68. Prenatal Lactation Education: What Pregnant Moms Should Know About Breastfeeding

Are you a pregnant mom feeling overwhelmed or unprepared for your breastfeeding journey? I have been there twice before, but there is a way to have more support and information before your baby arrives. I am on this journey with you with baby number three due in a few days!

In this episode, we’ll dive into prenatal lactation education with our special guest, Jackie from Latched Lake Country, a board-certified lactation consultant and postpartum nurse. With eight years of experience in a large birth center and a passion for helping families on their feeding journeys, Jackie has invaluable insights to share!

What to expect:

• Learn about the support lactation consultants can provide during pregnancy, before baby is even here…
• When to schedule a prenatal lactation visit during pregnancy for maximum effectiveness…
• What information is discussed in a prenatal consult and how it can drastically improve your breastfeeding journey…
• Insight into common breastfeeding challenges and practical tips to overcome them…
• How to feel confident and prepared for feeding your baby when they are born…

We’ve explored the vital role of prenatal lactation education and the difference it can make in your breastfeeding journey. Whether you’re a first-time mom or experienced parent, having the right support and knowledge is key to a successful and joyful feeding experience. Remember, you’re not alone on this journey – there are experts ready to help you every step of the way. Tune in, get informed, and feel empowered for your breastfeeding journey with Latched Lake Country!

Connect with Latched Lake Country

Schedule a Prenatal Lactation Consult

Website: www.latchedlakecountry.com

Instagram: @latched.lakecountry

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👋 WHO AM I?

Welcome, friends! I am Beth, a certified nurse midwife, doula, and childbirth educator. My philosophy is rooted in autonomy, informed decision making, and positive mindset to help expecting parents plan for a beautiful, stress-free hospital birth. I am here to provide value to YOU through tips and practical advice, either to guide you through pregnancy or to help you prepare for childbirth, postpartum and beyond. There’s no fluff here - only info that adds to your positive experience and saves you stress and uncertainty.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 68 of Your Birth Bestie Podcast. Today I am sharing a guest interview with Jackie the owner of Latched Lake Country who is local to me and who I have chosen to help me on this third breastfeeding journey myself, but also an incredible resource for the community providing education during pregnancy, immediately postpartum, and all throughout the time you have a small baby and may be are troubleshooting feeding difficulties those first several months. In this episode, we are talking specifically about prenatal lactation support and how to ensure your breastfeeding journey starts off in a positive way, limiting or at least expecting and knowing how to navigate commons struggles breastfeeding brings, and general encouragement and support that nursing is a natural process, but doesn’t always feel that way, which is okay and why the lactation consultants at Latched Lake Country are there to help. I hope you enjoy this episode and I encourage you to connect with Latched on Instagram or schedule a consult, whether you’re local or a virtual visit anywhere else, the information is truly a game changer and I am actually looking forward to this next breastfeeding journey, rather than feeling overwhelmed and traumatized because of how I was treated my first two times.

Hey there. I'm Beth Connors, a midwife and mom of two, but also your birth bestie. In this podcast, we'll dive deep into everything you need to feel confident, prepared, and in control from baby bump to delivery room, from practical tips to personal stories, we'll cover it all. So you know exactly what to expect every step of the way.

Let's get into it. I'm a board certified lactation consultant and postpartum nurse. I've been a postpartum nurse in a large birth center, um, locally for about eight years. And as postpartum nurses, assisting with lactation is a pretty big part of our role. And um, as I was helping families get their feeding journeys off to a great start, I always found myself emotional and teary eyed when moms would successfully latch their babies for the first time or, um, see the colostrum that their bodies have so naturally made.

And I very quickly realized I wanted to do more and learn more from a lactation perspective.  So, I initially became a lactation counselor in 2018 after my first daughter was born, and then in 2020, wild time, I became a board certified lactation consultant. I still worked in the birth center at that time and transitioned into a lactation role there.

And then, having experienced my own two breastfeeding journeys and difficulty with those early on,  also knowing how limited the lactation support can be in the hospital sometimes,  And I only say that because in the hospital, we can only see families, you know, for maybe 24 or 48 hours if they're there that long.

