Susan is the 31 year old mother. Her son John is 2 1/2 and they continue to enjoy a breastfeeding relationship. This does not seem unusual for Susan as she knows she was breastfed until she was 3 years old. Susan planned a home birth with her husband Robert, midwife and midwives assistant and doula at the birth. Her son weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. Breastfeeding for her was something that was not an option and was just something she knew she would do. Susan shares how she navigated the very early days of newborn breastfeeding. She was initially concerned when her baby did not seem to be hungry the first 4 hours. She did realize though that he needed to rest, he pooped and then all of a sudden he was interested in eating and they never looked back. It took her a few weeks until she felt like she found her groove with breastfeeding. It took her a little time to find what positions were most comfortable with John and what felt right for her. While Susan was never approached by a store owner who asked her to not breastfeed in their store, she shares with us her prepared speech if that should ever happen! She also feels that it is very important to find a pediatrician that fully supports breastfeeding.

Fiona shares her journey into becoming an IBCLC. Like so many of us who came into this  profession, it was the birth of her first son that sparked her interest in helping other mothers breastfeed.   When she was in the UK, Fiona  worked in maternal health.   The  standard of care at that time was for moms to breastfeed for 6 weeks.   She was living in Toronto at the time she had her first baby.  The expectation was for her to breastfeed for 6 weeks.  Fiona shares in detail how she broke that mold, went on to breastfeed longer than expected and increased her breastfeeding knowledge as she had more babies and grew into motherhood.  Fiona gives very detailed information on the roles and titles of the various breastfeeding helpers and how she has been able to clearly define the roles to mothers she meets.  We also learn how a chance meeting with a representative from GOLD Online led to her current position with GOLD.