June 26, 2025 • 26 mins
Planning for a birth that makes breastfeeding easier? Check out my FREE guide on setting yourself up for breastfeeding success:https://bit.ly/los-birthpractice-workbook
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In this heartfelt episode of Lo's Lactation Lab, host Lo Nigrosh speaks with Rachel Best, a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Rachel shares her emotional breastfeeding journey, revealing the struggles she faced when all three of her children were born with tongue ties. She discusses the intense pain, lack of support, and how these challenges led her to become an IBCLC herself. This episode provides valuable insights into the importance of self-advocacy, the need for professional support, and the realities of breastfeeding when things don’t go as planned.
Rachel Best is a registered Speech Language Pathologist, Certified Orofacial Myologist, and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She is the founder of Small Steps Therapy, a private practice that provides multidisciplinary care for families, including lactation support and feeding therapy. Rachel's personal breastfeeding challenges motivated her to help others and provide informed, compassionate support for parents navigating the complexities of feeding and infant development.
Expect to Learn
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Don’t forget to subscribe for more episodes on breastfeeding, parenting challenges, and expert lactation advice. Share your own experiences and tips in the comments below!
#breastfeedingrealities #postpartumtruth #breastfeedingpain #maternalhealth #supportmoms #normalizecomfort #latchmatters #feedingtruths #momlifeunfiltered #parentinggoals #feedingwithoutpain
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lo-s-lactation-lab--5834691/support.
Follow Lo Nigrosh:
---------------------------------
In this heartfelt episode of Lo's Lactation Lab, host Lo Nigrosh speaks with Rachel Best, a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Rachel shares her emotional breastfeeding journey, revealing the struggles she faced when all three of her children were born with tongue ties. She discusses the intense pain, lack of support, and how these challenges led her to become an IBCLC herself. This episode provides valuable insights into the importance of self-advocacy, the need for professional support, and the realities of breastfeeding when things don’t go as planned.
Rachel Best is a registered Speech Language Pathologist, Certified Orofacial Myologist, and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She is the founder of Small Steps Therapy, a private practice that provides multidisciplinary care for families, including lactation support and feeding therapy. Rachel's personal breastfeeding challenges motivated her to help others and provide informed, compassionate support for parents navigating the complexities of feeding and infant development.
Expect to Learn
- Rachel’s personal breastfeeding journey and the challenges of tongue tie in her children.
- The impact of tongue tie on breastfeeding and how it can affect both mother and baby.
- Why proper professional support is crucial for breastfeeding success.
- How Rachel’s experience motivated her to become an IBCLC and support other families.
- The emotional toll of breastfeeding struggles and the importance of persistence and self-advocacy.
- [00:00] - Introduction and Welcome
- [04:12] - Rachel’s Early Breastfeeding Experience
- [09:49] - Breastfeeding Prep and Emotional Struggle
- [13:49] - The Power of Persistence
- [15:44] - Breastfeeding in a Challenging Environment
- [19:00] - The Transition from Struggling to Empowerment
- [21:08] - The Importance of Support Systems
- [23:27] - Using Personal Experience to Support Others
Follow Rachel Best:
Follow Lo Nigrosh:
- LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/lo-nigrosh-16371495/
- Website:https://www.quabbinbirthservices.com/
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/quabbinbirthservices/
Listening Links:
- Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/los-lactation-lab/id1614255223
- Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/2F54fe1szmemB9n7YUJgWv?si=2eea7f1cfba64867
- YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@loslactationlab3967
Don’t forget to subscribe for more episodes on breastfeeding, parenting challenges, and expert lactation advice. Share your own experiences and tips in the comments below!
#breastfeedingrealities #postpartumtruth #breastfeedingpain #maternalhealth #supportmoms #normalizecomfort #latchmatters #feedingtruths #momlifeunfiltered #parentinggoals #feedingwithoutpain
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/lo-s-lactation-lab--5834691/support.
Follow Lo Nigrosh:
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Every time. In those first few days that you're breastfeeding,
your uterus is contracting as it's supposed to do, so
then you half pain and your lower abdomen as well.
So I was like, there's just pain coming from every
part of my body. And I had a great labor
and delivery. I didn't tear or anything like that. So
I can only imagine somebody who had that pain from
(00:21):
healing from a wound as well and then trying. You know,
they keep telling you when you're in the hospital, you know,
make sure you have a good latch because you're just
going to create more damage.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Before we begin, I want to share something special with
all of you expecting parents out there. As an internationally
bored sort of via lactation consultant, I've seen firsthand how
a little planning can go a long way to helping
you achieve your baby feeding goals. That's why I'm offering
you my free ebook. It's called Birth Practices to Support Breastfeeding,
(00:53):
and it's a workbook, so check out the link in
the description below.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Time and again, I am blod away by the resiliency
and hard work that people put into learning how to
breastfeed their babies.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It's no easy task.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's hard and that is the same with Rachel, who
shares her three baby feeding stories. So, wherever you are
in your baby feeding journey, whether in the prenatal stage
and preparing, or you are right in the thick of it,
or you're coming close to weaning, or your baby feeding
(01:32):
days are long behind you, I want you to take
a minute to really think about.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
All the hard effort that you have put.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
In to making sure that your babies have access to
human milk, and pat yourself on the back and congratulate
yourself for all the hard work you put in.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Enjoy this conversation with Rachel Best. Hi, Rachel, welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Thank you so much Lo for having me. I'm very
excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm so glad you're so Before we get into your
baby feeding story, why don't you introduce yourself and your family.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So my name is Rachel Bust. I am a mother
of three kids. They're all bigger now. I have an
almost thirteen year old, a ten year old, and an
eight year old. Brust all three of them naturally and
breastfed them for almost two years for each of them. Yeah,
it's been a journey.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah, yeah, And I think it's really fun to talk
to people who.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
The feeding days are a little bit distant, because it's
really fun to hear how advice has changed over the
years or how things have stayed the same. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
You know, sometimes I think, you know, my oldest is ten,
and sometimes I think I cannot believe people are still
being told X, Y or Z.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
By their pediatricians. But if we look at the whole.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
History of baby feeding, we can see that these patterns
have been going on for a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, definitely. And you know, all three of my children,
now that they're older, have been diagnosed with tongue tai.
