Episode 44- Postpartum Nutrition and Breastfeeding with Jada Glover

Disclaimer: Transcripts were generated automatically and may contain inaccuracies and errors.

Welcome to the kids sleep show, where we help tired parents from around the world to get their children to fall asleep independently, sleep through the night and build healthy sleep habits for life. I’m your host, Courtney Zentz. Now let’s sleep together. Well, it’s nice to meet you, jayda. I appreciate you. taking the time today to join me, I love having guests that, obviously work in this space of postpartum. You know, as I mentioned, I’m a certified lactation counselor, as well. And I know from your background, I’d love you to introduce yourself and kind of chat a little bit about your history. But this is my realm of genius and in talking with like minded professionals, and certainly about postpartum care. So I want to take a minute and allow you to introduce yourself to our listeners, and tell us a little bit about yourself how you got into the space that you’re in. And we can kind of dive right in if that sounds good.
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me, Courtney. I became a certified lactation counselor about a year and a half ago. And it really started when I was having issues with my own son breastfeeding. So I realized that during that time that I really enjoyed supporting other moms who were in similar, you know, experiences in terms of trying to kind of work through different breastfeeding issues, and just offering that peer to peer support. And so that’s when I realized that I had a love for helping other moms, you know, with breastfeeding. And so I’ve always had also a well, I shouldn’t say always, but since my early 20s, I had a passion for learning about natural health as well, because I have PCs, and through a more natural diet, and just living as healthy as I possibly can, I have been able to pretty much mute those symptoms, and so imbalanced my hormones and all that. So I really tried a couple both of the topics together, so help and breastfeeding, because I think that when mom is healthy, then there’s just so many amazing benefits that go along with that in terms of not just for breastfeeding, obviously, and for the milk supply, but also for just that relationship and her mental health, especially postpartum. And so I just love those two topics, especially together and I don’t feel like there’s enough support. Once moms, you know, have their babies, it’s just kind of like, okay, you know, had the baby see later kind of thing. And so I think that, you know, postpartum doulas and people like, you know, lactation consultants can really come in, come into play heavily during this time and, and can provide moms with the support that they truly need. Because, you know, as you know, we just see a drop in hormones after no babies born. And so it can be very taxing, you know, on a mom’s body. So having that support can really make your break even a breastfeeding relationship. So,
yeah, I think it’s interesting. We were chatting earlier today about the lack of support for new parents, right, specifically moms who are carrying this burden of trying to be a new mom in this new world that they’ve never experienced, despite how many blogs and books and what to expect, you know, it’s never what you think it’s going to be. Right. And I think parents leave the hospital, they make sure you’re strapped in, as I was just mentioning in another call. And that’s it. Right? Like, good luck. And if a parent is able, willing, accessible to a lactation counselor or a support group, right, that for many helps to create and foster a healthy breastfeeding relationship. You know, and sometimes parents aren’t even exposed to that right or they don’t understand the tie with hormones and your diet and what happens when you get home from the hospital. You know, there’s so many I think, unknowns for new parents, which is also why I got into the space you know, I felt so alone. I was trying to nurse I’ve milk shooting out every orifice I’m you know, hosing myself off with a spray bottle. You know, I’m trying to solve what’s going on with my child, you know, and I think it’s like a new parent is just like what is happening out here right now, you know. So I definitely am a huge believer in the nutrition side of it as well. And what you know, new parents can do. I remember having snack bags, of things like nuts and such like in the nursery so that when I would get up in the middle of the night to pump or nurse, I could eat something because like I wasn’t focused on myself for most of the day. And the overnight I was kind of focusing on this new life that I’m responsible for now. And that’s a huge burden. Right? So, you know, I think in what you do, I would love to first understand kind of your perspective, like what you had mentioned, obviously, you have your children that sort of led you down This road, I think for many of us in this space, that’s where we kind of got started. And it’s a very lonely world, for new parents and for parents that are listening today, like, there’s help out there, you know, so I’d love to just chat about, you know, I think overall, first and foremost, the breastfeeding journey, right? Because you have, I think the stigma today that it’s like, well, you’re either breastfeeding or formula feeding, and, oh, well, you’re exclusively breastfeeding, I give my kid bottles of milk, or breast milk, or exclusively pumping moms. Right. And I feel like there’s so much categorization now that I kind of hate it. Because I just don’t think it’s fair, like every moms on their own journey, right. And if that journey is the one of having a breastfeeding relationship in some capacity, like, it’s hard, right, those first couple weeks are hard. And I kind of always tell clients of mine that work with me in the newborn capacity around building healthy sleep habits to like, hang on for a couple of weeks for all of this, right? Like, I find, in my experience, it’s like the first six weeks are just, you’re in a blender, and you hit fast. And you know, if you can make it through that, like, things start to calm down, but I love your perspective and experience just in, you know, the the families that you work with, and the new moms, you support, what that looks like, right? And how you start with them. And in even having a conversation around like, you know, let’s start where you are. And I’ll meet you where you are. And here are some of the things that are going on.
