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. Welcome back to the Milk Minute Podcast, everybody. Does everyone feel different now that it’s 2022? I wish. I wish that it just like magically, it was midnight on December 31st and it was just like ta-da, it’s a new year, a new you and no, it’s, it’s like same soup, different spoon, you know?
Oh, but honestly though I do enjoy a good soup spoon. And a good cereal spoon. In fact, I got my little brother, a cereal spoon for Christmas that says cereal killer on it. Now, you know that about me and my spoon affinity. I also have a little truly it’s made of silver completely, spoon. That is a brooch, that it was my great aunts.
And sometimes I wear it around and maybe I’ll, you know, post it on Instagram. Oh, my gosh. Well, I’m happy we took a little break because it gave me a chance to actually travel for the holidays for the first time in a while, because my six-year-old is now vaccinated for COVID and I got my booster and we were like, okay, kind of like now or never.
So Heather, I packed up two kids. My husband had to stay home with the farm and I drove to New York with them. How did that go? And also how many days did it take of anxiety for you to actually begin packing? Because when I have anxiety about leaving for a trip, I usually can’t do anything about it until like two hours before.
And then I speed pack and curse the whole time. Yeah, no, that that’s accurate. I mean, it was like a whole week of me worrying about everything, like related to this and not being able to do much about it. And yeah. And then, I packed at 2:00 AM the morning of. So, yeah, so same, and I’m sure a lot of people felt that way over the holidays as well.
And you’re, you probably forgot something. So what did you forget? Oh my gosh. Mostly things for me. I brought one pair of socks for myself. What? For like a week and a half trip and two pairs of pants. Good job. I mean, it’s fine. Like I’m staying at people’s houses and there’s laundry, but I was just like, seriously, I have like four weeks of clothes for both children.
And I have like three days of clothes for me. Yep. That sounds about right. One time I went somewhere wearing nothing but a dress like a summer dress and packed no clothes for myself. And I was like, what? And we were supposed to go to a fancy dinner and my husband was like, all right, what are you wearing tonight?
And I was like, oh, this, what have I done? Why he’s like, why do you wait until the last minute to pack? And I’m like, because leaving the house is scary to me at this point in my life. And it’s just also like for me, it’s like my priority is getting everything ready for the kids, because I can deal with it if I’m missing underwear or socks or, you know, whatever.
But like, if we don’t have diapers or like, my son doesn’t have his favorite pajamas, like these are bigger crisis’s, you know? Yes. Especially when you have kids that are incredibly picky about their sleeping environment and exactly what clothes they like to wear. I mean, even my eight-year-old now refuses to wear anything but joggers.
I mean, it used to be, I don’t want to wear jeans and now it’s, I don’t want to wear anything but joggers. I’m like what about these sweatpants? And he’s like, the inside is not as soft and it is not a jogger. And I’m like, why do you dress like a mafia man who’s like chilling around the pool all the time? It has to be like, like a literal sweatsuit jogging situation.
Well, all right. I’m going to walk you through our trip just so you can have some idea of what, what the past holidays have been like. So we left central West Virginia, and I was planning two days for the drive up to New York with a stop at Hershey to like see the Christmas lights and stay at a hotel for the night.
So it was only like five hours in one day. Doable. Sure. Like two hours into the trip I was like, okay, so already naps are off schedule, children are going bananas. Like I’m stopping at a fucking, Denny’s. Why not? Free food for the kids. Moons over my hammy. Right. So I stopped in the Denny’s like in Kaiser, West Virginia, and I actually had a really lovely interaction with my server Lindsay. So shout out if she’s now listening, because I was nursing Lyra and like trying to manage Griffin’s meltdown about hot chocolate or something. I don’t know, you know, whatever.
And, you know, she came up to me and she was really helpful and she was like, I just really want to say, you are so great for nursing in public. It’s not something I ever see here. And it’s something I wasn’t really comfortable doing because of that. And she said, I guess she nursed her second child and not her first and, or she’s still nursing him and he’s two. And she’s just like, always really self-conscious about it cause people don’t do that around there.
And she was like, and I just really love it. And it’s like, so nice to see another parent doing baby led weaning and nursing their baby, and, you know, makes me feel less alone. And we had this like nice little bonding moment while Griffin was losing his shit about whatever.
And so yeah. Shout out, Lindsay, thank you for being very supportive. And it’s always just like nice to talk to people about that and reminder that like 95% of the time when I nurse in public, that’s what happens. And like, not, not like the nasty comments. People tend to keep those in their own brain, I guess.
Yeah. Ah, that’s so nice that she actually went out of her way to do that because I’m sure you weren’t nursing looking like a goddess in the middle of a forest. You were probably nursing, like with this look of panic on your face, trying to keep the syrup on the table and off of your one pair of pants that you brought on this trip.