So my breastfeeding journey, I feel like wasn't as easy
as I anticipated that it would be. You know, you
spend so much time preparing for the birth, especially I
really wanted a natural delivery. I was birthing in the
birthing center at Women in Infants and Providence, Rhode Island,
(03:21):
and just thinking, Okay, it got through the hard part. No, No,
I did not, that was the easy part. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I have a childbirth ed course, and the focus of
the tel birth ed course is on the postpartum so
we talk about what are the decisions that you're going
to make during the birthing process that are going to
impact you for weeks and months of the line.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
And how can you make decisions during the birth that
at each decision point is going to lead to the
best outcomes later because so much of our focus when
we're pregnant is on the delivery, which, of course it's
a huge event in a person's life, and it does
(04:07):
take preparation, and it's only.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That getting like you're saying, yeah, and I had, you know,
all great births with all three of my children, but
I think feeding was more of a challenge. And I
had my oldest on a Thursday, and we had Hurricane
Irene on Sunday, so, oh my yes, I came home
from the hospital Friday. You know, it's a nice, easy delivery,
(04:33):
so they let me go pretty quickly. But then on
Sunday is when the storm hit and we lost power
for a week. So I just remember lighting candles every
night as the sun was setting and crying thinking, Okay,
I have to not do this by candlelight. I'm going
to be an excruciating pain. Just just get through this.
Oh yes, that was brutal, but we did it, and
(04:56):
I breastfed him until about eighteen months when I was
pregnant was my daughter. So I'm looking back.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that was with which that was with your first child?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Thank goodness, it is my first Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Okay, yeah, taking care of a toddler and.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Had no power. But I mean, I guess I knew
what to expect, the pros and cons to every situation.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I guess, yes, absolutely, Okay, So I want to take
you back. I want to hear a little bit more
about that.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Uh, But before we do, I want to take you
actually back to your childhood and ask you what exposure
that you had to body feeding or baby feeding as
a child.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
What did you see around you when it came to
feeding babies.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm the oldest of three girls. My sisters are three
years and five years younger than me, and my mom
breastfed all three of us. So I have also homeschools
for my early elementary years, so I was around a
lot of babies and children and breastfeeding as well.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Oh that's great, So you just saw it was just.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
A part of life. Yes, yes, definitely.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Did that impact how you went into preparing for baby feeding?
Did you already have in mind that you were going
to breastfeed no matter what, or did you know.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That it might be difficult. I definitely had no idea
it could be difficult, which is unfortunate. I had gone
into it being a little more prepared, you know. I
feel like as a woman, I can do a lot
of hard things, but being prepared for the hard things
definitely helps a lot. I think in my late twenties
mid twenties, I was really moving towards a more holistic,
(06:42):
healthy lifestyle. So I knew I wanted to do something
that was more natural, and that started with giving birth naturally,
trying to really avoid an epidural and any medications, and
then obviously the natural next step after that is to breastfeed.
So I would say that was a huge prayer for me,
and I was definitely willing to suffer through the pain.
(07:04):
I also think I have had a pretty good production,
so even though all of three of my children were
pretty small and petite minus those first few weeks, I
didn't have a lot of pressure from the pediatrician saying,
you know, weight gains an issue you need to supplement.
You know, there was never that pressure in the line
of work I am now. I know that a lot
(07:24):
of parents get that pressure, and I feel really grateful
that I was allowed to just progress and unfortunately suffer through.
But did it right? Did it? Yeah? Get it?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So, by the time you were having kids, did you
have friends who had already had babies that you were
close enough to to hear their feet the experiences, or
were you kind.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Of the first of your friend I was probably the
first of my friend group. I got married, and this
day and age just considered pretty young. I was twenty
two when we got married, and then I was twenty
seven when I had my first so mm hmm. I
was didn't really have a lot of friends. My younger
sister had a baby when she was very young, so
I guess I had my nephew, who was six at
(08:06):
the time, But that was about the only exposure I
really had to a friend who had been through it.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, okay, so you didn't have really personal stories of
triumph or frustration when it came to baby feeding, that
were right.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I know tongue tie runs in my family. My sisters
have not been officially diagnosed, but you know, I'm pretty
sure they all have tongue ties. So to hear, you know,
I asked my mom about it a lot. What was
your breastfeeding journey like? And she reports that it was
pretty easy, nothing too significant, which is surprising to me,
knowing my journey, knowing my sisters and their mouths. How
(08:46):
she wasn't in extreme discomfort. Maybe she has a really
high pain tolerance. Maybe I don't know, something went really
well for her, and I'm glad for her that that
was her story.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Right, I know, I know, especially because when we were kids.
I was born in eighty one, and I know that
for my mom there was no help available to her.
