Maplewood Lactation

12/03/2025

11/26/2025

Hi, I’m Diane DiTomasso from the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing. We’re studying how women use breast pumps to establish milk supply. If you’re over 18, gave birth to a healthy full-term infant in the past year, and used a breast pump to help bring in your milk supply, we’d love your input!
The survey takes 6–7 minutes and is anonymous.
Click here to participate: https://tinyurl.com/4auudp82
Approved by the URI Institutional Review Board.
Thank you for your time!

11/19/2025

There are differences in the type of support provided by Leaders and IBCLCs.
A La Leche League Leader:
is a volunteer breastfeeding counselor who has breastfed their own child, and supports breastfeeding in their community.
is accredited by La Leche League International and has fulfilled LLLI requirements for leadership including self-paced training and skills assessment. May offer a variety of support via in-person meetings, phone, text, email and social media.
is trained to help with the normal course of breastfeeding from prenatal through weaning.
will refer to health care professional for anything outside their scope or training.
An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant:
is a health care professional who specializes in the clinical management of breastfeeding.
is certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
works in a wide variety of health care settings including hospitals, pediatric offices, public health clinics, and private practice.
is trained in a wide variety of complex breastfeeding situations. Completes required continuing education .provides a written care plan to the nursing parent."
Photo 📸 LLa Leche League USA
[Image: Close up photo of child nursing. Text: The Difference Between IBCLCs and LLL Leaders

11/18/2025

I was featured on Babies in Common's page!

We are thrilled to introduce our next lactation provider Danielle Tropea, MPH, IBCLC who works with families in Maplewood, NJ and via telehealth in Essex and Somerset counties. With over 1️⃣0️⃣ years of experience in hospital and private practice settings, Danielle provides personalized, compassionate care to support families through every stage of their breastfeeding journey. Whether you’re preparing during pregnancy, addressing latch or milk supply challenges, or navigating weaning, Danielle offers evidence-based guidance tailored to your unique needs and goals. Her approach prioritizes not only your 👶🏼 👶🏿 👶🏽 👶 baby’s well-being but also your mental health, ensuring that feeding plans align with what feels sustainable and empowering for you.

Danielle specializes in advanced techniques, including precise fl**ge sizing for comfortable and effective pumping, and thorough tongue-tie assessment to address feeding difficulties. With a focus on balancing breastfeeding goals with mental health, Danielle aims to create feeding plans that nurture both you and your baby. As a mom of 2️⃣, whom Danielle breastfed for a combined 6.5 years, Danielle brings both professional expertise and personal understanding to her work. With a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a passion for equitable and compassionate care, Danielle is here to help make your breastfeeding journey as positive and fulfilling as possible.

Do you know about the Babies in Common Professionals Directory?⁠
👶🏼 👶🏿 👶🏽 👶 If you are a parent, parent-to-be, or someone who works with families who are feeding 👶🏼 👶🏿 👶🏽 👶 👶🏼 👶🏿 babies: then our Directory may come in handy🖐 for you, no matter where in the world 🌎 you are (or the person you are supporting is).⁠
🔎 Find lactation professionals who have taken one of our pumping-related courses and are committed to helping families get support with pumping, fl**ge fitting, and so much more. ⁠
⏰ From time to time, we'll be posting about Directory members so you can learn about the services they provide. ⁠
👁️ 👁️ Check out the Directory soon--and notice that it's an attractive format and providers are searchable by name, practice location, state/province, country...⁠
babiesincommon(dot)com/directory⁠
⁠ **gesizematters

10/29/2025

Come see a show!https://MichelleisaWolf.comGet Social!https://tiktok.com/ https://instagram.com/michelleisawolfhttps://www.facebook.com/miche...

10/12/2025

10/02/2025

SO TRUE! And I love the representation of mammary tissue as grape clusters. I use that analogy as well as broccoli.

Did you know your body actually changes with each baby you have? After your second (and beyond), your breasts develop more milk sacs—meaning you can often make milk more efficiently than the first time around.

Your body learns, adapts, and grows right along with your family. 💕 Pretty incredible, right?

