re really like centered on our own experience. Well, you know, we have a History of Formula episode that we will link in the show notes as well, where we cover a lot of this, but, you know, historically these formula companies are very American based and then we have gone to other countries and promoted formula in countries, which previously were exclusively breastfeeding and basically lied and manipulated.
And, you know, basically infiltrated their entire country. It’s not a good look friends. And then even in places where there’s not clean water, there is not access to formula all the time. So we’ve created a lot of the issues that we’re experiencing right now in other countries a long time ago. Yeah. So there’s a big, deep, dark history of corporations doing bad things here anyway.
But in all that time, like since a lot of these companies are based in America, we haven’t had issues getting formula. And when the pandemic began, we kind of started seeing it a little bit. But honestly, it’s gotten really markedly worse since about February of this year. I bet a lot of you heard about this situation that happened in February at the Abbott formula factory.
Yes. And that’s like a lot of the big Similac recalls and stuff. And that’s what we’re going to identify that as like the big trigger in a lot of people’s minds. So earlier this year there were some infant deaths that were being investigated by the FDA because those babies were using formula made by Abbott, which is that like big umbrella company.
And they traced all of those back to one factory in Michigan. And the concern was that the formula was being contaminated with the coronavirus bacteria in the plant. There was a big recall. Parents had to get rid of formula. Stores had to get rid of formula. It was a nightmare for a lot of people, especially people whose babies used special formula or who simply didn’t have money to replace that formula.
And also this was a particularly large issue because Abbott provides 40% of the global formula supply. Right. And that’s a lot. A big like manufacturing center. Recalls happen all the time, but yeah, this was a really big one. And actually the update there is that Abbott is about to start reproduction at that facility.
It appears that it was not the source of the infection, but there’s lots of question marks there. Anyway, it’s got clearance from the FDA to start producing more. Don’t think that’s happened yet though. Yeah. And also we just want to say what was not the cause of this was parents hoarding formula as the sales skyrocketed in the beginning of the pandemic. No, but it’s been listed, that has been listed in like every single article I was looking at for this one.
And I was just like, I’m sorry, individual choices are not to blame for global supply problems. Right. So we just wanted to say that straight out of the gate, which ties into the second big cause of this formula shortage, which was definitely the salt in the wound after the closure of the Abbott factory is the global supply chain crisis.
And this pandemic has caused such a crisis because of trade regulations that we have put in place with the last presidency. Also strict stipulations on which formula is allowed to enter the market in the United States from other countries. For example, we can’t get formula from Canada anymore since Trump’s trade regulation changes.
And we’ve never been able to get European formula here. Yeah. I want to, let’s put a pin in that. I want to talk a little bit more about that later because a lot of parents are trying to do that right now. And I want to talk about safety there. Okay. The pin placed. Okay. And, you know, I was thinking about like, why didn’t we see this coming?
Like when everyone was out of toilet paper and we started, I think some people did see it coming. Yeah. Some people did see it coming. Of course the big dogs like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, which had invested in a company called Biomilk in June of 2020, which is a US-based startup that announced it will be producing artificial human breast milk from cultured human mammary, epithelial cells.
You remember this now? Right? So of course there’s a big conspiracy theory going around about like, oh, is Bill Gates clairvoyant? Like, how did he suddenly, like we have a big pandemic and suddenly he’s got a company at the ready to provide vaccinations. And I can tell you though, I understand why it’s getting hard to discern conspiracy theory from reality when it feels like some days we’re living in like a post-apocalyptic film, do you know?
Yeah. But also on the flip side, I’m pretty sure because they have so much money, they have hired people to just invest in like a thousand companies a year. So like, I don’t believe that theory, but I’m just like, I, I, I don’t, I can see that. So TBD, I actually just reached out to the founder of Biomilk, who is a cellular biologist, of course.
And I want to talk to her about how she plans to make breast milk from human mammary epithelial cells. And I have so many questions. Cause you’re like, okay, milk is made from blood. So what blood are we using? What’s going on there? Cells can’t just make milk by themselves. And my biggest question is, so you’re making cholesterol?
So we have not yet figured out how to synthesize cholesterol. So many questions. I need to know. And I actually I’m rooting for them, because great. We need a better option. Yeah. I don’t. I, in very broad, in a very broad, theoretical sense, I don’t have a problem with this. In a practical sense and practical capitalist corporation, crazy world, I have many potential concerns, many.
But we’re going to also put a pin in that. We’re going to come back to that. That just felt like skirt topic to me. Yeah. That that one is, but I want to mention it because that’s also floating around. So formula shortage, blah, blah, blah, Bill Gates is, you know, caused the problem.