Yeah, absolutely. So first of all, I always tell moms, any amount of breast milk that they can provide for their babies is wonderful. So, you know, I think sometimes we get stuck, you know, around, like the categories, like you mentioned, like supposedly breastfeeding, or five and giving it in a bottle is that make it less, you know, good for my baby. And so there’s all these questions that you know, come up. So any amount of breast milk that a mom is able to, you know, get their baby is wonderful. And I like to remind moms too, that donor milk is also available. So even if you’re not able to breastfeed from, you know, your own breasts, there’s always donor milk out there as well, too. So, especially in a hospital setting, I think sometimes if it’s not a baby friendly hospital, sometimes, you know, they aren’t looking for that solution there. So if moms can be advocates for themselves and their babies, that really helps, too. So I like to back up to even before the baby is born and focus a lot on the fact that moms often think that breastfeeding is going to come naturally to them. And that was me, I, you know, had a few books that I read, I read a few, you know, articles online, probably, but we’re so focused on every other aspects, it seems like in terms of bringing our baby into the world, the nursery, that the baby shower, the finding the perfect stroller, putting in the car seat, you know, everything else, but we and we think that, you know, especially as first time moms that breastfeeding is just going to be this magical bonding experience, it’s just going to totally come natural. As soon as our baby’s born, they’re just gonna latch on and then boom, that’s it, you know, everything else is golden. So I like to be more realistic, though, and my approach with moms and so actually, that’s why I have a breastfeeding course that’s targeted towards pregnant moms, because I do want to raise education awareness around the fact that so many moms can get that education and surround themselves with other breastfeeding moms. That that will really help them and their journey so that once their baby does come, they know where to turn to for support right away. So they already have somebody lined up so that they can give them a call and have them over you know, do a virtual session, whatever works out for them. So I think that even more more awareness is is really key before a baby’s even born. And then again, it I think that when moms know that you know there is help out there then that makes a huge difference. And already having those people lined up you know, having a list of phone numbers and contacts to be able to call those postpartum doulas or, or lactation consultants, mom groups, you know, at the hospital, and even like a breastfeeding friendly pediatrician. So, so important for a moms, you know, breastfeeding journey and just that postpartum period in general. I think that it’s it’s crucial that that mums are supported because that can also lead to postpartum depression. If they’re not properly supported. And they’re breastfeeding. They may feel like you know, their milk is inadequate, or they’re not producing enough milk and that’s the thing that I see most common is that moms just lack self confidence in themselves and their bodies is especially in those first few weeks because they are new to it. They don’t know what to look for. And those are all things though, that you can equip yourself with before Your baby’s even born, so that you know what to look for in terms of diaper account so that you know that a baby feeding at the breast frequently doesn’t mean that your milk supply is low. Just so many different things that, you know, we could talk about and go into, but but just you know, in general, I think education upfront is, is really, really important. Yeah, absolutely. I