Pretty much. Exactly. And like Lyra was like doing her best to throw herself off of my lap while keeping my nipple in her mouth, you know, as they do anyway. Yeah. So then we, but we did eventually make it to Hershey that night, but I had to stop like two more times because Lyra wouldn’t nap in the car for the first time in like four months.
Great, good time. Not even with Spirit on? No Spirit kept her happy. And, and more than once did Griffin comment to tell me how he was sick of listening to Spirit. And I was like, well, that’s why I brought your headphones. So put them on. Which FYI, if you’re not a patron, you won’t know this, but I’m wearing Griffin’s hello kitty headphones right now because he lost my headphones that I usually use to record.
They’re cute. They have ears in a bow and they’re pink. Why is it always our stuff? You know, it’s always my stuff that’s missing. Like why is my shit so interesting to my kids? Like why have these $5 hello kitty headphones stuck around for like four years? And the same reason you can’t lose a cheap pair of sunglasses.
Have you heard that Jeff Foxworthy standup, where he’s like talking about how you buy a brand-new pair of really nice sunglasses, they’re gone in five seconds, but you could be on a cruise in the middle of the Atlantic, lean over the edge and your cheap $10 sunglasses fall off and a scuba diver comes out of nowhere, holding your glasses and says, did you lose these?
For real though. But anyway, you know what? We got to Hershey and they, in the winter, like nobody’s there, it was 24 degrees. So I put my kids in snow suits. I was cold because I forgot half my clothing. They do like this Christmas light thing at the park. So, you know, Griffin went on like five rides and it was great.
And then I was like, oh, they have this great Christmas light drive through like, why don’t I do that? And then we’ll go to the hotel. Apparently when I did this last, it was like not a popular day. Like, I dunno, we did it like three years ago and like nobody was there and it took 20 minutes and it was super fun.
I made a mistake. I made a mistake. Because, and I couldn’t see this driving into it. So like I get into the line of cars and it’s like, there’s Christmas lights in this big field and then you like go around a corner and up into this little gravel road that goes through the woods. And there’s just like another mile of Christmas lights.
So going into the big field, it was like, I mean, there’s cars, but the traffic is moving and it was fine. Everybody’s having fun. We get past the field and the traffic is stopped dead because these two lines of cars have to merge before going into the forest. Oh, and there’s no exit. Oh, they’re like, you cannot get out of there.
I don’t know what we would do if I like needed an ambulance. I dunno. I guess just stop and open the doors, but like, so like Lyra starts fussing right on cue just as I realized there’s no exit and we’re going to be in this line of cars with nothing to do for 25 minutes before we get to the next Christmas lights.
Oh my God. And so I found like in the passenger seat, a package of like stale French fries. Oh. Like, like from the day before, I’m going to be honest and I gave them to Griffin and I said, please feed your sister French fries. So Lyra ate day old French fries for the next like hour that we were stuck in this Christmas light.
Ha. Yeah, and this is why folks we do not go above and beyond in 2022, this is our resolution. We’re going to stop trying to do these magical, wonderful scheduled outings with children because it just never goes that way ever. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, cool. So I flew too close to the sun that was, did not need to do that.
Should have just said like, Hey, guess what kids? We get a hotel room. Isn’t that exciting? I’m going to put a show on I never let you watch. And they’d be like, woo good. And there’s a pool. Just kidding it’s closed because of COVID. Yep. But yeah, that, it was fine. We got to the hotel room; kids didn’t go to sleep till midnight.
You know, I got to New York the next day. I spent a couple of days with my mom and then a day with my sister. And like I was realizing on the drive up there that last time I visited them with a breastfeeding baby was like possibly the first time any of them had ever seen someone breastfeed in their lives.
Yeah, just for some context, Maureen’s mom is like a bad-ass CFO on wall street and has been forever. And like two weeks after Maureen was born, she was straight formula fed, her mom went back to wall street. She was like, bye. Yeah. Like just to just providing a little bit of context. So you can understand that, although Maureen lives on a farm now, that is not where she came from.
Yeah. It’s and now my mom, she, so she retired and then like, couldn’t hack it at retirement and now like runs some startup company and works like 24 hours a day because she couldn’t not work. That’s a condition. She was working on Christmas, just like every, like all the time. She was like, I have to answer an email.
I have to, I actually sat down with my mom and had the work boundaries conversation. Oh, how’d that go? It did, did not really penetrate. I mean, I was just like, look, mom, like it’s okay to tell people like, I’m going on vacation or like, I will not answer emails for 24 hours. Yeah. And she was kind of like, it’s going to fall apart without me.
