The Magic of Breastmilk

We all know that breastmilk is produced naturally by mommas, starting as early as pregnancy. But most of us don’t know that it actually has superpowers. From being able to help baby fight off viruses and bacteria to actually raising their IQ, giving your little one their daily doses of magic milk is a lot more beneficial than you might think. 

The advantages don’t stop at baby either. Studies have shown that breastfeeding mommas lose weight faster, have less bleeding and an easier recovery postpartum, and some research even links breastfeeding to lower rates of breast and ovarian cancer later in life. So does breastfeeding really live up to the hype? Let’s find out. 

With us today is Madison, Wisconsin-based IBCLC, Lori Theisen who is part of the team at Nest Collaborative. Get ready to be surprised and inspired by all the amazing things your milk can do for you and your little one!

Transcript

Unknown: 0:20

Who would put the filter on?

Amanda Gorman: 0:23

I just had a meeting this morning.

Unknown: 0:25

And you didn't notice that. You notice it right away. So maybe I could Google it's a little hard to get it off like that. Like, I feel like is there like a hack a virus way? Oh, shoot. I lost like she was on me this morning. Yeah. Hi.

Amanda Gorman: 0:56

Hello.

Unknown: 0:57

Hi, how are you? Good. I

Amanda Gorman: 1:00

have to tell you quickly, which is. So we just did an episode with Dr. seydel, who's the chief medical officer of women's health USA, the power partner. So I'm sitting here right before the podcast and I'm like,

Unknown: 1:15

why is it look like a mustache?

Amanda Gorman: 1:17

I'm like, Am I like getting a dark ring like? So we sat here troubleshooting only to realize I had a filter on my zoom that was giving me a mustache and a goatee. And I was like,

Unknown: 1:29

how did I get here? I was like, I had a meeting this morning. Like, did you see a mustache? No. Oh my god. That's awesome. That's really like, this is my kid. I don't know.

Amanda Gorman: 1:47

We literally delayed like 20 minutes. Try not 2010 trying to figure out how to and he was funny. He's like,

Unknown: 1:54

Oh, yeah, I see it. Yeah, I was like, so it's like a thing. And I was like to have a good tea too. And he's like, yeah. Anyway,

Amanda Gorman: 2:03

okay, well, we have Chelsea here. Next day, Laurie?

Unknown: 2:06

Hi. How are ya?

Lori Theisen: 2:08

Good. How are you? Great. Great.

Amanda Gorman: 2:11

Great. Great. Thank you so much for we're just we're just giggling after the whole mustache, you know, mustache gates that we were having. Actually, we just took a quick break so that I could pump in the bathroom. And I was like, How funny is this that I'm like having to pump in the bathroom, which I told her not to pump in the bathroom to pump here in the studio. But she was worried about cameras

Unknown: 2:32

in a studio. But anyway, the irony of that we're doing a breastfeeding podcast and that I'm pumping. Yes, that is the irony right there.

Lori Theisen: 2:41

That's good. I'm glad you're pumping. But not in a bathroom. I

Amanda Gorman: 2:45

know I did my duty. It was it wasn't like a cubicle. It wasn't like a stall. It was enough room. It was like anyway, doesn't matter. Thank you so much. Where I'm like, I've been telling him how to how excited I am about this episode. In particular, I think it's gonna be awesome. So just a quick kind of recap on what we've already talked about on the phone and over email, which is just this is supposed to be just a really casual fun chat between girlfriends like that feel and vibe of like, you know, just that casual, informative, but not scary. And this topic specifically is not scary at all, but just wanted to keep it kind of light and fun. I know that you're going to just bring so much information. And I'm so psyched about that. So I think it's going to be fantastic. If at any point you stumble feel like you didn't answer something the way in which you wanted to, you can just say hey, can we stop and redo that? Because Okay, it's not live. So don't feel like, you know, if at any point, you're like, Oh, I messed that up, or who knows what it's fine to just say, Hey, can we stop? Don't worry about it. Yeah, I'm midway through, Amanda, we'll talk about taking a short break. And that's going to be when we edit in a commercial. So when we take a short break, she's just going to pause for like, two or three seconds, you'll hear her pause, and then we'll just jump right back in. Okay, um, and that's really it that just, you know, keep energy high. You know, again, just we want it to be fun and informative. So just keep your energy up. And I was telling me I know yell at Amanda to keep her energy up, especially when we do four of these in a row.