mean, I know for myself with my son, when I was not in this space, it was a very different journey than with my daughter when I actually was a certified lactation counselor and such but they were very different in two different ways. You know, with my son, I came home from the hospital and my milk hadn’t come in yet. So I was able to squeeze that breast and pop them on and at the hospital, they’re like, your lash looks great. You know, you’ve got the nice angle, milks calm, you know, and then you come home, and two days later, your boobs are hard as a rock. And so what used to be this like pliable breasts, that you could jam into their mouth and make sure it was a good lashes, all of a sudden, like, you’re dealing with a rock, right? So that that changes, and I feel like, you know, I caught it, I got home with my son and was like, cool. Now what, right? Like, how do I deal with this, and with my daughter, she had an undiagnosed for a couple of days, tongue tie. And so I was a lactation counselor, at the time, I was like, I got this, I know what I’m doing. Now I’m in this space, like, you know, and then her experience was like, totally different, like arching the back freaking out. And I’m like, What is going on here? You know, I know there’s milk in there. And, you know, it turned out that she had a pretty severe tongue tie. And, you know, we got it remediated pretty quickly. And you know, that nursing experience then changed, you know, with her, but it was, for even somebody who’s in the space, like, I had two completely different journeys from the same boobs, you know, and I think that’s an important point you make is like, everybody’s journey is gonna be different. But understanding the support at the hospital, you know, that that support group for me at our local hospital was a lifeline for me. And frankly, I liked it for two reasons. One, I could do a way to transfer right. And so for those parents who are listening to this, that may not be familiar with what that is, you basically weigh the baby before you feed them, keep them in all the same stuff, feed them, and then you weigh them immediately after, and you can kind of see how much milk they transferred, are they getting two ounces or six ounces, right? And the duration, as you know, of a feed doesn’t yield quantity, right? Like you can feed for 20 minutes and get two ounces, you can feed for 10 minutes and get five ounces. Like I think it just depends on so many factors that parents aren’t aware of. And, you know, I think that the support groups for me were a huge lifeline. And right now they’re not happening, right. So I think to your point, like, I don’t think parent parents know you can call pediatrician. And in many cases, if they are breastfeeding friendly, which most are say, Hey, can I you know, I’m coming in for a weight check or well visit or some shots like, Can I do a weighted transfer, and at least know how much I’m getting them right to make sure they’re getting that, you know, ounce of growth a day, I think is kind of what my pediatrician says, like, Hey, you know, this should be kind of what you’re expecting an ounce a day is, you know, healthy weight gain, you know, so I think arming yourself to your point with the fact that there’s resources out there, but having them ready, you know?
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And actually, Mike mentioned the tongue tie thing. That was my, that was the issue with my son. Right. So he had a posterior tongue tie, and then also an upper lip tie. So I but again, because I didn’t know what should it hurt, should it not hurt? How much pain should I be in how much? You know, everybody’s pain tolerance is different. And so there is this Okay, Is this normal pain is not normal pain, like, I don’t know. So anyway, that’s when our, I didn’t actually go to the, our local hospital didn’t have a support group at the time. So I went to, you know, in a neighboring area. And so that’s where, you know, he was initially diagnosed with with those two restrictions. And so then we went to a pediatric dentist, and it was, you know, much improved from there, but getting that. So getting those things checked out and revise like, even if one person says, you know, one professional may say, No, there’s no issues, especially in the hospital, because sometimes they’re rushed, and they don’t have the time to be able to really do an accurate and a thorough assessment, then getting that second opinion can really, you know, be beneficial for moms, because I think that we get stuck at one opinion. And then we still feel though that, well, you know, our gut tells us something strong, something’s wrong, and then we don’t you know, try to navigate that. So listening to our mom instinct so, so important, I think for moms to do. And just, you know, trusting that relationship between mom and baby because you know, your baby best more than, you know, any professional out there, so, so really relying on that too,