And there's really just no way to provide all of that really important beneficial information in that short amount of time. But I knew I wanted to do more and, um, see families in a different setting. Most of the families that we see in the hospital have never taken a prenatal lactation course and they don't have that baseline lactation knowledge going into birth.

So we're often trying to teach. All of the baseline information, go over latch and positioning, milk supply, hand expression, paste bottle feeding if needed. Um, all of that in a 30 to 45 minute consult can be really difficult, especially if mom's brain is just trying to comprehend the fact that she just had a brand new baby and she's trying to take care of herself and her newborn. 

Um, so I just knew that lactation support could be more robust, um, in an outpatient setting.  And I opened Lact in January of 2023 and began seeing clients in our current office space last March. We now have a team of five of us. All of our lactation consultants are also postpartum nurses, which I think is really rare and really cool.

Um, because like I mentioned, we're all very familiar with the fact that, um, Inpatient lactation support is really, really important, but outpatient lactation support can really  provide the beginning and end of  that full circle education. And then having five of us in the area has provided us with a really unique opportunity to offer home visits for lactation from anywhere from like Milwaukee to Madison, which has been really cool for us.

We can see families virtually from anywhere, and then we do have an office space in the Lake Country area as well.  Um, we see about 100 councils per month currently, and then we also offer a bunch of really fun group classes and, um, support groups and things like that as well. I always say at LATCH that we, um, parents are the experts when it comes to their babies, and we prioritize parents feeding goals.

We're like the least judgmental lactation consultants you'll ever meet. Um, we just really want parents to find joy and confidence in feeding their babies, no matter what that looks like.  Yeah. I love that. I know. I, I see you myself, right? From this third baby. So yeah, it's funny having two breastfeeding journeys already.

And then, you know, having a background as a nurse and having a background as a midwife and then still being like, Holy crap, I just met Jackie for an hour. And I learned so much, even though I've had so much training. So there really is so much like specialization I feel like with lactation and just the experience that you've seen so many moms that you've trialed and erred with so many families that you have a good idea too of.

What things can, you know, look like and how you can help support them. So it's just, that's why I'm excited to talk to you about like the prenatal side of it, because you can have so much information and confidence going into it versus  trying to troubleshoot later on, which sometimes, I mean, most likely there is some troubleshooting.

I feel like for most moms, but having that resource and the confidence going into it, that like you have somebody that you trust, I think is just so, so important. And so many moms don't know that that even exists. I know a lot of people do a lot of preparation for birth and rightfully so, but when it comes to lactation there's also a lot of preparation that can be done there just to feel good about your feeding plan and, and, um, knowing that things are going to go  the way that you prepare for them most of the time.

And getting to meet that person and making sure that you vibe with them I think is also really cool. Similar to a midwife or a doula making sure that the person that you are working with is someone that you want to be spending time with for an hour. Uh.  And the other really cool thing that I love about prenatal consults, like you had mentioned, if you're going to have someone come into your home, meet your brand new baby two days after they're born, making sure that you feel comfortable and confident.

You don't even have to think about it. You already know, you know, us, you've met us. We've already chatted about all the, all the family, all the important things. Um, and. Having us come into your home is no big thing.  Three days  postpartum. And same for us. It's really fun to follow up with those families and get to meet those babies that we learned about a few weeks ago.

Um,  and  it is really like a big family affair. We usually get to meet dad and siblings and grandmas and incorporate all of them into the feeding plan too which I think is really cool for an in home option.  Yeah. And then knowing too that you are available to help. So it's like, well, there is kind of like a time crunch with, um, like milk supply and like if, if baby's not latching, are you not sure what to do or you don't know if you have the right pump?

Like you can kind of sabotage your experience if you don't have, like, there's only so much time sometimes that, um, you can troubleshoot before you kind of get to a point where it's hard to, I don't know, maybe I'm just, you know, it kind of is like, unfortunately I know you can kind of get that back a little bit, but it just makes it so much more.

So much more challenging, um, to kind of play catch up versus already being on top of it when, when baby's born. So, yeah, that's a great explanation. Just going into it and, um,  having things off to a good start from the beginning versus picking up the pieces. And certainly we are also very happy to pick up any pieces if that  were to be the case down the road.

But I think, um, the families that we meet with prenatally just have so much more to offer.  autonomy, they can really advocate for themselves and their babies early on, and they kind of know What to say in certain situations where  in, you know, without that preparation, they may feel like  this was what the nurse recommended, this was what the lactation what the doctor recommended, and who do we listen to in that situation?

