Today, doula and peer supporter Terri Dell is sharing her breastfeeding story which ends with her night weaning her daughter Riley on attempt number 3. It’s a story that covers some early challenges but ends with a demonstration of how putting some boundaries in place, and getting to grips with nursing manners, can help a breastfeeding journey to continue. As Terri describes, she ‘fell back in love with breastfeeding’ once she started to look after her own needs in the nursing...

The breadth of experiences that people from the LGBTQI+ community go through cannot possibly be covered in one episode, but today we’re making a start on how to support the community with lactation in its many forms. I’m speaking to BJ Woodstein IBCLC, who is also a doula, an academic and a translator, about the many choices open to Queer parents, including induced lactation, feeding after surrogacy and SNS chest feeding, as well as the discrimination that many face during medical care and...

This week, I’m speaking to Shona, just three weeks after the birth of her second child, Vaila, who you can hear in the background! We talk about her feeding journey with four year old Jura, anxiety, miscarriage and aversion,  and how he weaned during her pregnancy. My new book, ‘Supporting the Transition from Breastfeeding: a Guide to Weaning for Professionals, Supporters and Parents’, is out now. You can get 10% off the book at the Jessica Kingsley press website, that's uk.jkp.com using...

Although the episode title refers to blood loss, Leanne’s story is about far more than that. It is important to flag up that Leanne’s birth contained trauma and her calm and articulate description of her experience is testament to who she is as a person, and the support and debriefing she has received. It won’t be an easy listen for everyone so please consider this a trigger warning for birth trauma. How does someone get breastfeeding off to a good start despite a very challenging and...

Although the episode title refers to blood loss, Leanne’s story is about far more than that. It is important to flag up that Leanne’s birth contained trauma and her calm and articulate description of her experience is testament to who she is as a person, and the support and debriefing she has received. It won’t be an easy listen for everyone so please consider this a trigger warning for birth trauma. How does someone get breastfeeding off to a good start despite a very challenging and...

Sometimes you meet someone who you instantly connect with, and it feels like you will never run out of things to talk about! That’s how I felt when I met life coach, Mubareka Virjee.  In this episode, Mubareka brings her creative, intuitive, positive attitude to life to our discussion about her breastfeeding journey. We touch on pressure from family members, divorce and single motherhood, lockdown parenting, weaning, Islamic attitudes to breastfeeding and the concept of milk kinship, in our...

Can you breastfeed while taking ibuprofen? What about pseudoephedrine? Or even chemotherapy? The published advice on medications and breastfeeding isn’t always clear, so who do you turn to for advice? Laura Kearney is a clinical lead pharmacist for UKDILAS, an NHS service which provides evidence-based information and advice to healthcare professionals, and professionals and supporters who are working with parents. She’s here to explain how her service works, and to guide us through the...

For those parents with babies in special care, or those wanting to maintain feeding with human milk while going through their own medical treatment, milk banks are a crucial service. Over the last few decades, they often have Gillian Weaver to thank for that. My guest this week, Gillian Weaver was president of the European Milk Bank Association from 2012 to 2015. She co-founded Hearts Milk Bank in Hertfordshire, with Dr. Natalie Schenker, after a long career of running milk banks at a...

There are many outdated perceptions and myths around Down syndrome, one being that ‘babies with Down syndrome can’t breastfeed.’ March 21st is World Down Syndrome day and this year’s theme is #EndTheStereotypes. Peer supporter Sarah Ojar, breastfeeding coordinator for the charity ‘Positive about Down Syndrome’, shares her experience of breastfeeding her son Zephy and working with other breastfeeding families and explains that breastfeeding can be a positive and happy experience, especially...

Today’s episode is a wide ranging discussion about all the things you can expect from the fourth trimester, those first few months with your new baby.  I’m joined by Lucy Webber IBCLC, a former midwife who went into private practice following the birth of her third child. Her new book, Breastfeeding and the Fourth Trimester, is out now. Lucy shares her wealth of experience and knowledge on hunger cues, recovering from a difficult birth, the early days of breastfeeding, pain and faltering...

If you are breastfeeding, your breasts are going to be central to your success! Changes in breast health, from nipple damage and infection to breast cancer, can impact heavily your breastfeeding journey. In the most extreme cases, they can force a breastfeeding parent to stop nursing before they are ready. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Justice Reilly, an IBCLC, medical doctor and expert in all things breast health. We talk about breast cancer screening and treatment while lactating,...

Who are the ‘Great Pretenders’?  These are babies born between 34 and 38 plus 6 weeks. They might be multiples, pre-term babies, late pre-term babies or early term babies. Lactation Consultant Kathryn Stagg calls these babies the Great Pretenders. They might appear to be ‘full term’, but often struggle to establish breastfeeding because of their prematurity. In this episode, Kathryn helps me explore the challenges and joys of these babies. We talk about the hospital experience, techniques...