Unknown: 4:22

coffee, coffee, coffee. Yeah, yeah, it gets a bit much. But thank you so much, again, for joining us today and taking time out. We're thrilled and yeah, we're excited to get started. Let me just see.

Amanda Gorman: 4:32

Yes. And this is like literally Laurie came like started and it was like a whirlwind. So she and I actually haven't even really had any quality time together. So it's true. Yes, sir. First quality time together, which is terribly sad. Phil's gonna come in and just start this camera. Okay, um, in a second and then we'll and then we'll get started in just a second. Um, and I know I know the answer this but it's Tyson. Right.

Lori Theisen: 4:56

Yeah. Tyson like Mike Tyson. Like

Unknown: 5:00

But with two years, what two years,

Amanda Gorman: 5:03

although I guess it's on his ear

Lori Theisen: 5:08

with soft teeth.

Unknown: 5:09

I know.

Amanda Gorman: 5:12

Sorry. It's a lot of time in a small room.

Unknown: 5:15

I'm sure it is.

Amanda Gorman: 5:18

Yeah. It's like the only time I can get out of the house.

Lori Theisen: 5:25

But to keep that energy up and focus, whoo, yeah.

Amanda Gorman: 5:30

And it's our only time together Chelsea we've met a pandemic the whole time. And now she's my neighbor and never really gets it.

Unknown: 5:37

We've been in quarantine for months. And yes, yes. How did that no. I mean, she's here so when she came out, it's a little girl Her name is Imogen Heap three weeks old. She's,

Amanda Gorman: 5:56

she's really beautiful. Maybe?

Unknown: 5:58

Even Julie, so pretty. I love that name. Yeah, we call her me for sure. And she's got a big brother named Arthur who's too and he's a lot of fun. And he likes to help bomb and do all the things and he's really cute. He's like me. Anybody can say the whole thing? Yeah, no, it's going. It's going really well. But this is like the first time I've left the house in three weeks effectively. Like for any amount of time this person I've left her so I'm like, Oh, you should probably come here. And I could celebrate after the poor family. Anyway. Okay, I'm muting my mic now. Okay. When you're ready.

Amanda Gorman: 6:42

All right. I'm ready.[Intro] Hey, mamas and mamas-to-be. Welcome to another episode of Breastfeeding Unplugged. I'm so very excited for today's episode, because instead of talking about the whys and the hows of breastfeeding, we are actually going to dive to an all important what. As in, what the heck is breast milk anyway? We all know that breast milk is produced naturally by mamas starting as early as in pregnancy, but most of us don't know that it actually has[interruption]- being able to help [interruption] off viruses and bacteria, to actually raising their IQ, giving your little one their daily dose of magic milk is a lot more beneficial than you might think. The advantages don't stop at baby either. Studies have shown that breastfeeding mamas lose weight faster, have less bleeding after giving birth, and an easier recovery postpartum. And some research even links breastfeeding to lower rates of breast and ovarian cancers later in life. So does breastfeeding really live up to the hype? Let's find out. With us today is Madison, Wisconsin based IBCLC Laurie Tyson. After her son was born and admitted to the NICU, and she experienced feeding challenges of her own, Lori became frustrated with the lack of consistent information regarding breastfeeding and wanted to create change for other families. This led her to become a registered nurse and an international board certified lactation consultant, which we are so very grateful for at Nest Collaborative. Lori's worked as a postpartum nurse and lactation consultant in private practice, as well as in the largest birthing center in Wisconsin. She's super passionate about the science behind breast milk. And we're really just thrilled to have her here to talk about it. So welcome, Lori.

Lori Theisen: 8:31

Thank you so much. I'm so thrilled and honored to be here.