and I would love your take on pumping, right? So every professional I feel like talks about pumping differently. I think everyone’s gonna have their different take the different time in which they introduce it. And I think depending on the lactation counselor that you may work with, or the pediatrician that you talk to, right. There’s different education, my best friend at the time, Lindsay, and she still is my best girlfriend was like, Courtney, I started right away, you know, because I didn’t have any resources at the time. And she’s like, I started right away, I wanted to establish a supplier and make sure that I frankly understood how to do it at the hospital with a lactation counselor there. So that was really good advice for me, because I actually took like, I got a medela pump. At the time. I was about six and a half years ago now. But I got an Adela pump at the time, took it to the hospital with me. And I actually had the lactation counselor for my first son when I was not yet one, show me how to use it. Like, there’s not a manual that is like turn this on, this is a letdown. This is where your nipple should be in the machine. Like what does this look like? You know? So I think from a tip standpoint, like that, for me was really helpful. And whether or not you choose to go home and start humping right away, I think that’s going to be every different, you know, mother’s choice. For me, what I did, was got the help at the hospital. So I felt prepared and confident. I think that’s a big part of this is like we lacked confidence, right? I felt confident to go home and be like, okay, and I use this thing, right. And I was going to be going back to work at 12 weeks and wanted to make sure I had the the freezer stash. And I was a psychopath about it to the point where I became obsessed with pumping and nursing and breast milk and spilling and liquid gold and holy cow making sure and protect, like I rented a pump that was hospital grade, because I was like, This isn’t cutting it, you know, my boobs are failing me, you know, and it took me down this, you know, but I think some of its hormonal, you’re just up and down in this journey, right. And for me, I did start pumping right away my
bottles
were Dr. Brown that we used as a you know, as a family. And what I did was I would pump for bedtime, like I’d put my son to bed around seven or eight at night. And then I would pump whatever was left after he fed. And then my husband would stay awake until 10 o’clock, he would go in and wake my son up at the time do a dream feeding with whatever that milk was that was in the bottle. And it was still warm, because it’s good at room temperature for a couple hours. So it was great, it kind of just stayed out, he would go in and actually wake them and then feed him and then I would get a solid chunk of sleep from about eight till roughly around two in the morning when he would wake again to eat. So I could still get five hours of a stretch not feel like a total zombie, lunatic, you know, and then you know, the rest of the night was sort of on me at two, I would get up and nurse them, you know, and then if you know, my breast still felt full after he fed and went back to sleep, I would pump it if they were empty, that’s great, I would pass back out. And then he’d wake up, typically somewhere between four and five, I would feed again, pass back out, you know. So that was kind of our journey, those first six, eight weeks of life was like where we jumped into, and the pumping worked for me in that capacity. You know, so I’d love your kind of thoughts on your own experience. And just, you know, permission to to do you write like there’s so many rules and guidelines and mom groups and I feel like competing opinions that it’s like the first thing I tell all my clients and the folks I work with, in the capacity of sleep because I talk about, like, I’m a lactation counselor, but I use it in the capacity of supporting newborn parents around sleep, right and helping to set expectations and goals. But everybody, everybody’s journey is going to be different, right? And how that looks. And whether you choose to pump or not, or exclusively bottle feed or not, or what have you, you know, whatever it looks like, you know, I kind of would welcome your thoughts on it just from a personal experience and coming home. And then also, like, how you gauge for parents, like when the right time is for them to introduce something like pumping into the equation and where it makes sense to do so. You know, in certain situations?