Um, so just knowing that you can listen to yourself and your baby and feel confident in that, I think, is just a really, really important piece of the prenatal education.  I know I kind of know the answer because I had an hour visit with you, but if you could kind of explain what you typically talk about in like a normal prenatal lactation appointment.

Um, I think I was surprised with how much we covered in an hour that, um, I would love for you to share kind of what, what the, the checklist of things that you kind of try to include with, um, a new mom. Yeah, absolutely. Um, it is, it's a lot of information in a short amount of time. So, generally, we  if we're meeting with a prenatal consult 1 on 1, um, the 1st thing we go through is just what mom's goals are, because that can be different for everybody sometimes meet with us  with a plan to exclusively pump.

And then we. tailor our consult to that. Um, so it's really cool to be able to kind of communicate mom's goals and the best way to support them from the very beginning. But generally, when we meet with families prenatally, the things that we go over are things like colostrum production and how that happens during pregnancy and that when baby's born, there's a really good chance that the colostrum that they need is already right there for them.

Um, normal milk supply and when we expect that transition to happen around three to five days, um, what to do if that doesn't happen at three to five days. Um, how often to feed baby, how long to feed baby, how much volume we would expect mom to be making and baby to be taking. We go over things like latch and positioning, how to ensure a deep effective latch, making sure that latch is comfortable and what to do if it's not.

Um,  things like baby's second night and how cluster feeding is really normal. How to, um, promote that, um, and respond to baby's needs when they're telling us that they're hungry, um, how to watch for those hunger cues, I guess, in addition. Supplementation options if they are needed, especially on that second night.

A lot of moms get really nervous that  they don't have enough milk, that their baby's starving. We just fed them for an hour. There's no way that they're going to be hungry again in five minutes. but the reality is that they, they are and that's okay, um, it's not a bad thing and supplementation isn't always needed at that time.

But if it is, we go over options for that, like donor milk, informal milk sharing formula, um, and options for that if families are requesting information further.  And certainly we are never there to vilify formula. If formula is needed,  absolutely. We are supportive of that as well. Um,  Things like paste bottle feeding if we are providing additional supplementation or utilizing syringe feeds in those first few days, how to do that, when to do that, why we would do that,  Um, we go over things like deciding on a breast pump for parents if that's something that they want to do.

Which ones are covered by their insurance. We can actually even help parents get a breast pump while they see us. So, we partner with a local DME, and we actually have pumps in our office, so if mom sees Prenataly, we can help her. We can give them a pump right then and there and they can take it home with them, which is nice.

One last thing on their checklist. Um, and we can kind of go over the different options and help make a decision so that you don't have to Google things for days and days and days. Um, how to include dad or other partners or parents in the journey as well. A lot of dads come in with moms to their prenatal appointments and ask how they can be helpful and supportive. 

Things like pacifier use, whether or not that's recommended, if they want to do pacifiers, what type are beneficial and which ones we would avoid, same thing with bottles, um, We use actual dolls and models for parents to be able to practice latch and positioning so it's not just like a,  a quick little explanation, it's a physical feeling which position is comfortable for you and with mom's anatomy, what does that look and feel like in different positions and things like that.

Um, so in addition to those one on one.  consult. We offer a prenatal  education session as well. So like a prenatal prep group class once a month. We do host them virtually for families not in the area or who prefer a virtual option. We also host them in person. So once a month we have a big group. It's super fun.

We all get together and kind of chat about all of these things. It also allows a really great opportunity for parents to ask their questions in a group setting. So maybe another mom has a question that you didn't think of, but It is very applicable to your situation.  I love that because, um, I know a lot of people listening are not local, so it's nice to have.

You know, all the information at your fingertips that you can just log on to a zoom or, you know, have a one on one call with you and like all this stuff can be talked through, you know, virtually, which is  nice and just really convenient. Um, a lot of it, you know, sometimes it is. You know, you have to see the baby and you have to assess mom, but there's so much education and just like the empowerment part of it that I think is so much important with breastfeeding.

