What do you have to do to be mother of the year? The answer may surprise you and it all lies in a simple form of self care. 

​You have to take care of YOU. Sleep when the baby sleeps. You can’t pour from an empty glass. You deserve a break. YOU DO YOU, BOO.....

​Okay, maybe the last one isn’t said as much BUT I really like saying it and it at least kind of fits. Either way, we hear a lot of this as parents (especially on the really rough days), but what does taking care of yourself really mean? My Instagram will tell me moms take care of themselves by getting a pedicure or wearing one of those bubble face masks. I personally like to take baths, wear face masks, and buy fancy eye creams. Soooo relaxing. But is that REALLY self care?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...... I really do. BUT I have to burst your bubble bath bubbles for a second here and give you a hard truth. That's not self care. It's nice, but it's not truly self care. Self care has another layer to it, and it's something that helps your whole self, and revitalizes you body, mind, and soul..... it's not superficial.... and as nice as face masks are they're only skin deep. Pun fully intended here. 

So, if you want to know what true self care really looks like.... and to learn how you can transform your own motherhood journey to be happier, healthier, and a better mom overall.... with one really simple trick... then read on! 

Ahhhh!!!! The pain.... in the neck!!!! And back!!! and also sometimes hips..... Holy cow. Nobody warned me about the strain I'd feel in my body when I was breastfeeding. And some days I felt like I could barely move my head, or bend over. Yikes!

It seems like everyone wants to tell you how much your nipples are going to hurt, but nobody bothered to mention the pain in the neck! OMG.  (Your nipples shouldn't hurt by the way.... and if that's you click HERE to see how to get a pain free latch, or snag a same day appointment with our LCs. Please don't power through a painful latch!)

So, when I found Dr. Rachel Miller I knew I absolutely had to collaborate with her. Her area of genius (and yes I mean genius!) is helping women recover their pelvic floor after birth, and making your whole body work for you when you're a mom. As a mom herself (with 5 kiddos!), she knows more than anyone how important it is to keep your body feeling well, and as a Doctor of Physical Therapy she's got the skills to make it happen, and she's sharing her secrets with us!

"Mom pain" and "Nursing Neck" are real..... but we've got these super easy hacks to help you quickly relieve the discomfort from carrying around your babies, and nursing all day. So.... let's get into it!

Did you know the birth you have matters when it comes to breastfeeding? There are certain interventions that can affect breastfeeding and your milk supply. Some common interventions that can affect your ability to breastfeed are IV fluids, epidural, Pitocin, and cesarean births.

Sometimes birth interventions are necessary, and if that's the case that doesn't mean you can't breastfeed, it just means we may need to alter the way you approach those first feedings, and early postpartum period so you can have the best breastfeeding experience despite your birthing circumstances. 

Knowing is half the battle. As a lactation expert, one of the fist things I would say to you during a virtual breastfeeding support session is... "tell me about your birth". I can get clues about what's going on based on your birth experience, and then use that knowledge to make a plan of action that will work for you, your baby, and your circumstances. 

In this post we cover different birthing scenarios, and how you can still have Your Best Start to Breastfeeding, no matter your birthing outcomes.

There's one really great way to level up and become an extraordinary first time dad, and it's simple: focus on bonding with your baby. But, how do you do that exactly? Well, in this post we break it down for you, and share the perfect tool to help you do it.

In our practice as lactation consultants we have the honor of supporting families with our prenatal class and have been given insights from the perspective of countless dads, and partners about their views of becoming a new parent. What we see commonly: the partner feels left out of the whole pregnancy experience, and can feel disconnected from the  process. 

And that makes sense I suppose. I mean, all the appointments and classes are about mom and baby. Not about dad. So it would seem their role is secondary to their partner and baby. That is not how we feel. We feel very strongly that partners need to be fully included in the prenatal experience, and have a crucial role in the breastfeeding relationship as well. Being an extraordinary first time dad/partner comes down to one very simple thing- Bonding. 

But how do you bond with your breastfed baby? Do you give your baby a bottle and give your partner a break from breastfeeding? (Well... if you've read our top tips you know we don't recommend this.) Do you play with baby? Read to baby? Massage baby? Often partners are discouraged from bonding with their babies because newborns are very mom obsessed, and usually are happiest at the breast. Nobody wants to hold a screaming baby.

​But, bonding with your baby can be easy if you have a few skills, and there's one crucial bonding method that is tried and true, and will set you up for success! 

For those of you who are exclusively pumping, I absolutely applaud you. You deserve all the brownie points, and all the brownies. In my opinion, exclusive pumping (EP) is more challenging than nursing a baby at the breast. At least, emotionally, and sometimes physically too. 

It's harder to establish and maintain a milk supply when you EP, challenging to pump and care for a baby, and often comes with a slew of emotions around not nursing baby at the breast. These are just to name a few.

That being said, there are countless women who are not afraid of that challenge and take on the EP journey with stride (and a whole lot of support!) And to those of you in it, I tip my LC hat to you (and my momma hat, and my friend hat, and my stranger hat) because I see the struggle EP mommas face in my practice, and want you to know I see how hard you're working, and no matter what anyone says to you or thinks you're just as much a breastfeeding mom as any other breastfeeding mom. 

With that said, I also wanted to provide you, brave EP momma, with more than just recognition. In today's post, I have some gold for you (liquid gold if you will). We are going to cover the topic of Exclusive Pumping, as I chat with an EP expert and share all of her best tips, and a few of mine too. 

What you don't know about your breast pump actually can hurt you..... literally.

​It can hurt your nipples, and your milk supply. So knowing how to use your pump properly, and having a pump that fits is the difference between being successful with pumping and struggling to keep up supply, or worse (and we've seen it often) causing damage to your nipples.

When you're struggling with pumping and maintaining your milk supply with your pump, don't be hard on yourself, it's likely not you, momma. The first place you should be looking is the equipment you're using, and how you're using it. It's almost never something wrong with us, and instead improper pump usage or malfunction.

​So if you're not sure if it fits, pumping is uncomfortable for you, or your output is not what it should be, you can get support to figure it out.