Transcript:
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. Hello and welcome back to your favorite podcast. Yeah. Sorry to bother you. Yeah, but we’re back. We’re back again. It must be Friday. And today we’re gonna talk about caffeine. I love it. I wanna have all of it and I want all of it before 3:00 PM.
Otherwise I’ll be up all night like an old lady. I’m drinking a coffee right now and it’s 5:00 PM. And I asked Heather if she wanted one, she was like, what? Like, why would you drink coffee at 5:00 PM? I don’t know. It’s relaxing. Well, now we know that Maureen feels like it’s relaxing because maybe her brain works differently than other people’s brains.
I don’t have the results from my assessments yet, so we’ll let you know when we do. Stay tuned. Yeah. It’s been a, it’s been an interesting season for us. Yeah. Personally, professionally it’s like the changes just keep coming. We’ve had some loss. Yeah, it’s been tough. My, so I have a farm and I had three dogs and now I have two.
Mm it’s very sad. My oldest dog Stormy died and she was 17 and it’s, and I, she had a great life and it was wonderful, but it’s just like, I was trying to describe this the other day to somebody who was not a dog person. And I was thinking like, maybe this, I feel like this would benefit Heather, you know, cuz they were kind of like confused why I was so sad and I was like, look, no, it’s not like a child.
And it’s sort of, it’s not like a friend. It’s not like another human person you can think of. But imagine you had this roommate who was just always down, you know, like you were like, Hey, I wanna go for a run. And they were like, I literally live for running with you. And yes, I’ll run with you. And then you get home and you’re like, I just wanna nap.
And they’re like, could I snuggle nap with you? And then like, you go to work and they’re like, when are you getting back? I’m so excited to see you when you get back. And then you go back and they’re like, I love you so much. And you’re like, I had a hard day. Can we talk? And they’re like, yeah, I’ll just sit there and stare at you while you talk.
And it’s like that every day with a dog. For, for 10 years I had this dog, maybe 11. I can’t quite remember. And you know, she was old, we knew she was gonna die, but it was still really hard. She’d been sick for a while. She has, she had Cushing’s disease. And because her immune system was so depressed, she had like all these other infections and it was like medication three times a day and a lot of work.
And then I took my son to summer camp and I was like, Ugh, I just don’t feel good leaving her. And then my husband called me on the last day I camp. And he was like, you guys have to come home right now. So we left early and we came home and she was in a lot of pain and it was too late to bring her to the vet.
So I was like, okay, I’m gonna give her medication. And we’re gonna like have a happy night with the dog and snuggle on the floor with her and watch movies about dogs. You know, why not like sad ones, like Homeward Bound. And my son decided her favorite movie was Beethoven. Do you remember that nineties gem? Because she was kind of a notoriously, like bad dog, you know, constantly like ripping things and making mischief.
Yeah. And I, I did end up having to take her into be euthanized and that was really hard. And then we buried her on the farm and the hardest part of that, cuz you know, we chose this really beautiful place and planted a tree and everything, but Lyra is starting to talk. Right. And she just learned how to say doggy and her favorite word to say is barking like a dog.
And it sounds like, Aw, when she says it. Very cute. And so she kept seeing the body of my dog, you know, cause we had her in a wagon as we were like preparing her grave and she’d point to her and be like, doggy. Oh, woo, woo. Woo. Woo. And like trying to pet her and I let her pet the dogs, not like it was a gross thing, you know, it was recently deceased.
But she just didn’t understand that she was dead, obviously, cuz she’s one. And it was really hard for like my son and my husband and I to see her interacting with our dead dog, like it was alive. Hmm. Gosh. That’s really hard. Kids and animals, man. Like that, that special relationship that they have is enviable really.
Yeah, because it’s like, is there a more pure relationship than that? I don’t think so. Yeah. And it’s been hard for my son too, but I don’t know, trying to explain to him, you know, why. Why things die. It’s not easy, even though I have like lots of logical explanations he’s still just like, okay.
But why? Mm. Yeah. It’s really hard to get that concept across even human death. Like I had to take Theo to my grandfather’s funeral a few years ago and he was four or five. And it was like a beautiful burial and my grandpa was in the military. So the military was there and it was like pretty, it was very formal.
