Breast & Bottle Feeding

"Are you going to breastfeed?" The question slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it, and the woman I was speaking to looked taken aback and I don't blame her. There is so much pressure to breastfeed, so much shaming and mom guilt, and constant messages of breast is best; it is hard to navigate the waters of what to say and to whom. My interest was genuine, I made it to a year breastfeeding and I wanted to share my experience with her. I wanted to let her know that there were many, many days I wanted to quit and that it was a challenge, from the beginning, and that if she wanted to complain, or stop,...

Motherhood is hard ...  … and while we have Google and endless advice from Aunt Karen, everyone ultimately has to figure things out on their own. The opinions of others are so accessible to the modern-day mama, that I genuinely believe our mental health suffers any time we pick up our phones throughout early motherhood.  It’s a new kind of struggle and one I’m having a difficult time navigating. I generally use my manners online, but that doesn’t mean I’m not affected when someone I respect chooses to parent differently and raves about it. It doesn’t mean I’m not affected when a stranger blatantly blasts the way I’ve chosen to go about teaching my child to sleep. It doesn’t mean I’m...

In February 2018 I just landed an amazing job, bought my own house, just turned 23, felt the most comfortable I ever had in my own skin, and recently retired from competing for Miss Louisiana. I felt like things had fallen into place until I found out I was pregnant. I was scared, but not for the typical reasons someone young and not married would be scared about having a baby. I had supportive family and friends. That was no issue. It felt like a death sentence. I was scared because of everyone telling me “just wait”. Everything I was told and read made being pregnant feel like a death sentence. I was generally advised to hurry up and get married, quit...

I guess I have it backwards, right? We’re always harping on the pressure mothers feel to breastfeed their babies. That was the case with my first daughter, but not my second. With my first daughter, breastfeeding was a battle from the beginning. Lots of pain, a tongue-tie and major oversupply that kept each feeding from being anything but relaxing. It was because of my oversupply that I felt I had to keep going. Women dream of having this much milk, I’d think. I had no “valid” reason to quit.  I promised myself I would make it to 6 months and wean. That’s exactly what I did, and I never looked back.  Spit Happens Breastfeeding has come naturally and without any pain since the...

It's a topic that seems to be taboo in today's society, but it is one that I feel is so important to spread awareness about -- donating breast milk. Sure, it's not for everybody. But for me, it was something I am so appreciative of. I did not have the opportunity to breastfeed or pump breast milk due to me having a double mastectomy at the young age of 25. I go into detail about why in my personal blog here. May 13, 2017 -- It was my baby shower — constantly opening bags and packages filled with gifts, onesies, toys, all the baby essentials and must-haves. But one still to this day was my favorite. I opened the gift...