February 19, 2024 • 30 mins
Embark with us on a touching exploration of motherhood as Paige Johnson, a devoted infant teacher with a heartfelt mission, graces our podcast with her tale of breastfeeding triumphs and the nurturing path towards becoming a lactation consultant. Paige's candid sharing of the magical moments and health wonders she witnessed in her child will stir not only the minds of aspiring consultants but also the hearts of those who've experienced the tender journey of nursing a child. Her ambition to extend this support to new mothers reflects the profound impact that personal experience can have on professional aspirations.
This episode isn't just Paige's story; it's a beacon for anyone considering the multifaceted career of lactation consulting. We sift through the layers of education, certification, and the potential to craft a unique professional journey—whether that's within the walls of a hospital, a cozy WIC office, or the entrepreneurial realm of private practice. Paige's passion illuminates the intricate tapestry of knowledge—from mastering the preparation of a baby's bottle to understanding the nutritional needs of nursing mothers—showcasing the diverse skill set required in this nurturing field.
Community is the heart of breastfeeding support, and as we navigate the landscape of local programs, Facebook groups, and the sometimes unconventional world of lactation cookies, you'll uncover a treasure trove of resources. These touchpoints not only offer scholarship information and study group camaraderie but also provide a network of encouragement and education for those on their breastfeeding journey. By sharing these stories and resources, we celebrate the courage of all mothers making informed choices for their children and themselves, and we eagerly anticipate Paige’s future role in guiding them along the way.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of Working
Out the Kings, the podcast.
We are in season four and todaywe are with Paige Johnson.
So Paige is doing things alittle different.
Today we're talking about herdreams and her journey, and she
wants to get into thelactation-consomptant situation.
(00:24):
So, paige, how are you?
I'm doing good.
So you want to kind of talk tous a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, well, my name is .
Well, you already know my name.
But so I got intolactation-consultant, like tried
to get into it by.
I just had a son he's three nowbut I was always like amazed
with breastfeeding.
(00:53):
It was just one of the thingswhere I was just like I'm going
to do it when I have a child.
It's the best thing and I feellike it's just the natural thing
and we're born to do this.
So I just love that about itand it's just been an amazement
(01:13):
of it.
And while I was breastfeeding Ilearned so much like with, like,
like down to the milk, like howit is like beneficial to them,
like in all sorts of ways, andjust like.
(01:35):
It was one quirky thing that Ilearned about the milk where if
you're about to make theirbottles and you're about to warm
them, you're not supposed toshake it a certain way, you're
supposed to like spin it acertain way, which is like how I
do bottles now when I'm at work.
(01:56):
So it's like certain things youjust learn and you're like, oh,
this is pretty cool.
And then now, right now, I'm aninfant teacher.
So I've been a teacher foralmost 13 years now and now I
get brand new moms that arebreastfeeding and I get so
(02:18):
excited because I want to helpthem and they ask me questions
about how can they produce moreand their supply is going low
and all that good stuff.
I like to help them, so that'swhat helps me.
Want to be go into being alactation consultant because I
(02:40):
wanted to help moms that I workwith at my school and I wanted
to help other moms that justdon't know the basics of
breastfeeding and it's not, youknow to let them know that it's
a process but it's.
The process is worth it.
So that's about.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, I mean, I can understand that.
I think feeding babies from thebreast can be a little scary.
You know, I feel maybe what, 20years ago ish, breastfeeding
wasn't really a big thing.
We kind of just went back intojust formula feeding.
But now it seems likebreastfeeding has kind of had a
(03:22):
resurgence in like more peoplelearn and you know, educate
themselves about the benefits ofbreastfeeding, right, right.
So I think that's pretty cool.
So just out of curiosity, howlong did you breastfeed?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I just stopped breastfed for three years, oh
wow.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
That's a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Three years, yeah.
So he just got off, he justweaned off.
I put him in his big boy bedand he didn't ask for it after
that.
So that was when he stopped.
I mainly kept going because oflike I guess because of COVID,
(04:13):
you know I was scared.
I didn't want him to get likesick and just wanted to keep his
immune system up and all thatgood stuff.
I wanted to get all the goodthings about keeping them on and
it helps with their immunesystem.
They don't get sick as much,which it did help because he has
not gotten sick, Thankfully.
Knock on wood, yeah, knock onwood.
I'm not going to work becausehe's at school, but he's not
(04:36):
gotten sick badly for like for awhile and if he does get sick,
it only lasts for two or threedays and then he's back to
normal.
So that's how I knew it was,like it was extreme benefits to
it.
So, but it was like it wasthree years.
(04:57):
I was like, wow, I didn't evensee myself wanting to do it that
long, but it happened.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So I have to add so since you breastfed for like
three years, was it all justfrom the breast or did you like
you know, you like pump and thenpour into like a little sippy
cup, like what did?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
you do.
The first year it was pumpingand pumping into a sippy cup,
but the second year in it wasjust he would get it, it would
just be straight from the boob.
So it would just be throughlike nap time or or going to bed
.
And then, third year in, well,not 38,.
(05:39):
Well, yeah, third year in itwas just for him to go to sleep.
