Candice James IBCLC

Candice James IBCLC IBCLC & Mama hoping to help you feel grounded, empowered and inspired in your postpartum journeyđŸŒ»AKA your baby feedin’ bestie! đŸ„°

04/27/2026

RECURRENT CLOGS AND MASTITIS?? 📍

You may keep treating the breast
 but the root cause might not be living in the breast at all.

If you’re dealing with recurrent “clogged ducts” and mastitis, we have to go beyond the google basics, and one of the FIRST places to look is your GUT and full-body inflammation.

Your breast is not an isolated system. It is deeply connected to your immune system, your microbiome, and your inflammatory load.

When the gut microbiome is disrupted (hello postpartum, antibiotics, stress, sleep deprivation), it can shift immune responses and increase inflammation throughout the body.

That inflammation doesn’t just sit quietly. It can impact breast tissue, milk flow, and your susceptibility to infection.

We also have something called the enteromammary pathway. This is the communication highway between your gut and your breast tissue.

Bacteria from your gut can actually travel to the mammary glands. Yes
 your gut health literally helps shape the environment inside your breast.

So if that system is off balance,
it may contribute to recurrent inflammation, pain, and infection patterns.

This is why some feel like they’re doing “everything right”
 yet the clogs and mastitis just keep coming back.

It’s not always about latch, positioning, or feeding frequency (though those matter SO MUCH too). Sometimes it’s about what’s happening deeper in your physiology.

Supporting gut health, reducing systemic inflammation, and restoring balance
can be a missing piece of the puzzle for recurrent cases.

You are not “just prone” to mastitis. Your body is communicating something
 and it deserves a deeper look.

Important: sometimes clogs and mastitis just join the dang party. Never do I want you to feel like you have ANOTHER thing to thing about postpartum like GUT HEALTH ahhh now I gotta worry about my gut?! đŸ«  but this is to make you aware of its importance and if this is something that you are dealing with over and over, it’s something to be aware of. And for our health in GENERAL, our gut is a huge power player and it should be nurtured as much as we can.

04/26/2026

When I say your period is just waiting for the opportunity to bust through your door, I kind of mean it literally lol.

Your menstrual cycle is excited to get things back to “normal” after you give birth
 because that is its job.

But your lactation hormones fight to keep it suppressed
 because that is THEIR job.

So throughout your postpartum journey, when you’re still lactating (milk-making hormones are high and active), your cycle patiently waits in the wings for something to shift just enough so it can push through.

The biggest shift? When your baby starts sleeping longer stretches at night. Those around-the-clock milk-making hormones get a little less stimulation, and sometimes that’s all your cycle needs to reactivate.

And really, any time that frequent, on-demand, around-the-clock breast stimulation gets even slightly disrupted
 BOOM. Menstrual cycle hormones accept the invite and come right on in.

Return to work pump schedules, baby starting solids, spacing feeds as babies get older, longer sleep stretches
 all of these shift lactation hormone stimulation. That’s the teeter-totter that usually opens the door.

Mind you, sometimes none of these things change and your period just decides it is coming in uninvited and unannounced lol

Have no fear though. When your cycle returns, it’s breastfeeding per usual. Many people continue breastfeeding for months, even years, after their period comes back.

Do you remember when your period returned postpartum? Can you remember if it aligned with one of the events above?

04/22/2026

This is also why a breastfeeding “schedule” NEEDS to be different for each mama because their breast storage capacity needs to be taken into consideration.

Every body has a different breast storage capacity, meaning how much milk the breasts can comfortably hold at one time. This has nothing to do with how much milk you make in a full day and everything to do with how often milk needs to be removed.

Some people can hold 2–3 oz per breast. Others 4–5 oz. Others 6+ oz. All of these are completely normal. Two parents can produce the same total daily milk volume and look wildly different in feeding frequency, pump output, and fullness.

This is why one baby may need to feed more often, or why one pump session may look smaller, and why comparison is so misleading. Smaller storage capacity doesnt always mean less milk overall it just means your body relies on more frequent milk removal to meet the same 24 hour demand.

Now here is an even more complex part: breast are never actually “empty” or “off” but the storage capacity element means that once that “held” amount is drained, the body is working overtime to fill it back up asap and so you will have slower let downs while they work hard to replenish but it doesnt mean they are emtpy.

Did you know about this? 💛

Both are true. I am deeply passionate about supporting mothers through the postpartum period, but that passion was lit f...
04/21/2026

Both are true. I am deeply passionate about supporting mothers through the postpartum period, but that passion was lit from something I lived through, that I had NO idea at the time was possible.

My breast abscessed and ruptured during my first postpartum journey due to a lack of proper medical care.

