Flourishing Tots

10/26/2025

💜thank you hereticcoffeepdx!

10/23/2025

Skin to skin contact is essential for everyone. If you and your baby are separated, get them skin to skin with a parent (or other trusted adult!) as soon as possible.

👶 Skin-to-skin contact involves placing the naked newborn on the mother’s uncovered chest immediately after birth. This simple practice helps babies adapt to life outside the womb, keeping them warm, reducing stress and crying, and supporting vital functions such as breathing and heart rate.

New Cochrane evidence confirms what many already practice: immediate skin-to-skin contact between newborns and their mothers gives babies a better start in life.

Babies held skin-to-skin within the first hour after birth are more likely to:

🩵 Breastfeed exclusively
🩵 Maintain healthy body temperature and blood sugar
🩵 Breathe and adapt better outside the womb

Importantly, the evidence is now so strong that researchers argue it’s no longer ethical to conduct studies that separate mothers and babies after birth.

“Withholding skin-to-skin contact would now be considered unethical, as there is enough evidence to show that the practice improves newborn health and survival,” says Karin Cadwell, senior author and Executive Director and Lead Faculty of
Healthy Children Project Center for Breastfeeding.

Read more on our website: https://www.cochrane.org/about-us/news/strong-evidence-supports-skin-skin-contact-after-birth-standard-care

10/11/2025

4 more days to register! I'm thrilled to be presenting to my colleagues about fl**ge fittings and how it positively impacts a family's lactation experience. See ya Oct 22!

Nurturing Health, Honoring Culture: Empowering Families Through Every Journey

10/04/2025

Breast health is important!

09/13/2025

Keep breastfeeding around the clock!

Baby teeth matter more than you think.
Help protect your little one’s smile from the start:

➡️The calcium in human milk helps strengthen tooth enamel
➡️ Breastfeeding supports healthy oral development
➡️ Once solids are introduced, watch for sticky, sugary foods... especially crackers and cereals. These foods can cling to teeth and feed bacteria that cause decay
➡️ Wipe your baby’s gums and brush as soon as the first tooth appears
➡️ Book a dental visit by their first birthday

Good oral health begins early and lasts a lifetime. A few simple habits now can prevent cavities later.

Read more: https://www.lllc.ca/oral-development

09/08/2025

The window for easy bottle feeding is often missed and can turn bottle feeding into quite a stressful for parents and babies.

Buying every bottle on the market isn’t the solution.

Scheduled a lactation consult to see which bottle would work best for your baby and make a plan tailored to your family’s needs and your baby’s skills.

As a speech therapist, I started my career bottle feeding babies in the NICU. In my private practice, I’ve researched and studied bottles and their impact on infant feeding. Here’s what every new parent need to know when bottle feeding their baby:
1. Don’t fall for the marketing. There are a lot of bottles that are designed to look like a breast. They don’t work like one. You want to pick your bottle based on the shape or the ni**le. A tapered ni**le like the Pigeon, Lansinoh, Gulicola, or Evenflo Balance promote and optimal latch. Dr Brown’s narrow is decent for some, but the long ni**le can gag many babies. Evenflo Classic and Life Factory are alternatives to Dr Brown’s narrow. Straw like bottles like Como Tomo, Tommee Tippee, Avent and Boon promote a shallow, narrow latch. While some babies can function on these, they’re not optimal
2. Offer your first bottle between 3-6 weeks if you have to go back to work. Babies rely on reflexes for the first few months to practice sucking. This reflex integrates and shifts to chewing around 3-4 months. If you need to give a bottle for returning to work, offer it early and keep offering it routinely. The muscles for breast and bottle feeding are different and it can be difficult for older babies to learn the new skill. Offering too close to going back to work can be really stressful for both parents and baby
3. Offer the slowest ni**le your baby tolerates. Bottle feeding should take 15-20 minutes to take a 2-4oz bottle until baby is 4+ months. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it’s full. Feeding a baby too fast increases the likelihood baby will be over fed
4. If baby is struggling to take a bottle, get help sooner rather than later

09/01/2025

👍

08/01/2025

🥳We’re doing it again! ⁣Faith and I are teaming up on August 16th to spend the day making you comfortable. ⁣
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If you need a fl**ge fitting, register today! ⁣⁣
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🤩Properly fitting fl**ges will change your life (or at least save your ni**les and your milk supply)! ⁣⁣
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07/03/2025

If you're pumping and haven't tried on fl**ges in multiple sizes and shapes, you're risking your milk supply and comfort!

A proper fl**ge fitting is essential if you're pumping routinely. A fitting with silicone inserts or by measurement is not accurate and is misleading.

Sejal Fichadia and I will be in NW PDX (in the office of Craig Gonzales, DC LLC) on July 12 doing fl**ge fittings.

We have 30 min sessions from 10am-5pm. Only 12 spots available. $75 per person. No insurances accepted.

Flanges are available to buy on site (if in stock) or they can be purchased later on Amazon.

People will need to bring their own non-wearable pump (no in-the-bra style pumps) for fittings.

Register: flourishingtots.com/classes

Questions?
Tag us!

05/31/2025

Certainly not on my list of recommended pumps. This brand used to be a leader in the industry but no more!

04/22/2025

🌏Happy Earth Day!🌍

Happy Earth Day! 🌍❤️

Did you know? Breastfeeding is not only good for the baby and mom's health, but for the planet's health too!

12/22/2024

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Some important last-minute information to take with you as you head to your holiday plans.

You don't owe anybody the right to run over your boundaries just because it's a particular time of year. You ESPECIALLY don't owe anybody the right to run over your child's boundaries just because it's a particular time of year.

[Image description: Text reading, "I don't know who needs to hear this, but, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PASS YOUR BABY AROUND, SKIP OR STRETCH FEEDS, LET FAMILY GIVE A BOTTLE, LEAVE THE ROOM TO NURSE, OR DO ANYTHING ELSE YOU'RE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH JUST BECAUSE IT'S THE HOLIDAYS." The post is by marissathemilkmom .]