And now he’s going to fix the problem and make a billion dollars. Maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see. But I just also wanted to quote my friend, Katie Switzer, who’s a mechanical engineer. During the pandemic. I was like, Katie, what the heck is going on with all of these manufacturing supply problems? And she was like, oh, well, I can explain that.
So Katie explained to me that we have just in time manufacturing. So JIT just-in-time manufacturing, which became popular in the early eighties to improve output and deliver product to the customer faster. But the problem with just-in-time and lean manufacturing, where you manufacturer things in such a way that there’s less waste is that there’s a focus on eliminating waste completely.
So companies stock fewer supplies for both machinery and the raw product materials. And this means they’re dependent on the supply chain for a fast turnaround. So when the supply chain gets disrupted because workers have COVID or when they can’t come to work anymore, because they have no daycare because you know, all of the reasons that people aren’t able to work and the supply train gets disrupted, you’re in a pickle. You have to stop making Gatorade or cars or whatever, until you can get that machine part or raw material back in stock.
So it’s a bummer, not just for the company, but also for the consumers. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s like that style of manufacturing really does highlight like some of the most problematic things about living in like a global economy, essentially. Right. It’s tough.
So all of this has brought us to where we are today, where we have retailers are limiting purchases because they can’t get enough product.
Sometimes they’re just like putting only partial of the product that they have out on the shelves. Right. So that they’re limiting. So people look and they think there’s not much and they buy less. And basically that means that we have parents going to grocery stores every day, looking at empty formula shelves and panicking.
And states that are being particularly hard hit right now, I read this Washington post article with a very nice little map, but as of May 2022, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, Delaware, and West Virginia. All of those were coming in at about a 50% out of stock rate for baby formula. Yeah. That’s rough. Can I tell you why it’s going to get worse?
Yeah. So here’s the twisting of the knife. So we’ve already poured salt into the wound with the global supply chain problem. Now we’re going to just twist the knife into it. In April, Indonesia, which is the world’s largest supplier of Palm oil announced that it is banning the export of Palm oil, which is effective April 29th, 2022.
And Palm oil is a very common baby formula ingredient. And people are concerned about how this will affect the supply. And we have not seen repercussions of this yet, but we will. And can I tell you what? When I read about this, I felt utter rage because people have been very public about the fact that Palm oil is not a sustainable food source since the early nineties.
And it is hugely destructive of the planet. Hugely exploitive of people who live in those places. It’s not a healthy food. And yet we have large corporations who make infant food who’ve chosen that as a key ingredient when there are other options. And that looks like penny pinching and cutting corners to me and not taking kids’ health seriously. Because putting aside even how healthy that food is, just relying on something that is clearly not a sustainable resource is not smart.
So basically we’re going to see how that shakes out or, you know, what the formula companies are going to do, what they’re going to replace it with. You can imagine how many moving parts there are in changing the formula of formula. Yeah. Across the board. Oh gosh. Yeah.
And of course, with all of this, are we in a state of emergency because we can’t find baby food? Nope. So how are parents handling this issue was zero leadership from the federal government. Let’s find out. Let’s talk about that.
Okay. Because I’m going to tell you what I’ve observed and you can tell me what you’ve observed. Okay. But I just want to just say this really quick for the people in the back. This is not a surprise that no one is stepping up because historically the federal government does not give a shit about babies or small children until they go to public school and enter kindergarten.
I, I agree with that assessment. Think about this for a second. We pour so much money into old people in this country. Love my old people. Love them. They get free healthcare. They get Medicare, they get their social security and that’s great. That’s wonderful. But babies don’t get anything, nothing. State by state Russian roulette for that. It’s nuts.
Yeah. So, and then there’s no childcare. So, I mean, you’ve heard us talk about this over and over again, but just think about that disparity of the, the two groups of people on the beginning and the end of life and where we’re putting our money folks. That’s all I’m saying about that. Let’s talk about some positive things.
So some positive things that I’ve seen come about in lieu of this formula shortage. So I have had countless breastfeeding parents who have a surplus of milk, reach out to me and also reach out to communities that formula feed to offer their milk. No questions asked, you know, Hey, you know, if you need anything, I have food for your baby.
I made food with my body. You’re welcome to have it. And that has been so great to see that. Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, I’m so thankful we already made an episode about community milk sharing because I’ve sent that link out dozens of times. And it will be linked in the show notes today. Yeah, because it’s important, especially when people are considering milk sharing for the first time and they feel rushed about it because they’re in a crisis.