You know, she breastfed all of us for at least
a few months, I know, but when her supply kind
of tanked, there was nobody to help her navigate that
(09:19):
or figure out why it was happening.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So then she just switched to formula. I think too,
maybe my mom had a similar situation. You know, they weren't,
you know, necessarily at the poverty level, but they didn't
have a lot of money, So I think maybe for
her having to purchase formula was an option that they
weren't really you know, they wanted to make it work
for financial reasons as well. She never really said that,
(09:42):
so to speak, but just knowing a little bit. Sure
it was a factory.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
So then it's fifteen years ago, you're pregnant. You talked
about really willing to have a holistic approach, and you
talked about doing some birth prep.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Were you prepping at all for breastfeeding during that time?
Did you read any books? Did you, you know, seek
out a la Letty League meeting? Did you do anything
like that during pregnant?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Not so much. I mean I read all the books.
I had a doula who was fabulous, so she really
prepared me for that. But no, I think I assumed,
like I'm doing this all naturally, breastfeeding is going to
go great, It's going to be super easy to do,
and obviously it was not.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah dun dun, duh.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So then you give birth at the birth center. Were
you released the same.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Year twenty four hours later?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Twenty four hours? So what kind of support was given
to you in the hospital? I did or in the birth.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I did get to work with a lactation consultant all
three times, but unfortunately they all just said, oh, yeah,
everything looks great. So then when I had my second child,
I did schedule an outpatient consultation with an IBCLC, a
woman in infants, and again she said, everything looks great.
Her latch was okay, we were transferring enough, you know,
(11:02):
just keep going. And I did, and you know, generally
around eight weeks it was at least tolerable, not excruciating pain.
But I also this is a time when YouTube was
starting to become more popular and there was more resources available.
Sitting there with my toddler trying to put on a
show for him, so I could have a few minutes
on YouTube to watch other people breastfeed and see what
(11:25):
do I need to work on for this latch? Okay,
this is what it looks like in this animated video.
Trying to replicate that, and you know, honestly not achieving
great success, but I don't know, Yeah, it was the
start of having somewhere to go. It's I don't know
how many times I have clients who have been told
(11:46):
by somebody, your latch yes great, yes you know, and
I always tell them, look, I have seen some latches
that look horrible, but babies transferring well and they are
not feeling pain. So when that is maybe there is
some oral motor.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Function that needs to be worked on. But there's no
breastfeeding emergency right at this moment. It's not about what
we're seeing. It's about what are you feeling, and how
is the feeding going and is the infant being nourished.
You're the only one who can say if a latch
looks good. So often people will ask me, does this
look good? And I say, I don't know. You tell
(12:23):
me how does it feel? You know? So it's I
don't know why there's this idea that somebody else who
is not in the feeding person's body can determine whether
or not a latch is good. Now we have ways
of being able to say is it shallow?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
You know?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Is there enough space between the nose and the breast?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You know?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Has the nipple been positioned well?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Right? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
But it's not about just looking and saying yeah, things
look good.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, no, I agree, I've seen some really Even yesterday
I saw a latch that I was like, you're not
in any pain right now? Nope? Okay, right, that looks
excusing but not great, right, I know? Right?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
We have to let our bodies be the measure of
how things are going.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Our bodies and our babies.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Worth female body and the female breast especially are so amazing,
and they really adapt in ways that don't seem humanly right.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
I know, and I think often about how we have
kept infants alive for all of human history, and other
mammals keep their babies alive for all of human history.
And it's not about achieving the perfect latch. It's about
latching well enough so that baby can transfer enough milk
(13:44):
and the mom is not Yes, so when you saw
the outpatient when you went to the And I'm not
trying to speak poorly of any other person, because I'm
sure there have been times where I have been off
the mark with clients and then they had to go
get a second opinion, and we're given the answers they needed.
But at that moment, were you saying, ah, but it
(14:05):
really hurts, or were you just like, Okay, it must
this must be normal.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I think I was thinking this must be normal because
that's the information I was given. And you know, at
that point, I had just opened my own private practice.
Finances were pretty tight. All of this stuff costs money.
I just remember spending so much time on the phone
with the insurance company, like how much is this going
to be covered? And just thinking Okay, she's saying, it's fine.
(14:31):
I'm not going to invest any more any more money
in this. I feel like I'm doing as much research
as possible that I can do on YouTube. And you know,
at that point, I had a new mom's group I
was a part of, or I had been with my
oldest so I had that group of friends that continue
through subsequent pregnancies. And you know, but also I would
(14:53):
say that that sparked a huge interest in me, and
it's who I am today because I went through all
of that. I've sought so much additional education because if
I can prevent somebody else from experiencing that significant amount
of pain and really the emotional stress. You know, I
still like it's still traumatic thinking about lighting those candles
(15:14):
when the sun was setnaying and just thinking, here we
go again. I'm number one, I'm not going to sleep.
Number two it's I'm going to be in pain. And
number three, I'm going to have to listen to my
child screaming while we work on this latch.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
This idea of being in the like having a hurricane
with a newborn baby at home. You didn't have to
evacuate or no.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
We were in East Providence, so not enough to Okay,
the coast where it needed to be, where we needed
to evacuate.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Okay, Okay, so you were at home and you were
without electricity for a week.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah? You said?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
And this I can remember so vividly approaching nightfall with
my first when breastfeeding was not going well, and I
felt like I could handle anything in the day. You know,
I could put on some Netflix.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I could, you know, go to a cafe, I could
go out on a walk, like.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
There were ways that I could handle my anxiety around feeding.
But at night it felt ten times worse.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
It's just I felt having power too. I feel I
don't really really good at distracting myself. But I didn't
have I mean Netflix, I'm not even sure Netflix existed
back then, thirteen years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Probably fifteen years old.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I here recording all of these shows that I was like,
I'm going to sit and watch all these shows. Well,
I feed my baby, It's going to be great. Not
having all of the things I planned to have those
first few weeks, and then not being able to charge
my phone, not being able to charge my kindle, not
having food, like I pretty much ate an excessive amount
(16:55):
of apples and peanut butter because they were shelf stable.