And my son just kept yelling at the funeral. What’s in the box? What’s in the box! What’s in the box! And I was like, oh my God, shut up. I cannot with you. We talked about this and I’m like, I’m like, Pops is in the box. And he’s like, who’s pops? And I’m, he just couldn’t remember from the last time I was like, oh, this is a nightmare.
Yeah. I think my son made a ruckus at my grandfather’s funeral too. And I remember the priest was just like in the middle of the sermon came over and he was like, Jesus loved the little children. Yeah. Thank you. Good. Thanks. I’m glad. Also, still embarrassed. Well, you know, I didn’t even get to tell you this yet, but my grandma’s on hospice.
So you know, we know what’s coming. Yeah. She’s being very well taken care of. And so we’ll probably be going to New York soon. Yeah. And that’s really hard because it’s not even like I can call her, you know? Yeah. We, we’re kind of like past that point where, that’s tough, that’s happening. So it’s just weird season for everyone.
Mm-hmm and we appreciate all of your love and support that you’ve given us on Patreon and everything like that. Cuz you all get to know kind of what’s happening before anybody else. And that’s been really, really helpful for both of us during this time. Yeah. Thanks guys. Yeah. Speaking of which we have some patrons to thank.
Yes, I would love to thank Rachel Shuster. And Jen Vilickoff Livengood. Oh, so cute. Exciting. Yes. Thank you. Love patrons. Thank you both so much. We are so happy to have you, and if there’s anything you all need, just shoot us a message and we’ll be answering you promptly, which means within 24 hours. That is pretty prompt.
Like you send a message through my chart to your doctor. Good luck. Yeah. Good luck. In two weeks when your leg falls off, they’re definitely gonna call you back. Okay. Well, are you ready to jump in? You think? Yeah, I think so. Can we muster a little energy for this cuz it’s about caffeine. Yes! Yes. Let’s start with a question though.
Oh yeah. So today’s question is from one of our lovely patrons, Alyssa from Delaware. Alyssa says, “A lot of things suggest to wean off a bottle around one year of age. What do you do for daycare with sending breast milk beyond one? She takes to a straw cup really well and knows how to use the open cup, but lots of spills still occur.
Do you warm breast milk in an open cup or straw cup? Is now too early to offer milk in a straw cup? Thank you so much for any thoughts. Your content has truly gotten me to this point in my nursing journey. No way would we have made it this long without all of your advice I’ve learned so much in the past year.”
Okay. Well let’s weaning off a bottle is a process, right? And if you’re still warming baby’s milk, kind of getting to cold milk is in a different process. So I’d say like, choose one of those and try that first. I, I think it might be easier if you wanna stop warming the milk to maybe try offering cold milk in a bottle, seeing how that goes.
Your baby may just be like cool. Cold beans, no big deal. Oo something new. Yeah. And seeing how that goes. And then when you’ve transitioned to that way then you can just like every once in a while be like, oh, you want some milk? Here’s a cup of it. Why like with a straw? I would definitely say a straw cup.
You do not want your baby to dump an entire open cup of milk on them. Cuz I would cry. I like the Dr. Brown’s straw attachments because they fit on regular narrow mouth bottles. So you don’t have to buy a bunch of new stuff. And they’re super leak proof. And yeah, you can totally send that to daycare in a straw cup if you want.
Or you can just like send cow’s milk. That’s fine too. Yeah. And also if you’re trying to do the open cup thing, I mean, some I’ve heard of some daycares, you know, those caregiving scenarios, to be pretty like adamant that they’re drinking from an open cup, right. At that point. So if you’re feeling the pressure there, you can actually practice with water.
Mm-hmm. That way if they spill it, who cares? You know, just put a tiny little bit of water and let them play. You know, I made the mistake of buying a series of cups that were different colors and trying to entice my children into using an open cup. I would let them choose the color. Don’t do that. Because then they have too much power and they will always want the blue cup.
