E061 - Liquid Gold ft Hannah Johnson & Dr. Lisa Stellwagen

Dr. Lisa and Hannah are on a mission to help mamas and babies alike so that moms who, for multiple factors, cannot produce breast milk naturally, have an alternative for breast milk if that is what they desire over baby formula. A few years ago, when more and more data started coming out about the importance of specific diet for the tiniest babies, think premature babies with a very low birth weight (under three pounds) whose mothers were unable to lactate due to stress, premature birth, and various factors, donor breast milk was a safe and good alternative. While donor breast milk may lack a bit of the biological antibodies of biological mother’s own milk, but it is still full of good nutrition. It is the preferred alternative to feeding formula to tiny premature baby as it could lead to life-threatening health complications. Breastmilk is full of healthy nutrients for the baby, be it your own or a donor’s. For some reason, nowadays, a lot of women end up pumping and expressing their milk. Some benefits of feeding your baby breastmilk (yours or a donors), expressed, breastfed, or pumped include: A reduction in infectious diseases as they grow older. Decreased rates of ear infections and bloodstream infections, pneumonia urinary tract infection, meningitis, diarrhea, etc. It also decreases the rate of some other inflammatory diseases, even certain types of cancer. Here are a few takeaways from today’s episode: 💡Give yourself and your body grace throughout this process. 💡If you are unable to breastfeed your baby, there are alternatives. Choose what works best for your baby. 💡Pay it forward and help change another baby and mama’s life. Donate your breast milk to milk banks. It truly is liquid gold! Now this doesn’t mean that just because someone is unable to express breastmilk or chooses to formula feed, that’s a negative thing. Donor breast milk is a really safe alternative should you want that choice for your baby. All donors are vetted through a rigorous screening process, and are typically moms who are still actively breastfeeding their children or producing more milk than they need. What better way to help shape a community and save a child’s life than by donating your liquid gold, amirite!? It’s time to banish the stigma, help more babies and mamas in need, and help these babies get a strong start in life—one that’s nourished with liquid gold! Motherhood unifies us even if our liquid gold may be slightly different from one another! I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Pay it forward to and share, share, share this episode and your takeaways on social media and tag us @ygtmama #youvegotthismamapodcast. Subscribe + Rate + Leave us a review as it helps get our message get in front of more incredible womxn who need this. See you next week! Sabrina