And I was like, well, if it does, maybe it should fall apart? If this company hinges on one woman in her, late sixties doing all of the work, maybe it should not be, yeah. Why is it hanging by a thread? We need to evaluate our systems. Right. And what if it works without you, then what? Maybe that’s worse. I don’t know.
Like that might be worse for her. Oh, you know? But isn’t this also just kind of an analogy for how we feel as moms? I can’t possibly take a day away. The whole family will fall apart without me. Right. I can’t let them fold the laundry. They’ll jack it up. Although I’ve tried to make them fold the laundry. It never goes well, but someday, someday.
But anyway, so they were better this year with the breastfeeding than they were in previous years? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it just wasn’t really talked about this time. It was kind of just like, oh yeah, that’s what Maureen does and whatever. And I think, I think like the only conversation I had about it was one of my aunts who I’m pretty sure did breastfeed some, but not, not for long.
She asked cause I was pumping and I was like, oh yeah, well I’m pumping because I’m donating milk to the NICU. And like, we had a conversation about that because her son was born six weeks early. So he spent some time in the NICU and yeah, actually that was all fine. The more uncomfortable thing was my six-year-old’s interactions with everybody who like the way that everybody else parents in my family is not the way I do. Which is fine for them, but like not, I feel like it’s not okay when they parent my son for me. And since there was a lot of times that I would be like trying to get the baby down for a nap or whatever. There were a lot of times Griffin was with them without me.
And then he would come crying and be like, they said, no, I couldn’t do this. And I’d be, you know, internally be like, ah, that’s such bullshit. Like, why would they say no, you couldn’t have a second piece of pie? When I literally don’t care. Have 10 pieces of pie kid, you know, that if you do it and whatever, like it’s fine.
Also. You’re like technically underweight. So it, honestly, at this point, like 10 piece of the pie is not going to hurt you. You know, and, and like, just like so many small interactions like that, where I was like, that was just like needlessly done where instead you could have been like, does your mom let you do that?
And he doesn’t lie about that kind of stuff. I don’t know. There was definitely the expectation though, that he was like a lot of things that he would do like that were things that I wasn’t letting him do like I wouldn’t let him do, but he was doing them because I wasn’t there. Do you know what I mean?
It’s just also kind of confusing for them, but also just I mean, I was thinking about how I feel when people parent my kids. I kind of love it, you know, as long as it’s not, as long as it’s not like emotionally damaging to them. I kind of am like, whatever. I mean, if we’re in their zone and it’s kind of good exposure for them for different kinds of people and even assholes.
So like, as you grow up, it’s like, hey, remember that? How that made you feel? That guy is an asshole. Yeah. Like I’m not concerned for his overall development. It was just like kind of a pain in the butt, you know, because it, like more than once I would be like trying to put Lyra to sleep and somebody would do something like that. And then he’d come crying and interrupt.
And I was just like, God damn it. Like, I am the only parent here. I’m trying to make one fucking thing work. And like, you could have just left him alone and it was fine. Yeah. Yeah. Or you could put the baby down for a nap. Oh, wait, you can’t. So just stay out of my way. It’s just, I don’t know. It was fine. And it was, you know, nice to see everybody, but yeah, there were just moments like that, where I was like, it’s going to be nice to go home.
Heck yeah. Just to have control over your own environment, but so overall good trip? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was nice to spend some time with my sister and we spent, I spent a longer time with my in-laws who are super wacky, but like also just all about fun with the kids. Like all about fun. They’re like, you want to turn off all the lights and have a flashlight rave and yell and scream? Like a hundred percent do it.
Oh, that’s awesome. And that’s the stuff that they remember, you know? Yeah, absolutely. And like, you know, it’s just, and they also definitely see, like, I can tell it’s tiring for them, but they’re also like, they’re only here for four days, so like, we’re just gonna like suck it up and have fun with the kids and then they go back home.
We don’t see them, you know? Yeah. That’s really cool. It’s nice. So my holiday was pretty great. We were trying to keep it low key and not go anywhere and we didn’t, but my mom decided to have hip surgery, which was smart because they met their deductible for the year. So they squeezed it in before the end of the year, which is great financially, but it’s like eight weeks non-weight bearing on one leg. She’s on crutches.
Yeah. So, you know, we’ve got the two kids. My brother was coming in town with his girlfriend and we have my 17-year-old brother as well. And my husband, I gotta say, stepped up and cooked all the time. Like he cooked Christmas Eve dinner, he made meatloaf for everyone. And that is actually really hard to cook for that many people.
Yeah. And then just like lunches. We were whipping together lunches we had, and I’m basically managing the kids because he, I don’t know, he enjoys having a drink and like making the meals and stuff. But then my dad got this prime rib and it was like, last year they got it. And it was like, I don’t know, 250 bucks.