I gave birth to my baby girl in October 2008. I had every intention to exclusively breastfeed. Like so many of us, I thought
 it’s natural. It should be easy, right?

What I was told was “just a clogged duct” kept growing. Bigger. More painful. Week after week.

“Are you sure this is normal? I’m in a lot of pain.” I asked my doctor.

Clogs hurt, he said. Use heat. Massage. It will go away.

“It’s the size of a lime. My breast is red. I have a fever. I feel sick.”

“You can go to the ER if you want, or I’ll see you Tuesday.”

I waited. Because he seemed nonchalant and I trusted him.

That night, I was pumping in tears, in more pain than I had ever felt.

I felt a “pop” and something leaking
 but milk was still going into the bottle? *trigger warning, do not read ahead if squeamish.

It wasn’t milk. My body had created three holes the size of pencil erasers and began draining what was not a clogged duct
 but a now ruptured abscess.

It looked CRAZY scary. I went straight to the ER. I was admitted, isolated, separated from my newborn, and placed on IV antibiotics in the infectious disease section where I could not have visitors. At admission, they thought I may have a flesh eating disease.

My baby went cold turkey to formula.
I weaned immediately.

“It’s just superficial,” he later said. “You’re lucky it didn’t burst internally.”

Looking back now, I see it clearly. I was dismissed. Gaslit. Not properly assessed. Not medically supported.

And this is why I do what I do.

Because this should not happen.
Because mothers deserve to be heard the first time they say, “something isn’t right.”

I can’t change what happened to me. But I will spend my career educating and making sure it happens to as few mothers as possible.

This is the short story short. The how and why I am here. ❀

04/18/2026

Toss ups and some country music will do it đŸ„°đŸ«¶đŸœđŸ§ž

04/17/2026

Walk n Talk with me!

Topic: What to put on your breastfeeding nippies!

The accessability may surprise you but tell me, what do you use and love?

Always remember, while it is nice to have something to bring soothing, you should not be needing anything in excess because your ni***es should not be being damaged! If this is happening, meet with an IBCLC stat 📝

04/16/2026

When you smell your newborn’s head, it can actually shift your hormones.

Research suggests that the scent of your newborn, activates areas of the brain tied to bonding and caregiving, and this can lead to measurable hormonal changes.

Testosterone may temporarily decrease, which supports more nurturing, attentive behavior, while oxytocin, the bonding hormone, increases.

That baby smell carries chemical signals, sometimes called chemosignals, that help tune a parent’s nervous system toward protection, connection, and caregiving.

So that instinct that you have to snuggle your baby and take a deep sniff of your baby’s head isn’t just sweet, it’s biology helping the brain wire itself for love, bonding, and protection.

04/16/2026

Can I come speak on all things lactation and baby feeding?

Hands down, yes, times 1 million, and I would come back tomorrow if you asked again. Thank you 💙

My professional philosophy is rooted in flow over force.. always. When it comes to baby latching at the breast.. accepti...
04/13/2026

My professional philosophy is rooted in flow over force.. always.

When it comes to baby latching at the breast.. accepting a bottle.. grounding into their own schedules.. and of course more.

With my clients, my hope is that just like a baby is inspired by the mothers nervous system, that I can come in and inspire the mothers nervous system 💜

I do this THROUGHOUT the feeding journey with my clients by the way, even when baby is 2 đŸ„° because the parenting and postpartum journey as a whole is not linear.. there are ebbs, flows, ups, downs.. regulations.. and I am always there to remind my families..

Its FLOW over force
 reset.. readjust.. create space.. and forward we go đŸŒ·

What a gift it is to have a business philosophy, where the same reminders that I remind my clients of each day, I reiterate myself.

The biggest, most meaningful steps forward rarely happen when we are forcing something. They happen when our nervous system is grounded. A regulated body is where clarity, intuition, and true responsiveness live.

When we’re in a state of force.. pushing, gripping, trying to control every outcome, it’s often a sign our nervous system is dysregulated, and from that place it’s hard to hear what our body, our baby, or our life is actually asking or trying to tell us.

So on this beautiful Monday.. may you FLOW you beaming gorgeous unicorn of love and light đŸŠ„â€ïžđŸ’«

Xo,

Candice

04/12/2026

Always the best vibes, the best crew ready to dive deep into the world of Baby Feeding Prep 😍

Each class ends with parent connection, genuine thankfulness and some new baby feeding besties from start to finish 🎀

The best Saturday of the month đŸ„°

If you are pregnant, join next months class on May 16th! Sign up website.

Wishing you all the best rest of your weekend!

Love, Candice James IBCLC 💜

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