And then the blue cup will never be found and it’ll always be dirty. And it’s just a whole situation. So get the same color of every cup. Yeah. So you never have to have an argument with a tiny hostile toddler. Oh, and I do wanna mention weaning off the bottle around age one is generally the recommendation for proper dental development and hard pallet development, but it doesn’t have to happen like the day they turn one. Not unless you’re my grandma.
My grandma walked all eight of her children on their birthday, to the garbage can with the bottle and said, bye bye. Send it to the garbage man and she was like, we’re done. Like hardcore grandma, but I mean, they made it. That’s fine. Yeah, but you don’t have to do that. But you don’t have to do that. You can be like, okay, whatever.
Now we’re 15 months and I’m finally ready because crazy stuff happened and we didn’t have the spoons for it. So, I feel like I don’t have the spoons for a lot of things lately for anything.
All right. It’s Maureen here and I want to tell you that I have finally set up a link so you can instantly book virtual lactation consults with me. Thank the Lord. I know Heather, it took me a long time to take the leap from in person visits to virtual, but I did it. You’re gonna love it. I love doing virtual consults.
They are the best. It serves more people. I’m so glad you took the plunge. Thank you. And if you guys out there wanna book some time with me, you can go to HighlandBirthSupport.com and then click on my lactation services tab. Is that H I G H L A N D? Yes. Okay. I will see you on zoom, everybody.
I love caffeine. Me too. It’s every parent’s BFF. Morning coffee. If you can get it hot, it’s even better. Oh can you get it hot? Lukewarm is pretty much the best that most postpartum parents get. But you know, I think one of the wonderful treats about being chronically forgetful is that I forget that I had coffee.
Just ever. And then when I find it again, I’m like, oh my God, a cup of coffee. That’s so great. There you are cutie. I left you in the microwave. Get over here. I still need you. Yeah. You know it’s, it’s a good friend of ours, but the question from everybody is, is it safe while breastfeeding? Of course, the answer is there’s a lot we don’t know, but we do have pretty good guidelines and we do have some data to work from.
I’m gonna go with yes. I’m gonna say yes, it is. Yes. Yes. The simple answer is yes, it is safe. We have had caffeine, if you wanna stop listening now, for thousands of years. Absolutely. And I definitely wanna say like, if somebody in your pregnancy or postpartum was like, oh my God, you cannot drink coffee. You are pregnant, your baby’s never gonna sleep. Right?
Or like, I feel like when I was a kid, we were told it would stunt our growth. I don’t know all kinds of weird stuff. Folks, you can drink the coffee. And let’s talk about why and what we know. And if this episode is really serving the purpose of educating the people that are ruining your coffee life, we’re talking to you as well.
Yeah, don’t worry. We’re not gonna be too mad. We’re just going to help you understand. Just like how to be kind, why you need to back off Becky. She’s basic and she needs to go to Target and get her Starbucks and then come home and nurse her baby. That’s her one thing she wants in her postpartum period.
Mm-hmm. Leave it go. Well, caffeine is an L2. We’re classifying it as most likely compatible. Limited data suggests that there are very small risks for a breastfeeding infant. Here’s what we know pretty definitively. Caffeine is appears in breast milk really quickly after maternal ingestion. The levels peak in your milk about 30 minutes after you drink it and are a little bit more than half that much in like two hours after drinking.
And the thing about caffeine is it is highly available to us. 99% of the caffeine consumed is absorbed within 45 minutes of ingestion. And I bet that is because it’s been around for thousands and thousands of years. Yeah. So many plants naturally have caffeine. We have a couple of cool species here that do. You know, those, those Velcro plants, cleavers that like stick to your pants when you walk by? Mm-hmm. Their seeds have a lot of caffeine.
No way. Yep. Pretty cool. Do other animals eat them? Oh, I’m sure they do. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. That’s one of those things where it’s like, the longer it’s been around and humans have been using it, the more efficient human bodies get at using it. Absolutely. So it’s like, I’m not mad at that. No, thank you.
No, thank you, caffeine. It’s a wonderful thing that we have available to us. So like I mentioned a little bit before we have a half-life of caffeine, right? The amount of time it takes for your body to metabolize about half of what you ingested. The half-life of caffeine is a lot longer while you are pregnant.