So they ordered the same one this year. And they were like, oh, it fed us for like two days, whatever. He goes to get it and it was $467. And my dad was like, oh. And just the amount that it costs, put so much pressure on how it was going to be cooked. And my dad, he basically does eggs. Like that’s what he cooks.
And so he was like terrified to cook this thing cause he didn’t want to mess it up. So my husband was like, okay, I got this. And he went over to the neighbor’s house and got his special meat thermometer and his like chemist cookbook to make sure everything was perfect. And he worked, he stressed about this thing.
He worked on this thing and it was basically raw, like, to me, I feel like he probably could have just been like, whatever, five minutes on each side, broil and it’s good. Well, that’s kind of what happened, but there was like a resting period and then we had to make a crust and whatever. So it worked out, but it was rare.
Like it was rare, rare, and I was like. This is barely safe for consumption. I know everyone. Yeah. I put it on our Tik TOK, so, oh, nice. I, I did see that. I did see that. I was thinking that was some juicy pink stuff. Yeah, it sure was so tender. But anyway, so I got to hand it to him. Like we were exhausted. I mean, just exhausted.
And then also we had eight events between December 17th and Christmas Eve between Heidi’s birthday, my birthday, we each, I can’t even get into that. That’s too much. We had some other kids’ birthday parties, especially like between Christmas and new year’s. I feel like those days, like just some, like there’s some Twilight zone of like, I ate too many carbs and sugar and now like my body is just like in this weird thing until all of a sudden it’s new year’s then you have to go back to work.
Exactly. Exactly. So I basically for eight days did nothing but go to parties for myself or for children. And like, it’s a lot of peopling for me cause I’m like an extrovert introvert. So I’m like, I need to regroup after I do extroverted things and I haven’t had a chance to do that really. And so the week after Christmas, you know, that magical Twilight zone that you’re talking about, I feel like I have so much to do because I wasn’t able to do it.
Caring for my mom, like making it all the, making sure she doesn’t fall, you know, gosh, getting the meals prepared. So it’s been kind of hectic, but fun. Good to see everybody. We survived. The kids are pretty happy. And we got a bounce house. So, wow. I was at TJ Maxx and I was trying to find one more bigger gift to give, because I just felt like we were a little light on the presents this year.
And I’m staring at this bouncy house and I’m, I’m thinking in my head, like, is this worth it? And this lady comes up out of nowhere and she leans in and she goes, best decision I ever made. No regrets. You’re like, bought. I was like, thanks lady. So props to whoever that was at TJ Maxx, I bought the bouncy house and Heidi can turn it on herself, so, oh yeah.
So she just whips that thing on, hops in there, goes to town. Well, I think maybe we should answer a question and then a hop into our episode. What do you think? I love that. Let’s do it. Okay. So today’s question is from one of our lovely patrons, Susie Hirschhorn. She says, how best to balance starting solids with limited time in the evenings between getting home from work and daycare and starting bedtime routine? I know they say to introduce solids after a milk meal, but as soon as we finish our get home nursing session, I usually start making dinner. And then baby starts bedtime routine right after dinner. Do I just need to reframe our bedtime nursing session as a bonus milk snack and not a milk meal, or maybe just start off with solids on weekends when there’s more time for it all between nursing sessions? I would love to push bedtime later, but we need to wake up so early to make it to work on time.
I don’t want to cut into his night’s sleep when he’s such a crappy daytime napper already. Can’t get naps longer than 30 minutes. Oh. So, so I would say. Yes. That’s the rule of thumb, but if you’re just doing like one small meal of solid today, it doesn’t really matter. Yeah. Like if the only solids you’re giving for now are just at dinner time, usually what I do actually is put the baby in the highchair next to me while I cook and just like throw little scraps at her. Cause we do baby led weaning.
So I’m just like, oh look, here’s a piece of raw pepper. Suck on it for 20 minutes while I cook this. You know, which might be a good strategy for you too, that just like, that’s a good introduction to tastes and textures, but they’re actually not eating that much and you can multitask and it’s good entertainment.
Or just feed them their little, if you’re doing purees, you know, whatever. Just feed them their couple ounces and don’t sweat it. It’s not going to impact your nursing relationship that much, unless that is what you do every single time you feed them is like replace that meal. Yeah, I think the solids are better handled when it’s just random. You know, if they’re in the mood for it and you’ve got it on hand to give it to them, you know. It’s still only at the six month, at the six-month mark, it is not, this is brand new.