So for nap, for bed time.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
For bed time.
Yeah, okay, that's actuallypretty interesting.
I've actually don't think I'veever had a conversation with
someone who breastfed that long,so that's pretty yeah.
Because there are this like somany health benefits to it.
You know vitamins and like allthe minerals that were kind of
missing, like when you starteating.
You know for adult food.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So I think that's pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I guess about a little bit back on topic.
You said that you wanted to getinto lactation consultant.
So how did you find a place todo that, like, what did you do?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So I talked with my I had an LC for my son and I and
it was, and it sparked myinterest.
I was like, so how do you getinto this?
And she let me know about itand she said, because it was
easier for her, because she's anurse.
So they just did it depends onwhere you are and you're, I
(06:55):
guess, in your life not life butin your career.
If you're a nurse, you're onthis pathway.
If you've been, like, in thehealthcare system, you're on
this pathway.
But if you have no likehealthcare experience whatsoever
, you need the pathways three.
She was saying.
And she, that's what.
She, that's what really likesparked me to want to do it,
(07:18):
because she told me it wasn't,it's not that it's not that bad
of a process and it's, it has awhole bunch of benefits and it's
a really good job and shereally loves she's, she really
loves her job.
So I was like, oh okay.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So do you, do you like go back to actual school?
Like, are we going to liketaking college courses?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yes, it requires you to take eight credit hours and
then eight credit hours ofcollege credits, and then then
you have to do the 90 hours.
(08:05):
But the good thing is you havelike five years to do it, so it
gives you time.
So that's what made me feellike, okay, I guess it's not
that bad.
But and they were also saying,once you're done with the 90
hours, you can actually haveclients Like you can work like
(08:28):
in the WIC office or you canwork like just as a oh, she's
saying you can't, you can't geta job, but they are slim, but
you can get a job.
But it's not like like how itwould be if you were actually
like certified, like aftertaking the test and all that
(08:53):
good stuff.
But that was what the goodthing was for me, because I was
like, oh, I just have to do itin 90 hours and I'll be fine for
a little bit, I don't have torush.
And she was saying the otherthing about the clinicals.
That's where you'll learn, youknow, you'll get the field
experience, which is what I wasreally excited about too,
(09:14):
because I get to, you know, bein it and we've talked to other
moms and all that stuff.
So I thought that was cool.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, so because I know there's different names for
different things.
So sometimes I get a little bitconfused.
Do you know like the differentnames for all the different
things?
I know there's like thelactation educator, and then I
know there's also like acounselor.
(09:44):
So do you know there's like adifference between those things?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Not at the top of my head, I don't, because I know.
The only one I know right nowis the lactation consultant is
the one where you have to takethe test, the board test or
something, and that's throughthe IVLC website you have to do
(10:14):
that with.
And I'm thinking the other twoare just the ones where I was
telling you that you could, justyou could work.
It's over now.
Respect, zip, but not per se,like have like a job, like in
the hospital or all that otherstuff.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Right, because I've kind of like the board of
lactation or whatever they'relike more, I guess, more school
involved and more like if youwere like a nurse or something.
Why?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
do you?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
want to be like a lactation consultant.
That's kind of more holistic.
That's my understanding mightbe like the little bit of the
difference there.
So did she also mention whatjobs that you could have like
just straight out of doing likethe 90-ish hours?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
It was the like I mentioned, the like lactation,
what's it?
I'm like trying to think aboutwhat it was.
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
okay, Cause the lactation counselor, cause I
know there's a difference,because those they just give you
like they help the moms out,like tell them how to do the
things, but I don't know how totalk to my head.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
I just kind of wonder , cause I know you know a lot of
people, when they decide thatthey want to like get into this,
they kind of wonder, like whatis it that I can do?
Because when you pay all thismoney to get certified and it
was, you who certifies, like Iwant to start working so I can
start paying myself back.
So it's a lot.
So I would just kind of wonder,like as you mentioned before
(12:01):
that you can work for, like thelike for WIC, which is great.
But I was just like wonderingif there was like a, maybe like
a, like a birthing center.
Could you like work within abirthing center?
You know it was one of thoseones that's outside of like the
hospital setting.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Mm-hmm Cause I know some people they usually just
have their own business and theydo it outside of the hospital
Like they'll.
Some people work with doulasLike they'll.
They'll be like this is my likecertified lactation person that
(12:39):
I have with me but they'll workwith doulas to help with that
experience.
Now I know with my lactationconsultant she was the one that
kind of helped me with like whatcan I eat?
What can I?
What medications can I take,what can you know?
(13:00):
That kind of thing.
I think that that's where thedifference lies, in where you
have to get those like collegecourses and all that stuff,
because like you're going tohave to tell moms, hey, you
can't eat this or hey, you can'tdo this, but I think what
they're not that sounds like abit like nutrition, right, right
.
So that is when it gets morein-depth of where you're going
(13:25):
to have to really get that.
Get the those college creditsthat they ask you to get.
But I know, if it's just thebasics, like how to hold your
boob and how to pump and what isyour flange size and all that
good stuff, that that the basics.