Hmm. Okay. It can be up to like nine hours. Pray tell. Why? I’m gonna get there. Hold on. So but it should return back to normal within the first couple weeks postpartum. So the mean half-life like the average out of all the people you post of caffeine in your plasma is about five hours, but it differs really widely.
So for some people it’s like one hour and for some people it’s like six. It’s pretty crazy, but this is good to keep in mind. And here is why. Most of the studies we have on caffeine in the human body are done on people with penises, shocker. And we’ve recently realized that changing estrogen levels have a large impact on how we metabolize caffeine, because caffeine is almost exclusively metabolized in the liver by the cytochrome.
Which is also where we eliminate extra estrogens from the body. Oh. So imagine we have two major highways merging and one is all the caffeine cars, and one is all the estrogen buses and they don’t always merge perfectly. Right. Like sometimes zipper, sometimes the caffeine car is just like wing, wing, zoom out of there.
And then we have this backup of estrogen. Sometimes the estrogen gets metabolized faster and we have a little bit of a caffeine backup and there’s really not a whole lot of predicting, like how that happens. Is this why they tell you to give up caffeine and it’ll help your acne? Yes. Oh, but I, that, from my understanding, yeah, because it affects how you metabolize some of your hormones. Pretty wild.
Anyway, after that fun fact, like alcohol caffeine is water soluble so it’s gonna move freely in and out of your breast milk the longer it stays in your body. So now let me know a little bit about our good friend caffeine, what do our studies say about caffeinated booby babies?
Well, I do know that the studies point to exposure in pregnancy having less side effects in the infants being breastfed postpartum. Sure does. So if you are pregnant, congratulations, congratulations. Keep drinking your coffee or yes keep drinking coffee or whatever. Maybe not a four Loco, but you know. My husband did not know what that was. And I was like, we had very different teen years.
Four Loco. If you don’t drink it, you might be able to use it to take off the finish off the coffee table. I think it’s illegal now. Yeah, no, I think it’s still out there, but I think they changed the alcohol percentage or something. Anyways, if you’re pregnant and you’re drinking two cups of caffeine a day, totally fine. Totally fine.
You can continue drinking two postpartum and your baby probably won’t notice a difference cuz it’s already been exposed. So we do have, you know, a number of reports from breastfed infants whose mothers have a high caffeine intake of like fussiness and jitteriness and some poor sleep patterns. But these things are hard to strongly correlate with caffeine, right?
Because those are kind of like normal things for a lot of babies. Just like we talk about with any medication it’s like, okay, is my baby fussy because of the medication or, you know, this supplement I’m taking or is it just fussy because it’s eight weeks old? Hard to know. But the studies where we have these increase in reports of side effects are really with parents who are drinking like 10 or more cups of coffee a day.
Yeah, 10 or more cups a day. Some of the studies I read actually start consumption in their group at 10 cups of coffee a day. Also as a provider, let me just say if one of my patients is drinking 10 cups of caffeine a day, I’m looking for other things. Yeah. Do we have ADHD? Great. Like, are you sleeping okay?
Are you self-medicating in some way for a thyroid problem? Mm-hmm. Are we hypo? Like, are we so lethargic that we are chugging? Are you just describing my body? I’m looking at my friend lovingly, you know? Yes. So we need to be looking at why you feel the need to drink that much coffee in the first place.
For sure. And so this applies to other sources of caffeine too. I’m gonna say coffee a lot. Cause that’s like 90% of where my caffeine comes from, but you know, Coca-Cola, energy drinks yerba mate, guarana, all of that. Like it’s all the same. It’s not that different. So if you drink a different caffeine source, just pretend like we’re talking about that.
Studies in parents who were drinking five cups of coffee daily found essentially no stimulation in breasted infants, three weeks of age or older. That’s great. Isn’t that just lovely? It’s great news. So the current guidelines say that maternal intake of caffeine should be limited to somewhere around 300 to 500 milligrams a day as a very safe level. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure one cup of coffee is 140 milligrams?
The average cup of coffee only contains 95 milligrams of caffeine. Okay. But my cups of coffee contain 140 because I make it strong and long. Sure thing. And, and, you know, I think that cup is like eight ounces, right? An eight ounce cup of coffee. So. Of course, it depends what your cup of coffee looks like.