It’s important we slow down a little bit and make sure we’re doing that safely. Right. I just wanted to read a text message that I got from a girl named Hannah C. So she texted me directly. And she said, if you come across anyone in desperate need of baby milk, I have several large jars of supermom breast milk if they trust me. That it just doesn’t make sense for me to thaw. The jars are so big. They could feed a four month old baby for 24 hours easily. I would never need so much milk at once. I also still have lots of milk inside of me and I’m feeding Van more and more. So if this shortage thing gets worse, I’m able to help.
I have yet to use a pump. So if I really have to get going, I’ll have to get a bit of coaching, how to amp up my supply. Willing to take some full boobs for some hungry babes. Oh, that’s so sweet. Yeah. So there are people out there. You guys. At the ground level, everywhere. This is grassroots food sharing. Grassroots food sharing, people are willing to step up.
So feel good about that. And then also the World Health Organization does have a document called Infant Feeding in Emergencies, which we will link in the show notes. And they, I just wanted to read this little statement. Yeah, please. I love also before we get into that, the WHO is like the best place to go for health crisis’s, it’s where they shine.
Yeah, because like we said, starving babies is a global thing that’s been around for a while and the World Health Organization knows that. So the, from the WHO, “in an emergency, your own breast milk may be the only source of food for another baby. If you are feeding your own baby, another baby will not steal their milk, but will stimulate a larger supply. Women have done this for sisters and friends who were extremely ill or had died. This can be a lifesaver.”
So basically the who supports Hannah’s inclination. Yeah. However they do recommend pasteurizing any donated milk by heating to 57 degrees for about 30 minutes, just to make sure. Yeah. Which is totally reasonable, sensible recommendation.
And then one of the cool things too, is that people have been talking more about relactation which we will get into the details of later. But you know that community of those who have induced lactation and relactated, they’re really becoming beacons of hope, right? Especially folks who are intersex or transgender, and really were kind of outliers in the lactation community before. They’re becoming really good sources of inspiration and education for people who just would have never thought about watching their content and listening to their advice before.
And I think it’s just so amazing to have those folks as a resource. And very soon we are going to be interviewing an amazing creator that I found on Tik TOK. Her account is oceans of hope and her name is Chrissy and she is intersex and has induced lactation for two babies that she had via surrogacy.
So I’m so excited to talk to her because we can tell you all about protocols all we want to, but that firsthand account of what that process is like is just invaluable. Right. Happy to lift them up for sure. Yeah. So stay tuned for that. It’s going to come out as soon as we can get that. Okay. Difficult stuff. Yeah. We’re so we’re doing it.
Earlier. I kind of hinted that there’s some problematic stuff going on in the lactation community and it’s certainly coming from a place of trying to help. But the trend I’ve been seeing on social media from folks promoting lactation is a little disturbing to me because a lot of the things they’re saying kind of go against some core values that I have, one of which being that we don’t get to tell anybody what they can do or should do with their bodies.
And we don’t shame people for formula feeding and we don’t shame people for not donating milk. Because a lot of what I’ve seen are comments like, why aren’t you breastfeeding? What if you just breastfed? Obvious problems there. Like new thought that you probably have never thought of before, but why don’t you just breastfeed your baby?
And mostly these are going to parents who’ve been exclusively formula feeding for months already with absolutely no idea of how, how difficult of a thing, those like five words are meaning for them, right? Like, yes, if they quote, would just breastfeed, that would probably take them months of hard work and turning their entire life upside down.
Also just that simple question, simple to you, “why don’t you just breastfeed?” That brings up so many answers that you aren’t really entitled to. Exactly. And I feel that way about the unsolicited advice to donate surplus milk too, right. Because all of these, they pressure people into divulging their personal medical information, medications they’re taking, their baby’s health status.
You know, their baby’s allergies like their, maybe their marital life and their personal life and their financials, like all of that plays into how we feed our babies. Right. And nobody else is entitled to that information. Even if they’re on social media asking if anyone has seen a certain baby formula, or if they’re on social media being like, wow, I pumped extra milk.
I’m really excited about that. Right. And you know, I just want to say, if you are a person who was previously, a breast is best or fed is best hill, please stop dying on that hill. You’re becoming part of the problem. And I don’t, I’m saying this out of love, like it’s time to come down off those two hills.
It’s time to start communicating with each other and asking each other, how can I help you? What can I do to help you? We are the same. Okay. And I don’t think we need to stand on these polarizing, very hurtful, harmful hills anymore. We need to fuck these hills and figure out how to feed these babies. I, I agree.
And I really think that a lot of these comments that are hurtful are coming from a place where people want to help and they want to be supportive. So let me just tell you how first, how you can do that. If you’re using social media, you can post accurate information and helpful resources that are free and that already exist, and you can spread those around, like this podcast.