And you know, I feel like paternity leave has come
a long way since then. You know, I had the
baby Thursday. My husband was off Friday. The hurricane hit Sunday,
but he went to work on Monday, so I was
home alone. You know, sometimes my family would come by,
but they were about an hour away, so you know,
(17:17):
I think like one person would come every other day.
And then eventually I was like, I can't, I can't
be without power. And then luckily it came back on
shortly thereafter. But yeah, that was a rough week.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Yeah, and tell me about the night time specifically. What
was it difficult to get the latch established? Was it
that it would take a while to even get her
on and sucking.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I think he lashed quickly, so I have a boy,
then a girl and a boy. So William last quickly,
but very very shallow, now that I know a little
bit more about the latch, So it was excruciating. And
then you know, every time in those first few days
you're breastfeeding, your uterus is contracting as it's supposed to,
(18:04):
so then you have pain and your lower abdomen as well.
So I was like, there's just pain coming from every
part of my body. I'm like, and I had a
great labor and delivery. I didn't tear or anything like that,
So I can only imagine somebody who had that pain
from healing from a wound as well. But then and
(18:25):
then trying because you know, you know, they keep telling
you when you're in the hospital, you know, make sure
you have a good latch because you're just going to
create more damage. So then never time, it hurts trying
to unlatch him, which also is painful. I know it's
not supposed to be properly, but I felt like that hair,
So then I was afraid to unlatch him because that
was going to cause more pain. But then I'm having
(18:45):
long term pain from having that shallow latch and that
rubbing and sores and bleeding and crack nipples and the
whole nine yards.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, yeah, And to be doing all of that, like
keep light, yeah, with nobody around you, right, Because that
is the big cultural difference from now versus three hundred
years ago, is that nobody birthed alone and was in
the postpartum period alone.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
You always had, you know, lots of support around you
taking care of you. So you were having to take
care of yourself and your infant during the day. And
I'm sure you had out at night from your partner
to some extent, but that's not enough just having one
other person who's also exhausted and he was working.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I do remember, you know, us changing the diaper two
in them because you know, those early weeks, every time
baby feeds, they poop, so getting up and having to
do all of that by candlelight, and also then you know,
being fearful of okay, we have to stay up or
we have to have candles lit all night long. Like
you know, you're not the most rational person at these
(19:52):
early postpartum days, thinking okay, great, now I have a
candle light here. What if I bump it, it hits
the curtain, hits the bet. I don't know. It's just endless,
endless things to worry about.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Wow. And so you said that pain lasted for about
the severe pain lasted for about eight weeks.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Oh, severe pain probably just four weeks, and then I
think the second four weeks was tolerable. So I remember
being like eight to ten weeks being like, okay, I
can do a cradle hold now I don't need to
do this cross cradle and like hunched over, I feel
a more confident in his latch now that he's stronger
and has a little more control of his head that
(20:31):
I can just hold him in my in a cradle
holds and feel like he's not gonna rip my breast off.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, And was it the same with your other two children,
Like by about the.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Eight week mark you felt after the same it was devastating.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, that is a long time to be in pain
and stress.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I remember with my daughter being like, I'm not doing
that again. I'm gonna get it this time. I'm gonna
get this right away. We're just going to get through
the first few days of difficulty, and then being at
like week four being like, well.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That was familiar, right, And you know, you think that
you know so much by that time, which you do.
Somebody who has fed a baby for almost two years,
they do know a lot. And there's so many ways
of problem solving difficulties, and so many root causes to
breastfeeding pain that when support is not available or not
(21:25):
easily accessible, it just makes people feel so much and.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Being brushed off. You know, I had a great pediatrician
but being brushed off like, oh, yeah, they have a
tongue tie, but you know, big deal, and you know,
as a speech language pathologist not also having a lot
of training and tongue tie at that point in my life,
and being like, Okay, everything's fine, but knowing in my
gut like I shouldn't be hurting this way. Yeah, we
did it. It's a miracle. I look back now, knowing
(21:52):
what I know, and I'm like, it's a miracle. I
haven't a ted motivated mother. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
And so many people people go through that, And I
always tell my clients each person has to decide for
themselves what is the best decision, you know, Like one
person might say, yes, I have to do this. It
is better for my mental health to just keep pushing through,
keep trying to find solutions, because I will feel worse
(22:19):
if I stop, and other people they feel like, you
know what, for me, it is better for my mental
health given the situation I am in to make a
different decision at this point, whether that's to go to
exclusive pumping or whether to start supplementing. And there's no
one right decision because nobody is living the exact circumstances
of the person making the decision. There's so much that
(22:40):
plays into it, access to support, you know, family support,
work situation, previous mental health status, you know, there is
It's a complicated decision tree for so many people.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, and I'm thankful that my decisions took me down
a road that I could breastfeed for as long as
I did for all three children.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
And yeah, and you said it was close to two
years for all three.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yep, yep, about I mean it was a little bit different.
So with William it was about eighteen months, and then
I was pregnant with my daughter, Genevieve was about the same.
And then Xander is my last child, so he was
maybe a little bit longer than the first two because
I didn't get pregnant against the right exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Okay, and is there anything about your stories that you
find is significant or would be helpful for other people
to hear that you haven't already mentioned before. We we're
going to wrap up, but you are an SLP with
a private practice with lots of different types of practitioners.