Folks who are living in the UK, you know, are probably drinking an eight ounce as an extra-large and us here we’re like, 24 ounces of coffee, please. That’s just a solid medium. Would you like to supersize that? Always. Yes. Yeah. But regardless the guidelines just say 300 to 500 milligrams is probably safe for most people, but just, you know, pay attention to your infant for some irritability or insomnia.
Right. And you know, of course with everything, if you have a preterm baby or a younger newborn, they’re gonna metabolize caffeine slower. And their serum levels of caffeine and other active caffeine metabolites might be higher. Yeah. And more similar to their mother’s levels. So a lower intake level might be preferable because also when you have like a medically fragile or premature baby, you’re looking for any indication that something’s going wrong.
Mm-hmm. Like, we’re always looking for stability. So if there is some kind of GI thing going on, we don’t wanna be like, oh, it’s probably just the caffeine. Right. We wanna make sure it’s not something more serious. Exactly. So you don’t wanna mask anything and just blow it off.
Like it’s, you know, part of the caffeine. Oh, they’re a preemie, but I gotta have my coffee. It’s like, well, they might have necrotizing enterocolitis. Like let’s look into it. Yeah. Yeah. And let’s figure out maybe then something we can replace that with, for you. Right. So interesting note that may not be relevant, that coffee intake of more than 450 milliliters daily, not sure how many ounces that is, could decrease the amount of iron in your breast milk.
And I say could very clearly and might result in a mild iron deficiency anemia in some breasted infants. Very limited reports to support this. Not really something I would personally alter my caffeine intake for proactively, but it is good to note if say at some point your baby is diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia.
You could be like, oh, maybe I should decrease my coffee intake and see if that helps. Can I pose a question? Devil’s advocate kind of situation. So I’m wondering also if people that are drinking 450 milliliters of coffee a day might also be doing something like working night shift and maybe not eating the most well-rounded diet, you know, it’s like, there’s a lot of confounding variables, you know?
Yeah. It’s not that much though. It’s like 15 ounces of coffee. 16 ounces. So that’s a pretty normal amount for a lot of people to drink. Yeah, I guess it is. Yeah. Well, it sounds big when I say milliliters, like we’re in Europe. Yeah. I don’t know. I just, I don’t love that. I feel like there’s too many confounding variables.
Yeah. And, and that’s why I’m trying to emphasize, like, might, could, maybe. I really don’t think that this necessarily should be a hard and fast guideline, but it is something to keep in the back of your head if you have a baby who’s struggling with iron deficiency, anemia, maybe a small part of the puzzle.
Okay. So what about the people that are like, I definitely think I’ve noticed a pattern that when I drink coffee or drink my pop, my baby has symptoms. Yeah. There’s the rub. A lot of people notice that their babies are sensitive to small amounts of caffeine. Is it possible to coincidence? Yeah, absolutely.
Is it possible that your baby really does get fussy with when you drink one cup of coffee? Yeah, absolutely. There’s a really big range of what’s normal for humans, right? Now most babies, it seems like do get used to this over time. So if you’re like, ah, it’s okay. It’s just a little bit of fussiness now, and then we’re just gonna wait it out.
That’s fine. But you know, we just don’t have great data about this. So a lot of people choose to abstain from caffeine because they don’t wanna deal with that extra symptoms baby. And that’s fine. It’s fine as long as they’re not suffering because of it. You know what I mean?
It’s just like, I’ve seen this happen so many times where people abstain from caffeine and alcohol and socialization and, and, and, and it’s just like this slippery slope. Oh, and now just in case I’m gonna cut out dairy. No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Like this is, we’re not cutting everything out. You don’t get an award guys. Like there’s no award committee that comes around and it’s like, congratulations.
You’ve abstained from anything that could possibly create any discomfort in your baby ever. Yeah. Well, and, and I think when I have clients come to me about this, it’s definitely like a little pink flag goes up about mental health stuff, right? Cause yes, maybe it is just a physical thing. Physical reaction, baby gets fussy because they’re sensitive to caffeine and that sucks.