And if you do that and people know like, oh, there is, you know, Brianna and she’s always talking about breastfeeding, she knows so much about it. You know, they’re going to ask you for help if they want it, right. And you know, and you can always put out an unspecified un-targeted message just saying, Hey, there’s a formula shortage and I see a lot of people are scared and I’d really like to help. Here are the ways that I’m qualified to help.
So feel free to reach out to me. And you don’t have to say, for those of you looking for formula or, well, I saw Karen post yesterday that she has too much milk. Like no, everyone reach out to Karen. She’s got a whole bunch in her freezer, go knock on her door. None of that is helpful, you know?
When we, you know, Heather and I have worked really hard and made many mistakes and just had to learn so much, that has led us to the point where we can do our very best to present this information in a nonjudgmental manner, in an understandable manner and in a way that just doesn’t like where we can meet people where they’re at without making them feel shame for how they got there.
And it’s understandable, that’s hard. Like it’s taken me five years right. To do that. So it’s okay if you’ve made some mistakes, just do better. Do better now. Yeah. Yeah. We also need to talk about the difficult recommendations that we’ve seen about making your own formula at home.
No, you can’t see me, but I’m like shaking my head in this very uncomfortable way. You know, people have had to do this in emergencies. And this recipe by the World Health Organization is listed on that document for emergency infant feeding, which is linked in our transcript in the show notes. But before we give you any recommendations, I have to say, you need to talk to your baby’s health care provider before you give them anything that is not store bought formula or human milk, right?
Because there is more risk even in the best of circumstances. And when your baby’s healthcare professional understands what’s happening, they can inform you of the risk. They can tell you whether or not that specific food is appropriate for your specific baby with their own health needs. And they can tell you, Hey, if you’re going to use X, Y, and Z, you might need to look out for this sign of dehydration or this sign of your baby getting too many minerals or whatever.
And then that is going to end up with a better health outcomes for your baby, right? And also your provider can help you make a plan that doesn’t involve long-term homemade formulas. You know, if you have to do that for 24 hours, it is what it is.
Make sure your pediatrician knows about it, but that gives your pediatrician 24 hours to help you find formula. They might be able to prescribe formula. They might be able to prescribe donor milk. Right. There are lots of, you know, or they might be like, Hey, my office has samples that I’ve been saving for this circumstance. Come get one.
Exactly. So again, AAP the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend making your own formula at home. If you are in an emergency, the World Health Organization gives this following recipe. If you cannot get any commercial baby milk, and you can obtain a regular supply of local cow’s milk, you can boil one third cup of water and two thirds cup of boiled cow’s milk to make one cup of a feed, add one level teaspoon, which is five milliliters of sugar.
You can also use this recipe. If you make up the milk from tinned whole milk powder. First you make up the milk to the label instructions. Then you modify it to the recipe. So that is obviously not a long-term solution to have cow’s milk, water, and sugar. Okay. Think about that. Yeah. It’s not ideal food for your infant.
Just like recipes, like a Carnation milk and karo syrup are not ideal or adding orange juice or, I mean, you guys, you listened to the history of formula episode. You sat there with us and understood the absurdity of some of these recommendations and they are circulating on the internet as viable solutions to this formula shortage.
And it’s really concerning to me. Okay. Because even just plain milk, plain cow, or goat’s milk can cause severe health problems in a young baby, right? Like anemia, bad, bad anemia. And it is very complex and there is a lot of survivors bias happening now. Like I literally just two days ago made a, what I thought was a very kind and supportive and informative post on this topic.
Like, Hey, please, don’t use homemade baby formulas. We know so much more about infant nutrition now than we did 50 years ago. And we can make better choices now based on that. If we have to make homemade formula, there are better recipes to use and people just went bananas. So much of, well, I ate that and I’m fine.
And I just, it’s frustrating because first of all, the people who are not fine are not here to talk about it. And second of all, maybe you’re fine. Maybe you’re sitting there with heart disease and diabetes. Yeah. That’s not fine to me. Maybe part of that was because you only like ate karo syrup for two years.
I mean, we simply don’t know, but what we do know now is we have a good idea of the nutritional profile of foods that are ideal for infants. And we know that that’s not it. Yeah. We know that’s not it. Everyone knows that that’s not it. Okay. And saying that we have better things now does not mean that somebody made a poor decision in feeding that to their child in 1950, in 1940.
Because that was the recommendation at the time. In 1982 in 1992. Right? Exactly. Because those were the best recommendations we had at the time. And now we have new information and we can make different choices.