Amanda Gorman: 8:37

We're happy to have you. So before I jump in, I'd like to hear a little bit more about your story. So, you know, I know like many lactation consultants, you really pursued this career path based on your own experience. So tell us more about what happened after the birth of your son and how you got to where you are today.

Lori Theisen: 8:54

Yeah, so my son was born and I never took a breastfeeding class because I figured it was natural and easy. So why would I have to take your class? Which led to me not knowing how to breastfeed, he ended up being dehydrated with jaundice and readmitted into the NICU because of that. And while I was in the NICU, I saw several lactation consultants. And then when we were discharged, I saw even more. And in that experience, I just realized how important this education is for families to have before they have their baby. And I wanted to be a part of that team of people educating and supporting and helping kind of like how I had the help when I was in the NICU.

Amanda Gorman: 9:42

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we're really glad you're here with us today, both as an IBCLC and as our guests on the show. So today we're talking about the magic of breast milk, which might seem a bit exaggerated, but in reality, we probably don't talk enough about how amazing it actually is. So would you agree with that?

Lori Theisen: 10:02

Yeah, absolutely. Our bodies are amazing. So I definitely think breast milk is magical.

Amanda Gorman: 10:09

So let's start with the basics. What exactly is breast milk anyway?

Lori Theisen: 10:15

You know, breast milk is white blood cells, its living cells, it's everything needed to maintain a human body. And what's important is to know how our immune system works. Once we know how the immune system works, it's a little bit easier to understand how breast milk works. So when we get sick, you know, our bodies, our skin is filled with viruses and bacterias, and germs, right, and they're in our nose, and they're in our mouth or everywhere. So when we get sick, our body meets the virus, reads it and starts to fight it. And we'll have you know, symptoms of that if it's a cold, we'll have a runny nose, you know, we'll have a sore throat. And it's our immune system that fights the cold or the virus. It's our immune system, which is all white blood cells. And that's what breast milk is.

Amanda Gorman: 11:12

Interesting. And so how does it exactly prevent illness?

Lori Theisen: 11:18

You know, there's 1000s of different components within breast milk. So it's hard to kind of decide to talk about just a few of them, but I managed to come up with a few of them. In breast milk, there's something called a lactoferrin. Lactoferrin is an antibacterial, and it eats the food that a bad bacteria would need to eat to survive. So this lactoferrin is in breast milk, the baby drinks it, and then the lactoferrin goes around and just eats bad bacteria all day long. Just eats it so the baby doesn't get sick. There's an amazing cell called an HAMLET cell. And that stands for Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made Lethal to Tumor cells. So this really cool cell, the baby has something in the gut, which is called an oleic acid. And then in the breast milk is the Human Alpha- lactalbumin. So the theory is when that Human Alpha-lacta- lactalbumin comes into the body, it connects with the oleic acid in the infant's gut, and it creates this tumor killing system. So that HAMLET cell just goes around and kills tumor cells. It kills cancer cells, and it protects the baby from from birth and on.

Amanda Gorman: 12:47

That's so interesting.

Lori Theisen: 12:48

Yeah.

Amanda Gorman: 12:50

So if a mom is sick, should she refrain from breastfeeding and just pump and dump?

Lori Theisen: 12:58

Yeah, absolutely not. No. If, if a mother is sick, the most important thing is to breastfeed, breastfeed, breastfeed. And there's two, two big main ways that keep the baby healthy. So let's pretend mom's sick. So she gets a cold and she has, you know, her immune system begins to develop the antibodies and those antibodies come from that lymph system. Those antibodies are then transferred into breast milk, and the baby drinks that breast milk so that baby is literally protected before the baby is even infected. And then the other way is when a baby's sick. So the baby will latch on to the breast and there's this whole vacuum seal and suction where it pulls out the breast milk and as it pulls out the breast milk, the baby's spit goes into the nipple holes like this backwash system. And it will go into the milk ducts where the mother's body will read the baby saliva and will say, oh, the baby's got the flu right now. And then there's flu cells in the saliva. So then the mother's body builds and creates and makes the antibodies for the flu, and then the baby drinks it. And the symptoms that the baby has from the flu are, you know, they're not as severe and the length of the illness is cut short because of those antibodies.

