Breastfeeding Support Network

07/12/2025

Babies that receive human milk have lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. Human milk is far more than nutrition, it is a part of overall health/

03/12/2025

The mysteries and powers of breastfeeding!

What the researchers actually did ⬇️

They followed infants who were:
🤱🏼exclusively breastfed
🤱🏼🍼 partially breastfed
🍼 formula-fed

And they analyzed their blood, specifically looking at the types and amounts of immune cells at different ages. This is next-level research because instead of just looking at illness rates, they looked at immune programming at the cellular level.

🧠 What They Found:

Breastfed infants had unique immune cell patterns compared to formula-fed infants.
These differences suggest breastmilk helps train and shape the immune system in early life.

1. Higher leukocytes (white blood cells) These are your body’s infection-fighters. Breastfed infants had higher levels early on, which may help protect against sickness.

2. Higher erythrocytes (red blood cells) Breastfed babies showed higher red blood cell counts in early infancy, meaning potentially better oxygen delivery and healthier blood profiles.

3. Differences in lymphocyte populations

Breastfed infants had different amounts of:
-T cells (adaptive immunity, long-term memory)
-B cells (antibody producers)
-NK cells (natural killer cells that destroy infected cells)

This aligns perfectly with what we know: breastmilk contains antibodies, cytokines, and immune cells that teach the infant immune system how to respond.

4. Immune development follows a different “trajectory” when infants receive human milk: Formula-fed infants had immune patterns that looked more “adult-like” earlier, which might sound good, but early maturation of the immune system may increase later risks of inflammation, allergies, and autoimmune tendencies

Breastfed infants had a more gradual and regulated immune development.

🙋🏼‍♀️ Why This Matters (and why it’s COOL)

✔ It’s direct biological evidence: We’ve always known breastmilk reduces infections… But this study shows why: breastmilk programs the immune system differently.
✔ It supports exclusive or partial breastfeeding: Even partially breastfed babies showed immune cell differences, meaning every drop counts.
✔ Formula is missing the live immune components: Formula can feed a baby. Breastmilk feeds AND programs the immune system.

PMC ID: PMC11686727

03/12/2025

Beautiful!

No one prepared me for this moment.

I had imagined it, rehearsed it, worried about it…
but nothing compared to the reality of holding this tiny human against my chest
and realizing I’m the one she’s been waiting for.

As she rooted and figured out her way,
my brain was loud louder than I expected.

“Will I do this right?”
“Will it hurt?”
“Will my body make enough?”
“What if I fail?”
“What if I’m not cut out for this?”

Every insecurity I’ve ever had
seemed to squeeze itself into the space between us.

And then… she latched.

Not perfectly.
Not gracefully.
Not like the peaceful, angelic pictures I saw online.

But she latched.

And something in me cracked open.
Not confidence not yet
but something like
Maybe I can do this.
Maybe we’ll figure this out together.
Maybe I’m stronger than I think.

Her tiny hand rested on me, trusting me completely
before I even trusted myself.
How wild is that…
that our babies believe in us
before we believe in ourselves?

In that one messy, emotional, overwhelming moment
I realized this wasn’t just her first latch.
It was mine, too.
My first latch into motherhood.
My first step into a version of myself
I hadn’t met yet.

A woman who keeps trying.
A woman who learns as she goes.
A woman who shows up again and again
even when she’s exhausted, unsure, or scared.

A woman who loves so fiercely
that she’s willing to figure out the hard parts
one feed at a time.

No one prepared me for this moment
but maybe this moment
is what prepared me.

02/12/2025

I sat in the rocking chair in the room off to the side of the church nursery. My baby had fallen asleep while nursing and I could tell from the sounds outside the walls that the service was over. Sounds of parents picking up their toddlers came from around the corner.

I suspected she was well passed her baby feeding days. She smiled at me and then frowned at the speaker on the wall. "Was this off the whole time?"

I told her yes and I couldn't figure out how to turn it on so I just sat in the quiet space with my baby while she fed.

"That was probably a spiritual experience itself" I could tell she was only half joking. Sitting in quiet with just my baby was, actually, pretty divine.

Her name was Kathy. She explained that she comes in regularly to make sure the nursing room was stocked. Nursing pads, ni**le cream, diapers, wipes, snacks, bottled water, and her card.

Tentatively she told me that if I didn't want to miss the service to feed my baby in case the speaker was off, I could just stay in the sanctuary. No need to leave. Unless it made me more comfortable, the room wasn't available as a requirement, just as an option.

"And you don't have to worry about fiddling with a cover if you don't want to. Covers are for your comfort and they can be a real hassle and interfere with getting a good latch so if that doesn't work for you, don't worry about it, always put your baby first. Pastor is used to it, I've converted everyone.

I thanked her and told her I normally would just feed in the service.

"Did someone say something to you?" she asked, clearly ready to give someone a talking to.

Assuring her that wasn't the case, I shared that my baby was in a real "complete silence while I feed" phase and was too distracted and too tired to nurse in the service that morning.