Weaning a two year old booby monster while pregnant with your second child is a challenge!  Rhea has breastfed her daughter Ilaria responsively for two years and they’ve found the weaning process tricky at times. In this episode, we talk about the emotional journey that they have been on together, and some new ideas that Rhea can perhaps use to ease the transition to being a mother to two in the coming weeks. My new book, ‘Supporting the Transition from Breastfeeding: a Guide to Weaning for...

My new book, ‘Supporting the Transition from Breastfeeding: a Guide to Weaning for Professionals, Supporters and Parents’, is out today!  To celebrate, in this episode I’ll be answering more of your weaning questions from Instagram.  And exclusively for this episode, you can get 25% off the book at the Jessica Kingsley press website, that's uk.jkp.com. Add the code STBPR25 at checkout to get 25% off. Follow me on Twitter @MakesMilk and on Instagram  @emmapickettibclc or find out more on...

How will you remember your final feed? Are you happy to say goodbye to breastfeeding without an occasion, or would you like to mark the event in some way? In this episode, I talk to Lucy Cass about her weaning journey, and the Moon Day ritual that she celebrated when her daughter, Joy, weaned at 2 and a half.  Find out more about breastfeeding and chest feeding older babies and children in my book Supporting Breastfeeding Past the First Six Months and Beyond: A Guide for Professionals and...

A difficult start doesn’t have to spell the end of your breastfeeding journey.  In this episode, I’m speaking to Emily Sanderson about how she overcame the struggle of an undiagnosed tongue tie and a 19% weight loss in the first few days of her daughter Elsie’s life. Although Emily was failed at several points in her hospital experience, thanks to having expressed lots of colostrum antenatally and finally getting the help she needed, a year on, she and Elsie are thriving.  Today’s episode...

I could have asked my guest this week, Dr Lyndsey Hookway, to talk about just about any aspect of breastfeeding. Lyndsey is an author and educator, a paediatric nurse, a health visitor and IBCLC and a researcher, and you might be most familiar with her work on sleep. But this time, we chose to talk about  her project, ‘Breastfeeding the Brave’, which focuses on breastfeeding medically complex infants and children under paediatric clinical care. We talk about breastfeeding a sick child, the...

Allergic reactions can be swift and frightening, but they can also be persistent and confusing. They are not only distressing for the baby, but also for their carers too, and the treatment often involves elimination diets for the nursing parent. This week I’ve got Kaya Thorpe IBCLC with me, who has personal and professional experience of coping with allergies in infants. Kaya explains what allergies are, how they present in babies and how we can treat them.  Find out more about Kaya at...

As a self-confessed TV addict, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk to Lauren Heeley, Senior Script Editor at Emmerdale, about representations of breastfeeding on TV. We begin with Lauren’s own story, a struggle to get help when an infection became an abscess just weeks after her daughter was born. Then at around 20 minutes, we discuss breastfeeding in some of our favourite, and not so favourite shows, including Friends, The Office (US) Game of Thrones and the notorious, Little...

This might not be the episode to listen to while you are eating your breakfast. We’re talking poo. We’re covering texture, colour, smell, frequency - all the questions you ever wanted to ask, but were afraid to ask. And who better to answer those questions than Charlotte Treitl, IBCLC and founder of the Baby Poo Gallery?  Charlotte and I discuss every aspect of poo from newborn to potty training, via allergies, when to seek medical help, elimination communication and much more. You can find...

Parenting an unsettled baby can be distressing and frustrating, especially when you feel like your concerns are not being heard. My guest this week, Shel Banks IBCLC, is working to help parents to address their worries, calm their babies and ultimately calm them. In our conversation, we touch on colic, reflux and faltering growth, looking at what each term really means and how they can be addressed. We also talk supplements, exclusion diets and probiotics.  Find out more about Shel at...

Can I still breastfeed with type 1 diabetes? What will happen to my baby now that I have gestational diabetes? In this episode, I’m talking to Lucy Lowe, an IBCLC specialising in working with diabetes in pregnancy. We talk about how gestational diabetes is diagnosed and treated, what steps you can take to prepare for breastfeeding a baby if you have any type of diabetes, and how to get more support. Find out more about breastfeeding and chest feeding older babies and children in my book...

Happy Christmas. I hope you’re having a lovely time, whether you’re celebrating with family and friends or tucked up at home.  In this short episode, I want to offer you a few words of encouragement if you’re having a challenging time, and to answer a few common questions about food and alcohol consumption. If you need more support with your breastfeeding at this time of year, you can call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212. They’re open everyday from 9.30am to...

There aren’t many things in a little person’s life that they have control over. When you start to impose boundaries or limit their autonomy over breastfeeding, you can often find that some big feelings come out in response. This week, I’m joined by parenting mentor Shelley Clarke, to talk about how we can help our little people experience those big feelings safely, what learning we may need to do about ourselves, and how you can strengthen your relationship as you negotiate change. Find out...