Amanda Gorman: 14:29

Pretty amazing. So, can different women produce different types of breast milk?

Lori Theisen: 14:37

Yes, absolutely. Breast milk is never the same. It's constantly changing. So it changes from mom to mom. It changes gestationally. So a baby that's born premature, the milk will be fattier to help develop and grow the brain of the baby. So preterm milk is fattier. They've done studies of twins. So you know, baby a is always nursing on the left breast and baby b is always nursing on the right breast. The milk in the right breast versus the left breast is different because it's that, that feedback loo- loop, that feedback loop that is constantly changing and made to order for each baby.

Amanda Gorman: 15:24

Hmm. This is so interesting and very, very cool. We don't really talk about the science behind breast milk enough, and we certainly don't celebrate how amazing it really is. It's hard to believe that a woman's body can produce everything a baby needs both to survive and thrive. I have a ton of questions still to ask. But we're gonna take a quick pause listeners, we will be right back. Thanks for hanging out with us mamas, we are back with Lori Theisen IBCLC, our very own Madison, Wisconsin based IBCLC at Nest Collaborative talking about all the magic of breast milk. So is there anything that moms can do to make breast milk better in terms of its nutrients?

Lori Theisen: 16:14

You know, breast milk is just perfect as it is. So again, that whole immune building system that breast milk is, you know, I guess you could be in your baby's environment. So if your baby's in the daycare, and there's a you know, there's a bunch of kids getting the flu, go hang out in the daycare, you're going to get that flu virus on your skin, it's going to go into your immune system, and then you're going to build those antibodies and your baby's going to drink it. If you're a NICU mom, hang out in the NICU a lot. Everything that's you know, that your baby comes in contact with in the NICU all the germs and bugs, you'll get that on your skin. And when you pump to give that milk, the antibodies for that, those microbes will be there for that baby.

Amanda Gorman: 17:05

What are your favorite foods that you recommend for building milk supply or sustaining milk supply?

Lori Theisen: 17:12

Yeah, favorite foods? For supply? My favorite foods for supply would be breastfeeding, hand expression, pumping, maybe with the side of herbal tea, I guess. So there's really, there's really, you know, there's not direct foods that are going to help with supply. We know science why it's- science wise, it's the removal of milk that makes your supply and helps your supply. So the more you nurse, the more you make, and some people say, remove it or lose it. And that's going to be what's best for your supply.

Amanda Gorman: 17:53

Good to know. We've certainly heard of instances of bodybuilders and elite athletes now drinking breast milk. What do you think of this?

Lori Theisen: 18:05

You know, I fully support it, why not? There are three times more you know, immune building properties in breast milk than cow's milk. And and you know, double the protein. It's just fantastic. So why not? If it helps, baby, sure, it could help you build muscles and get stronger. Different cultures, you know, use milk for all kinds of reasons and you know, we recommend it for pinkeye, it can help for sore, cracked nipples, putting some milk on that so sure, why not?

Amanda Gorman: 18:39

This as long as you don't take it from a baby, I guess. Right?

Lori Theisen: 18:41

Yes. Don't take it from the baby. If it's an extra extra supply, yes.

Amanda Gorman: 18:47

Okay, so what are the main differences between breast milk and formula?

Lori Theisen: 18:52

You know, formula, you crack a can open and it's the same for a three day old baby, as it is for a six month old baby, as it is for an 11 month old baby. Where breast milk is constantly changing. The baby's body and the mother's body are communicating back and forth. You know, it could be a really hot summer day when the baby nurses, they'll communicate that I'm thirstier and I need to be more hydrated, and they'll get more you know, watery milk. If a baby's going through a growth spurt the body's gonna know and build that, that fattier milk to help that baby grow and formula can't do that.

Amanda Gorman: 19:36

Helpful to know. So hit us with some of your favorite fun facts that moms need to know about breast milk.