And that's where the group setting also is super helpful. Um, because it's not easy when you're the primary person to be feeding your baby around the clock for however long you choose. Um, And at the beginning, it's not always easy. It does. I mean, in my experience, it got easier after a few months and, um, that was great.

But getting through those first couple of months is a lot of work. Um, and when you're sleep deprived and you know, you're kind of like, who would choose this for themselves?  Other moms that are like, you know, maybe a little bit further than you in their journey, then you can learn from them. And then also the new moms that just joined, you're like, now you're the person that's like, you can do this for  a couple more weeks.

So yeah, that like, That group, um, setting I think is really cool. Um, It totally is. I think, um,  one of the coolest things about being able to do the prenatal either in person, I mean, um, in a group setting or one on one is we can assess for things that may come up, things like history of low supply or risk factors for low supply, things that  taking a general breastfeeding class may not, may not  Empower you with or, um, find things like different diagnoses that can possibly affect milk supply and then we can give you guidance on how to support that early on or knowing that breastfeeding journeys may have been difficult in the past, how to troubleshoot that going forward  and give you the confidence to know that every baby is different and those journeys might be very different, um, especially with that education piece. 

early on. Yeah, I think that was like the most, when I was in the hospital, that was usually what I saw right away was just mom's really concerned if they didn't have the education before was my baby's, I'm not making any milk, you know, I'm not getting anything. So my baby is starving, you know, things like that, even though baby's peeing and pooping and, um, has all these great signs that like we know as nurses and, um, being in healthcare, but then if a mom doesn't visually see all of this milk that's being transferred to her baby, It's very confusing, um, it can be very confusing and you're just not sure you're maybe a little bit nervous and which is all like rightfully.

So, um, especially if it's like your first time and you're not exactly sure, but, um, just normalizing that baby just needs a very small amount or normalizing how cluster feeding looks and that it's normal that just because they're eating more doesn't mean that you're not making anything and that they're super hungry.

It's just. The biologically, you know, that's their job. Yeah. That's that's their job is to stimulate the breast. So there's more, um, milk supply for them later. So yeah, all of these things that it makes so much sense once you have the information, but if you don't have the information and you're a little bit nervous or anxious about, of course, wanting to feed your baby, um,  That it's very easy sometimes to get into that, like, well, then I just need to feed formula or, um, I can't, I can't do this.

This isn't for me. It's not working for me. I don't know why it works for everybody else, but not for me. Um, so having that support and education just around that stuff beforehand is when, then when you anticipate it, just like anything in birth, like as a doula and a midwife, like, that's what I help people anticipate for these.

Potentially challenging situations during labor is like same thing for breastfeeding is you're anticipating it for maybe these challenges. And if it doesn't happen, then that's amazing. But then also if you do experience these difficulties, it's like, okay, that we knew that could happen and this was our plan and everything's cool.

Like that's such a perfect explanation. So, yeah. So it's, I think it's a really good opportunity for moms to have that. And I love how you said that dads come to, I love that dads are involved. That they always, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So moms will ask if, if dad can come or if that's weird or, Oh my gosh, absolutely.

We love it when dad's come, especially the dads that really want to be involved. Um, and this actually brings up an important piece, a question that we get pretty often, um, like moms will come in and say, dad wants to do the night feeds. And. That's going to be super helpful for me so that I can get some sleep.

And while certainly that is really helpful and it sounds really, really great in theory, um, something that we talk about often prenatally is that driving our milk supply with stimulation is extremely important. So, if we were to go all night without feeding our baby and dad just gives a bottle while we sleep for eight hours, our body's very quickly going to get the memo that our baby's not eating for eight hours overnight and, um, That maybe that plan is not exactly what mom expected it to be.

And it's really helpful, I think, for dad to be present when we talk about things like that, because certainly their intention was help mom feed the baby overnight, let mom get some sleep, but that intention may not have actually been what they thought it would be. So being able to communicate that to both parties can be really fun and exciting.

discuss other ways that dads can be helpful. And it's the littlest things, honestly, like filling mom's water and washing the pump parts and bringing her snacks at two in the morning when she's stuck, nap trapped or boob trapped and cannot possibly get up, but like just really need something. All those little things are so much more important than parents realize.