Lowering herself into the giant bean bag chair across from me, she settled in to keep me company and chat. She asked me questions and told me about herself. She was a mom of 2 adults, had been at the church for a couple decades, she and her husband taught a class together, she was an L&D nurse in a local hospital, and she was an IBCLC.

I shared about how my baby was born with a heart defect, that she was my 5th, that we fought hard to have this nursing relationship and it was finally feeling a little more smooth in feeding her.

"You look like a pro" she told me. "If I could bottle up your confidence and give it to other new moms, I would."

Kathy's own confidence talking about feeding babies and offering reassurance to me that I could feed my baby wherever and however it worked for me was encouraging. Her boldness in offering support and the work she had done to influence the culture of that church community was something I admired. A tiny glimpse of what could be, what I hoped for the world, for anyone ever to feed a baby. I had already started TLB and I appreciated seeing in person what I was striving to do virtually. Kathy had normalized breastfeeding in our church and had done so in a way that met people where they are.

We went on to become friends and she would become, and still is, one of the biggest cheerleaders of TLB. Just like she was and still is one of the biggest cheerleaders of so many others.

***Pic of me nursing a different baby at a different church event.

02/12/2025

More context to breastfeeding in church.

Pope Francis and the Blessings of Breastfeeding Angela Rupchock-Schafer | January 30, 2014 Maria Sanchez feeding her daughter while participating in a CWS-supported workshop in the community of Antiguo Xonca, Guatemala. CWS is working with the community to construct greenhouses to provide families w...

02/12/2025

Yes!

Nursing in church… to me there’s no debate. Have baby+baby is hungry+able to nurse= FEED BABY.

But what do you think *For Yourself- it really doesn’t matter to any of us what you think other people should do- worry about yourself, you can only control you, mind your own t!ts and all that.

It was when I was in a church struggling with a cover trying to nurse my 4 month old who WOULDN’T HAVE IT that a guy friend of mine on the worship team who also happened to be an RN asked me why I was insisting on covering my baby if she didn’t like it. “Just feed her, let the kid get her milk in peace. It’s just a b@, we’ve all seen B@ before, what’s the big deal?” And that was that, the end of me covering and my baby finally got to eat in peace. (That child STILL hates the idea of anything on her head.)

If you’re more comfortable covering or going some place private, please do so! You do you. But covering on principle at church? Nah. There’s a whole genre of art featuring Mary, the mother of Jesus with a b00ß out, sometimes with a stream of milk hitting a Saint square in the face. I’m not going to worry about hiding feeding my baby. If someone doesn’t like it, they can take it up with the guy that said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

To me there’s nothing to debate here. Feed your baby. If someone takes issue with it, I’m not going to argue but I won’t be staying in a church that wants to create barriers for children and their parents coming to worship. Tells me all I need to know about a church. ✌🏻

08/08/2025

🌍 Exclusive breastfeeding rates worldwide remain far below where they should be.

That’s why I was delighted to speak with medical students in the Global Health track on “International Perspectives on Breastfeeding.”

We explored how future physicians and public health leaders can protect a mother’s breastfeeding goals—especially when prescribing medication. The WHO has clear protocols to ensure most medications are compatible with breastfeeding, and very few are true contraindications. Access to a lactation consultant, whether in-house or by referral, should be standard practice.

We also discussed the global pillars that safeguard breastfeeding and can help move the needle upward on exclusive and extended breastfeeding rates. Alongside this, we reinforced the essentials—recognizing feeding cues, proper positioning, and effective latching techniques.

Educating tomorrow’s health leaders on these principles is more than classroom learning—it’s an investment in healthier generations to come.

13/06/2025

Yep!

31/05/2025

Did you know? 📣

👉Breastmilk changes flavor:
What you eat can subtly change the taste of your breastmilk—baby gets a little preview of what family meals might be like later!

👉Your body customizes the milk:
Your breastmilk adapts to your baby’s needs. If your baby is sick, your body increases antibodies in the milk to help fight it off.

👉It’s a natural pain reliever:
Breastfeeding releases oxytocin in both mom and baby, which can reduce pain and boost bonding.

👉Boobs know what baby needs:
The composition of breastmilk changes over time—from colostrum (the first milk) to mature milk—to match your baby's growth stages.

👉One b**b can produce more than the other:
It’s common for one breast to be the "power producer" while the other just coasts along.

👉Breastfeeding burns calories:
You can burn up to 500 extra calories a day while breastfeeding. It's like a workout without leaving the couch!

👉Milk comes out in sprays, not drops:
During a letdown, milk often sprays out in multiple streams—it's like a built-in baby showerhead!

👉Milk can look like a rainbow:
Breastmilk can be blue, yellow, white, green, or even pink depending on diet, hydration, and other factors.

👉Babies can smell you from across the room:
Newborns have a powerful sense of smell and can recognize their mama’s scent and milk—even from several feet away.

👉You can tandem nurse:
Some moms breastfeed two kids at different ages at the same time—like a milk buffet!