It’s like, I hate that phrase, “food before one is just for fun.” Not really. You learn a lot of things before one by starting solids. And we do have an episode on that. No, not yet. No. I thought we mention it a lot though. We mentioned that in a lot of episodes, but I have been wanting to do just one episode on it. But Susie, I just want to say, I, I literally just worked with a client who was wanting to wean at one, but they were starting solids, but baby was in two different daycare settings with two different family members and she works late, but it’s not always the same time.
And I swear when she’s talking to me, I really thought it was like a math word problem. You know, like if the train left the station at four o’clock and then we need to put 1.5 ounces of baby food. Yeah. I’m all about just make it simpler. I mean, for the first month, at least when I started solids with both my kids, there would be like sometimes two or three days in a row I was like, oh I’m not feeding you food right now. We’re busy. I’m sorry. Like, you drink milk, it’s fine. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, it’s fine to do that. And like just not overthinking it and keeping it really simple and, you know, taking that pressure off of your evenings because evenings in the US for working moms and parents, it’s a nightmare.
Yeah. Evening. It’s just awful. I hate it. Maybe breakfast works better too. Don’t forget that like, that’s a totally okay time to do solids if you’re like, actually. Yeah. Like our mornings are not that stressful or like maybe they can do it at daycare. I mean, like, don’t worry about it. And also if you don’t start at six months, really, and you start more at seven months, whatever.
Yeah. You know, if you feel like you have to be there like a hundred percent focused to do the solids, because you have anxiety about giving them solid food, just rethink what foods you’re giving them. Like maybe just let them gnaw on a big piece of celery. Exactly. Something they can’t choke on. So you can actually do what you need to do in the evenings.
And the more focused meal where you’re working on, like the pincer grasp and things like that with smaller bits, you can do focused in the morning when you have a little bit more time. Yeah. Like, I actually really like to do like big slices of fruit with the skin on, because it holds it all together and they can’t really bite through that if they don’t have teeth and then they just kinda like suck at the meat of it, you know, or like a cold carrot from the fridge that, that you’ve skinned so it’s yummy.
Like, I mean, just let them explore and think of it more as playtime than eating time. Yeah, for sure. Take the pressure off yourself. Try to steal your evenings back and get some peace in your life. Okay. Well, I hope that was helpful. I realized we never really told you what our episode is going to be today, other than just like catching up.
So today we’re actually going to replay some of our favorite clips from interviews for you guys. Yes. We have had so many good experts on the show and a lot of our interviews are very long because they’re experts and experts like to get into the nitty gritty of all of their expertise. So we did pull some highlights from those and push them all into one episode.
So if you want to just get a little spurt of inspiration for your day, or just like some good friendly reminders, one liners that you can pass along to your friends. And of course share this episode if you feel like you want to give your friends a little taste of what The Milk Minute is, this is a great way to introduce them to a lot of the different people that we bring on the show, which we would absolutely love if you would share it with a friend.
Yes. So hopefully this helps you decompress from the holidays because that is what Heather and I are doing today. Yes. And I hope you guys enjoy. Yes. And of course join our Patreon so we can hang out some more. Oh, should we thank patrons now? Oh, we should. Absolutely. Okay. Okay. So we have a couple of new patrons that we just wanted to give shout outs to.
I would love to shout out Shyla Yoder. Thank you so much for becoming our newest dairy queen and hanging out with us in our last live Q and A, which we do on the third Tuesday of every month. And we loved troubleshooting your issue last time. And Maureen, I forgot to update you. We’ve had no clogs since our meeting!
Awesome for her. Yes, that’s wonderful. I’m saying! We’re excited, no pain, no clogs. And then also Valerie Boxer. We’re super happy to have you, and let’s see, we also have Tawney that we’re welcoming to our Patreon community and Susie. Yes, Susie Hirschhorn who had the great question about solids. So, yes.
So welcome everybody. We love to have you. Thank you for your support and then anybody else who’s listening and you’re like, oh wow. They sound so cool. You can be like that too. You can just join $1 a month guys. Yeah. And you get cool access to merch, insider videos that no one else gets to see when Maureen and I are being ridiculous in our recording headphones.
And of course, every dollar goes to supporting the podcast and making sure that this is a sustainable project. All right. Well, let’s hop into this episode.
You know what I really need in my life? Something that tastes better than water? Yeah. I don’t mind water, but I feel like I’m chronically dehydrated and sometimes I just can’t force myself to chug a bunch of plain water. Well, lucky for you, Liquid IV has a hydration multiplier that is a great tasting daily electrolyte drink mix that utilizes the breakthrough science of cellular transport technology to deliver hydration to your bloodstream faster and more efficiently than water alone. 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. So if you’re bored with water, check out Liquid IV and use our discount code MILK MINUTE for 25% off and free shipping. That’s Liquid-IV.com and enter promo code Milk Minute for 25% off and free shipping.