And I think letting dad know early on, like this is going to help mom more than you could ever imagine  can be really beneficial to also set their expectations going into it as well. Yeah, I think that's a huge thing, too, is I know, like, for my husband, it was that bonding aspect he felt like he kind of maybe missed out on in terms of, like, the feeding part of it, so then he would maybe want to feed a bottle, but, like, I was struggling, so I really wanted to keep baby to breast, and it was like, well, you know how helpful it is for you to, you know, like, I was using a haka, so it was like, You can wash the haka and bring it to me.

And then, you know, um, you can change the baby's diaper before she eats. And, you know, things like that is like, you can have those moments and I will have the feeding opportunity, but like, there's so many other ways that dads can be involved or even just, you know, supporting them like emotionally with like, You're doing a really good job.

Like, I'm so proud of you that you're able to feed our baby. Like that's just so much in itself. Um,  so I think it's cool that dads are involved in that way too. And, um, letting them know that they're helping. Um, otherwise they probably just feel like useless because they don't have boobs. Yes, that's exactly it.

And it, those little tasks that we talk about, like washing the Hakka, it seems so minimal. And when dads hear that initially, they feel like that's not helpful. Like that, There's, I want to do more, but that is so much in the moment. That is so much and  gosh. I don't know where I'd be without my husband in those early days, just, or like grabbing a birth break.

Oh my gosh. I forgot that before I sat down. And you know, once you're with a new partner,  it's like, yeah, when I finally got that latch, I was like, I'm not moving her from this position. I need you to grab me this.  Yes. And it is, it's just such a weight lifted off your shoulders to know that there is help.

Um, in skin to skin. This is something I talk about with all of our families all the time. Dad's doing skin to skin. I think it's so. underrated and under talked about. Skin to skin is so beneficial for everybody, mom, baby, but dad included. And usually if I see families like within the first few days and dad hasn't done skin yet I almost like make it a requirement.

Like you have to do this while your baby's still a newborn and it's the best feeling in the world. And I think that gets missed when,  you know, early on. Mom does skin to skin with the baby a lot, especially before feeds, but dad can do skin to skin too and just  maybe that's when mom takes a nap for an hour, um, but all of those hormonal reactions that mom has when they put baby skin to skin, dad can have too and that's a really good way to be involved and just bond with baby. 

Um, when feeding maybe isn't,  you know, feeding a bottle maybe isn't a great option for that family early on. Yeah. I love that. That's such a special time.  As far as, uh, I'm sure you see like common struggles that moms have maybe in that initial, um, postpartum phase, like those first couple of days or first week or so.

Is there anything that you like have tips for families, um, to kind of, Hopefully reduce that, those common struggles, whether it's like clogged ducts or milk supply or what are the things that you normally see that families reach out for? Yeah, definitely. I would say the most common things that we see families reach out for in the very beginning are things like milk supply and then pain with latch.

I think those would be the two most common. Um, we also see families, reach out for things like super sleepy babies, jaundice, obviously being a big part of that early on.  Babies may be born prematurely, which we can't really do much about, um, but how to support that and  care for those babies very early on.

But I think the biggest benefit, um, to kind of avoiding those struggles early on is that proper education and preparation piece. So we can help mom get her feeding goals.  met from very early on and avoiding things that might not be in line with her ideal feeding journey. So things like nipple pain and damage, like we talked about just promoting that deep effective latch.

And if it's not comfortable breaking that latch, knowing that we don't have to just suffer through an uncomfortable feed. That's so common early on, especially with first baby. We just, we're so excited that the baby's on there that we don't really think about how it's feeling. Um, and then, you know, possible residual comfort down the road and reaching out for support before that type of stuff happens, um,  or unnecessary supplementation.

So like we already talked about with the second night and you know, if baby does maybe have some jaundiced concerns or blood sugar issues, if we can  supplement with mom's  colostrum, letting mom know that that's an option for her versus Right away, jumping to formula supplementation and large volumes, um,  unnecessarily early in the, early in the very beginning stages, um,  flange sizing.

So we size mom for flanges prenatally, which can be really helpful, um, going into the hospital or into birth. Typically most pumps come with 24 and 27 or 28 millimeter flanges, which are  generally pretty large for the majority of the population. The average nipple diameter is about 14 to 16 millimeters.