So our conclusion here about this is to call your baby’s doctor or provider. So if you’re using a nurse practitioner, a pediatric nurse practitioner, whomever that is. Whomever that is. Call the provider, call your local WIC office if you are faced with these difficult choices. Let them know what’s going on. If your baby’s doctor or provider recommends a recipe, then they can inform you of the risks and you can be in contact with them about any health problems you’re seeing in your baby period. That’s it.
You’re not consulting Facebook, you’re not consulting TikTok about what to do. You’re consulting the people that went to school for a long time who care deeply about the outcome of the baby. And I think it’d be like equally as important you’re consulting people who you have a direct relationship with about your baby and who you can go to see if your baby has a health problem.
Because even if you got a great recipe off of a board certified pediatrician on Tik TOK, you can’t just go pop into their walk-in clinic if something goes wrong. Right? Exactly.
So let’s go over really quick. A couple of other things that we do not want to see. These are the no-nos. So please do not water down your baby’s formula to make it last longer.
Yes. And this is typically the first thing people do and it’s been happening for a long time with food insecurity. And it’s very dangerous and it causes electrolyte imbalances in babies. And chronic malnutrition. Yes.
So also, if your baby is greater than six months of age and eating solids, please do not just increase the solids to the point where it’s all they’re receiving, right. Breast milk and or formula should be the sole source of food for the first year of life. So there’s lots of stuff in breast milk, as well as formula for brain development and immune system development.
That, and we just, we can’t survive on applesauce and puffs. After six months, especially, feeding regular animal milks or toddler formula temporarily are, are pretty generally acceptable as a temporary solution. Temporary again, something you have to talk to your baby’s doctor about.
Also please do not save leftover formula that’s already been prepared for the next feeding. Yeah. So if you’ve accidentally mixed more formula than your baby is going to eat, please do not save it for the next feeding. Artificial breast milk that’s already been in contact with baby’s mouth and mouth bacteria and or warmed up is only good for that feeding. Yes. So if that’s been a problem for you, we’re just going to adjust the way that we’re preparing formula.
And then of course, consider donor milk. Milk bank milk is available to some people. In some places that variability is greater. And community donation is possible and it has risks at which we go over in detail in Episode 80.
And to wrap this up, our recording studio is next to a bakery and it smells like brownies right now and I’m going slightly insane. Yeah. I’m going to go steal one. My mom’s over there doing her, her chocolate wonders. So we’re going to go sneak that after we talk about relactation. I’m unsure if I can make it through talking about relactation while like my entire brain is just like, but you could be eating a brownie right now.
I could have a dopamine orgasm right now. All right. Well then I’ll start while, you, you sniff. Okay. So some people are choosing to relactate. What does that mean? Relactation is if you have previously breastfed or you already weaned within weeks or even months, but you would like to consider beginning again.
Yeah. And we would consider it relactation, essentially, if you have ever been pregnant and had a baby, right. Because your body has gone through the primary stages of lactogenesis through that pregnancy, which we went over in a recent episode, The Life Cycle of the Breasts. Yes. If you’re curious about the nerdy side of that, we’ll link it in the show notes. Which is my specialty.
So this is a little different than induced lactation, but the step-by-step process is about the same for getting that milk to come in. Yeah. I mean, the concept is identical, you know, the physiology is really similar. It’s just, the timeline is usually what’s different. So yeah. Relactation is typically easier than inducing lactation because there was a placenta involved at some point.
Yeah. And you already, like, even if you never breastfed, you’ve already made milk. You’ve already made colostrum and possibly gone through the process then of making milk that first week and then suppressing it.
So just want to say straight out of the gate, if you are thinking about relactating, please know that it can be time-consuming.
Yes. And actually I’ve helped a couple of people relactate, and the best advice I can give them, all of the protocols and details aside, is to look at the support you had in the first three months postpartum and make that happen again. Because the amount of time and effort that you are going to put into relactating is just like having a newborn in your house.
Right. So if you had somebody home with you for four weeks, consider if you can do that again. If you had somebody make meals for you, ask your friends to do a meal train again. I mean, people are often willing to help for anything. Your friends love to help you usually. You just have to ask, which we’re all terribly bad at.
So really think about that and be like, wow, the amount that I planned for postpartum or should have planned for postpartum is what we should be doing for the relactation process. And also sometimes relactation does produce enough breast milk to supply all of baby’s needs, but other times we still need to supplement.
However, I will say every ounce of breast milk that you’re able to make as an ounce of formula you don’t have to find or purchase. So it’s not, not worth it. As long as it’s a choice that you feel really good about. Yeah. And I think that the formula shortage has really changed people’s idea of what’s possible here.
