Melissa Curry Answers Your Feeding Questions
Since joining Bridgetown Baby in 2021, Melissa Curry has become an integral (and sought-after) member of the Bridgetown Baby lactation team. Melissa brings more than fifteen years’ experience supporting new families - starting as a homebirth midwife and then achieving certification as an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) when she realized how crucial postpartum and lactation support is in helping ease the transitions that new families face.
Among the things families have included in their Google reviews about working with Melissa:
“I’m 10 months into exclusively breastfeeding and I attribute a lot of my success to what I learned from Melissa!”
“Melissa…was delightful, professional and easy to work with. She discovered the issue… and provided me with a plan to move forward. I was grateful to find out my insurance covered all of it… (though I would have gladly paid out of pocket for such great care).”
“We are so grateful for Melissa…I developed more confidence, and our breastfeeding relationship grew so that by a week and a half later we were independently breastfeeding.”
Melissa Curry, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Certified Professional Midwife
We’re lucky to incorporate Melissa’s deep knowledge into the Bridgetown Baby model of postpartum care. Read on to learn a bit more about Melissa’s approach to her work, and her answers to a few of parents’ most frequently asked questions:
What was your path to becoming a lactation consultant?
I have long been obsessed with supporting people in the prenatal and postpartum period. I was a midwife for many years before the on-call toll became too much for me and my family. It felt natural to transition into lactation work and bring my midwifery knowledge along for the ride. In my position I get to work with my favorite population - parents and babies - all while using highly specialized, evidence-based knowledge and clinical skills to assess a dyad’s (parent +baby) feeding function and multifactorial feeding challenges. Lactation is really it’s own niche and that’s what drew me into the field.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
The relationships I create with families. Even when they are short-term, these relationships are intimate. I get to witness people in this really special, vulnerable, and transformational time. I have always loved watching parents get their footing and become the experts on their babies. Oftentimes parents say something along the lines of “...she always does ____” - even though the baby is only days or weeks old, they already feel like they’ve known them forever.
What’s the one message you’d share with any family about feeding their little ones?
I want every parent I work with to know that I don’t have an agenda for them. I think people often assume a lactation consultant wants everyone to breastfeed, but I’m a radical supporter of each person’s particular feeding goals. That may mean that you feed your baby through latching, bottles, or both. You might use your milk, donor milk, formula, or a combination of all three. My job is to give you the information and tools to make an informed choice and provide you with a clear plan along the way to help you to reach your goals.
Clients often reach out because they find it painful when breastfeeding - what are some words of encouragement you offer to families in this situation?
I like for parents to know that there are going to be sensations involved in latching your baby to your body. Especially if you’ve never done it before these are going to feel really intense - but it shouldn’t be painful. No matter what, you shouldn’t be in the position of dreading every feed due to pain. Discomfort is common but not normal. Reaching out to a lactation consultant can help you tease apart what are normal sensations and what are not. There are many things we can do to address discomfort in the short term, but as much as possible I want to discover the root causes so that latching can be enjoyable and sustainable.
We often get questions from parents like “how much should a 6 week old eat.” How do you approach helping parents answer that question for their specific baby?
There are general guidelines for how much each baby should be taking in depending on their age and size, but this can vary somewhat from baby to baby. So, for me, the main priority is helping parents learn to read their babies’ hunger cues, fullness cues, and digestive cues. That’s a skill that parents need to use for every feed. Babies are people whose hunger varies just like adults do depending on their needs at each particular meal. We’re not growing plants that we need to water a fixed amount. Humans’ nutritional needs are complex, and they fluctuate. The gold standard for knowing if you’re giving your baby the right amount is to read their hunger and fullness cues during each feed. When I teach some basic ways to read those cues, it’s mindblowing for parents - and powerful, I think, to understand their babies in this way.
Parents sometimes wonder what food helps produce breast milk. What do you share with parents about the role of nutrition in milk production?
I don’t really care what people are eating, to be honest. I always tell people that I want them to be eating what feels good and a lot of it. Lactation is a time to treat yourself because you are working so incredibly hard to feed another human from your body. I don’t see that nutrition is a make-it-or-break-it component of whether or not you’re going to make enough milk. This is different than parents might hear or read from other sources, but in our current culture a lot of people are restricted in their diet during their pregnancy - so once they give birth, I want parents to eat whatever sounds and feels good to them rather than following a specific diet. And I want to see them eating a lot - a nursing parent should never feel hungry. I also find that people are smart about their bodies and are generally good at taking care of themselves, so I don’t feel the need to get overly involved in teaching about nutrition. That said, I do always check in about appetite so that I can offer extra support if needed.
In the case of a true low milk supply situation, I often hear from parents “I’m eating tons of oats and drinking enough water…” but if there’s a true supply issue, it usually goes beyond nutrition or something that parents aren’t “doing right.” Often there’s an underlying cause that can be addressed with herbs and other modalities.
What advice do you have for parents as they put together a pumping and breastfeeding schedule?
Schedule is a strong word when we are talking about infants! Babies are changing and growing so rapidly that just when you think you have a schedule, it changes. The golden rule to breastfeeding is to feed on demand so that you are meeting your baby where they are at any given stage of development. With that said, I do find that most parents find a rhythm that guides their days and nights. For those parents who are pumping - either out of necessity or choice - my goal is to help them find the balance between pumping enough to meet their feeding goals and prioritizing sleep and their mental and physical health. Having good lactation and postpartum doula support can make this much more doable.
What are the top three questions parents ask you?
Q: Why does it hurt when I pump?
A: Your flanges are too big!
Q: Is it normal for my baby to go days without pooping?
A: Common, yes. Normal, no. Despite the myth that breastmilk is so absorbable that breastfed babies don’t need to poop as often as babies who are drinking formula, everyone feels better when they poop every day! Infant digestion issues (constipation, gas, spit up, reflux, etc.) are something a skilled lactation consultant can help you with.
Q: What are the best bottle, pump, and pacifier brands to use?
A: It depends. These things are not usually a one-size fits all but this is something that can be discussed during a lactation consultation.
You can read more about Melissa Curry and learn about Bridgetown Baby feeding support, from prenatal education to weaning your nursling, on the Bridgetown Baby website. If you’re in need of immediate support, you can reach out to our Feeding Warmline; tended by professional lactation consultants, you’ll receive an answer to your email within 24 hours with guidance for working out the next steps in your feeding journey.
