Mama's Milk, No Chaser

Breastfeeding With Chronic Disease

hollymilkowski March 12, 2019

It’s been well-documented that breastfeeding leads to lower risk of chronic diseases in childhood and beyond (per observational studies that suggest a connection between prevalence of chronic diseases and “suboptimal breastfeeding”). But what happens if the mother is the one affected by chronic disease?

Before you move on, please visit and read my disclaimer. For the TLDR, this information is not to be taken as medical advice as I’m not a doctor. Always consult with your own health care provider regarding any protocols, treatments, and diagnoses related to health.

hollymilkowski February 27, 2019

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Do you hate breastfeeding your toddler?

I actually don’t. Hate breastfeeding, that is. Maybe you can tell from the near-thousand breastfeeding photos I’ve shared on Instagram or the tens-of-thousands of words I’ve pressed into my keyboard about it here. But have I been enamored with every second? Certainly not. My love for breastfeeding is, in my own experience, a synchronized dance that swings along with the lyrical back-and-forth love I have for parenthood.

By now, the days of early nursing awkwardness seem so ancient, I might require a paleontologist to dig up those bones. I’m stuck like a thumb in a door jamb in a progressed era of breastfeeding, one that’s rarely talked about. I’m doing the nursing aversion thing… again. Read More

Breastfeeding a Premature Baby

hollymilkowski February 22, 2019

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Breastfeeding a premature baby is a tough job of importance that cannot be minimized. Should your feeding relationship include your own breast milk, donor milk, formula, or a combination, the whole journey will be a meaningful and deeply nourishing one for you and your baby.

This aspect of raising your baby may not have gone exactly as planned or imagined, but remember that unexpected adjustments are a normal part of the feeding routine. Feelings of sadness, disappointment, or fear are valid and worth discussing with supportive loved ones who can be motivated to help you breastfeed despite facing obstacles related to prematurity. Read More

Co-sleeping & Breastfeeding

hollymilkowski February 20, 2019

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Ah, sleep. Between the topics of how parents feed their child and how they medicate their child, somewhere we find the ultra-controversial topic of — dun dun dun (wish I could say zz, zzz, zzzz…) — infant sleep.

Your heart says to keep your baby close at all times, but your head hesitates with concerns about safety. Some authorities are convinced that co-sleeping contributes to infant deaths, while others insist it’s crucial for emotional security and exclusive breastfeeding. Somehow, “co-sleeping” has become a dirty word in our culture.

What to do? A good way to tell which sleeping arrangement is best is to evaluate your own sleeping habits. It’s difficult to make a blanket (see what I did there?) statement recommendation for all families given the range of variance in nighttime behaviors. Take all information into consideration to decide whether co-sleeping is worth the benefits to you and your child.

Keep in mind: many parents who didn’t originally plan to cosleep end up doing so anyway (the process of repeatedly getting up to tend to baby, then voyaging back to bed and trying to slip into slumber again, starts to feel like an unnecessary task when a nearby baby proves far more practical). Alas, it’s prudent to get acquainted with how cosleeping works regardless of your nighttime intentions. Read More

Nurses, Please Stop Telling Me To Cover When Breastfeeding at Your Hospital

hollymilkowski January 18, 2019

Last week, my youngest was under the weather and we had a brief hospital visit at the end of one very long day.

While sick, he was nursing nonstop. This meant he was still nursing when we arrived at the hospital — him in my arms, feverish, comforted by my breast. Read More

When You Want To Wean — But Also Don’t

hollymilkowski December 14, 2018

Okay, look. Breastfeeding is not all daffodils and lollipops. I like to think of breastfeeding as feeding + comforting a child, neither of which is ever easy no matter how you do it. Sometimes you will get to the point when enough is enough, and then you’ll revisit this point again later on and say, I really just can’t even. And somehow, you’ll find yourself at this same exact point, lo and behold, again to the againth degree — and you’ll say, I’m done. I’m really, really done.

You know the other internal conversation that happens alongside this one. The one that goes “But the way his little body feels in my arms…” and “How could I take this from him” — the one that blocks out the stress and aversion and irritation to focus on the foundation of what makes breastfeeding work: unconditional love.

Not that a mother’s unconditional love is all that’s needed to make breastfeeding a joyous success. Her willingness to try again for one more day, and another and another — that counts for something. Her comfort in this expression of multi-level nourishment as simply part of routine life with a child — that’s important, too. Read More

Birth Affirmations & Alternatives

hollymilkowski November 15, 2018

If there’s a perfect time to take advantage of the power of positive thought, it’s childbirth! Birth affirmations provide an easy throughway to sharpening the mind-body connection before and during labor. They’re inclusive in that anyone can use them — you don’t need any special training, and they’re beneficial for any type of birth.

There are several ways to use these — maybe some ways work for you, maybe they all do, maybe none feel quite right (scroll to the bottom of this post for alternate ideas). There is no wrong answer.

You may enjoy visual reminders (for example, hung on paper or fabric around your birthing space, written on notes in random spots, lipsticked onto your bathroom mirror).
You may benefit from listening to mantras (audio tracks).
You can keep affirmations in your head, too. Just invite them into your mind every so often when you need an introvert’s pep talk.
Are rituals your thing? Fold a set of affirmations into your spiritual/religious/energetic ritual practices. The theme of birth will become a spotlighted energy as you progress further into pregnancy. Don’t fight it, let it join you!
Your partner can relay your favorite affirmations as partner support during labor (simply alter the pronouns/tenses as needed). Is your partner aware that simply showing care by verbalizing sweet nothings, pride, and appreciation can assuredly influence your hormone levels, reduce your fear, and decrease your reception of pain?