So let’s talk about, we’re just going to kind of go over the basic premises here, and then I’m going to go into a little bit more about some of the specifics. So essentially, like I said, we’re mimicking the newborn phase, right. And that means we’re going to hand express, pump, or latch baby, at least 8 to 12 times a day for 20 to 30 minutes, even at night.
And if you can’t just start cold turkey and do that, that’s fine. It’s okay to work up to this. Like you could be like, okay, I’m going to give myself two weeks to go from pumping once a day to pumping 12 times a day. And that’s super realistic. And I appreciate being realistic here. Yeah. Realistic is very important.
Yeah. If you are able to express milk, but you’re not able to latch baby, you can give that in a cup or a bottle, or you can use like one of the supplementation methods that involves putting it at your breast, so like an SNS. So that baby gets more familiar with that. I will say though, the SNS is very difficult to clean and if you actually read the instructions on it, they are basically disposable.
Constantly. Every 24 hours, those tiny little tubes are supposed to be replaced and it can get expensive. So if you can use a syringe method where you kind of just squirt some onto your nipple, or even behind a nipple shield with a shorter tube, that might be bigger through the nipple shield, that might be cheaper for this process.
Yeah. Yes, you can. You can buy those big, long feeding tubes and cut them into like six inch sections, too for the syringe feeding to make one of them last for like 10 times. That’s really smart. I’ve actually never thought of that. Yeah. So there’s lots of ways to make that happen. We will, at some point do a whole episode on those methods.
I’m sorry, we don’t have one. But if I recall correctly Global Health Media has a lot of great instructional videos on all of those different feeding methods. And I love them because they’re really inclusive and not resource intensive videos because they’re made to like work globally.
Also very important, if your baby will latch onto your breasts, put them on your breast. Yeah. Yes even if they’re not transferring milk. You may still need to pump before or after but getting them used to breastfeeding is really important. It’s an important part of this process and it’s not always possible. So relactation for some people might look like exclusive pumping and it might not.
So we’re gonna, we’re going to talk about that in another episode. There are a lot of protocols that we’re going to list that you are welcome to look up. We don’t want to steal anybody’s ideas and read them all in detail here, but we will link them all. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll, we’ll make sure you can find them.
And if you’re in our breastfeeding group, I’ve, I’ve got some documents in the files for that as well. And there is actually a LA Leche League Facebook Group, specifically for induced lactation and relactation. And I send everybody there when they’re doing this.
And I just wanted to say really quick, some of these protocols do involve medications, such as Reglan and domperidone and you should definitely consult your provider before starting those. Because first of all, domperidone, you cannot get in the United States because it’s not FDA approved for lactation.
Although it has less side effects than what we can use here, which is Reglan. Reglan does have some mental health side effects. So if you are already struggling with PPD or PPA, this might not be the one for you. You might want to choose a different protocol that doesn’t involve that medication. Yeah, but I will say the protocols that involve medication tend to be more effective if we’re inducing lactation.
And we don’t typically need that as much if we’re relactating. Right. So let’s start with the Newman Goldfarb protocol. It’s probably the most popular one, especially for people who’ve never breastfed before. So it begins with several months of using medications, because they’re trying to essentially stimulate the hormonal state of pregnancy, right.
We’re mimicking pregnancy. So this is a more popular protocol, when we’re inducing, lactation. We, you know, we have a long time to plan. It’s okay to skip that part and still use the rest of it. Then we shift the pharmaceuticals kind of quote, like stimulating birth and start pumping with a really good breast pump.
We’re not talking about whatever crap your insurance gives you. Like we’re talking about the Medela symphony, something like that. That is a multi-user, truly hospital grade breast pump, not just something they throw on the advertisement that says hospital grade. And then when your baby is able to latch, you also use an at-breast supplementary, like we mentioned, whenever they’re able to latch and you continue pumping around the clock. So, this is like probably the most involved protocol, but also very successful as far as they go.
Then we have the traditional protocol, which is a very simple protocol based on observing mothers in developing countries. And this basically just involves waiting until your baby arrives and then breastfeeding very frequently. Whatever the baby doesn’t get from the breast is supplemented using a cup.
Right. We don’t use any bottles in this protocol. So this is something that we often see with same-sex couples where one person carries the actual baby, but both would like to breastfeed. And there is no herbs or pharmaceutical medications recommended for the traditional protocol. Yeah. And I think with the traditional one too, they usually recommend hand expressing if baby’s not latching, because it’s kind of meant to be more globally applicable, but if you have a pump, that’s fine.