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So I’ll start with my personal experience first. So we had a totally different experience in years. So I had the pump at home, right. So I had the spectra, which, you know, turned out to be a great pump for us. But I didn’t even try to learn it probably until my son was roughly eight to 10 weeks old, I want to say so we didn’t introduce a pump at all, but I was able to have a natural birth and delivery and I was able to, you know, breastfeed right away. And so he wasn’t away from me for whatever reason, thankfully, and so we were, you know, just able to establish that. And so I think that if moms are separated from their babies that by all means we want to preserve that milk supply. And that’s when it can really, you know, be beneficial for moms to hand express or start pumping right away. I try not to stress moms out with with the pumping component until they’re ready to go back to work and that You know, personally, that’s when I introduced it, you know, about two to four weeks, before you start, you know, introducing that new work routine, I recommend moms, you know, start practicing with the pump so that they can get used to pumping their bodies can learn the pump, because it does take practice, just like breastfeeding does, it takes our body time to you know, adapt to being able to pump and get the output that we’re looking for, to be able to support our baby. So, um, but yeah, so unless there’s a medical reason to introduce pumping, you know, immediately after birth, if you’re separated for whatever reason, then I recommend moms focus on the latching, because that’s what’s going to help establish your milk supply. the very, very best, of course, pumping is second best, but if you’re able to nurse your baby at the breast, especially for those first several weeks, while our milk supplies regulating, and establishing that’s really, really crucial, and that can really help establish your milk supply even more, but some moms love the milk stash, you know, idea and having, you know, ample milk to put in bottles for you know, other people to be able to watch baby, and I totally get that too. So, again, back to your point, you have to do whatever’s best for you. And we co slept bed shared with my son. And that’s what worked for us and, and, you know, I was able to, to nurse them and kind of sleep at the same time, of course, practicing safe bed sharing, but we actually, as you probably no, we see exclusivity rates of breastfeeding rates higher because of parents that co sleep with their babies, because they are able to parents are able to get better sleep as a result. So um, so yeah, just do whatever works best for your family is what I would generally tell any moms out there. And you know, of course, we want to preserve that milk supply. That’s, you know, our, our number one goal more starting that breastfeeding experience is to really, you know, make as much milk as we possibly can to be able to sustain our baby.
Yeah, and I think, you know, first and foremost, safe sleep, for me has always been the biggest thing, right? Because I’ve seen things that you know, I don’t want a parent to have to go through. And I think making sure that when you’re making those choices as a family in the kind of pregnancy stages, right, that you’re you’re reading about and understanding the safe sleep and that you’re able to figure out a family plan, right? Is the baby going to be in your room or in their own space, or you’re going to use something like an outlet to monitor baby like that they didn’t have that when I was, you know, a new parent, I’m like, gosh, that would have been nice to have as an option. Or, you know, what the setup of the space looks like and what your journey looks like, right? You know, I always tell parents, like you got to do you hear all of the options, you know, and it’s so overwhelming because you come home and it’s like deer in headlights with all these decisions that you and your partner trying to make around? You know what this is going to look like for each family. And, you know, I think nutritionally I want to talk a little bit about that, because I’m huge into nutrition, I eat basically a whole food diet. And, you know, my kids, I would say probably 9010 right, you know, I try to stay away from things processed. And you know, I’ve been always very cognizant of things like sugars, and, you know, dairy and the way it responds to my body, I’m a bit of an anomaly in that, like, I don’t have a stomach. So I had a rare genetic mutation where the doctors at University of Pennsylvania here in Philly actually said, we’re taking your stomach out wholly, because it will kill you in the next like, year or two. And they were right, I already had stage one stomach cancer and didn’t know so for me, you know, my, I would say diet is just reflected on the food I eat. But it was a very interesting experience for me having my stomach and my gallbladder removed, because the second I eat something processed, I get sick, right? And that’s my body saying, like, we don’t know what to do with this, right? Like, we don’t know how to put this food in and figure out what it is and then get it out. Right. And so nutrition for me personally has been something that has been near and dear to my heart. I know for many it’s Do what you can eat what you can I got to eat a million calories just to make enough milk and stuff. And I want you to kind of talk a little bit about that just from experience in the obviously the lactation side but also just with the nutrition right, because I think there’s this misnomer that like 1000 calories from a bag of Doritos is the same as you know, full fat avocado and some you know, some nice yogurt or or coconut water or something. You know, that’s a little bit different on the spectrum. So I’d love to chat a little bit more about just postpartum nutrition and things new parents can do to arm themselves with the right amount for the milk production side but also for balancing the shifts in hormones, right your dyes correlated to that your your microbiome they were just doing some research I saw come out This Week in the Journal of Pediatrics on the direct correlation between the microbiome and sleep, and it’s so fascinating that like, I always say, you know, sleep is the foundation for which the house is built. Right. And I think, you know, nutrition is kind of the next part of that. So I would love your thoughts and, you know, kind of journey on the nutrition side of things for new parents, because I think, you know, we talked about hair loss a lot, which I know has to do with the hormones and such. So I would love to hear your, your side on that as well.