I think that's where the 90hours comes from and that would
(13:49):
be like where you could reallyhelp moms with that.
That would help.
But I know a lot of people.
They just do their own businessinstead of.
Instead of like working at ahospital or working anywhere,
they just do their own thingoutside Right.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I think that's really cool as well, like you
mentioned, like working withlike doulas and everything,
because you know I'm a doula andI think you know, unfortunately
we get into the mindset that wehave to do everything.
So you're certified as a doulaand then you know you probably
go running like a childbirtheducation certification and you
go running, get you know, youkind of run into all these
(14:35):
different pathways.
And you're like you knowthere's somebody already with
that certification, so you canalways like team up you know
really, build your team you alljust specialize on something
different.
But you can help somebodywithout doing everything,
because doing everything just itdoesn't seem like that person
will really benefit if you'retrying to do everything, right.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Right, right, cause it's like you don't have to do
everything.
You can have, like people,other people that know other
things.
Cause my, when I delivered myson, my best friend she's
actually a doula as well, so sheshe helps me with all of that
too.
So that was, that was nice.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Like, oh man, oh no, sorry.
So, since you're like goingthrough everything right now,
how do you study for everything?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Just make my time, just balance my time out.
You have to.
That's, that's how you I meanwith my, with my son.
I just after I put him to bed,that's where I have my time.
Or if he's at nap, that's whenI usually have my time.
Or I'll have like a day of theweek where I'm like this is
(15:56):
where I'm going to be doing my.
In there, I'm going to be doingall of my work.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Is there any books you recommend?
Because I mean, I know it'skind of like school courses, but
is there something like someonecan just get off of Amazon,
like I remember as a doula, likeone of the books that I was
told to read was like was itBreastfeeding May Simple?
It was one of those like kindof basic idea books.
I don't know if I can find it.
(16:24):
It's probably on my bookshelfright now.
I'm not gonna get up for it,but I wonder if I can look it up
real quickly, cause it was acute book but it was definitely
was just like the basics youknow.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, I don't at the top of my head.
I don't know any books rightnow, but because I haven't
really taken the courses yet.
But I'm just saying, for anyonethat wants to start the process
of wanting to do the courses, Isay, if you have kids or if you
(17:01):
have a busy life, just try toset some.
You know, set some time, causethey do give you, they do give
you a while to finish yourclasses.
So we just set some time awayfor when you do want to do your
classes.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Not great, amy.
I mean anything that's worthgetting.
You're gonna make some time forit.
But yeah, I think the book isthat Breastfeeding May Simple,
it's like seven natural laws fornursing mothers.
Like I can't.
Like I don't really remembertoo much about the women who
wrote this book, but I know oneof them was working.
(17:41):
What's that bottle company?
I think it's Aveste or whatevershe worked with them to.
Let me see if I can find it.
I'm trying to think of the nameof the bottle company.
But she was working with themto create like a nipple for like
the bottle, to make it shapedmore, more like a boob instead
(18:03):
of it just being like those oldschool nipples that they used to
have.
So she worked with them for likea long time.
So she was probably like one ofthe reasons why bottles
nowadays have like the slow drip.
So it's not just like gushingout at poor babies.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, I had those bottles.
I had the ones that were shapedlike a, like an actual boob.
Yeah, I was like I gave into it.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Event I couldn't think of it as event A-B-E-N-T.
She was working with thatcompany, so I thought it was
kind of cool that she, kind ofyou know, took the time to like
work with them to kind of helpbabies whether they're like
breastfeeding or just bottlefeeding, they kind of have the
same flow.
So it's not too much for them.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So let me see Is there anything else?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I can think, yes, actually I do.
So what are your plans?
I mean, I know you want to workand be a consultant, but do you
think that you might, you know,want to do work with hospitals?
Do you think you want to startyour own company?
You said your best friend is adoula.
Do you think you might workwith her and create like a team?
I think that's a good idea.
(19:14):
I think that's a good idea.
So do you think you might workwith her and create like a team
so y'all can kind of like helppeople together?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Um, my, I really would love to.
Okay, I had like three or fourthings in my head.
I was like that I wanted to dowith it.
After I got it, I would love tohelp, like, if there's teen moms
there's like I would love tohelp them and give them
knowledge about the beauty ofbreastfeeding, how good it is
(19:44):
and I know, like you know, rightnow you're in a time but it's
but it's beneficial for yourbaby.
I'm gonna help moms that reallyare really struggling with it,
because I honestly had a reallyhard time with mine.
I almost gave up but I didn't.
But I would love to help momswith that or just like I don't
(20:09):
wanna do it anymore.
I'm just gonna result to thisbecause of this happening, but I
would like to maybe help them.
This isn't the end.
This is if you are able to dothis, then we can do this
together and I can help you.
I'd love to help moms that arereally like okay, I'm done.
(20:32):
So mine is.
I just love helping mothers andhelping them just be happy and,
after they've had their baby,not like, oh my God, this is
something else I gotta worryabout, type thing, just take
some worry off of them and Iwould find it something else
(20:53):
under my.
I'd like just anothercertification that I would like
to have under me, other as beingan infant teacher, just to help
them.