Lori Theisen: 19:45

Fun facts. You know, there is one property in milk that's called an oligosaccharide. This is a fun fact and I like to talk about it in my prenatals. An oligosaccharide, has no nutritive benefit. So why is it in breast milk? Why is it there? Why is the baby drinking it? An oligosaccharide is this really cool, I like to envision it as a puzzle piece. So it's this cool puzzle piece the baby drinks, and as it goes down through the mouth, esophagus, the stomach, into the intestines, it just connects to really bad stuff like listeria, salmonella, campylobacter, rotavirus, it connects to all these really bad things, and it comes out into baby's poop and it is found whole. So it prevents these bad things to connect to the gut system to the intestines so baby doesn't get sick. So I, it's almost like drinking hand sanitizer. It's just killing stuff along the way and grabbing onto it and right out into the poop.

Amanda Gorman: 20:53

I was gonna say like a Roomba.

Lori Theisen: 20:57

Yes.

Amanda Gorman: 20:59

That I mean, that really is pretty amazing. Um, for moms who are having trouble breastfeeding, what advice do you have for them?

Lori Theisen: 21:10

Yeah. You know, to be kind and gentle to yourself, because this parenting stuff is hard. And don't give up on even your worst day. And find a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Lactation Consultants have the evidence to help you and then the tips and tricks to help guide you into what your feeding goals are. And that's really important to have somebody on your side who can be your cheerleader, but is really super smart at the same time.

Amanda Gorman: 21:47

Mm hmm. Absolutely. I mean, I know from my experience, I had a lot of trouble. And had I had someone like you there, that would have been really helpful. I could have learned a lot more than I knew. Well, Lori, I am bummed to say that that we're out of time for today. But you know, this conversation has been so rich in information. And I know that you've really inspired a lot of moms out there who are listening with [interrupted]. So happy that you came today. Thank you so much.

Lori Theisen: 22:19

Yeah, thank you so much.

Amanda Gorman: 22:23

Well, if listeners do want to get in touch with you or book a virtual consult, where can they find you?

Lori Theisen: 22:28

At Nest Collaborative.

Amanda Gorman: 22:30

Yes, they can. Well, excellent. Thank you. Thank you so much. We loved having you as our guest today. I hope you'll be back again soon.

Lori Theisen: 22:38

I would be honored. Thank you so much.

Amanda Gorman: 22:40

Of course. Well, now to you mamas and mamas to be. Thank you for tuning in to today's show. We hope you learned as much as we did. And if you have any questions or a show topic suggestion, we really would love to hear it. Message us on Instagram or Facebook@breastfeedingunplugged, or visit us on our website at breastfeedingunplugged.com. You can give us your feedback there. And while you're at it, if you're totally loving the show, please give us a rating on whatever podc- podcast platform you're listening from. And it will help us reach more mamas all around the world. Until next week, it's me Amanda, wishing you all your best on your breastfeeding journey. Boo bye.[Outro] I will redo the outro

Unknown: 23:26

Did you say boo bye?

Amanda Gorman: 23:28

certainly did boo. Bye.

Lori Theisen: 23:29

Do you say that? See them? Everyone?

Amanda Gorman: 23:31

Everyone saw Chelsea she's the creative. She's

Unknown: 23:35

creative.

Amanda Gorman: 23:38

Yeah, no, Chelsea is she's been amazing. She keeps this organized and keeps me on point and tells me when to energize and when to redo the outro.

Unknown: 23:53

Now we do have a few minutes between was never had. Larry, are there any questions that you want to add that we can record now and put in? Because we have a few minutes? Sure. Um, you know, that you have we can Amanda can ask those questions, we can put it in the you know, I think that the more the better. Like this stuff was so interesting that you're talking about so hit us hit us up. I'm trying to think of,

Lori Theisen: 24:19

you know, with the pumping and dumping the pumping and dumping part because we could talk about more like we could go back to kind of that question because

Amanda Gorman: 24:31

whatever little topic we could touch on is. And I don't know if it's too much of a topic but looping in the benefits of donor milk or is knowing that knowing that breast milk is ideally developed out of communication between a mom and a baby. Is it still okay to look at, you know, giving donor milk or does donor milk disrupt that? Yeah, too much too. Is that too much to dive into? No,

Unknown: 24:56

I can. So why don't you just say Amanda, can you just say let's talk a little bit about donor milk? And then Lori can jump right in and first Lori, he can hear me. Okay, right. Yep. Laurie. So first define donor milk so that people understand what that is because some people may have never heard that and then talk a little bit about the kind of bio

Amanda Gorman: 25:21

Do you I mean, do you know we didn't really give you any preparation for this yet? do you have?