So our first clip is from Dr. Julie Brefczynski-Lewis from West Virginia University. She is a neuroscientist and she is absolutely incredible. And she did an entire meditation just for our pumping parents that have a hard time with milk letdowns during a busy workday and explains the science behind meditation and how it can help you in your breastfeeding relationship.
So a lot of people think that meditation during your breastfeeding journey would be almost impossible because there’s so many new things going on. And if you’re not already practiced in meditation, how could you possibly add one more thing to your plate? But if you listen to this clip, Julie explains exactly how little you need to do.
So for people that are having these issues with breastfeeding is a 30 second meditation going to work? I mean, I’m sure it’s not bad for them to do that, but if they’re really struggling and we’re trying to troubleshoot an actual issue, are we going to be recommending that they practice to get to the 15, 20 minute?
I would think you may need to do that at some point in the day. And then when they’re ready to pump or ready to feed, then they could do that 30 seconds before. And it might remind their brain or remind their body of that state. And so, you know, this is, you know, an area ripe for research if you ask me.
So I love this clip because learning just a 30 second relaxation technique is so doable. Like, and, and I, I, you know, you guys know me, I am all about like, what is actually possible and not trying to set goals for ourselves that actually just cause more stress. Absolutely. Especially if you’re a person who pumps or breastfeeds and feels like you’re being forced to be present all the time. And then that, that stress kind of carries into every other facet of your life.
So you just kind of operate at this really high frequency all the time. And having access to a 30 second meditation that can kind of bring you back to that parasympathetic nervous system is so good. Such a good technique. So, if you want to listen to that full episode, we are going to link that in the show notes, it’s Episode 68, and we hope it helps you all.
And please let us know. Email us and tell us if you did the meditation or not. Yeah. And we’re going to link all of these episodes. So we’ll just mention the number, but they’ll all be in the show notes. Okay, moving on.
Okay. This next clip is from Episode 82, our Tongue Tie Episode. And here we hear from Michelle Emanuel who’s a pediatric occupational therapist who specializes in oral functioning. Yeah, this clip is a little snapshot of how many things we actually talk about in the entire episode. I mean, I don’t even think she realized she did it, but she touches on the fact that tongue tie is very controversial. She talks about how some kids might not be ready for it.
I mean, there’s so much in here, so I hope you enjoy this clip. And of course, it’s going to be linked in the show notes.
Tongue tie a little bit has become polarizing. Yes. Because people have such big opinions but the other reason is because when we’re talking about tongue tie, it’s so complex and it’s so individualized that this is why some babies respond well to release and other babies don’t.
Now I do think after doing this a while, that I’ve seen enough patterns along the way to make some good clinical statements about readiness for release. Because that’s really what I’ve learned over sending babies for release and doing therapy is that optimal timing is what helps the best outcomes. And what that means is that the baby is ready for the release and it’s put at, we want to do it as soon as we can, right? Because we want to capitalize on brain development and body function, but we take as long as we need.
Well, I love that, but here’s the spoiler is that I love every second of that episode. It has honestly changed the way I practice. Yes. As a lactation consultant. Same. I mean, and I think that was a huge eyeopener for me.
You know, I, I feel like before speaking with her, I was like, okay, we either release or we don’t that’s it. But realizing that there is a good timing for release and that it works into, you know, this body work and this functional therapy that we do is it has been really key for me in helping my clients and I think it’s really deepened my understanding of how to work with tongue and lip ties.
Right. And just how she explains that the tongue is the center of the body in that episode and how that’s the muscle that the babies are using the most, especially before they’re premotor, you know, they’re not crawling around.
So like the tongue is the muscle that’s working the most and it’s connected to all the other muscles and just it’s really helped me to take a huge step back when I’m looking at babies and, and the way they’re sucking and latching. So big shout out to Michelle. And if you are struggling with shallow latch or a baby that has torticollis or a baby that is not able to transfer milk well, or has poor tone or oral restrictions, you must go listen to that whole episode.
Yeah. So that was Episode 82. All right.
What is up next? Next up, we have our special guest, Alasen Zarndt who is a postpartum nutrition doula. And if ya didn’t think it needed it, let me just tell ya, you do. Because everything changes with your cravings and the amount of time that you have to focus on eating and kids just throw off your patterns in general, and she helps you to pull back and understand what’s happening with your body, why you’re having these cravings. And if you find yourself eating a ton of lactation cookies, thinking that it’s going to serve you and make more milk, she has something to say about that in this clip.
So quick question, which episode is that from? Cause we talked to her twice. It’s from Episode 56. Okay. Let’s get into it.