Help the moms that are likepumping before they are going to
work, helping them feel goodabout themselves.
Some moms will be like, oh mygosh, I didn't pump enough for
(21:15):
today.
I feel so terrible.
That kind of thing helping themknow this is what you need to
if you're doing this, this iswhat you need to do.
Or have something to tell themto for them to feel like, okay,
I guess it's not all that bad.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, it's kind of like helping them with their
confidence and just being likeit's okay, like what you're
doing is enough, like sometimes.
I think sometimes we justbecome so afraid that we're not
doing enough and we're not beingsuper mom and just like it's
okay, we're doing all right.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, that's probably about the.
It's not the only reasons whyjust to really really help the
moms out there, cause there'snot enough help going around for
us sometimes.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, no, not at all.
I mean, you get your postpartumcheck and then, good luck, out
there spread my chips, yes, yes.
Well, I love this for you.
I mean, you seem like super,super passionate about it and I
think that's kind of like thegoal or anything that we want to
do is like you have to have acertain amount of passion to do
(22:24):
any of this.
It's not easy.
Work Well.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I love it for you.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Do you think cause I mean I'm not sure if you've
thought this far out quite yetespecially like working with
team moms do you think that itmight be something that you
would probably do like on anonprofit level?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, I was thinking of that too, Like just to that
kind of thing, like working with, like, cause I had always I
have this like idea in my head.
I was like, oh, maybe I couldwork with like the healthy I
don't know if y'all have healthy, start here wherever you're I'm
in New Orleans and I'm going tosay no, no, okay, they have.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Right here they have is called healthy start and they
help moms, you know, withhelping them with their
beginning stages of, like,pregnancy and then, after
they're having their kid, makingsure that their kid is getting
the nutrients that they need, oryou know everything, making
(23:29):
sure that the mom and the childis healthy.
And I was thinking, I was like,oh, I could work with them and
then I could work with WIC and Icould work with, you know, just
maybe in the like, if there'smoms that are homeless, like
hoping that kind of community,just just you know, those kinds
of things I would love to dothat, that would just that would
(23:52):
be nice.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You just told me something I didn't even know.
We had one in this cityApparently.
We do.
I'm like really.
Oh you do.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Really, cause I knew at one point my sister was
living in Atlanta and they had aprogram similar to that and it
was just like you show up fordifferent courses and they would
help you obtain like a breastpump or like a car seat if you
needed something Like they were.
Like, really, it was reallywell thought out.
I'm like maybe, maybe we havesomething like that and I just
(24:19):
didn't know, but now I'm goingto have to go ahead and look
into it, look about it.
And I was like thank you so muchand I'm like, ah, but that
would be so great though.
I mean, I think you know,unfortunately women are kind of
left on the wayside when itcomes to different things and it
comes to healthcare.
(24:40):
So any way that we can help isalways great, like it's great to
be community based, if you can.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Well, good luck to you.
I really, really hope thatyou're able to take your courses
and you go out there and justlike fire everything up and
teach women all about theboobies.
Thank you, you're so welcome.
I mean, I'm still stuck on thethree years thing.
I'm like what.
Your kid has to be thehealthiest kid out there.
(25:08):
What immunity built into me,what.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I mean, like I said I was, like I was not, that was
not the goal.
I was like I'm going to quitright after the year.
That was not up to him.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
No, not at all.
Oh is there any groups that youmay follow for breastfeeding or
lactation advice?
So if there's any moms outthere listening, they know that
there's like a community groupthey can follow to get advice
from.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Hold on.
I'm on a IBLC group on Facebook.
I can look it up really quick.
I'm on a few.
Actually the future oflactation.
(26:00):
I'm on that group.
I guess I should look under mygroup.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Everything you say I'm gonna look for and I'm just
link it like in the podcastwebsite so that way people can
take their time and see whatgroup works for them.
But I'm actually a part of thefuture of lactation, so I forgot
.
Yeah, I'm on that one.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh, becoming an IBC LC and beyond is one I'm on.
This one is for, like, if youare starting the course, there's
a group on here.
They, you know we all, they alltalk, or I always go on there
(26:57):
and like, ask questions aboutyou know, is there scholarships
or is there?
Is it hard?
Or you know this kind of thingbefore I start, you know, is
there benefits to it?
And then now they've started achat to where you know, hey, I'm
trying to find a job being anIBC LC and all that because so
(27:19):
it has those benefits.
Those are the two groups I'm inright now for breastfeeding.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Oh no, that's great because I know at one point I
think I was in the future oflactation one and they were like
creating a steady grouptogether and I thought that was
really cool.
I mean, you know, teamworkmakes the dream work and
sometimes you need yes, allright well, we'll go ahead and
I'm If is there any other groups?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
you were a part of the only one is like a lactation
cookies group, but they that ismainly, I guess, for moms that
are lactating, that type ofthing.
But that's that is it.
Those are the only two that I'min right now.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh no, that's perfectly fine, I'll just make
it perfect.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's it All right, perfect.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
But thank you so much for your time page just talking
to us and explaining about yourjourney, and I mean three years
of breastfeeding, it's the same, but you did it and you know
just, I look forward to seeingstuff from you and I mean I
really hope that you get thatcertification soon and you can
help.