Lori Theisen: 25:26

Yeah, and there's actually a study that just came out that said, if you can put one drop of your own breast milk into donor milk, after about four or five hours, it changes the donor milk into your milk for your baby, which is wild.

Unknown: 25:41

There you go. All right. Okay. And then and then another question could be as a follow up to that, you guys, you guys, let me know. But, um, for adaptive and parents who have babies born from surrogacy, what, in addition to donor milk, what other options are there out there? And maybe we can talk about that.

Lori Theisen: 26:05

So that can give that could be pretty lengthy. So donor milk would be the greatest thing, you know, what would be a great thing, but you can relax state, if you've never had a baby, you can take medications to make milk. And that might be

Amanda Gorman: 26:21

so I think, sprinkle

Unknown: 26:23

smell.

Amanda Gorman: 26:24

We don't have to go into too much depth. But I think there's much that generally people don't even know about. So yeah, even if it's just, you know, sprinkling the information lightly, then at least

Unknown: 26:36

prevent, like, just give somebody some something to Google. You know what I mean? And that's okay. It doesn't have to be the full shebang. But I think we talked for two or three minutes about that. It's like I said, it's totally fine. Because then like you said, it's like a little bit of a sprinkle. Got it.

Amanda Gorman: 26:51

Let me so my question, you're writing my question down.

Lori Theisen: 26:55

She's great. She is great. She's

Unknown: 26:57

got it. All right. I told you my latest business idea which I have a new business idea, like every 10 seconds. But my late my second, actually, no, I've had to my firt my most recent one was the mom to be envy. Oh, hold on, let me do this, my kids today, which is that moms can go to a little VMB while they're in their third trimester to get away from their annoying husbands and families and everything else and have this whole, like, weekend of like, you can meet with lactation consultant, you can talk to a doula you can do this. You can bath in the morning. Awesome. The whole curated stay based on like just having a couple of days just to be in your own pregnant world.

Amanda Gorman: 27:45

Have you trademark this? Yeah. We had this collaborative, ironically, are in the business of developing new products. So

Unknown: 27:55

don't steal my idea. But then the other like royalties, yeah, equity. Perfect. And then the other business idea was like a parent's dating services, say you're single, you want to become a mom. You may be able to meet up with another woman who can count as friends like meeting people who maybe you want to be parents, but don't necessarily like not romantic or just like, want to be just like a meeting. Yeah. But no dating. That'd be amazing. I'm a single mother. I would like that. I like who wants to be the single mom or you're just a woman who's like, I don't want to settle for no man. But I want to, I want I would like to maybe be with even another guy or woman. But it's not necessarily romantic. It's like, I just want to co parent and have like a homey. Like, yes,

Amanda Gorman: 28:49

skip all of the pre stuff and jump Rachel what parenting really is, which is just like friends with a business relationship for a few years. Yeah.

Unknown: 28:58

But like this whole idea of like having this co parent that isn't necessarily romantic, but it's just like, like, it could very well be two girlfriends who just want to be just, you know, that's my other. This is a very weird, I would join that I'm

Lori Theisen: 29:12

a single mother, I would join that in a heartbeat. It's like you go on and it's like Bumble, right? You're like I'm a single mom.

Unknown: 29:19

I want to be

Lori Theisen: 29:22

and you can compare it you can feel out like parenting styles.

Amanda Gorman: 29:25

I would have loved to do my first few years postpartum with my girlfriend instead of

Lori Theisen: 29:32

I love you, Ryan. You've learned so much and Chelsea that first idea too. I bet you that would greatly reduce like preaching preterm birth, like it would really help relax moms and that kind of amazing idea came to me at 40 weeks and like six days,

Amanda Gorman: 29:50

they say true ideas work when you actually have realized the problem yourself.

