Cascadia Lactation

Happy holidays to all the babies I hold! Thanks to Santa and these rechargeable hand warmers, my hands will no longer be like ice when I pick up babies. 💜

As a white, cis-gendered, hetero-presenting woman, I have a s**t ton of privilege and a s**t ton of work to do. Starting here.

Thank you to SonShine & Rainbows Lactation Services for creating this beautiful meme!

When addressing parents and their children, it is absolutely imperative that you first ask what their pronouns are.

This can be as simple as adding the question on the intake form or just asking.

Here I am, breastfeeding my first baby, and here she is, *so* grown up. What surprised me the most about breastfeeding is what a warrior I turned out to be. I’d never considered myself a particularly dedicated or strong person until I became a mother. Breastfeeding was awful in the first couple of weeks - super painful and I was having anxiety attacks at all hunger cues. I decided to pump and bottle-feed her - this was a LOT of work. I pumped every three hours, around the clock, for four months - when we finally figured out the latch and she breastfed until she was 14 mos old. This picture was taken just a couple of days after I’d happily thrown my pump into the back of a closet where it lived until I went back to work with my second. Looking back, it didn’t feel like work then. It felt like something I was born to do. My strength and persistence surprised me and I think the confidence I gained changed me at my core. I see this same persistence every day in the families I work with and it makes me feel like the luckiest!