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, to your point, I think we can, if we keep it simple, as much as possible, I think we just tried to overcomplicate things, right. And so just, especially, you know, being modest, like so many things to think about, and the simpler we can keep our nutrition, the easier it is on our bodies, but also in preparation and planning. So we really want to get down to fresh, whole real foods, you know, like you mentioned, so lots of fruits and vegetables, lots of warming broth. So you know, bone broth is really beneficial for moms, it has the collagen that that is helpful in healing our bodies after birth and warming foods in general, we just want to make sure that we’re, we’re we have a healthy balance and postpartum between warming foods and cold foods, because they do have different benefits in terms of healing our body, so and omega threes. So this is one that I that I talk about a lot, you know, in my own practice, because omega threes are huge, and it’s not something that a typical, you know, standard American diet includes a lot of and in fact, most of us are deficient if we are kind of following a standard American diet. So omega three is from wild salmon, flax oil, all of those good, you know, nuts and seeds in whole, whole fresh form. So we really want to be focused on omega threes, especially as relates to postpartum. And a study was performed on moms that were that had postpartum depression, and one of the common denominators was that they were lacking in those omega three. So it’s really important that we are getting enough of those. And if you don’t have it, you know, through your diet, then that’s when I recommend mom supplement with an omega three supplement, and or make sure that it’s in your postnatal vitamin that you’re taking. And so, you know, there’s a few there’s a few supplements that I would recommend if moms aren’t getting enough through food, but we always want to focus on food first and foremost, because it’s the most bioavailable, our body is able to, you know, use and process all of those great vitamins and minerals and nutrients much more efficiently than any sort of supplement out there. So the more whole real foods we can include in our diets, the better and just keep it simple. That’s what I try to tell moms as much as possible. And be prepared going into that time. So you know, during your little nesting phase and pregnancy, try to make the snack bags ahead of time, you know, things like nuts and seeds last great, I like to do homemade trail mix and just put them in little baggies and just have them ready to go. Or ask your support system to you know, help you with that. It’s something simple that can really help you though, in terms of your healing, postpartum, and just help you, you know, feel better sooner and feel feel like you’re yourself so to speak, again, you know, and postpartum because your hormones are now all over the place. And it’s the most dramatic shift in hormones you’ll ever experience right after giving birth and so the sooner that we can balance that the better and I also like to use the idea of a balanced plate. So you know, we want to make sure we have lots of leafy greens and some may or may not agree with your baby, so just you know, keep an eye on that cruciferous vegetable sometimes can cause extra gas issues. So by anyway, half your plate and leafy greens or vegetables and then you know, a quarter in, in healthy proteins and then a quarter in, you know, a healthy starch, such as brown rice or sweet potato, something that is going to give us nutrients and help you know, satisfy our hunger, but the balance is key. And then two tablespoons of you know healthy fats and olive oil, avocado oil, you know, whatever you’re choosing is so so it’s important to be able to balance our blood sugar in any sort of meal. And that’s really important postpartum too, so that we can get back to those optimal level hormones as much as possible while breastfeeding because our progesterone levels still stay down but but it’s still important to be able to balance you know, the rest of the rest of our bodies as well. Yeah, I