So we'll have a second episode talking a little bit
(23:46):
about the work that you do and how you help
families core to make care.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I think the number one thing I would like people
to know from my story is, you know, think about
your goals and what you really want, and if you're
willing to put in the work and the time and
the effort, you can achieve it. In all aspects of life,
but specifically with breastfeeding and parenting. It's hard work, but
if it's important to you, take the time and make
(24:10):
it happen, and seek the support that you need. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
The analogy I always make is if you were doing
something really difficult in a different part of your life,
training for a marathon or studying for a PhD, even
when it got really hard, there was nobody that would say, eh,
you should just quit. They would say, yeah, this is
really hard, you're working hard. How can I support you
(24:36):
at least the people you want in your life? Right?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
And so I always find it interesting that when it
comes to mothering tasks like breastfeeding, when it gets difficult,
many people, including professionals, will just say, well, just quit.
And for some people that is the answer they need
to hear that, But for other people, being told to
quit something that you feel passionately about.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Just because it is taking more work than what you
intended is not always the advice the thing.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, and take the time to find the friends, a provider,
the parent, whoever it might be, who will listen to
you first before giving you advice. Right, because I also
had even my own family saying you don't have to
suffer this way. You can, you can switch to formula
or you know, pump breast milk and feed the baby
(25:27):
that way. But that wasn't my goal. And like many
of us, I'm very stubborn person. Now I know, and
I'm probably gonna do it twice, not just on I know.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Right, Yeah, it takes that stubbornness to be successful as
a woman in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yes, definitely awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Well, thank you so much for sharing your personal stories
and I cannot wait to discuss.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Baby feeding from a professional lens with you.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Awesome. Thank you Low.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Okay, so three stories, including one that took place right
after Hurricane Sandy with no power, no access to electricity,
eating apples and peanut butter. Come back next week to
hear Rachel share her expertise as a speech language pathologist
who operates a private practice with lots of different practitioners
(26:23):
including ots, pts.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
IBCLCs, and SLPs.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So that you can hear about this collaborative approach to
making sure that babies get the best chance they can
to improve their oral motor function and have access to
breast milk
Every time. In those first few days that you're breastfeeding,
your uterus is contracting as it's supposed to do, so
then you half pain and your lower abdomen as well.
So I was like, there's just pain coming from every
part of my body. And I had a great labor
and delivery. I didn't tear or anything like that. So
I can only imagine somebody who had that pain from
(00:21):
healing from a wound as well and then trying. You know,
they keep telling you when you're in the hospital, you know,
make sure you have a good latch because you're just
going to create more damage.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Before we begin, I want to share something special with
all of you expecting parents out there. As an internationally
bored sort of via lactation consultant, I've seen firsthand how
a little planning can go a long way to helping
you achieve your baby feeding goals. That's why I'm offering
you my free ebook. It's called Birth Practices to Support Breastfeeding,
(00:53):
and it's a workbook, so check out the link in
the description below.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Time and again, I am blod away by the resiliency
and hard work that people put into learning how to
breastfeed their babies.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
It's no easy task.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's hard and that is the same with Rachel, who
shares her three baby feeding stories. So, wherever you are
in your baby feeding journey, whether in the prenatal stage
and preparing, or you are right in the thick of it,
or you're coming close to weaning, or your baby feeding
(01:32):
days are long behind you, I want you to take
a minute to really think about.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
All the hard effort that you have put.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
In to making sure that your babies have access to
human milk, and pat yourself on the back and congratulate
yourself for all the hard work you put in.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Enjoy this conversation with Rachel Best. Hi, Rachel, welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Thank you so much Lo for having me. I'm very
excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm so glad you're so Before we get into your
baby feeding story, why don't you introduce yourself and your family.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
So my name is Rachel Bust. I am a mother
of three kids. They're all bigger now. I have an
almost thirteen year old, a ten year old, and an
eight year old. Brust all three of them naturally and
breastfed them for almost two years for each of them. Yeah,
it's been a journey.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah, yeah, And I think it's really fun to talk
to people who.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
The feeding days are a little bit distant, because it's
really fun to hear how advice has changed over the
years or how things have stayed the same. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
You know, sometimes I think, you know, my oldest is ten,
and sometimes I think I cannot believe people are still
being told X, Y or Z.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
By their pediatricians. But if we look at the whole.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
History of baby feeding, we can see that these patterns
have been going on for a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, definitely. And you know, all three of my children,
now that they're older, have been diagnosed with tongue tai.
So my breastfeeding journey, I feel like wasn't as easy
as I anticipated that it would be. You know, you
spend so much time preparing for the birth, especially I
really wanted a natural delivery. I was birthing in the
birthing center at Women in Infants and Providence, Rhode Island,
(03:21):
and just thinking, Okay, it got through the hard part. No, No,
I did not, that was the easy part. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I have a childbirth ed course, and the focus of
the tel birth ed course is on the postpartum so
we talk about what are the decisions that you're going
to make during the birthing process that are going to
impact you for weeks and months of the line.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
And how can you make decisions during the birth that
at each decision point is going to lead to the
best outcomes later because so much of our focus when
we're pregnant is on the delivery, which, of course it's
a huge event in a person's life, and it does
(04:07):
take preparation, and it's only.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
That getting like you're saying, yeah, and I had, you know,
all great births with all three of my children, but
I think feeding was more of a challenge. And I
had my oldest on a Thursday, and we had Hurricane
Irene on Sunday, so, oh my yes, I came home
from the hospital Friday. You know, it's a nice, easy delivery,
(04:33):
so they let me go pretty quickly. But then on
Sunday is when the storm hit and we lost power
for a week. So I just remember lighting candles every
night as the sun was setting and crying thinking, Okay,
I have to not do this by candlelight. I'm going
to be an excruciating pain. Just just get through this.