Unknown: 29:55

And I literally you're like, Where's my end, I was obsessed with the idea.

Amanda Gorman: 30:02

So would you would it be more like a retreat or more like a conference or more like a vacation?

Unknown: 30:10

No, it's literally just take a picture of you and be like a nice guy like in Connecticut or upstate in a year or whatever. But it's totally been. So you check in, right? You check in and you get in the morning, they deliver you a ritual bath with all your herbs and stuff. So you can soak in a solo

Amanda Gorman: 30:27

venture, you're not there, you're not like in a group setting for the education stuff. One on one order could be where it's like, okay, these are the things that yes, because like some lower price point, like group work, right? higher price point, right. And you can choose your individual path. So you can say, Okay, I want to meet you, I want to do this, I want to do that. I want to do this. And it's like a, it's almost like a curated weekend away. Anyway, do you want hostos on your massage, or aroma therapy

Unknown: 30:57

or foods? Like there's a chef in the freezer, I like for pre birthing and doing the whole thing and like other this is great for this. And then maybe there's like some, you know, whatever. Maybe you gain cooking class, which is like a recipe for baby fever, purees.

Lori Theisen: 31:13

And maybe a therapist so you can complain about your partner.

Amanda Gorman: 31:17

Or maybe there's like something that you can help you talk to your partner better so that they can be like, not so much of a deadbeat. Well, we could have it we could have a therapist, there are so many things. You have your questions. I'm doodling again. So can you read my handwriting? Let's talk a bit about donor milk. In addition to donor milk, what are the options for adoptive and surrogate parents? Are we missing later? But are we missing a sub subset of parents who would want to induce lactation? Well, they are either adopted or does adopted adoption. And Sir, I get

Lori Theisen: 31:58

I mean, same sex marriages. So you know, I've taken care of plenty of women who one birth the baby and the other one wants to breastfeed the baby. I'm not sure how we would describe that, though. So

Amanda Gorman: 32:13

adoptive surrogates, same sex

Unknown: 32:20

couples?

Amanda Gorman: 32:23

Or even women who medically

Unknown: 32:26

Yeah, no, no,

Amanda Gorman: 32:28

well, no, because then they wouldn't be able to induce lactation, either.

Unknown: 32:32

You're talking about it, or they're not normal or unable to breastfeed?

Lori Theisen: 32:45

Well, because if they, they can relax aid or taking medication, so they could be able to have a or have already.

Amanda Gorman: 33:00

Who want to relax. So in other words, how do we differentiate like induction versus relaxation? So or women who may have already stopped and want to relax? Okay, that no, because how does that? How does that tie in like, same sex? Or you're saying that in addition, so that goes so for adoptive families or same sex couples,

Lori Theisen: 33:30

and then I will, you could say, surrogates or adoptive and then I could bring up like, you know, same sex couples, the women are able to, you know, both mothers are able to breastfeed their babies, you know, with the help of medication and pumping.

Amanda Gorman: 33:45

Okay, so out. Yeah. Okay. And then and then it kind of, you know, she just shows there's lots of options for lots of different families based on their individual journeys, everything, okay, okay. All right. Want to jump into that and record, wherever you're recording anything?

Unknown: 34:00

When you're ready? Oh, someone's gonna record your idea, steal it.

Amanda Gorman: 34:07

Let's talk a bit about donor milk. What is donor milk?

Lori Theisen: 34:12

Yeah, so donor milk is milk that's been donated from another woman who maybe has had an oversupply or has even maybe lost a child at at birth. And what they do is they donate milk, their breast milk, to a milk bank, usually. The milk bank will screen the families make sure that they're not any- on any type of medications that could harm a baby or any certain diseases, and then they will pasteurize the milk. And sometimes hospitals will buy the donor milk and then give that to their birthing families as well.