You know the women who and theyoung girls who need they help,
(28:42):
because you know I'm not gonnastep too long on my podium, but
you know, I think sometimespeople are encouraged to not
even try.
And don't get me wrong, I'mlike, if you need to form a baby
, form a baby.
A fed baby is the best baby but,you know, if you actually want
(29:04):
to try, make sure that you findsomebody who's actually trying
to be helpful for you.
That's, that's all I had, soI'm not gonna preach too much,
but thank you, and I lookforward to this coming out and
sharing, like your story, withpeople.
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you so much.
I hope you have a good night.
I hate you too, as well.
(29:25):
All right, bye for now.
Podcasters.
Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of Working
Out the Kings, the podcast.
We are in season four and todaywe are with Paige Johnson.
So Paige is doing things alittle different.
Today we're talking about herdreams and her journey, and she
wants to get into thelactation-consomptant situation.
(00:24):
So, paige, how are you?
I'm doing good.
So you want to kind of talk tous a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, well, my name is .
Well, you already know my name.
But so I got intolactation-consultant, like tried
to get into it by.
I just had a son he's three nowbut I was always like amazed
with breastfeeding.
(00:53):
It was just one of the thingswhere I was just like I'm going
to do it when I have a child.
It's the best thing and I feellike it's just the natural thing
and we're born to do this.
So I just love that about itand it's just been an amazement
(01:13):
of it.
And while I was breastfeeding Ilearned so much like with, like,
like down to the milk, like howit is like beneficial to them,
like in all sorts of ways, andjust like.
(01:35):
It was one quirky thing that Ilearned about the milk where if
you're about to make theirbottles and you're about to warm
them, you're not supposed toshake it a certain way, you're
supposed to like spin it acertain way, which is like how I
do bottles now when I'm at work.
(01:56):
So it's like certain things youjust learn and you're like, oh,
this is pretty cool.
And then now, right now, I'm aninfant teacher.
So I've been a teacher foralmost 13 years now and now I
get brand new moms that arebreastfeeding and I get so
(02:18):
excited because I want to helpthem and they ask me questions
about how can they produce moreand their supply is going low
and all that good stuff.
I like to help them, so that'swhat helps me.
Want to be go into being alactation consultant because I
(02:40):
wanted to help moms that I workwith at my school and I wanted
to help other moms that justdon't know the basics of
breastfeeding and it's not, youknow to let them know that it's
a process but it's.
The process is worth it.
So that's about.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, I mean, I can understand that.
I think feeding babies from thebreast can be a little scary.
You know, I feel maybe what, 20years ago ish, breastfeeding
wasn't really a big thing.
We kind of just went back intojust formula feeding.
But now it seems likebreastfeeding has kind of had a
(03:22):
resurgence in like more peoplelearn and you know, educate
themselves about the benefits ofbreastfeeding, right, right.
So I think that's pretty cool.
So just out of curiosity, howlong did you breastfeed?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
I just stopped breastfed for three years, oh
wow.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
That's a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Three years, yeah.
So he just got off, he justweaned off.
I put him in his big boy bedand he didn't ask for it after
that.
So that was when he stopped.
I mainly kept going because oflike I guess because of COVID,
(04:13):
you know I was scared.
I didn't want him to get likesick and just wanted to keep his
immune system up and all thatgood stuff.
I wanted to get all the goodthings about keeping them on and
it helps with their immunesystem.
They don't get sick as much,which it did help because he has
not gotten sick, Thankfully.
Knock on wood, yeah, knock onwood.
I'm not going to work becausehe's at school, but he's not
(04:36):
gotten sick badly for like for awhile and if he does get sick,
it only lasts for two or threedays and then he's back to
normal.
So that's how I knew it was,like it was extreme benefits to
it.
So, but it was like it wasthree years.
(04:57):
I was like, wow, I didn't evensee myself wanting to do it that
long, but it happened.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So I have to add so since you breastfed for like
three years, was it all justfrom the breast or did you like
you know, you like pump and thenpour into like a little sippy
cup, like what did?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
you do.
The first year it was pumpingand pumping into a sippy cup,
but the second year in it wasjust he would get it, it would
just be straight from the boob.
So it would just be throughlike nap time or or going to bed
.
And then, third year in, well,not 38,.
(05:39):
Well, yeah, third year in itwas just for him to go to sleep.
So for nap, for bed time.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
For bed time.
Yeah, okay, that's actuallypretty interesting.
I've actually don't think I'veever had a conversation with
someone who breastfed that long,so that's pretty yeah.
Because there are this like somany health benefits to it.
You know vitamins and like allthe minerals that were kind of
missing, like when you starteating.
You know for adult food.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So I think that's pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I guess about a little bit back on topic.
You said that you wanted to getinto lactation consultant.
So how did you find a place todo that, like, what did you do?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So I talked with my I had an LC for my son and I and
it was, and it sparked myinterest.
I was like, so how do you getinto this?
And she let me know about itand she said, because it was
easier for her, because she's anurse.
So they just did it depends onwhere you are and you're, I
(06:55):
guess, in your life not life butin your career.