Oh yes, that was brutal, but we did it, and
(04:56):
I breastfed him until about eighteen months when I was
pregnant was my daughter. So I'm looking back.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So that was with which that was with your first child?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Thank goodness, it is my first Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Okay, yeah, taking care of a toddler and.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Had no power. But I mean, I guess I knew
what to expect, the pros and cons to every situation.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I guess, yes, absolutely, Okay, So I want to take
you back. I want to hear a little bit more
about that.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Uh, But before we do, I want to take you
actually back to your childhood and ask you what exposure
that you had to body feeding or baby feeding as
a child.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
What did you see around you when it came to
feeding babies.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm the oldest of three girls. My sisters are three
years and five years younger than me, and my mom
breastfed all three of us. So I have also homeschools
for my early elementary years, so I was around a
lot of babies and children and breastfeeding as well.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Oh that's great, So you just saw it was just.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
A part of life. Yes, yes, definitely.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Did that impact how you went into preparing for baby feeding?
Did you already have in mind that you were going
to breastfeed no matter what, or did you know.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That it might be difficult. I definitely had no idea
it could be difficult, which is unfortunate. I had gone
into it being a little more prepared, you know. I
feel like as a woman, I can do a lot
of hard things, but being prepared for the hard things
definitely helps a lot. I think in my late twenties
mid twenties, I was really moving towards a more holistic,
(06:42):
healthy lifestyle. So I knew I wanted to do something
that was more natural, and that started with giving birth naturally,
trying to really avoid an epidural and any medications, and
then obviously the natural next step after that is to breastfeed.
So I would say that was a huge prayer for me,
and I was definitely willing to suffer through the pain.
(07:04):
I also think I have had a pretty good production,
so even though all of three of my children were
pretty small and petite minus those first few weeks, I
didn't have a lot of pressure from the pediatrician saying,
you know, weight gains an issue you need to supplement.
You know, there was never that pressure in the line
of work I am now. I know that a lot
(07:24):
of parents get that pressure, and I feel really grateful
that I was allowed to just progress and unfortunately suffer through.
But did it right? Did it? Yeah? Get it?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So, by the time you were having kids, did you
have friends who had already had babies that you were
close enough to to hear their feet the experiences, or
were you kind.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Of the first of your friend I was probably the
first of my friend group. I got married, and this
day and age just considered pretty young. I was twenty
two when we got married, and then I was twenty
seven when I had my first so mm hmm. I
was didn't really have a lot of friends. My younger
sister had a baby when she was very young, so
I guess I had my nephew, who was six at
(08:06):
the time, But that was about the only exposure I
really had to a friend who had been through it.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, okay, so you didn't have really personal stories of
triumph or frustration when it came to baby feeding, that
were right.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I know tongue tie runs in my family. My sisters
have not been officially diagnosed, but you know, I'm pretty
sure they all have tongue ties. So to hear, you know,
I asked my mom about it a lot. What was
your breastfeeding journey like? And she reports that it was
pretty easy, nothing too significant, which is surprising to me,
knowing my journey, knowing my sisters and their mouths. How
(08:46):
she wasn't in extreme discomfort. Maybe she has a really
high pain tolerance. Maybe I don't know, something went really
well for her, and I'm glad for her that that
was her story.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Right, I know, I know, especially because when we were kids.
I was born in eighty one, and I know that
for my mom there was no help available to her.
You know, she breastfed all of us for at least
a few months, I know, but when her supply kind
of tanked, there was nobody to help her navigate that
(09:19):
or figure out why it was happening.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So then she just switched to formula. I think too,
maybe my mom had a similar situation. You know, they weren't,
you know, necessarily at the poverty level, but they didn't
have a lot of money, So I think maybe for
her having to purchase formula was an option that they
weren't really you know, they wanted to make it work
for financial reasons as well. She never really said that,
(09:42):
so to speak, but just knowing a little bit. Sure
it was a factory.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
So then it's fifteen years ago, you're pregnant. You talked
about really willing to have a holistic approach, and you
talked about doing some birth prep.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Were you prepping at all for breastfeeding during that time?
Did you read any books? Did you, you know, seek
out a la Letty League meeting? Did you do anything
like that during pregnant?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Not so much. I mean I read all the books.
I had a doula who was fabulous, so she really
prepared me for that. But no, I think I assumed,
like I'm doing this all naturally, breastfeeding is going to
go great, It's going to be super easy to do,
and obviously it was not.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah dun dun, duh.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So then you give birth at the birth center. Were
you released the same.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Year twenty four hours later?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Twenty four hours? So what kind of support was given
to you in the hospital? I did or in the birth.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I did get to work with a lactation consultant all
three times, but unfortunately they all just said, oh, yeah,
everything looks great. So then when I had my second child,
I did schedule an outpatient consultation with an IBCLC, a
woman in infants, and again she said, everything looks great.
Her latch was okay, we were transferring enough, you know,
(11:02):
just keep going. And I did, and you know, generally
around eight weeks it was at least tolerable, not excruciating pain.
But I also this is a time when YouTube was
starting to become more popular and there was more resources available.
Sitting there with my toddler trying to put on a
show for him, so I could have a few minutes
on YouTube to watch other people breastfeed and see what
(11:25):
do I need to work on for this latch? Okay,
this is what it looks like in this animated video.
Trying to replicate that, and you know, honestly not achieving
great success, but I don't know, Yeah, it was the
start of having somewhere to go. It's I don't know
how many times I have clients who have been told
(11:46):
by somebody, your latch yes great, yes you know, and
I always tell them, look, I have seen some latches
that look horrible, but babies transferring well and they are
not feeling pain. So when that is maybe there is
some oral motor.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Function that needs to be worked on. But there's no
breastfeeding emergency right at this moment. It's not about what
we're seeing. It's about what are you feeling, and how
is the feeding going and is the infant being nourished.