So,  giving a mom with a 14mm nipple a 27mm flange, not super helpful, also not super comfortable. So, we can avoid,  you know, pumps not functioning well, not collecting much discomfort, all of those things with proper flange size early on.  Things like unnecessary nipple shield use or  I mean, nipple shield use is a big one.

I would say we see a decent amount of families who are given nipple shields in the hospital who really didn't need one, but just didn't know how to shape their tissue in the direction of the baby's mouth or bring baby on quickly or deeply or, um, other ways to really get baby latched without additional, you know, things. 

Every once in a while we need additional things. We have those tools in our back pocket if we need them, but very rarely do we really need all that extra stuff.  So, I think  just talking through those possible scenarios before birth, knowing that, like you said, some challenges do arise, but  Generally, none of them are like urgent emergencies, we can go through ways to support them that are in line with mom's feeding goals.

Um, other things that we can talk through, like you kind of mentioned earlier, like low supply or discomfort with feeds with previous babies. There are definitely things that we can go over prenatally to talk through. If mom does have a history of low supply, doing things like antenatal colostrum expression during birth.

There's some supplements that we can discuss starting prenatally so that supply can be more abundant with, you know, subsequent baby. Both of those things we work closely with OBs for. We want to make sure that we get their permission and their blessing for any interventions that we would, um, maybe discuss with families. 

But certainly there's a lot that we can do prenatally to help prepare for things once baby comes.  Yeah, I think that's important too that we think of breastfeeding being like this natural, I mean it is a very natural thing, but it always doesn't come naturally. Yes. So there's like things that we can do to make, you know, to prepare for these common struggles that feel like they could be make or break it, or if you, you know, They didn't have the preparation.

They could definitely make or break, you know, how your journey goes. But yeah, like things like a flange size, like to me, that just is like blows my mind how every woman isn't like fitted for that in their OB office. Um, or something, you know, it just blew my mind. Um, so that is just something that that could make or break, like how you feel like you're perceiving how much milk you're making.

But if you have the wrong size, like, it's not even like somebody's fault. It's just, you know,  Totally. It's not like the right match of pump for you. So, um, but it could drastically change the outcome of how much milk you make. So, um, and that would just, it's such an easy fix. Like, it just seems like such an easy thing to do. 

I know. I,  I still, it's just wild to me, but I do feel like there is more knowledge and education about it out there about that now, which is beneficial. Um, I think people are. Like I'm seeing in the hospital, more and more moms coming in and asking us to size their flanges, which I think is really helpful.

I mean, even when we first started, like there was no sizing, there were no  tools that anyone was using. We just kind of eyeballed initially. And we're like, yeah, I think that, you know, in the hospital there, they don't have anything smaller than a 21 because the company that they partner with doesn't make anything smaller than 21.

So it's not, it's not anyone's fault. That's just how the world is currently. But like you said, I think, Hopefully now moms have a little bit more awareness of things like that, and being able to,  to know that because it doesn't fit right, or it doesn't feel right, or it's not working well, that it might not be you.

It might be the flange that came with the pump that's not correct. Right. Generally say exactly what you said, like breastfeeding is a very natural process, but it doesn't always come naturally, and that's okay. Um, but, you know, just like. We all learn to walk. We all have to learn how to feed our babies.

And babies generally, for the most part, come out knowing what to do when they get there, but they don't always know how to get there. Their little ab muscles don't have the ability to bring themselves forward and things like that. They open their mouth nice and wide, but then they need our help to get them where they're going.

Every once in a while we see a beautiful breast crawl, and that is absolutely wonderful if that can happen, but more often than not, babies need a little bit more hands on support in those early days. And  we want parents to know how to do that. So while We  certainly, um, know that breastfeeding is generally a natural process for most moms.

There are also some moms that do need a little bit more support too.  Um, and then  I think we kind of talked about this a little bit earlier, but one of the things that we're seeing very recently is most of our prenatal consults are actually not being booked by first time moms. We have a lot of second time moms, third time moms who have said like, I knew this was gonna, like I knew I wanted to breastfeed and I knew that it was gonna come naturally but things didn't go quite as we had planned and now I know that I need help or now I want to prepare a little bit differently and I think it's cool to know that  We're always learning, and anytime we go into an experience with a mom that's had a baby before, whether breastfeeding went great or didn't go to plan, they have so much knowledge and experience the second time around or third time around that they didn't before.

