A resource to inspire, inform and empower parents.

My Breastfeeding Story by Teddy from The Pregnancy and Parenthood Blog

Hello my name is Teddy, I am the creator of The Pregnancy & Parenthood Blog. I am a stay at home mother of two wonderful children and I have my 3rd baby on the way. I would like to thank Badass Breastfeeder for this great opportunity to share my breastfeeding story, Here we go!!!!

I knew as soon as I found out that I was pregnant with my first (my daughter) that I wanted to breastfeed. One thing I didn`t know was how hard it was going to be and how many ups and downs I was going to have during the next 13 months that I was breastfeeding!! The day that my daughter was born, the first thing that the nurses got me to do was try and breastfeed her, but it being my first time and all, I had no clue what I was doing so the nurses tried to help me. We started off with a few bumps in the road where my daughter kept putting her tongue to the back of her throat which wouldn’t allow her to latch on at all, but finally after hours of trying we were successful… but that was not the end of our problems. The next morning the nurses came into my room to check my daughters temperature and noticed that she had a really high fever. The doctor than informed me that my daughter would have to be hooked up to an IV for the next 48 hours so that they could monitor her and get her temperature down. They soon found out that the reason her temp was so high was because she was dehydrated from not eating enough , this was do to the lack of colostrum and milk my breasts were producing (pretty much I wasn’t producing anything) I felt absolutely horrible that I could not tell, I felt like a bad mom that I was unable to breastfeed my daughter. I had never felt so down in my life and of course the hormones running through my body didn’t help either…but in the next 24 hours things started to get A LOT better!! [Read more…]

Notes from a Lousy Photographer (MommyCon Los Angeles, 2013)

By Josh Wilker

In my defense, it’s not very easy to take good pictures or videos while holding a wriggling human megaphone.

“Too youd!” yelled this human megaphone, also known as my two-year-old son, Jack. I was aiming my phone at his mom. You can’t tell in the resulting blurry photo, but Abby was up on a stage at the Los Angeles Convention Center, speaking through a microphone to a large room full of mothers and babies (and a few stunned fathers). Jack was right, it was pretty youd. The sound hit me as a good thing, the wide, warm buzz of people coming together, but Jack disagreed.

 

Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder, speaking at MommyCon

 

“Go! This! Way!” he yelled. He spiked each syllable with a jerking full-body wiggle in the direction of the closest exit. (He views me primarily as a mule he can steer with his wiggles.) I tried to stand my ground for a moment and took a four-second video of my sneakers.

[Read more…]

My Exclusive Pumping Journey (9 Months and Going Strong)

By Chasity

After my failed natural birth, all I wanted to do was hold my son in my arms and breastfeed him. I wanted to be my son’s sole nutritional provider. I wanted to feel the inseparable bond that breastfeeding mothers talked about. I wanted my heart to warm as my son gave me a milky smile. I wanted my son and I to have the health benefits of breast milk. Breast milk is easier to digest, and lowers the risk of respiratory infections, asthma, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and skin diseases. It also lowers the mother’s risk of ovarian and breast cancer (both of which I have a high risk of getting). While I was pregnant, I watched breastfeeding videos and went to Le Leche League meetings. In my mind, there was no way breastfeeding was not going to work out for me. [Read more…]

Celebrity Guest Post: The Badass Breastfeeder, “Work”

Read this post at The Mommy Dialogues!

Celebrity Guest Post: The Badass Breastfeeder

 

 

Our Nursing Journey by guest blogger Katie Can

Read this post at Breastfeeding Basics!

Our Nursing Journey by guest blogger Katie Can

 

 

My Phone Interviews with The Boob Group

tbg-featured-smallListen to these interviews at The Boob Group!

Become a Badass Public Breastfeeder

Find Your Mama Tribe 

 

The Pink of Your Lips by guest blogger Stephanie

Guest blogger Stephanie breastfeeding

The pink of your sweet little lips
as you excitedly accept my nipple
will always be a reminder of the love
and attachment you have to breastfeeding.
However, gentle nursing is no longer the phrase
to describe the way you nurse a toddler. [Read more…]

Our Birth and Lactation Story

by Bethany

I had planned to have a drug-free water birth at The Birth Cottage, a freestanding birth center in Milford New Hampshire. I had watched documentaries such as “The Business of Being Born,” “Gentle Birth Choices,” and “Orgasmic Birth,” and therefore was very well-informed of what goes on in many hospital settings. I didn’t trust hospitals and knew I wanted my baby to be born in a safe environment where the baby would remain with me and not be separated after birth, and where I wasn’t at risk of having unnecessary surgery. I had taken childbirth classes in the Bradley Method to prepare for a drug-free birth, during which we read about the many possible dangers to the baby of drugs during labor. I had interviewed and chosen a doula to provide labor support. I even chose to go to a birth center in New Hampshire, rather than having a home birth in Massachusetts where I live, because the laws regarding midwifery are different in New Hampshire and I knew that should I need to transfer to a medical facility, a New Hampshire midwife would get a lot more respect at a New Hampshire hospital than a Mass. midwife at a Mass. hospital. Midwives are actually licensed by the state of New Hampshire, and therefore are acknowledged providers there. [Read more…]

Increase Milk Supply; Advice From a Holistic Nutritionist

Apple-1Nathalie Norris from Glow Nutritional Consulting joined us for a live Facebook chat. We gathered all of that information and put it here for you to enjoy at your convenience. As a holistic nutritionist, Nathalie brings a unique perspective to the conversation of milk supply. In this empowering Q&A Nathalie addresses the common concerns of new mothers about whether she has enough milk to nourish her baby (hint, hint… YES!) and gives overall health tips to help mothers reach their health and breastfeeding goals.

Featured Recipe

Adrenal Nourishing Chickpea Salad: Click here for the video.

Makes 8+ mini meals, feel free to adjust the recipe to make a smaller amount. Keeps 5-6 days in the fridge. [Read more…]

A Baby’s Plea

Read this post at Breastfeeding Basics!

A Baby’s Pleas by Guest Blogger Tom M