Okay. Then we have the Avery protocol, which instructs you to manually stimulate your breasts and nipples and start the process off then breastfeed at the breast with an at-breast supplementer whenever your baby’s ready to do that. Again, no pharmaceuticals or medications. And again, that recommends hand stimulation over pumps. I don’t, you know, whatever is applicable to you in your life, you do.
Then we have the pumping protocol, which unlike the other ones that we’ve already mentioned makes use of the multi-user breast pumps to stimulate the breasts, to start making milk before baby arrives. So again, you will see this in same-sex couples where one is pregnant and the other one starts pumping prior to the baby arriving. And then as soon as the baby arrives, they start trying to latch the baby. Yeah.
Then we have herbal protocols and these vary a lot. So I will say, please work with a professional clinical herbalist because there’s a lot of nuance to this, and I’m actually not going to talk about specific herbs here because we have to use them in very high doses and it can be quite dangerous to do if you don’t understand that. The, the risks of that. So that’s possible and sometimes very successful.
And again, it’s kind of then using herbs with something like the pumping protocol. Now for everybody listening. I’m guessing we’re going to utilize this in two ways, right? Mostly this is going to be healthcare providers who are like, oh, I had no idea that was possible. I’m going to tell my clients about that. Great.
Please tell them to go to the LA Leche league Facebook group, because there are professionals in that group that like highly regulate who can give advice and they make sure it’s really accurate.
For those of you who already have babies, you’re dependent on formula and you are hoping to change that. Probably what’s going to be the most practical for you is using a pumping protocol while you simultaneously try to re-introduce the breast to baby. So it’s going to be sort of a combination of these, right?
And we’ve got links to a bunch of this stuff in the show notes. So I would say like, do yourself a favor. Take a day to research it without other stuff going on, like go to the library, have a quiet time with yourself where you think about, you know, what your schedule might look like, adding this into it. What kind of support would you need to make that possible? Right. If you work out of home, how do you then go about requesting medical accommodation for pumping in order to complete these protocols?
So really trying to think through all these details, because the, the times that I’ve seen this succeed, we have kind of overly prepared parents. Right? Very determined, very prepared, very well thought out. And this is certainly not a process to get into half-baked. Like, you wanna, I wanna make sure you guys understand that this is a hard thing to do and it’s possible, and it’s really amazing that we can do this.
But it’s hard work. And we’re happy to help you with it. Reminder that both Maureen and I do private consultations for lactation, relactation, induced lactation. She is an herbalist. I am an advanced practice nurse that can prescribe. So between the two of us, we should be able to get you exactly what you need.
And our consult links are always listed in the show notes, if you would like to work with one of us privately. Yeah. And I’m super happy to do that. It’s, it’s really wonderful to be able to support that process. Right. I did forget to add the timeline for this, which I think is important.
In my experience and from what I’ve seen other people do, if you have previously breastfed and you’re relactating, we usually take about a month to see something significant being produced. If you have never really breastfed, like you suppressed lactation right from birth, or you were never pregnant, this is going to take two or more months, probably. So again, like I said, think about your first three months postpartum and plan for it to take that long.
And if it doesn’t great. Whoopie! Awesome. You win. And, and if it does take that long, you’re prepared. Okay. Yeah, I think timelines are great for sanity purposes. Yeah. And as always what I do in my consultations, I set a time with everyone where I ask them to reevaluate weekly. And I’m like, cool, when’s your quiet time in the week, Sunday mornings, when everyone’s asleep? Make that the time that you think about what we’re doing and if it’s working for you. You know, even if like, you know, we’re not doing more consultations or whatever just like having a moment with your coffee where you’re like, is this working?
Is this driving me insane? Is this more work than return for me? You know, what’s going on here because these really long-term interventions can be very mentally challenging and physically taxing. So I want you, if you’re doing this to just make that date with yourself a little personal check-in.
And also maybe communicate with your partner about the realistic timelines and the reasons why, and the goals, because it’s always going to be helpful when your partner understands the goal and the assignment. You know, if they don’t understand why you’re doing this and, not that you definitely don’t need their permission to do this, but I will say you’re going to need help and it’s good to get them on the same page as you.
We want supportive partners here. Always in every scenario. Okay. Now I’m done. Okay. All right.
Well, I hope this episode helped explain a lot of what’s going on in the world and gave you some direction in where to go if you have more questions. And I hope we, you know, can be a resource, even just this single episode that you can share with people if they’re interested in the topic of relactation or if they are confused about the formula shortage and how they should be handling that in a social space.