If you're a nurse, you're onthis pathway.
If you've been, like, in thehealthcare system, you're on
this pathway.
But if you have no likehealthcare experience whatsoever
, you need the pathways three.
She was saying.
And she, that's what.
She, that's what really likesparked me to want to do it,
(07:18):
because she told me it wasn't,it's not that it's not that bad
of a process and it's, it has awhole bunch of benefits and it's
a really good job and shereally loves she's, she really
loves her job.
So I was like, oh okay.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So do you, do you like go back to actual school?
Like, are we going to liketaking college courses?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yes, it requires you to take eight credit hours and
then eight credit hours ofcollege credits, and then then
you have to do the 90 hours.
(08:05):
But the good thing is you havelike five years to do it, so it
gives you time.
So that's what made me feellike, okay, I guess it's not
that bad.
But and they were also saying,once you're done with the 90
hours, you can actually haveclients Like you can work like
(08:28):
in the WIC office or you canwork like just as a oh, she's
saying you can't, you can't geta job, but they are slim, but
you can get a job.
But it's not like like how itwould be if you were actually
like certified, like aftertaking the test and all that
(08:53):
good stuff.
But that was what the goodthing was for me, because I was
like, oh, I just have to do itin 90 hours and I'll be fine for
a little bit, I don't have torush.
And she was saying the otherthing about the clinicals.
That's where you'll learn, youknow, you'll get the field
experience, which is what I wasreally excited about too,
(09:14):
because I get to, you know, bein it and we've talked to other
moms and all that stuff.
So I thought that was cool.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, so because I know there's different names for
different things.
So sometimes I get a little bitconfused.
Do you know like the differentnames for all the different
things?
I know there's like thelactation educator, and then I
know there's also like acounselor.
(09:44):
So do you know there's like adifference between those things?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Not at the top of my head, I don't, because I know.
The only one I know right nowis the lactation consultant is
the one where you have to takethe test, the board test or
something, and that's throughthe IVLC website you have to do
(10:14):
that with.
And I'm thinking the other twoare just the ones where I was
telling you that you could, justyou could work.
It's over now.
Respect, zip, but not per se,like have like a job, like in
the hospital or all that otherstuff.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Right, because I've kind of like the board of
lactation or whatever they'relike more, I guess, more school
involved and more like if youwere like a nurse or something.
Why?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
do you?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
want to be like a lactation consultant.
That's kind of more holistic.
That's my understanding mightbe like the little bit of the
difference there.
So did she also mention whatjobs that you could have like
just straight out of doing likethe 90-ish hours?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
It was the like I mentioned, the like lactation,
what's it?
I'm like trying to think aboutwhat it was.
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
okay, Cause the lactation counselor, cause I
know there's a difference,because those they just give you
like they help the moms out,like tell them how to do the
things, but I don't know how totalk to my head.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
I just kind of wonder , cause I know you know a lot of
people, when they decide thatthey want to like get into this,
they kind of wonder, like whatis it that I can do?
Because when you pay all thismoney to get certified and it
was, you who certifies, like Iwant to start working so I can
start paying myself back.
So it's a lot.
So I would just kind of wonder,like as you mentioned before
(12:01):
that you can work for, like thelike for WIC, which is great.
But I was just like wonderingif there was like a, maybe like
a, like a birthing center.
Could you like work within abirthing center?
You know it was one of thoseones that's outside of like the
hospital setting.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Mm-hmm Cause I know some people they usually just
have their own business and theydo it outside of the hospital
Like they'll.
Some people work with doulasLike they'll.
They'll be like this is my likecertified lactation person that
(12:39):
I have with me but they'll workwith doulas to help with that
experience.
Now I know with my lactationconsultant she was the one that
kind of helped me with like whatcan I eat?
What can I?
What medications can I take,what can you know?
(13:00):
That kind of thing.
I think that that's where thedifference lies, in where you
have to get those like collegecourses and all that stuff,
because like you're going tohave to tell moms, hey, you
can't eat this or hey, you can'tdo this, but I think what
they're not that sounds like abit like nutrition, right, right
.
So that is when it gets morein-depth of where you're going
(13:25):
to have to really get that.
Get the those college creditsthat they ask you to get.
But I know, if it's just thebasics, like how to hold your
boob and how to pump and what isyour flange size and all that
good stuff, that that the basics.
I think that's where the 90hours comes from and that would
(13:49):
be like where you could reallyhelp moms with that.
That would help.
But I know a lot of people.
They just do their own businessinstead of.
Instead of like working at ahospital or working anywhere,
they just do their own thingoutside Right.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I think that's really cool as well, like you
mentioned, like working withlike doulas and everything,
because you know I'm a doula andI think you know, unfortunately
we get into the mindset that wehave to do everything.
So you're certified as a doulaand then you know you probably
go running like a childbirtheducation certification and you
go running, get you know, youkind of run into all these
(14:35):
different pathways.
And you're like you knowthere's somebody already with
that certification, so you canalways like team up you know
really, build your team you alljust specialize on something
different.