Like that’s what’s going on when your blood sugar crashes. And so when you’re eating like an excessive amount of these cookies and spiking your blood sugar and letting it crash and spiking it and letting it crash, then you’re going to be overeating in general.
Because every time it crashes you, your brain thinks you’re starving and drives you to eat. And because it’s so low, you almost binge eat on whatever it is, the next thing that you’re going to have because your body needs to get that blood sugar up so quickly. So you’re going to crave more simple carbohydrates and more sugar, because those are the things that are going to drive your blood sugar up higher and keep yourself on this roller coaster all day.
And because those simple carbohydrates and sugar aren’t giving you a whole lot of nutrients, then we’re perpetuating this overfed and undernourished state, which eventually this is pretty much the root cause for why people gain weight when they’re breastfeeding.
So the thing I love about talking to Alasen is that she explains these things in a way that I feel like is really easy to understand. Yup. It seems very simple when you talk to her about it. I mean, it seems impossible when you’re living it, but doable when she explains it. I mean, when you’re in your house and you’re walking around and you’re like, I’m hungry and here are the available foods and I’m just going to keep eating them because I’m still hungry versus, you know, when she’s like, okay, so where you are on the rollercoaster and you’re like, oh, I get it.
I love it. Guys, she offers private consultation, classes, all kinds of stuff. And she’s given us two amazing episodes to listen to. Yeah. She’s wonderful. We’ll actually link both of her episodes in the show notes for.
Okay, well, from here, we’re gonna take you over to Episode 63, where we have the absolute pleasure of speaking with Lisa Myers, who is the inventor of Ceres Chill.
And we just, I mean, we talked about her life, her entrepreneurship, the product she’s designing and selling. Anyway, I’m just going to, let’s go to the clip and then we’ll chat about it after. And just for some context, no one loves breast milk like Lisa loves breast milk. She is invested in understanding the powerful properties of breast milk because it relates to her product. So listen into this clip and just feel the passion for breast milk oozing directly into your ears.
But I feel like it’s another way that traditional medicine has stolen our power as women, like heaven forbid the world know what insane properties are in breast milk and the things that it does just all by itself.
And we’re learning that now again, cause I think there’s more women in this space particularly with COVID there’s more interest overall in like the immunity properties and that. But it is antibacterial and antimicrobial and it actively fights bad bacteria. It has tons of bacteria in it. It’s not to say that it’s missing bacteria. There’s tons. It’s just all the good kind.
I love that she touched on the fact that by not telling people how amazing and powerful and truly magical breast milk is, it robs women of power. Yeah. I mean, that’s, that’s so, okay. People have asked me before, Heather, like why we have talked about products on our podcast, right.
And why we like interviewed Lisa and why we talked to the people with Evivo. And the reason is because these people have created things truly out of need and out of a desire to help and to give us power. Right. You know, to support parents in feeding their babies. Like, yes, they need to make money. Of course, yes, it’s a business, but you know, we’re handpicking these amazing people like Lisa that are inspiring and that are helping.
It’s so true. And that actually leads us directly into our next clip. So Episode 66 is an interview with Marie Biancuzzo who is world-renowned for helping people get their IB CLC. She’s a teacher, she’s a huge breastfeeding advocate. She’s a blogger. She creates continuing education courses to keep all of us lactation professionals on the straight and narrow.
Really more than anything she is a huge inspiration to me and I know to you, Maureen as well. Yeah. And we, we just really adored being able to interview her. So enjoy this clip and I hope you feel the same way about it as we do. And if you hear this and you’re like, “more please!” Again, just go to Episode 66.
As soon as you feel like you don’t have any power, and by the way, I know that everybody uses this term empowerment these days. I kind of don’t use that. I think it’s a little overused, but I think we need to understand the kind of power that we carry and use that, not abuse it. And oh, by the way, we’ve got to have phenomenal communication skills and we have got to have phenomenal passion and, oh, by the way, I, at least once in my career almost got fired from the hospital, because guess what?
I was a breastfeeding advocate and the real trouble was that I was so stinking far ahead of my time, you’ve got to really be willing to like, go all out there and you got to do it all. You got to take it all. You got to put on your flap jacket and you gotta go because it’s the truth.
I love Marie so much. I just, you got to go because it’s the truth. I just like I know in this clip, she’s speaking to lactation professionals and healthcare providers, but also, you know what, like she’s speaking to every lactating parent too, because unfortunately we all have to be advocates for this in this time.
Right. Because it’s, it’s not usually just seen as the norm. And a lot of us have to fight different cultural norms and different family expectations and different medical circumstances. And, you know, it’s just, she’s, she’s so inspiring really to all of us. And I love to hear her speak about this. Yeah. And the truth is there’s just not enough lactation professionals to be advocates for everyone, which is what we are doing with this podcast right now.