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Well, that sounds amazing. I do also like that they’re gluten free, soy free, dairy free, and non-GMO. Plus they’re made in the USA. And when you buy Liquid IV, they give back to communities in need. Yeah, they donate worldwide, which I love. Also they don’t come in plastic bottles. They come in little packages that you mix in your water bottle and that keeps plastic bottles out of landfills.
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So let’s give an award. I’m excited about this because this is a friend of mine. Oh, really? Oh, well, I’ll let you read it then. Okay. Today we’re giving our award in the alcove to Bailey Rose Falls. She’s wonderful. Her youngest baby just turned six months old. She has nursed for 33 months consecutively with her older toddler too, who’s going to be three in August and she has tandem nursed.
She has battled nursing aversions, and she’s been pumping now at work, right, for her little one. And she has had quite an oversupply that we’ve been working out a little bit. So she’s now donated 400 ounces to the Mid Atlantic Mother’s Milk Bank and she’s donating 200 ounces, more to a friend and she hates pumping. Would like to throw her pump out the window.
So she has persevered through a whole lot of stuff. That’s amazing, Bailey. Yeah. I mean, think of how many babies that she saved because that donor milk for NICU babies, the most vulnerable babies, is medication. It’s so wonderful. I really love that we can be a part of helping and, you know, just contribute in a meaningful way.
And the nice thing about the milk bank is they send you little emails when they use your milk. And they’re like, today your milk went to help babies. And you’re like, okay, fine. I’ll keep pumping. Oh, you know, Laura, shout out to Laura from the Big Fat Positive Podcast too, because she just donated hundreds of ounces to the West Coast Milk Bank.
So thank you, Laura, for also promoting milk donation on your platform. What award are we giving Bailey? Bailey, we’re going to give you the Devoted Donor Award, because it requires a lot of devotion to pump and feed for the length of time that you have, my darling. Yeah. To be tandem feeding and pumping and donating.
Damn. We’re so proud. Yeah. You above all deserve that award. So congratulations, Bailey. We’d love you. We’re sending you all kinds of love on our Instagram, even though you do not have Instagram. That’s okay. She’s got Facebook. Oh, okay. Good. Yeah. And anyway, thanks for being a listener. And thanks to all of you out there for listening to another episode of the Milk Minute Podcast. The way we changed this ginormous system that is not set up for lactating families is by educating ourselves, our friends and our children.
If you liked this episode, or anything else we’ve ever created, please consider becoming a patron. You can do that for as little as $1 a month, and we so deeply appreciate it. Yeah, you can even pay for the whole year in advance to get 20% off. So literally you could just throw us $10 and you get an entire year of the entire back catalog of everything we’ve ever done in Patreon plus anything that’s coming up.
Yeah. And don’t forget, you can always send us messages on our social media and emails. If you have questions, if you have firsthand accounts, you can leave us a review. So many ways to communicate it with us. And we just love hearing from you. We really do. It makes our whole world go round. All right guys, I gotta go pump.
So I’ll see you next time. Getting a brownie, over and out.
Protocols:
Newman-Goldfarb Protocol: This popular protocol for inducing lactation is the most involved of them all. It begins with several months of pharmaceutical medications to simulate the hormonal state of pregnancy. Then the pharmaceutical medications shift simulating birth, and you begin pumping with a multi-user breast pump for several weeks prior to baby’s arrival. Once baby arrives, you begin breastfeeding using an at-breast supplementer as needed. (See www.asklenore.info for more information, or my book for the latest recommendations on the Newman-Goldfarb Protocol including safety updates regarding medications.)
Traditional Protocol: This is a very simple protocol based on observations of mothers in developing countries. It simply involves waiting until your baby arrives, and breastfeeding very frequently. Whatever the baby does not get from breastfeeding is supplemented using a cup. (No herbal or pharmaceutical medications are recommended.)
Avery Protocol: The Avery protocol involves manual stimulation of your breasts and nipples to start the process rolling, then breastfeeding with an at-breast supplementer when your baby arrives. (No herbal or pharmaceutical medications are recommended.)
Pumping Protocol: This protocol, unlike those above, makes use of a multi-user breast pump to stimulate the breasts to start making milk before baby arrives. Then, when baby arrives, you begin breastfeeding using an at-breast supplementer as needed. (No herbal or pharmaceutical medications are recommended.)
Herbal Protocol: This protocol resembles the Pumping Protocol with the addition of herbs reputed to build mammary breast tissue or boost hormones responsible for making milk.
Resources:
Global Health Media Feeding Method Videos
WHO: Infant Feeding in Emergencies
La Leche League Facebook Group for Induced Lactation and Relactation
AAP
Healthy Children
BIOMILQ
Infant Risk App
LactMed Website
