The easiest healthy snacks for breastfeeding moms.

A University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus study finds that hormones in breast milk may impact the development of healthy bacteria in infants' guts.

I have breastfed forever... over 70 months and counting.  If you think for one second that I have completed this momentous milestone without wine, then you do not know me at all. Another hypothetical question: How you think I keep getting pregnant?

Duh. WINE.   (Oh – and my husband is incredibly good looking.)

Raise your hand if you have ever woken up in a pool of breastmilk. Raise your hand if you know the feeling of being awoken by your rock hard, milk-filled breasts.

Learn more about what you should include in your diet to increase your breastmilk supply.

Holy BOOBS, Batman!  The girls may have been one of the first signs that you were pregnant, as swollen, tender breasts tend to appear early in pregnancy.  Did you know though that they may also leak while you are still growing your baby?

I have been breastfeeding for 67 months, through 3 pregnancies with little break before each new baby was born.  We are expecting our 4^th baby in a few months and will add on at least another 2 years or more to that total.  While I am not an expert, I have a few children’s worth of experience and I was raised by a lactation consultant mother, which means that boobs have been an open topic- my entire life. So let’s talk about the boobies. Breasts. Baby-Feeding Machines.  Because that is what they are meant for: feeding babies. Pregnant with my first baby, I was shocked to learn that breastfeeding takes work, and I am so glad that I had help.  The number one thing I will recommend to you is to seek out an awesome lactation consultant, preferably one that is board certified.  She will be worth her weight in gold and every single extra penny you may spend on her.

This image shows a far superior breast pump to the one we all know and hate.  The pump in the background is what we know.  It is loud, semi-painful, unflattering, time-consuming, and "utterly" ridiculous. (Like the pun there? Yes, I referred to the pump as if it was milking a cow. I'm that good.) The future may be here mamas!  I feel a bit ridiculous that after birthing four babies, I didn't think to update the breast pump.  That being said, I wish the amazingly brilliant couple behind the company Babyation who created this ingenious idea all the best - and all the glory that comes with changing the breastfeeding world!

When my first baby was born, I laughed at the idea of ingesting my placenta.  Heck, I didn’t even want to look at the organ after it was delivered!  I had this amazing unmedicated birth center birth, and I didn’t even look at my placenta. What was I thinking? Over the next year, we started falling further down the rabbit hole of all things natural.  Our lifestyle began to change as well as our views and practices.  By the time I was pregnant with baby #2, we were ready for a homebirth, I was teaching childbirth education classes, and I fully understood the power of the placenta.  Not only was I excited to see it, but I wanted it encapsulated. I took my placenta pills for a few weeks and then decided to stash them in the freezer.  I was making plenty of milk, had no signs of depression or baby blues, and was feeling great.  My husband asked me a few months later if I truly wanted to keep those suckers in the freezer long term. I simply laughed at him and swallowed two pills the morning after St. Patrick’s Day (in Savannah, mind you.) and went on my merry way while he suffered an awful hangover. Placenta Pills for the WIN!   He has never questioned  the frozen pills since.