But we also often have these cycles of like guilt and self-blame that aren’t always attached to real things. And that’s where it gets into what you were saying, where someone’s like, oh, well, I cut out the caffeine and it’s not better. So let me cut something else out and let me do something else. And then, okay, well I left the house that one time and we skipped a nap and then baby didn’t sleep at all, so we’re never leaving again.
And that’s where this becomes like totally different beast. Yeah. This for me, this episode is not so much like do it or don’t do it. It’s like, tell me how you feel about the things that you love to do for you and how you’re not doing them anymore and why. And is there something there that we need to talk about? And also friendly reminder that as human beings, our brains are wired to look for patterns in things.
Yeah, we do it for survival purposes. Oh. And we all do this where your baby sleeps through the night for the first time and you were like, okay. So yesterday we woke up at 9:00 AM and then we took a nap at 11:30 and it was an hour and a half exactly. And then we took another nap at 2:00. And that was 45 minutes.
And then we had dinner at six o’clock and then we went to bed at eight and, and then you’re like, how do we replicate that every day? You take the square root of your sanity and you multiply it by a schedule that doesn’t make any sense. And then if the wind is blowing in a northerly direction, your baby will sleep through the night with no farts.
Right. It has nothing to do with anything usually. Right. So we’re gonna encourage you to drink the coffee. Or the pop or, you know, whatever it is that you drink, that supplies your brain with caffeine. Be happy you guys. And if you’re not happy and you’re suffering, phone a friend, yes. Call someone and be like, I feel like I am one cup of coffee away from seeing a therapist.
Mm-hmm. And that’s okay. Yes. And we will pour you that cup of coffee while we make the phone call with you. Yes, absolutely. How do you take your coffee by the way? I take it with cream, no sugar. What about you? Well, I go through phases. Mm-hmm. I go through phases, but for the majority of the time, cream and a little bit of sugar.
Yeah. I used to be a black coffee person cuz I was insane, insane. And I would just drink black coffee, like all day long. This knowing look you’re giving me. And then I got pregnant and I drank a cup of black coffee and just immediately vomited it everywhere. Oh yeah. And I was unable to drink it in pregnancy without some kind of milk.
Do you French press? Yeah, I do. So do I. So in for that pregnancy, I pretty much would fill half a mug of just milk and then like fill the rest with coffee. Mm-hmm and then I like slowly got back to actually drinking more coffee than milk I love how you created a plan to continue your coffee experience.
Maureen’s like, all right. My action plan for getting caffeine back into my life. I slowly increase the coffee to milk ratio until I’m no longer vomiting. That’s dedication folks. Oh yeah. It might have been self-medication. Anyway, I do strongly love my coffee and I have tried some like coffee substitutes and I’m just not ready for it.
What do you mean? Like the mushroom stuff? Yeah. Yeah, it’s great. I like it. But it’s like not a substitute. It’s like, I’ll have that maybe like instead of my fourth cup of coffee. I like a blonde roast. Hmm. Which actually did you know that blonde roasts have more caffeine than dark roasts? Yeah. Light, light roasts have, in general, have more caffeine than dark roast.
I don’t actually really care about how light or dark the roast is. It is important to me that my coffee beans are not burnt. Mm-hmm. And that they’re not stale. Mm-hmm. So that they smell and taste fresh. Can I tell you a story about coffee? Please. So when I was postpartum, you know how I am a super smeller anyway, like I can smell anything.
Anywhere in the home, I will sniff it out like Toucan Sam and I will get rid of it. Samesies. Yeah. and my husband thinks I’m lying half the time. Isn’t that so frustrating? You’re like stop moving. Cuz the smell is you and I’m not lying. Well, he kept, you know, he kept making coffee in the morning and I was like, this coffee tastes gross.
There’s something wrong with this coffee. And he was like, and there’s nothing wrong with this coffee. And I was like, yeah, but you have the pallet of an ape, you know, like there, I don’t think that you can actually taste this. So this goes on for a week and I finally can’t take it anymore. And we were using a traditional percolating coffee pot at the time.