You're the only one who can say if a latch
looks good. So often people will ask me, does this
look good? And I say, I don't know. You tell
(12:23):
me how does it feel? You know? So it's I
don't know why there's this idea that somebody else who
is not in the feeding person's body can determine whether
or not a latch is good. Now we have ways
of being able to say is it shallow?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
You know?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Is there enough space between the nose and the breast?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
You know?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Has the nipple been positioned well?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Right? Exactly?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
But it's not about just looking and saying yeah, things
look good.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, no, I agree, I've seen some really Even yesterday
I saw a latch that I was like, you're not
in any pain right now? Nope? Okay, right, that looks
excusing but not great, right, I know? Right?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
We have to let our bodies be the measure of
how things are going.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Our bodies and our babies.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Worth female body and the female breast especially are so amazing,
and they really adapt in ways that don't seem humanly right.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
I know, and I think often about how we have
kept infants alive for all of human history, and other
mammals keep their babies alive for all of human history.
And it's not about achieving the perfect latch. It's about
latching well enough so that baby can transfer enough milk
(13:44):
and the mom is not Yes, so when you saw
the outpatient when you went to the And I'm not
trying to speak poorly of any other person, because I'm
sure there have been times where I have been off
the mark with clients and then they had to go
get a second opinion, and we're given the answers they needed.
But at that moment, were you saying, ah, but it
(14:05):
really hurts, or were you just like, Okay, it must
this must be normal.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I think I was thinking this must be normal because
that's the information I was given. And you know, at
that point, I had just opened my own private practice.
Finances were pretty tight. All of this stuff costs money.
I just remember spending so much time on the phone
with the insurance company, like how much is this going
to be covered? And just thinking Okay, she's saying, it's fine.
(14:31):
I'm not going to invest any more any more money
in this. I feel like I'm doing as much research
as possible that I can do on YouTube. And you know,
at that point, I had a new mom's group I
was a part of, or I had been with my
oldest so I had that group of friends that continue
through subsequent pregnancies. And you know, but also I would
(14:53):
say that that sparked a huge interest in me, and
it's who I am today because I went through all
of that. I've sought so much additional education because if
I can prevent somebody else from experiencing that significant amount
of pain and really the emotional stress. You know, I
still like it's still traumatic thinking about lighting those candles
(15:14):
when the sun was setnaying and just thinking, here we
go again. I'm number one, I'm not going to sleep.
Number two it's I'm going to be in pain. And
number three, I'm going to have to listen to my
child screaming while we work on this latch.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
This idea of being in the like having a hurricane
with a newborn baby at home. You didn't have to
evacuate or no.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
We were in East Providence, so not enough to Okay,
the coast where it needed to be, where we needed
to evacuate.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Okay, Okay, so you were at home and you were
without electricity for a week.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah? You said?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
And this I can remember so vividly approaching nightfall with
my first when breastfeeding was not going well, and I
felt like I could handle anything in the day. You know,
I could put on some Netflix.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I could, you know, go to a cafe, I could
go out on a walk, like.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
There were ways that I could handle my anxiety around feeding.
But at night it felt ten times worse.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
It's just I felt having power too. I feel I
don't really really good at distracting myself. But I didn't
have I mean Netflix, I'm not even sure Netflix existed
back then, thirteen years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Probably fifteen years old.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I here recording all of these shows that I was like,
I'm going to sit and watch all these shows. Well,
I feed my baby, It's going to be great. Not
having all of the things I planned to have those
first few weeks, and then not being able to charge
my phone, not being able to charge my kindle, not
having food, like I pretty much ate an excessive amount
(16:55):
of apples and peanut butter because they were shelf stable.
And you know, I feel like paternity leave has come
a long way since then. You know, I had the
baby Thursday. My husband was off Friday. The hurricane hit Sunday,
but he went to work on Monday, so I was
home alone. You know, sometimes my family would come by,
but they were about an hour away, so you know,
(17:17):
I think like one person would come every other day.
And then eventually I was like, I can't, I can't
be without power. And then luckily it came back on
shortly thereafter. But yeah, that was a rough week.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Yeah, and tell me about the night time specifically. What
was it difficult to get the latch established? Was it
that it would take a while to even get her
on and sucking.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I think he lashed quickly, so I have a boy,
then a girl and a boy. So William last quickly,
but very very shallow, now that I know a little
bit more about the latch, So it was excruciating. And
then you know, every time in those first few days
you're breastfeeding, your uterus is contracting as it's supposed to,
(18:04):
so then you have pain and your lower abdomen as well.
