Wildflower Breastfeeding

09/03/2026

Karen Kleiman, MSW on her popular book, ‘Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts,’ the Lindsay Clancy Trial, and taking moms’ mental health seriously.

09/01/2026

Matrescence

When you birth a baby you literally become a new person. It's one of the biggest hormonal shifts in our lifetime, along with puberty and menopause.

It takes a while to get to know this new version of yourself.

Relationships with others change.

Life is never quite the same again.

What helped you with the transition to motherhood?

What did you find most challenging?

And is you need support, reach out.

08/31/2026

Because somehow one feed turns into another, then a contact nap, then you realize your coffee is cold, your phone is dying, your snack is across the room, and you’ve needed to p*e for the last 45 minutes.

But that baby? Cozy. Full. Unbothered. Living their absolute best life.

Breastfeeding motherhood is basically being held hostage by someone you’d happily stay trapped under forever. 😂🤍

08/30/2026

08/29/2026

You can support formula feeding moms AND tell the truth about breast milk. Those two things are not enemies. 👏

Breast milk isn’t just calories in liquid form. It’s a living biological fluid packed with antibodies, immune cells, enzymes, hormones, growth factors, HMOs, lactoferrin and so much more. And some of it literally changes over time as a baby grows.

Formula is an important, lifesaving alternative that provides nutrition when it’s needed. But saying it isn’t biologically identical to human milk is not “shaming.” It’s science.

We have gotten to this weird place where simply talking about what breast milk actually contains is treated like an attack on anyone who didn’t breastfeed.

Nope.

Mothers deserve support. And mothers deserve accurate information. We do not have to erase the science to protect feelings. 🔬🔥

08/28/2026

🌿 Give Grace 🌿

You never know what someone else is carrying. Sometimes you do—and even then, the weight can be heavier than you realize.

People can be difficult, irrational, or even unkind. Sometimes that’s just their personality, but often it’s because of hidden battles, hardships, or pain we can’t see.

Grace doesn’t excuse bad behavior, but it allows us to respond with patience, kindness, and understanding. We all need a little more of it in our lives—both to give and to receive. 🤍

08/27/2026

Hi! Let me present to you the the Fl**ge FITS™ Guide. It is my work. It's what I consider the "updated" way of fl**ge fitting for pumping milk and the clinical evidence that it works is overwhelming, when people bother to try it. Unfortunately, I keep getting alerted by concerned colleagues that it gets copied by others, which is clearly copyright infringement...whether it's done by an IBCLC, a breastfeeding counselor, or an herbal company that makes herbs for lactation. It's illegal, it's unethical, and you should all be aware of this.

It's FREE. People are welcome to share it. People are welcome to write to me to ask for me to share part of the graphics with them, so they can use them in presentations if they are sharing about it with their colleagues in a quick review of updates on lactation topics.

For the full Guide, see: https://www.babiesincommon.com/fl**ge-fits-guide

This was published in the Journal of Human Lactation in November 2024 as part of a research study led by Lisa Anders, PhD, RN, IBCLC and with me as co-author, long after this document was created (which is 2-pages, in its entirety, and translated into more than 20 languages).

Someone taking my course and then creating their own course and teaching it, it also NOT ethical, unless they are permitted by me to do so. This is my work.

It's WONDERFUL when I see lactation and perinatal professionals sharing it, in its original form, with its original colors, without any changes, and without any additions, but then they have their comments in the captions for the posts, or have a video they made about fl**ge fitting--yes, that's how it should be used. I love this work being shared. But changing the colors, adding your logo, changing the name in any way, etc...is copyright infringement and a violation of intellectual property law. Period.

Oh, and by the way, copyright infringement/stealing intellectual property is also not allowed by the code of conduct for IBCLCs and RNs....

Perhaps I have to post this weekly so people know? It's one thing to be passionate, but can we do that in a way that respects other people's work?
My intellectual property lawyer and my graphic designer agree that we were the first to have this graphic with the milk sprays that way, etc...so if you are using something on your educational materials that is the same but different colors or a different "style", delete it and fix it. You can ask me if you can use my graphic with attribution, but you can't just include it as your own somewhere.

Okay, off my soap box for now...

Sincerely,
Jeanette Mesite Frem, MHS, IBCLC, CCE
Babies in Common

08/25/2026

One of the biggest misconceptions about breastfeeding is that the hospital lactation consultant is going to “teach you how to breastfeed” before you go home

And I need parents to understand this with love and honesty:
Most hospital lactation consultants simply do not have enough time 😞

Not because they don’t care
Not because they aren’t skilled
But because hospital systems are stretched thin

One lactation consultant may be covering:
• Multiple postpartum floors
• NICU
• New admissions
• Discharges
• Pumps and paperwork
• Babies with medical complications
• Moms recovering from surgery
• Charting and insurance requirements

Meanwhile you’re 24 hours postpartum, exhausted, bleeding, learning a brand new human… and someone pops in for 12 minutes while your baby is asleep 😅

Breastfeeding is not a one-time lesson
It is a learned relationship that unfolds over days and weeks

The hospital is often just:
✨ “Here’s how to latch”
✨ “Baby has jaundice start supplementing”
✨ “Baby lost too much weight start pumping”

And then parents go home thinking:
“Why does this suddenly feel impossible?”

Because the real challenges often start AFTER discharge:
• Milk coming in
• Engorgement
• Cluster feeding
• Ni**le pain
• Pumping
• Bottle refusal
• Oversupply
• Low supply worries
• Weight gain concerns
• Sleep deprivation
• Learning your actual baby

This is why postpartum lactation support matters so much 💛

Here’s what I wish every family knew:
• Take a prenatal breastfeeding class BEFORE birth
• Follow evidence-based lactation accounts during pregnancy
• Have a lactation consultant lined up before delivery if possible
• Don’t wait until things are “bad enough” to ask for help
• One good postpartum visit can change your entire experience

And if breastfeeding felt harder than you expected after leaving the hospital?
You did not fail a class everyone else passed

You were discharged from a major medical event while learning one of the most biologically complex things humans do

That deserves support

08/23/2026

.. 🍁👻🦃🌲