And I was like, all right, I’m gonna clean this thing. And so I got boiling water with white vinegar and I poured it into the back and a fricking stink bug floated to the top and I was like, I’m done. I am French pressing from now on. That is honestly, oh my God. One of the reasons I French press is cause I can clean every piece of it and see it.
Yeah. So I looked at my husband and I was like, there is a motherfucking stink bug in the mother fucking coffee machine and I threw it away and he was like, what if we want it for guests? And I was like, what guest is gonna wanna drink stink bug coffee? We can get the biggest French press there is. I am so done with this.
Oh my gosh. Absolutely not. For folks who don’t live, where stink bugs are a problem, you are the luckiest humans. They are so annoying. They get in your house in the winter, kind of no matter how well sealed your house is. And then in the spring, they just like erupt from wherever they’ve been hiding and get into everything.
They have no purpose other than to just stink. And children think they’re hilarious. My children hate them and tell me repeatedly that I need to fix our house. So Griffin, I was tucking him into bed in a stink bug falls on me. So I’m like, ah, you know, like, and he goes, Mom, that is my friend. And I was like, what?
And he’s like the stink bugs are my friends and he picks it up, like scoops it up lovingly. Yeah. And then he climbs to the top of his bunk bed and deposits it. And I look up there and, oh, no, there’s so many stink bugs up there. I’m gonna throw up. I oh, I can’t do it. Oh my God. And he was like, and he was like, goodnight, everybody.
I was like, I’m just leaving. Goodnight. I can’t even. Goodnight everyone. I don’t know what to do about it. Have fun breading in the top bunk. I guess I’ll just leave the window open and hope you leave. Oh my God. No. Okay. Well, on that note, get a French press or a pour over. Get rid of your percolator. It’s dirty and gross. Or just clean it often, or just clean it super often and always trust your instincts when it comes to smells and tastes and making the right choices for you and your children.
Absolutely.
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It is the only thing I use to transport my breast milk to and from work, while I’m working, it’s got a sleek in beautiful design, lots of great colors, high quality materials and manufacturing. Ceres Chill also has other products that you might wanna check out too. My personal favorite is the Milkstache.
They have a great nipple shield that actually changes colors, and it’s not clear like all the other ones. And you know how we feel about that. If you want to have your very own Ceres Chiller, please go to the link in our show notes and use code MILKMINUTE15 at checkout. That’s MILKMINUTE15 for 15% off your Ceres Chill products. Enjoy.
Well I think it’s time to give somebody an award. Award time. Who’s it gonna be? Destiny D from our Facebook group. Tell me what she did. All right. She said, Don’t quit on a hard day. This was some of the best breastfeeding advice I ever received. My son just turned one and we battled through so much to keep our breastfeeding journey alive.
And I couldn’t be more proud of our little family for pushing through. From newborn boob trauma to tongue ties, to mastitis, to weight issues, to exclusive pumping and food allergies. You name it. I’m so thankful for the support we’ve had for the last year. There were so many highs too. I wouldn’t trade all my hours of snuggling for anything. We’ve nursed on mountain tops, on planes, in the car, in restaurants, at sporting events, on the floor, on the porch and just about anywhere you can think.
And when will we stop? I don’t know. We’ll let him take the lead on that. We are so proud of you, Destiny. That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you. And it sounds like you had a pretty interesting journey but you didn’t let it get you down, you know, and that is incredible.
And I’m super happy that you just kept moving forward. So let’s see. We’re going to give you the Feeding Fortitude Award. Absolutely. And happy birthday to your son. Yes. And happy birthing day to you. Yes. And yeah. Thank you so much for being a listener. Yes. And thank you for listening to another episode of the Milk Minute Podcast.
If you would like to change this big old system that just isn’t really made to support you, you can do that by telling your friends and family about this podcast and helping everyone learn about breastfeeding. Yes. If you found value in what we produced for you today, you can join us on Patreon as one of our VIPs and get access to behind the scenes videos and cool merch and just general personal stories of what’s going on with Maureen and I that we don’t always share on the podcast.
And you can make a small donation which goes directly towards supporting our project, and that would be Patreon.com/MilkMinutePodcast. That’s quite simple. And you should go right now cuz you’re amazing and we love you and thank you so much. Bye bye.