We are trying to give you knowledge and knowledge is power. And when you have power, you can do like Marie says and go because it’s the truth and advocate for yourself and put on your flap jacket and just be a phenomenal communicator with your pediatrician, with your daycare provider, with family members, with your partner.
I mean, it is very difficult to actually communicate with all of those people effectively and stand firm and how you truly believe about what is right for your breastfeeding journey.
Hey guys, Heather here with a very special message for you. I wanted to let you know that if you’ve attempted to breastfeed your baby, even once, or began pumping after an unexpected postpartum complication, you’ve taken the first step to a beautiful journey. I also want to let you know that you can breastfeed no matter what kind of labor you had, no matter what kind of baby you have, no matter what kind of job you have. There is a way to breastfeed that can work for you.
The thing that I really want to get across here is that the fear of what if I don’t have what it takes to breastfeed? What if people think I can’t do this? What if I fail? What if I can’t do my job, what if I’m not enough? Here’s the truth. Everyone has those thoughts, but some people push through and succeed at breastfeeding anyway.
So what’s the difference? Consistent support. Yeah. Consistent support is the linchpin in the breastfeeding plan. Having support available to help you through the natural hiccups of feeding your baby is essential to decreasing that anxiety and making those doubtful voices in your head disappear. Throughout the pandemic I’ve been accepting virtual, private lactation clients to meet people where they are, despite the crazy circumstances with COVID. At first, I honestly wasn’t sure how it would go. But as it turns out, it was better than ever. I’ve decided to continue doing virtual consults and help people all over the world.
As an IBCLC, I hold an international certification and breastfeeding is a universal language. If you find yourself needing that personal support and would like to work with me one-on-one, you can schedule at your convenience at my link in the show notes, or by going to Breastfeedingforbusymoms.com/private-consultations.
Let’s get you to where you want to be with breastfeeding and start asking new questions. What if I succeed? What if I can breastfeed and do my job? What if you are enough? What if it works? We got this.
Okay. Today’s award in the alcove goes to Sarah and I will read the win that she wanted to share with us. So Sarah says, first a little background. My son is four months old and my husband’s family lives in Austria. So before my son was born, we planned to bring him to Austria to visit his side of the family for his first Christmas. In theory, it’s great. But in execution, I found myself super anxious about lots of things. The new COVID variant, breastfeeding in public, 10-hour plane ride. Throughout the airport I had my son in a wrap, so he was nice and close to me. Then on the flight, I made sure to bring my boppy to help me relax and not stress while nursing.
He nursed for takeoff and landing and a few times in between, and honestly was a champ. I did have amazing support from my husband, but I also felt like I had the two of you with me in spirit telling me I was doing a great job. Who cares if it’s been 45 minutes and he still wants to nurse? Just keep going.
Anyway. I wanted to say thank you for all the good you’re doing with your podcast.
Oh, my God that made me smile ear to ear. I love that. I feel like we went to Austria together. We did. I oh, Austria is very nice this time of year. Anyway, Sarah you’re a total bad-ass. You are doing a great job and that was amazing.
So, Yeah. Hell yeah. The award that we want to give you is the Traveling Titties Award. Oh my God. Yes. And I just love if you guys could, if you’re ever resting us on your phone somewhere interesting while you’re listening to us around the world, take a picture. Sell it to us, please. Please show us where you listen to The Milk Minute. On a flight to Austria.
On a boat, you know, drones, I don’t know what we’re going to be doing in 2022. Just lying in bed with the boppy and the baby, whatever. Let us know. We want to know where we travel. Yeah, maybe we should do a hashtag #MilkMinuteTravelingTitties. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay everybody. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed all of those clips from some of our best episodes and interviews.
We’ve really enjoyed putting it together for you today, and we hope you had an amazing holiday season. It’s been so nice to catch up with Maureen because she’s been gone and we’re going to get back to recording on our regular schedule, and I hope that you guys communicate with us and tell us what you want out of your 2022 from us.
So if there’s something you want to hear, email us at MilkMinutePodcast@gmail.com or join our Patreon and the link to do that is in the show notes. Become our VIP and tell us face to face what you want, what you’re going through and how we can help you. Thank you for listening to another episode of The Milk Minute Podcast. The way that we change this big system that is not really made to support lactating parents is by educating ourselves and others and supporting each other in breastfeeding.
If you found some value in the episode that we produced for you today, you can head over to Patreon.com/MilkMinutePodcast and show us your support with a monetary donation. But Hey, if you can’t do that, tell a friend. That’s all we ask. Yes, please do. The more the merrier. All right, we’ll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