And whether it's good experience or not ideal experience, all of that is really important.  really helpful in shaping our consults and the support that we provide. Um, but I always talk about trusting our baby and trusting our bodies. And I think at the end of the day, if we can just talk, you know, being a natural process, we talk about just our, our baby's going to tell us when they're hungry.

Our baby's going to tell us if things are going well or not going well. And if our body is telling us, if we have pain with latch, Then we should maybe adjust some things if our baby is  reaching out or, you know, letting us know that they're a little bit more hungry than what we expected. But then maybe we talk about giving them a little bit more volume or maybe we just feed them a little bit more often. 

One of the things that we go over every single time is how to know your baby's hungry, how to know they're getting enough to eat and how often to feed your baby. And  my favorite picture ever, I'm sure people have seen it, is like, uh, the top picture is a bunch of Cheerios, like, strategically placed every two to three hours apart, and the bottom picture is a bunch of blueberries.

Some bigger blueberries, some smaller blueberries, some closer together, and some further apart. And the point of that picture is to say, you know, the old recommendation was feed your baby every two to three hours.  on the dot on according to the clock and the reality is that babies don't know the clock and babies don't know that they should have to wait two hours to feed next time.

They just know when they're hungry and their cues are all we can follow in terms of determining when they, when they are hungry. So if we just got our baby and 10 minutes later, they're looking hungry, we just feed them again. Um, and there's really no, No harm in that. There's nothing wrong with that. I've had moms that come in and say something's wrong with my baby.

They're cuing constantly. I fed them an hour ago. My pediatrician said they can't be hungry because I was told to only feed every two to three hours. So what's wrong? And ultimately the answer is nothing. They're just, they're communicating their needs to us and feeding 8 to 12 times, even, even more than that in those first few days is very normal and, um,  while it is a natural process that doesn't always come naturally, ultimately at the end of the day, I just like to tell people, follow your mama heart and it will never steer you wrong no matter what it is.

Um, if, if you're feeling like something is,  it doesn't fall in line with what you've learned thus far, then reach out for support. Mm hmm. Yeah, I think that makes things easier too. I mean, it seems easy to follow a clock, but also if your baby doesn't fall within that, it's also kind of more stressful to be like, well, why doesn't it fall within the two to three hours?

Um, so it's almost like easier when you're not worrying about volume. You're just kind of following your baby's cues. I know for me, that was, the benefit of nursing my second was that I didn't have to worry about how much she was taking or how often. It was just whenever she wanted, um, versus my first, I was exclusively pumping and that was kind of a challenge in itself is, well, how much volume does she need?

Like, you know, how often I didn't know. So, um, kind of getting stuck with the numbers was something that I know a lot of moms deal with, um, and the, the charting of things and, um, keeping track of everything. If you're nursing, it's like, You just get a boob full whenever you want. So, um,  like it's hard. It's kind of weird at first, but then as you kind of get that confidence in yourself and your baby and your body, it's like very much less of a worry.

At least it was for me. So hopefully other moms too find that to be very similar, but yeah, it's interesting that you say that. And I think we see it a lot with moms who have exclusively pumped in the past or did, you know, a more pumping in the past to let go of that and like unlearn. the numbers and the volumes and, um, really just allowing our baby to lead in terms of those feeds.

It can be really hard to stop keeping track. And like you mentioned too, I mean, we do recommend in the beginning, keeping track of how often baby's feeding, how long they're feeding. Generally, that type of stuff is just really helpful if we're looking at things like weight gain and milk supply and things like that.

But once baby's back up to birth weight by two weeks, it can just be so stressful to keep track of things beyond that. Um, if that's, If things are going really well, then we just let them continue to go well. Yeah. Um, as far as kind of reaching out to you prenatally, when would be a good timeframe to like start the education and start to see, um, see you for lactation support?

Yeah, that's a great question. Um,  so most of our consults are covered by insurance. So with that being said, we do.  We do see some families like twice for prenatal consults. Um, some moms will take our breastfeeding basics like group class and then see us later on for a one on one consult. So generally, if we see families early on, I think, I think the, the answer to this question would be more about what mom feels comfortable with.

