Mother Nurture Breastfeeding Support Services

11/13/2025

🤱🏼💕

11/13/2025

Night waking is a biological protection mechanism, not a flaw in your baby or parenting. Babies are created to wake for nourishment, comfort, connection, and regulation. Their brains and bodies are still developing, frequent waking keeps them safe and helps maintain milk supply, attachment, and hormone balance. We’ve normalized independent sleep so much that we’ve forgotten how biologically dependent infants are meant to be. They’re not “bad sleepers.” They’re human… wired for proximity and connection.

So all this to say, If your baby still wakes, you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re meeting a real need.💕

11/11/2025

When we talk about protecting breastfeeding, this is one of the most important conversations.

Hospital practices matter. A lot.

Research shows that babies who receive formula supplements in the hospital have 2.5 to 6 times higher risk of early weaning. Not because formula is “bad” or because those moms did not care. But because breastfeeding works on supply and demand, and early interference can disrupt that foundation before it even begins.

One study followed first time mothers who fully intended to exclusively breastfeed (Chantry et al., 2014). The researchers found that in hospital supplementation, even in small amounts, significantly increased the likelihood that breastfeeding would end earlier than planned. This was independent of maternal intention or motivation. So this is not about willpower. It is about physiology, education, and support.

There are times when supplementation is medically necessary and life saving. That is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about routine, unnecessary, or convenience based supplementation, often given before lactation support is offered, before baby is given time to nurse, or simply because a parent was told to “rest” or that “one bottle will not hurt.”

Except the science shows it can hurt.
Not emotionally or morally, but mechanically.

Early formula use can:
- disrupt the hormonal signaling that establishes milk production
- decrease infant time at the breast and weaken latch practice
- lead parents to believe the baby was hungry when the baby was simply cluster feeding
- reduce parental confidence and increase self doubt
- set the feeding journey on a more difficult path

Breastfeeding is a learned behavior for both mother and baby, and those first hours and days are powerful. Parents deserve accurate information, hands on help, and the chance to make decisions based on evidence rather than pressure, fear, or convenience culture.

This is why Baby Friendly practices exist.
This is why immediate skin to skin matters.
This is why lactation support in the hospital matters.
This is why informed consent around supplementation matters.

When supplementation is needed medically, we support it. Always. When it is not needed, parents deserve support, not subtle sabotage.

Breastfeeding should not depend on luck.
It should depend on education, support, and evidence based care.

11/11/2025

Nothing like it🥰😚

11/11/2025

A 2024 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Public Health looked at 16 studies (nearly 4,000 preterm infants) and found something powerful, babies who received any amount of breast milk had:

✨ Better cognitive development
✨ Lower rates of neurodevelopmental impairment
✨ Improved long-term outcomes into childhood

Researchers noted that the benefits were dose-dependent, meaning the more breast milk preterm babies received, the stronger the developmental gains. (Zhang et al., 2024). This reinforces what NICUs around the world have observed for years: Human milk isn’t just nutrition, it’s neuroprotective medicine for the developing brain.

11/06/2025

🧠 New Research: Breastfeeding and Long-Term Brain Growth

Ottino-González et al. (2025) found that longer breastfeeding duration was associated with greater cortical thickness and improved cognitive function.

Researchers looked at over 5,000 children between the ages of 9–12 years. They analyzed brain scans, thinking skills, and breastfeeding history.

What they found was powerful: the longer a child had been breastfed, the stronger and healthier their brain structure appeared…. even years later.

💡 Here’s what they found:

Children who were breastfed longer had:
✨ Thicker brain cortex — this is the outer layer of the brain responsible for memory, attention, perception, and awareness.
✨ Larger brain surface area — which is connected to intelligence, emotional regulation, and learning.
✨ More myelin in key areas — myelin is like “insulation” that helps brain cells send messages quickly and efficiently.

Even more fascinating? Those brain differences were directly linked to better cognitive function, meaning stronger memory, focus, and problem-solving skills.
And this was still true almost a decade after they’d been weaned.

We often talk about breastfeeding benefits in terms of early life… immune support, fewer infections, lower risks of allergies, and reduced hospitalizations. But this study reminds us that human milk is brain food in every sense of the word. It’s not just about calories. It’s living tissue, filled with fatty acids like DHA, hormones, stem cells, antibodies, and over a thousand bioactive molecules that support brain development.

Think of it as communication milk: every feed delivers microscopic messages that tell your baby’s brain how to grow, connect, and adapt.

Of course, this doesn’t mean breastfeeding is the only factor, genes, environment, and education all play roles. But it shows that the effects of breast milk don’t just fade after the newborn stage… they keep echoing into childhood and beyond.

Every drop, every feed, every ounce matters.
Whether you breastfed for a week, a month, or several years, you gave your baby something their brain will remember. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about protection. Breastfeeding is one of the most profound ways the body nourishes both body and mind, a biological design that’s stood the test of time.

You don’t have to compare your journey to anyone else’s. Just know this: when you nurse your child, comfort them at your breast, or pump milk for them you are helping build their brain in ways that science is still discovering.

11/03/2025

The holidays will be here before you know it! Breastfeeding 🤱 support is more important than ever during the busy holiday season. Remember home visits are convenient and you avoid going into the 🥶 cold. Message me or check out my website mnbreastfeeding.com for support and options.

10/23/2025

Myth busting!

10/23/2025

10/23/2025

🤱🏼☀️

10/07/2025

https://littlebirddental.ca/6-months-2-years-old/

Self-Assessment Airway Centric Checklist that may identify compromised growth, development, and function: 6 Months – 2 Years Old Key Signs and Symptoms that You can Assess If you have answered Yes to multiple items below, we would encourage you to schedule a comprehensive airway centric, tongue, a...

10/07/2025

https://littlebirddental.ca/newborn-6-months/
An excellent resource to assist with understanding airway and impact of oral restrictions. Great check lists for every age. Airway is KEY. Too many of us are impacted in our 50's plus - and NO - needing CPAP is not NORMAL - common yes...but oh so preventable with what we know now.

Self-Assessment Airway Centric Checklist that may identify compromised growth, development, and function: Newborn – 6 Months Key Signs and Symptoms that You can Assess If you have answered Yes to multiple items below, we would encourage you to schedule a comprehensive airway, tongue, and lip asses...