Amanda Gorman: 34:50

Interesting, and I think I've even heard that in some cases, women don't know but pediatricians can prescribe additional supplemental milk in the form of donor milk. So for a baby who for some reason or another isn't getting enough, at some point, and if mom isn't able to meet the demand herself. And in in some cases, insurances will actually pay for it as well.

Lori Theisen: 35:13

Yeah, absolutely. Yes.

Amanda Gorman: 35:15

So that's, that's exciting. You know, in addition to donor milk, what other options are out there for, say, adoptive families or families that use surrogates?

Lori Theisen: 35:29

Yeah. So with adoptive families, you know, donor milk is a wonderful option. There are, you know, some surrogates will often pump and give their milk for a certain amount of weeks or months. For families of same sex couples, you know, you can take certain medications to make breast milk and relactate even. So by pumping and certain medications, you could also be able to breastfeed your own adopted child. There's lots of options for individual families and their individual feeding journeys.

Amanda Gorman: 36:10

Well, that's really nice to know. And I help those that didn't know who are listening have learned something. So thank you.

Lori Theisen: 36:17

Yes.

Unknown: 36:20

Shall we do the after I just want to hear me out. No, because I think that those two are great additions. Is there anything else?

Lori Theisen: 36:31

Oh, I could talk about this for hours.

Amanda Gorman: 36:33

But you're easy. You're like Easy peasy. So cool. It's back. Yay, I can get to do more. Yeah. Oh,

Lori Theisen: 36:46

you need to do Amanda. Not that you have like nothing to do. But you should really get an app on your plate. A nest app? Well, let's,

Amanda Gorman: 36:55

let's talk about that. Because what I would want to know is the what and the why. And I only say that, because I'm such a pessimist when it comes to apps. And I'm also 10 years older than all of our clients. And I'm like, there's too many apps on my phone. And they're just we're gonna be bias because of my feelings about apps. So, and I'd want to make sure it was differentiated. Thank, you know, I know IP talk. Um,

Lori Theisen: 37:28

yeah, so I think like, my idea has always been, I mean, that's the way of the world for the youngsters, right? I'm older than all of them, too. But that's the way of the world is these apps. If we had one that was like, you know, you I mean, we can think is so much bigger and outside of the box, like they can keep their wet and dirty diapers in there. They can keep their pumping sessions, they can see, I know how often they breastfeed when they breastfeed, it could be connected to the charm portal, we would know what's going on at all the time at all times. And then like motivation and tips, like you know, especially like, okay, two weeks old, your baby's probably gonna get fussy or more collocate this is normal, gassy babies are is a normal baby spitty babies are normal. And then like, Oh, it's almost eight weeks, your baby's not going to sleep for a week because it's sleep regression. Get ready, like these little warnings. And I you know, and then, you know, you open the app at 3am to pump and then there's some kind of quote in there. That's like, you're doing awesome. I know, you're tired, but you're doing great. You know,

Amanda Gorman: 38:33

I'm like Saturday, my life name like?

Unknown: 38:36

Um, I know, I know, there's a thought

Lori Theisen: 38:41

there's a million apps out there. I know, how would you differentiate your note?

Amanda Gorman: 38:44

Right? That's the thing. But I think the big thing would be connecting it making sure the data was coming in a charm. So but then the question is who's monitoring that data? Right? So like, are you? Or is someone monitoring it? Or?

Unknown: 39:00

And then we could definitely

Amanda Gorman: 39:05

drum up some real value in it. It just has, we have to take some time and think about it.

Unknown: 39:10

Yeah, baby steps.

Amanda Gorman: 39:14

Okay, baby steps. No pun intended. All right. Well, Laurie, thank you so much. And I know that I've been totally um, I have not had good enough time. But you came in like when we went into sixth gear,

Lori Theisen: 39:31

so I totally, I'm loving it. I

Amanda Gorman: 39:35

hear and know nothing but wonderful things. So just watch out because you're only probably going to get more stuff to help with because apparently you're really good at everything so far. So.

Unknown: 39:48

Thanks. All right. Thank

Amanda Gorman: 39:51

you so much. All right. Thanks. Have a good night. You too. Bye.