Helen Dandurand (Host): Welcome back to the Well Within Reach Podcast. I'm your host, Helen Dandurand, and today I'm going to be joined by Cathy Currie, a lactation consultant at Riverside's Family Birthing Center to talk about overcoming common barriers to breastfeeding.

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Helen Dandurand (Host): And we're back with Cathy Currie. Thank you for joining us today.

Cathleen Currie: Thank you so much for having me.

Host: Of course you've been on the podcast before a little bit, but if you want to just start for anyone who might not have listened, uh, telling us a little bit about yourself, kind of how you ended up where you are now.

Cathleen Currie: Well, I graduated nursing school a long time ago, back in 1992, and did some other nursing before transitioning over to Mother Baby Care back in 2008. As I started doing that and having already breastfed three children, I really discovered that I had a passion for helping moms with breastfeeding. And so in 2018, I got certified with my IBCLC.

Host: That is great. That's awesome. And how long have you been at Riverside?

Cathleen Currie: I joined Riverside, last August.

Host: Awesome. Just a little while here. Well, so today, like I said before, we're going to be talking about common barriers to breastfeeding. And I kind of did some research on what some of the top ones are, and I think we'll just kind of go through and see what kind of advice that you have for those different topics. One of the first ones that I came up with here was what would you say to someone who's worried about having a low supply?

Cathleen Currie: Well first of all, I would recommend that they focus most on just breastfeeding their baby. If they have questions, concerns, after feeding their baby, to schedule a visit with a lactation consultant who could look at their specific situation. Because many times, we have more milk than we think we do, and so it's really not as common as moms sometimes think it is. By scheduling a one-on-one visit, such as with me at Riverside or a lot of your other hospitals, they do also have lactation consultants that will schedule visits for you.

Host: Got it. Cool. So just getting a little help might be all that you need. It's probably not really just an undersupply issue. The second one I kind of looked at here was, what about controlling oversupply? Like what would you say to someone who is like, freaked out about that?

Cathleen Currie: I think we often are in situations when we are first breastfeeding baby, those first couple weeks we may feel like we have a lot of milk. So we want to make sure we're breastfeeding baby and not doing too much pumping, unless we're really uncomfortable. By responding to baby's cue, your body should start to regulate. If just breastfeeding baby isn't working and you find that you still feel overly full, I would recommend once again probably at least calling and having a conversation with a lactation consultant, at that point in time to see, really, it's a kind of an individualized thing, to see how things are going.

And then there are things to put in place if you're already feeding baby, to their satisfaction and you truly have a little bit too much milk. There are things that we can start doing, like spacing out pumping sessions or, just trying to pump less frequently, so that body starts to respond to that in decreased supply.

Host: Are there reasons that something like that would happen? I mean, it kind of sounds like you're saying if you're pumping too much, your body thinks you need more.

Cathleen Currie: Breastfeeding is all about supply and demand. If we tell our bodies we need more milk, our body will usually respond to that. So sometimes moms are concerned about not having enough milk, and they may pump more than necessary, which can create over supply.

Host: Gotcha. That makes sense. And then my next question, something that I saw a lot of people kind of concerned with was engorgement during breastfeeding. Could you tell us more? Elaborate.

Cathleen Currie: Sure. So most often engorgement is going to happen in the first week of breastfeeding. Your body is responding to all those signals that you gave early on. And so now it's going to send you the milk you've been telling that, that you want. When it does that, many times our breasts get firm and hard, what we call engorged.

Usually the best way to manage that is to let baby feed as often as possible. If baby feeds and you are still uncomfortably full, then we recommend pumping just to comfort, not pumping to empty. It's when we are doing pumping to empty that we can continuously have problems. So if baby's feeding well at the breast, you want to pump to comfort. And if you're still having problems, I guess after that point, then give a call.

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And we are back. Some more common barriers. Another one that I saw a lot of was sore nipples. Soothing sore nipples, and then maybe other challenges like that, like clogged ducts and that kind of lane. What would you say for those things?

Cathleen Currie: Sometimes our nipples may be a little bit sore in the initial days of breastfeeding, so, usually, if the pain is worsening, it's a sign that baby's not getting a deep enough latch. So correcting, a latch. So calling your lactation consultant or your provider if you are having a lot of nipple pain that's not improving.

To help heal your nipples, breast milk is the first best thing to put on your nipples. It actually helps promote healing. So I always recommend putting colostrum or breast milk first. If you do like to use lanolin or a nipple bomb or something like that, then put that over the breast milk. But breast milk itself can go a long ways to healing your nipples. And then of course, making sure baby's getting a good latch.

Host: That's crazy that you, what you're creating can help heal you. That, that's awesome.

Cathleen Currie: Isn't it amazing?

Host: Yeah. Yeah. So those were kind of some of the main challenges that I saw. Are there any like as an expert that I'm missing that people come to you with a lot?

Cathleen Currie: I really think you actually covered a lot of the common things that moms come with. I think that when babies change their feeding patterns, that's another time that parents will come, our moms will come because, what baby's feeding pattern is as a newborn changes when they get older. So as they get older, they actually may shorten the time that they're feeding at the breast. And so that is often a time when moms might call and say, Hey, I'm not sure my baby's getting enough.

Host: Gotcha. What's a good resource to know like understand like the changing patterns and know what to expect at different ages.

Cathleen Currie: It can vary from baby to baby. When it comes to breastfeeding, still your best measure of how baby's doing is you know, is baby having enough wet diapers? Are they feeding? And do they seem content? So those are some of the best things. And when you have questions, reaching out. There are a couple good websites, that are good resources. kellymom.com has a lot of great information. But also, once again, reaching out to your medical providers is a good source of information as well.

Host: Gotcha. So if someone is wanting to breastfeed and needing more info, and is here around Riverside; what kind of advice would you give them? Like how can they contact you, and what kind of resources do you have to offer?

Cathleen Currie: We have breastfeeding class that happens. I teach that every six weeks and it doesn't cost anybody anything to sign up for and to attend. Also my office number, my direct line, I'm, I'm in the office Monday through Friday and my number is (815) 935-7342. You can call me and I'd love to have a conversation with you, and to help you feel more prepared.

Host: Great. That's awesome. And then if a mom does deliver at Riverside, do you meet with each mom as well?

Cathleen Currie: So I see all the moms on the days that I'm there at the hospital, and when you deliver at Riverside too, you can always call and schedule a one-on-one visit, with me directly as well.

Host: Great. I think this is some great information. Thanks for being here today, Cathy.

Cathleen Currie: And thanks so much for having me.

Host: Yeah, of course. And thank you listeners for tuning in to the Well with Within Reach podcast, brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. For more information, visit riversidehealthcare.org.