I have letters after my name that are supposed to mean I have breastfeeding under control.

 

I am a registered nurse. I am an internationally board-certified lactation consultant. I have sat with hundreds of women in the hardest moments of early motherhood.

 

And when I was pregnant with my first son Maddox, I was scared.

 

PCOS. Gestational diabetes. Years of infertility — failed IVF, failed frozen embryo transfer, and finally a spontaneous pregnancy that felt like it could be taken away at any moment. I knew exactly what my diagnosis and risk factor combination could mean for my breastfeeding journey. I had seen it happen to other women, time after time again.

 

So, I did something almost nobody in the United States was doing in 2017: I collected colostrum in the last few weeks of pregnancy before my son was born. I found the research myself; something that was known about and being taught in other countries. I self-taught myself. I sourced every supply item using my clinical background. I froze every drop of liquid gold that I was able to collect and brought a little cooler with it to the hospital.

 

When Maddox arrived with unexpected oral restrictions and dropping blood sugars, I confidently opened the cooler, grabbed my stash of colostrum and fed my baby without the experiencing overwhelm and panic that's often experienced in these moments. My husband also got to feed our son through finger feeding with a syringe of my colostrum while I pumped and hand expressed to establish and protect my supply until my full milk supply came in and we figured out latching. We navigated those first hours calmly, together, with a plan made weeks before any of it happened.

 

We went on to exclusively breastfeed to meet my goals and beyond. And I collected colostrum with every pregnancy after that — because once you see what preparation does, you never walk into a birth without it.

 

I became known locally as the person to talk to about breastfeeding preparation. Everyone wanted to know what I did. But the same question kept coming up: where do I get the supplies? How do I know what to do?

 

I had to reckon with the privilege of my medical background and clinical access — and decide what to do with it.

 

MilkyLove was and is my answer. It can be yours also.

 

— Staci, RN, IBCLC and mom of 3