10/01/2025

Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed®) [Internet]
Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; 2006-.
Alcohol
Last Revision: November 15, 2023.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501469/

09/05/2025

Ni**le shields are made of soft silicone and fit over the ni**le to protect it during breast feeding. The most common reasons to use a shield include:
🗝Help a premature, weak, or uncoordinated baby latch
🗝Help a baby practice latching to a flat, inverted or retracted ni**le
🗝Help a baby with tongue tie stay latched
🗝Help a damaged ni**le heal

The down side of using a shield include:
📌Can lead to less stimulation of the breast which can decrease milk supply
📌Some babies have a harder time transferring milk from a shield
📌Some babies can have a hard time transitioning off the shield once they get used to it
📌Some people use the wrong size shield or are not placing it correctly which decreases its effectiveness

Tips when using a shield:
💛Always seek guidance from a board certified lactation consultant when using a shield. We want to know WHY you need it and if there are other solutions before using one (like position changes or getting a tongue tie clipped)
💛Make sure you’re using the correct size. Find the correct size for your ni**le by measuring the diameter of your ni**le. The shield should be 2-3mm larger than your ni**le.
💛If there is a lot of space at the top of the shield, size down.
💛If your ni**le pokes through the holes by the end of a feeding, size up.
💛Do not just place the shield on like a bandaid. This does not draw the ni**le in far enough for baby to get a deep latch. Roll the shield down to make a cup, place your ni**le as far into the cup as possible, place the shield on your ni**le and stretch the sides of the shield to pop your ni**le as far into the shield as possible.
💛Fill the shield with breast milk prior to latching to help baby associate milk comes from your breast
💛Wash your shield with hot, soapy water after each use
💛Buy two and keep them in a small container. The clear shield is HORRIBLE to find in the dark at 2am

**leshield **leshields **leshieldweaning

09/02/2025

While it seems counterintuitive, the emptier your breasts are, the faster they make milk. A full bread has no place to store or hold the milk, so milk production slows to prevent plugged ducts and breast discomfort. Cluster feeding on an emptier breast actually tells the body to make more milk at a faster rate!! Some incorrectly assume you have to wait for the breast to “fill up” before feeding your baby or for pumping while at work. This will eventually lead to less milk, as a fuller breast tells your body baby isn’t eating very often and to slow milk production. The more frequent you empty the breast, the higher the fat content in that milk and the faster milk is made. The longer often you wait and the fuller the breast, the higher the water content in that milk and the slower your body will make milk overall.

Watch the baby, not the clock. Breasts may feel really full between feedings in the first few weeks after birth, but they’re also not supposed to stay engorged. There will come a time when they stay soft and don’t feel full between feedings or pumping, so waiting for that as a cue to feed will also sabotage your supply. Don’t be alarmed when your breasts no longer feel full between feeding. You’re entering a new stage where you’ll still make plenty of milk for your baby as long as you’re routinely emptying that milk. Trust your body. Trust your baby.

08/22/2025

The food you eat and the water you drink do not magically go directly to your breast milk. What you eat and drink goes first to your stomach to be broken down and then into your intestines to be absorbed and processed. Your digestive system breaks nutrients into parts small enough for your body to absorb and use for energy, growth, and cell repair. The muscles of the small intestine mix food with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine. Special cells in the walls of the small intestine absorb water and the digested nutrients into your bloodstream. Your blood carries molecule-sized components such as simple sugars (carbohydrates), amino acids, white blood cells, enzymes, water, fat, and proteins throughout your body. As blood passes by the breasts, milk glands pull out these nutrients for milk production and pass some of them to your baby. Not all molecules are small enough to pass through into milk. (That’s why some medications are safe to take while breastfeeding and some are not. Molecules that are too big can’t get into the milk while really small molecules can.)

Nuts, seeds, beans, and grains all have plant based proteins. Meat and dairy are animal based proteins. Both plant and animal proteins carried in your blood can make it into your milk. Sometimes these proteins can affect baby’s digestive system, causing symptoms like reflux, gas, colic, and blood or mucus in the poops from iritations to baby’s intestinal lining. Diary proteins are the most common cause of upset in the stomach, however research suggests that the proportion of exclusively breastfed infants who are actually allergic to something in their mother’s milk is very small. (https://bit.ly/3rFHotE). Fussiness and gas alone are not enough to diagnose a cow milk protein allergy.

In general, there are NO foods that need to be avoided because you’re breastfeeding. Every baby is different in the foods they are sensitive to. IF your baby always seems to have a reaction when you eat a certain food or a large amount of a certain type of food, cutting back on it or cutting it out temporarily may be helpful.