So I was like, there's just pain coming from every
part of my body. I'm like, and I had a
great labor and delivery. I didn't tear or anything like that,
So I can only imagine somebody who had that pain
from healing from a wound as well. But then and
(18:25):
then trying because you know, you know, they keep telling
you when you're in the hospital, you know, make sure
you have a good latch because you're just going to
create more damage. So then never time, it hurts trying
to unlatch him, which also is painful. I know it's
not supposed to be properly, but I felt like that hair,
So then I was afraid to unlatch him because that
was going to cause more pain. But then I'm having
(18:45):
long term pain from having that shallow latch and that
rubbing and sores and bleeding and crack nipples and the
whole nine yards.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Yeah, yeah, And to be doing all of that, like
keep light, yeah, with nobody around you, right, Because that
is the big cultural difference from now versus three hundred
years ago, is that nobody birthed alone and was in
the postpartum period alone.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
You always had, you know, lots of support around you
taking care of you. So you were having to take
care of yourself and your infant during the day. And
I'm sure you had out at night from your partner
to some extent, but that's not enough just having one
other person who's also exhausted and he was working.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I do remember, you know, us changing the diaper two
in them because you know, those early weeks, every time
baby feeds, they poop, so getting up and having to
do all of that by candlelight, and also then you know,
being fearful of okay, we have to stay up or
we have to have candles lit all night long. Like
you know, you're not the most rational person at these
(19:52):
early postpartum days, thinking okay, great, now I have a
candle light here. What if I bump it, it hits
the curtain, hits the bet. I don't know. It's just endless,
endless things to worry about.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Wow. And so you said that pain lasted for about
the severe pain lasted for about eight weeks.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Oh, severe pain probably just four weeks, and then I
think the second four weeks was tolerable. So I remember
being like eight to ten weeks being like, okay, I
can do a cradle hold now I don't need to
do this cross cradle and like hunched over, I feel
a more confident in his latch now that he's stronger
and has a little more control of his head that
(20:31):
I can just hold him in my in a cradle
holds and feel like he's not gonna rip my breast off.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, And was it the same with your other two children,
Like by about the.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Eight week mark you felt after the same it was devastating.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yeah, that is a long time to be in pain
and stress.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I remember with my daughter being like, I'm not doing
that again. I'm gonna get it this time. I'm gonna
get this right away. We're just going to get through
the first few days of difficulty, and then being at
like week four being like, well.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That was familiar, right, And you know, you think that
you know so much by that time, which you do.
Somebody who has fed a baby for almost two years,
they do know a lot. And there's so many ways
of problem solving difficulties, and so many root causes to
breastfeeding pain that when support is not available or not
(21:25):
easily accessible, it just makes people feel so much and.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Being brushed off. You know, I had a great pediatrician
but being brushed off like, oh, yeah, they have a
tongue tie, but you know, big deal, and you know,
as a speech language pathologist not also having a lot
of training and tongue tie at that point in my life,
and being like, Okay, everything's fine, but knowing in my
gut like I shouldn't be hurting this way. Yeah, we
did it. It's a miracle. I look back now, knowing
(21:52):
what I know, and I'm like, it's a miracle. I
haven't a ted motivated mother. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
And so many people people go through that, And I
always tell my clients each person has to decide for
themselves what is the best decision, you know, Like one
person might say, yes, I have to do this. It
is better for my mental health to just keep pushing through,
keep trying to find solutions, because I will feel worse
(22:19):
if I stop, and other people they feel like, you
know what, for me, it is better for my mental
health given the situation I am in to make a
different decision at this point, whether that's to go to
exclusive pumping or whether to start supplementing. And there's no
one right decision because nobody is living the exact circumstances
of the person making the decision. There's so much that
(22:40):
plays into it, access to support, you know, family support,
work situation, previous mental health status, you know, there is
It's a complicated decision tree for so many people.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, and I'm thankful that my decisions took me down
a road that I could breastfeed for as long as
I did for all three children.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
And yeah, and you said it was close to two
years for all three.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yep, yep, about I mean it was a little bit different.
So with William it was about eighteen months, and then
I was pregnant with my daughter, Genevieve was about the same.
And then Xander is my last child, so he was
maybe a little bit longer than the first two because
I didn't get pregnant against the right exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Okay, and is there anything about your stories that you
find is significant or would be helpful for other people
to hear that you haven't already mentioned before. We we're
going to wrap up, but you are an SLP with
a private practice with lots of different types of practitioners.
So we'll have a second episode talking a little bit
(23:46):
about the work that you do and how you help
families core to make care.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
I think the number one thing I would like people
to know from my story is, you know, think about
your goals and what you really want, and if you're
willing to put in the work and the time and
the effort, you can achieve it. In all aspects of life,
but specifically with breastfeeding and parenting. It's hard work, but
if it's important to you, take the time and make
(24:10):
it happen, and seek the support that you need. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
The analogy I always make is if you were doing
something really difficult in a different part of your life,
training for a marathon or studying for a PhD, even
when it got really hard, there was nobody that would say, eh,
you should just quit. They would say, yeah, this is
really hard, you're working hard. How can I support you
(24:36):
at least the people you want in your life? Right?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
And so I always find it interesting that when it
comes to mothering tasks like breastfeeding, when it gets difficult,
many people, including professionals, will just say, well, just quit.
And for some people that is the answer they need
to hear that, But for other people, being told to
quit something that you feel passionately about.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Just because it is taking more work than what you
intended is not always the advice the thing.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, and take the time to find the friends, a provider,
the parent, whoever it might be, who will listen to
you first before giving you advice. Right, because I also
had even my own family saying you don't have to
suffer this way. You can, you can switch to formula
or you know, pump breast milk and feed the baby
(25:27):
that way. But that wasn't my goal. And like many
of us, I'm very stubborn person. Now I know, and
I'm probably gonna do it twice, not just on I know.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Right, Yeah, it takes that stubbornness to be successful as
a woman in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yes, definitely awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Well, thank you so much for sharing your personal stories
and I cannot wait to discuss.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Baby feeding from a professional lens with you.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Awesome. Thank you Low.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Okay, so three stories, including one that took place right
after Hurricane Sandy with no power, no access to electricity,
eating apples and peanut butter. Come back next week to
hear Rachel share her expertise as a speech language pathologist
who operates a private practice with lots of different practitioners
(26:23):
including ots, pts.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
IBCLCs, and SLPs.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
So that you can hear about this collaborative approach to
making sure that babies get the best chance they can
to improve their oral motor function and have access to
breast milk
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