If you want to meet with us early on to go over things like what kind of breastfeeding stuff do I really need to put on my registry versus what is just chaos and filling up space. Um, things like.  Are there risk factors or that kind of stuff? I think earlier on some moms will see us like around 20 weeks and then again around about 36 weeks.

So I think the 36 37 week mark is a really, really great time to see someone prenatally. If the OB has given us permission, we can go over antenatal colostrum expression at that time, which I know you do quite a bit of education on Beth too. I loved seeing all of your information that you shared on colostrum harvesting, but After 36 weeks, it's considered generally safe for moms with low risk pregnancies to be able to harvest colostrum for their babies prenatally, so that when they're born, we can utilize that if any type of supplementation would be needed.

Um,  it's also a really good time for things to be very fresh in our minds. If we do over things at 20 weeks, that can be just a really good time. Good time to  review a lot of education and then kind of recap and go over things more specifically at 36 weeks. If any other questions have come up, um, deciding on a breast pump, ideally, um, if we decide on one early on at 36 weeks is generally then when we give it out so that they can have it right away before baby's born.

Um, so I would say just to answer that question in general, most often we recommend a prenatal consult somewhere around 36, 37 weeks.  Also, if insurance and, um, finances allow for it, like somewhere on that 20, 24 week mark as well. And then,  like I said, those two different types of consults, we can see people virtually for one and then in person for the other.

That can sometimes be helpful to, um, to go over the latch and positioning type stuff as well. Yeah, I know. I found that super helpful. So I'm definitely like spreading the word to like everybody, go see a speech consultants before you have your baby. And they're like, what do you mean? I don't have my baby yet to like feed, but it's like, no, you don't know yet.

You're adding stuff to learn. So, um, which is really cool. Um, so if you could just kind of share with listeners where they can find you, whether they're local or, you know, not local, um, and then kind of recap. Your services. Yeah, absolutely. The easiest way to find us is probably our website. So we have a whole lot of information on our website.

People can schedule consults there. We post all of our events, um, in the area and online. Um, you can meet all of our lactation consultants online, which is super fun. We have a little about me section, which lets you choose which lactation consultant you might feel most called to work with. Um, so Latch Lake Country is our, Lachlacountry.

com is our website. We also have an Instagram page where we share tips and tricks and  we sometimes go live and share some of our, our day to day behind the scenes type stuff. We post about all of our events that we are hosting there as well. We do host a breastfeeding support group. Um, once a month, currently it used to be every other week, but for the summer, we're taking a little break.

So our breastfeeding support group information. Um, is always posted on Instagram. Do want to mention as well, if anyone does reach out for a consult with us or sees us for a consult, everything that we talk about in our consults comes to families via that HIPAA compliant communication. So, we provide a lot of infographics information, the recap of the care plan so that families can access it, um, and find answers to their questions there anytime. 

But back to finding us and the things that we offer. So in addition to the breastfeeding support groups, we do also offer infant and toddler CPR classes. We offer those prenatal classes that we had talked about. We also collaborate with other providers in the area to offer like pop up events and things like that.

And hopefully in our new space very soon, we will be,  we're hoping to offer a weekly moms group. So that will be coming soon. Coming soon pending a few more things but that is kind of a recap of our group offerings and then in addition to those we offer our one to one prenatal consults, we offer initial consults in home and office virtually, we offer follow up consults so if we see a family for a Weight loss concern or a milk supply concern.

We follow families closely so that we can ensure that they're getting adequate and appropriate follow up and they're not just sent out into the world hoping for the best. We communicate with their pediatricians, OBs, midwives to make sure that all of the care team is on board with everything that we've communicated and then. 

Like I said, most of our consults are covered by insurance. I would say 85 to 90 percent of our consults currently are covered by insurance, so families can comfortably follow up with us as many times as they need to to ensure that all of their questions and concerns are answered, um, without having to worry about whether or not it's something that's affordable and if follow up is attainable for them. 

Thank you so much for tuning in to Your Birth Bestie podcast. Check out the show notes to connect with Jackie and her team over at Latched Lake Country. There are so many ways to prepare for your feeding journey with your baby, receive personalized expert advice, and actually enjoy feeding your baby and feel confident when the time comes. I definitely recommend prenatal breastfeeding education and wish you all the best on your journey ahead. I will be back next Tuesday with another episode, thanks so much for being here!