But you can help somebodywithout doing everything,
because doing everything just itdoesn't seem like that person
will really benefit if you'retrying to do everything, right.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Right, right, cause it's like you don't have to do
everything.
You can have, like people,other people that know other
things.
Cause my, when I delivered myson, my best friend she's
actually a doula as well, so sheshe helps me with all of that
too.
So that was, that was nice.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Like, oh man, oh no, sorry.
So, since you're like goingthrough everything right now,
how do you study for everything?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Just make my time, just balance my time out.
You have to.
That's, that's how you I meanwith my, with my son.
I just after I put him to bed,that's where I have my time.
Or if he's at nap, that's whenI usually have my time.
Or I'll have like a day of theweek where I'm like this is
(15:56):
where I'm going to be doing my.
In there, I'm going to be doingall of my work.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Is there any books you recommend?
Because I mean, I know it'skind of like school courses, but
is there something like someonecan just get off of Amazon,
like I remember as a doula, likeone of the books that I was
told to read was like was itBreastfeeding May Simple?
It was one of those like kindof basic idea books.
I don't know if I can find it.
(16:24):
It's probably on my bookshelfright now.
I'm not gonna get up for it,but I wonder if I can look it up
real quickly, cause it was acute book but it was definitely
was just like the basics youknow.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, I don't at the top of my head.
I don't know any books rightnow, but because I haven't
really taken the courses yet.
But I'm just saying, for anyonethat wants to start the process
of wanting to do the courses, Isay, if you have kids or if you
(17:01):
have a busy life, just try toset some.
You know, set some time, causethey do give you, they do give
you a while to finish yourclasses.
So we just set some time awayfor when you do want to do your
classes.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Not great, amy.
I mean anything that's worthgetting.
You're gonna make some time forit.
But yeah, I think the book isthat Breastfeeding May Simple,
it's like seven natural laws fornursing mothers.
Like I can't.
Like I don't really remembertoo much about the women who
wrote this book, but I know oneof them was working.
(17:41):
What's that bottle company?
I think it's Aveste or whatevershe worked with them to.
Let me see if I can find it.
I'm trying to think of the nameof the bottle company.
But she was working with themto create like a nipple for like
the bottle, to make it shapedmore, more like a boob instead
(18:03):
of it just being like those oldschool nipples that they used to
have.
So she worked with them for likea long time.
So she was probably like one ofthe reasons why bottles
nowadays have like the slow drip.
So it's not just like gushingout at poor babies.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, I had those bottles.
I had the ones that were shapedlike a, like an actual boob.
Yeah, I was like I gave into it.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Event I couldn't think of it as event A-B-E-N-T.
She was working with thatcompany, so I thought it was
kind of cool that she, kind ofyou know, took the time to like
work with them to kind of helpbabies whether they're like
breastfeeding or just bottlefeeding, they kind of have the
same flow.
So it's not too much for them.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So let me see Is there anything else?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I can think, yes, actually I do.
So what are your plans?
I mean, I know you want to workand be a consultant, but do you
think that you might, you know,want to do work with hospitals?
Do you think you want to startyour own company?
You said your best friend is adoula.
Do you think you might workwith her and create like a team?
I think that's a good idea.
(19:14):
I think that's a good idea.
So do you think you might workwith her and create like a team
so y'all can kind of like helppeople together?
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Um, my, I really would love to.
Okay, I had like three or fourthings in my head.
I was like that I wanted to dowith it.
After I got it, I would love tohelp, like, if there's teen moms
there's like I would love tohelp them and give them
knowledge about the beauty ofbreastfeeding, how good it is
(19:44):
and I know, like you know, rightnow you're in a time but it's
but it's beneficial for yourbaby.
I'm gonna help moms that reallyare really struggling with it,
because I honestly had a reallyhard time with mine.
I almost gave up but I didn't.
But I would love to help momswith that or just like I don't
(20:09):
wanna do it anymore.
I'm just gonna result to thisbecause of this happening, but I
would like to maybe help them.
This isn't the end.
This is if you are able to dothis, then we can do this
together and I can help you.
I'd love to help moms that arereally like okay, I'm done.
(20:32):
So mine is.
I just love helping mothers andhelping them just be happy and,
after they've had their baby,not like, oh my God, this is
something else I gotta worryabout, type thing, just take
some worry off of them and Iwould find it something else
(20:53):
under my.
I'd like just anothercertification that I would like
to have under me, other as beingan infant teacher, just to help
them.
Help the moms that are likepumping before they are going to
work, helping them feel goodabout themselves.
Some moms will be like, oh mygosh, I didn't pump enough for
(21:15):
today.
I feel so terrible.
That kind of thing helping themknow this is what you need to
if you're doing this, this iswhat you need to do.
Or have something to tell themto for them to feel like, okay,
I guess it's not all that bad.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, it's kind of like helping them with their
confidence and just being likeit's okay, like what you're
doing is enough, like sometimes.
I think sometimes we justbecome so afraid that we're not
doing enough and we're not beingsuper mom and just like it's
okay, we're doing all right.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, that's probably about the.
It's not the only reasons whyjust to really really help the
moms out there, cause there'snot enough help going around for
us sometimes.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, no, not at all.