think that’s great. I know that some friends do. meal trains, you know, so when they came home, it was kind of they did snack trains and meal train. So they had, you know, one friend would make to your point those little individual bags and do kind of 21 of them for three weeks, right, so you had a little snack bag for every night in the middle of the night. Like muffins, you know, because you can freeze them. And it’s a super quick snack that you can throw like I use something called naked protein. So personally, I would take a scoop of naked egg protein, so it was just egg whites, or eggs, right like so I use naked naked eggs. Some people use naked whey but they have a bunch of different kinds doesn’t matter protein powder, like I use collagen protein a lot because I don’t have a stomach so I can absorb a lot. And that’s like my protein booster. You know, like I drink you know, everything I have, it’s not wine, it’s it’s collagen with like a little bit of fresh pressed juice because like I need to get the protein throughout the day. And then in addition to eating, but like I tell him I was like make it convenient, like be able to grab something out of the freezer, that has the protein in it. You know, I add flax seeds in walnuts like banana muffins, you know, you can make these hearty eyes oat flour, a lot, like, you know, these hearty, nutritious, you know, kind of snacks because I know, you know, you’re not sitting down sometimes to be able to cook these meals, you know, but doing things like a meal train or having these, you know, these snacks that are readily available to prepare yourself, right, make them and freeze them in your nesting period, you know, and just have that stuff out there. You know, talk to me about your perspective on lactation cookies.
Okay, so I think that they can be great when they have healthy, nutritious ingredients in them. But if we’re loading them up with sugar and things that aren’t healthy for us, whether we’re breastfeeding or not, then I don’t think they’re healthy. I think that they’re heavily commercialized at this point, obviously. So I suggest that moms can make their own and freeze them and then pull them out as needed. There’s lots of great recipes out there. There’s even some mix kits that I’ve seen with healthier things like flax seeds, you know, oats and I, I do believe and lactogenic foods as relates to breastfeeding and promoting a healthy milk supply. Because I think that if we’re not giving our bodies, the foods that we need to be able to function properly, then of course, our body isn’t going to be able to be in a state to produce milk for our baby are enough for our baby, because it’s one of those systems that’s going to go down first, if you know our bodies in this fight or flight, you know, kind of kind of situation. So I believe in them from the perspective that they provide healthy, nutritious, nutrient dense foods for our body to be able to produce milk or promote a healthy milk supply.
Yeah, that’s great. And I think that the growth of Whole Foods specifically for for many parents that it’s kind of getting out there and about and frankly, even Amazon right like Amazon Prime, everything comes to my door now. brewers yeast was always that one ingredient where my husband’s like, Where do I find for brewers yeast and like, go in the section where all the supplements are from the bottom shelf all the way to the right, there’s three different kinds get this one because it’s the best of all of them, you know? And so you know, now the benefit of Amazon is like brewers yeast has that one like key component in most of those cookies, But to your point, like nutrient rich, healthy options, you know, I think serving our bodies like food is fuel. Rest is best, right? Yeah. Now and, and doing what you can to serve yourself. Because as I think, from a parental standpoint, like your new mom, you got to support yourself to be able to provide for your child, right? So looking at your own overall health and wellness, what is going to work for your family and choosing to just take on the knowledge, right? Like use things like we’re talking about today
and go Okay, this
is gonna work for me. And that’s not or I’m going to take a different path. And maybe, you know, Courtney or JD did like, that’s fine, right? You got to do you. But I think the education and putting it out there is going to be super helpful for, you know, for new parents, especially. And I would love for you to kind of just take a few minutes. And in closing, tell us a little bit about how you work with families. I know things with, you know, the current COVID situation has changed. I think all of our business models a bit. But you mentioned you have some online courses. And you know, I’m really loving this conversation because I’m right in tune with everything from feeding and, you know, the breastfeeding and healthy habits for parents that, you know, new moms can adopt to be the best version of themselves so that they can provide what their children needed, you know, from birth and even before birth, as you mentioned, so I’d love for you to take a few minutes and kind of just chat about how parents can find you in the ways you work with new moms.