I mean, you get your postpartumcheck and then, good luck, out
there spread my chips, yes, yes.
Well, I love this for you.
I mean, you seem like super,super passionate about it and I
think that's kind of like thegoal or anything that we want to
do is like you have to have acertain amount of passion to do
(22:24):
any of this.
It's not easy.
Work Well.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I love it for you.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Do you think cause I mean I'm not sure if you've
thought this far out quite yetespecially like working with
team moms do you think that itmight be something that you
would probably do like on anonprofit level?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, I was thinking of that too, Like just to that
kind of thing, like working with, like, cause I had always I
have this like idea in my head.
I was like, oh, maybe I couldwork with like the healthy I
don't know if y'all have healthy, start here wherever you're I'm
in New Orleans and I'm going tosay no, no, okay, they have.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Right here they have is called healthy start and they
help moms, you know, withhelping them with their
beginning stages of, like,pregnancy and then, after
they're having their kid, makingsure that their kid is getting
the nutrients that they need, oryou know everything, making
(23:29):
sure that the mom and the childis healthy.
And I was thinking, I was like,oh, I could work with them and
then I could work with WIC and Icould work with, you know, just
maybe in the like, if there'smoms that are homeless, like
hoping that kind of community,just just you know, those kinds
of things I would love to dothat, that would just that would
(23:52):
be nice.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
You just told me something I didn't even know.
We had one in this cityApparently.
We do.
I'm like really.
Oh you do.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Really, cause I knew at one point my sister was
living in Atlanta and they had aprogram similar to that and it
was just like you show up fordifferent courses and they would
help you obtain like a breastpump or like a car seat if you
needed something Like they were.
Like, really, it was reallywell thought out.
I'm like maybe, maybe we havesomething like that and I just
(24:19):
didn't know, but now I'm goingto have to go ahead and look
into it, look about it.
And I was like thank you so muchand I'm like, ah, but that
would be so great though.
I mean, I think you know,unfortunately women are kind of
left on the wayside when itcomes to different things and it
comes to healthcare.
(24:40):
So any way that we can help isalways great, like it's great to
be community based, if you can.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Well, good luck to you.
I really, really hope thatyou're able to take your courses
and you go out there and justlike fire everything up and
teach women all about theboobies.
Thank you, you're so welcome.
I mean, I'm still stuck on thethree years thing.
I'm like what.
Your kid has to be thehealthiest kid out there.
(25:08):
What immunity built into me,what.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I mean, like I said I was, like I was not, that was
not the goal.
I was like I'm going to quitright after the year.
That was not up to him.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
No, not at all.
Oh is there any groups that youmay follow for breastfeeding or
lactation advice?
So if there's any moms outthere listening, they know that
there's like a community groupthey can follow to get advice
from.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Hold on.
I'm on a IBLC group on Facebook.
I can look it up really quick.
I'm on a few.
Actually the future oflactation.
(26:00):
I'm on that group.
I guess I should look under mygroup.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Everything you say I'm gonna look for and I'm just
link it like in the podcastwebsite so that way people can
take their time and see whatgroup works for them.
But I'm actually a part of thefuture of lactation, so I forgot
.
Yeah, I'm on that one.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh, becoming an IBC LC and beyond is one I'm on.
This one is for, like, if youare starting the course, there's
a group on here.
They, you know we all, they alltalk, or I always go on there
(26:57):
and like, ask questions aboutyou know, is there scholarships
or is there?
Is it hard?
Or you know this kind of thingbefore I start, you know, is
there benefits to it?
And then now they've started achat to where you know, hey, I'm
trying to find a job being anIBC LC and all that because so
(27:19):
it has those benefits.
Those are the two groups I'm inright now for breastfeeding.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Oh no, that's great because I know at one point I
think I was in the future oflactation one and they were like
creating a steady grouptogether and I thought that was
really cool.
I mean, you know, teamworkmakes the dream work and
sometimes you need yes, allright well, we'll go ahead and
I'm If is there any other groups?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
you were a part of the only one is like a lactation
cookies group, but they that ismainly, I guess, for moms that
are lactating, that type ofthing.
But that's that is it.
Those are the only two that I'min right now.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oh no, that's perfectly fine, I'll just make
it perfect.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's it All right, perfect.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
But thank you so much for your time page just talking
to us and explaining about yourjourney, and I mean three years
of breastfeeding, it's the same, but you did it and you know
just, I look forward to seeingstuff from you and I mean I
really hope that you get thatcertification soon and you can
help.
You know the women who and theyoung girls who need they help,
(28:42):
because you know I'm not gonnastep too long on my podium, but
you know, I think sometimespeople are encouraged to not
even try.
And don't get me wrong, I'mlike, if you need to form a baby
, form a baby.
A fed baby is the best baby but,you know, if you actually want
(29:04):
to try, make sure that you findsomebody who's actually trying
to be helpful for you.
That's, that's all I had, soI'm not gonna preach too much,
but thank you, and I lookforward to this coming out and
sharing, like your story, withpeople.
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you so much.
I hope you have a good night.
I hate you too, as well.
(29:25):
All right, bye for now.
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