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So thankfully my business model was to support moms virtually because I think that they’re even before COVID so my I I set up my lactation practice to be able to work virtually kinda like we’re doing in a zoom meeting. But in a HIPAA compliant platform, of course, because I think that there’s a lack of support and certain regions of the world and maybe smaller communities where moms don’t have, you know, ready access to be able to go see a lactation consultant, and I grew up in a small town, I get that there’s no lactation consultant, you know, in that in that small town, so to being able to provide those still support, so that they can still succeed. And it’s really important to me, so that’s where I kind of developed, you know, my business model around that piece. And then COVID happened. And, you know, here we are, so, so I do virtual consultations for moms, you know, whether it’s a prenatal education session all the way through, you know, establishing breastfeeding and coming up with a plan to go back to work or weaning your baby, even inducing lactation, I have some moms that I’ve worked with, that are still breastfeeding their toddler, but they’re, you know, having another baby through surrogate mother and so they want to keep, you know, producing milk for their for their new baby coming. So those are, those are fun, fun chats as well. So I support moms virtually. And also, I have an online breastfeeding course for moms that do want additional education upfront, before their baby’s born, of course, any mom could take it. But it’s really targeted for pregnant moms to help go over some of those unknown things, so that she can feel empowered and confident going into that breastfeeding experience. So and how to be an advocate for herself and her baby. Because I think that’s so, so important and making sure, you know, partners on board and everybody’s on the same page so that the parents can have a, you know, United plan going into that experience. Because I think that that is super important too. Because you want that you want the support of your support system, right. So you’re your husband or partner and of course, the rest of your friends and family because we we want that help. And we want them to be on the same page as us so that they do support us in our decisions, whether it’s around sleeping, or you know, breastfeeding or you know, whatever it may be so so the online course and then I do a lot of work to around postpartum health and helping moms feel healthy and their body after after having a baby so I have I have a program geared towards that as well to just kind of jumpstart that journey. And it’s all it’s all based on a whole foods, you know, mentality and and nutrition idea. So no quick fixes, but but certainly it’ll you know, help her have more energy and and feel you know, better in her body so that she can best take care of herself and her family. Like you mentioned earlier.
Yeah, no, that’s great. And so your website is healthy body after baby calm, I didn’t want to get that wrong. And then I know you’ve got a bunch of different social media sites. As far as like the different platforms, you’re on Pinterest, Instagram. So tell moms a little bit about I know, it’s lactation mamas on Instagram, kind of the same on Pinterest, and Facebook. So I would welcome all of my listeners to go out and follow and find you and connect and certainly reach out if they are interested in you know, understanding or meeting with you on some of those services. And I thank you so much for coming on today. Because this has been great. I really enjoyed chatting with folks in this space and just helping to educate new parents, because I just think there’s a deficiency in it. So I really appreciate you coming on today. And thank you very much again for taking the time and and sharing your knowledge with us. And it’s certainly very much appreciated.
Absolutely. Thanks so much, Courtney. And I appreciate all your followers listening.
Yeah. All right, have a good rest of the day data. I will follow up and I appreciate and share everything over with you when it’s done. But I hope you have a good rest of the day.
Thank you. All right. Hey.
Hold on. One more thing before you go. As a valued listener of the kids sleep show, I want to help you build a great sleeper not just in the times you’re listening to the show, but all day every day. Every week of the year. I have a new Facebook group called slumber Made Simple. It’s a place to gather with other parents looking for sleep support, laughs and the latest in sleep research, to build a family that is rested and at their best day in and day out. If you want to be part of the community where you can get free sleep support, weekly training sessions, unbelievable content and so much more. Head on over to tiny transitions.com forward slash community. That’s tiny transitions.com forward slash community or head over to Facebook and search slumber Made Simple. drop me a note and let me know when you join. I can’t wait to see you there.