WEBVTT
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She is sure, she is sure, she is strong, she
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is true, is true, she is brave, bray, she is
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she is you. She is she is she is sure,
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she is strong, she is strong, she is true, is true,
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she is brave, is bray, she is she is you.
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Hello, everyone, welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio here
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on the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host,
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Dori Di Carlo, and you know we are here week
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after week, show after show, breaking those myths at moentrepreneurs
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and business women, especially those of us building our businesses
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from home. You know that we're just dabbling in between
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bake sales and getting our nails done. We're not We
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are smart, we are savvy, and we are sharing the
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wisdom of women in business and in life. And I'm
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looking forward to bringing today's guest into our show. Mallory
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Thomas is a writer and reader of soft love stories
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that make you swoon, squeal, and blush. When she's not writing,
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she can be found picking up after her two kids,
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joking with her handsome husband, and planning trips to the beach.
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She's also a baby formula expert and content creator. She
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strives to write books that are better than your phone
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She hopes the time spent reading her books will leave
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you happier and more hopeful than time spent on social media.
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I like that ambition.
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Thank you.
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We are spending way too much time on social media.
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With all that being said, Mallory, welcome to work on radio.
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Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
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I'm thrilled to have you here, and I would love
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for you to take us on your journey. And I
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can't wait to find out what a baby formula educator does.
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So really tell us your story, Mallory.
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Absolutely well.
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I got started in the baby formula space during COVID
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about five years ago and really grew a large platform
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on Instagram around baby formula and baby formula support. I
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work for Baby Formula Company, and this was all well
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and good until last May. I guess this was May
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twenty twenty three. My kindergartener at the time came home
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from school with a fill in the blank mother's say gift.
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You know the ones that are like, my mom's favorite
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food is spaghetti, my mom is eighty seven years old,
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you know those, And it said my mom is really
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good at looking at her phone, and it just crushed me.
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And I was like, okay, number one, I have a
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problem here. But I made my living on my phone, you.
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Know, as many of us do.
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And I was like, there, I need to make a change, right,
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I need to figure out a way that my kids
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can see me create content and not just consume it.
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And so that was when I really made the shift
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from I still do my baby formula stuff on Instagram.
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I actually have a baby formula book coming out next year,
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but I started writing fiction again because I wanted my
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kids to see that I was more than just mom
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on the phone all the time. So I ended up
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writing my book somewhere along the line, sort of born
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out of that desire for my kids to see me
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do something else other than be on my phone. And
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now it's just been such a fun experience watching the
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process and going through the process with my daughter, and
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she's now my biggest fan.
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Well that's the best. When you have your kids become
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your biggest fan, that's when you know things are going well.
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I have to tell you somewhere along the line, I
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got a chance to read it before today's show. Really
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get good Stories, Thank you got me, really really got me.
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When Piper went to the father's house. Yeah, I was
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a puddle, I know.
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I didn't.
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Yes, I didn't set out to write a story that
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was so poignant. I set out to just write a
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funny little rom com and it evolved into something with
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a lot of heart, which I appreciate art.
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It really really wound up tremendous amount of art and
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stuff that really resonated somebody who I've now lost both parents,
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my mom a long time ago, but my daddy during
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COVID and and it's a very strange feeling because you
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think of orphans as little kids.
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Yeah.
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I'll never forget waking up the day after my daddy
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died and I.
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Went, yeah, and you just have to keep living.
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Yeah, it's a weird feeling. And my my I just
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lost his dad in May, so that's so hard. His
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mom and it was it's our first time down to here,
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to all by herself and married sixty something years.
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Oh that's yeah, that's such a challenge.
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Yeah, and we don't I don't think people realize that
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the big shift when you lose a life, you know,
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you lose your spouse. You lose your spouse. When you
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lose your spouse, did you have spent your entire life
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with Yeah, you know, most ninety nine percent of your
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memories are a week. So yeah, that was that was
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really that was really a very touching, really resonated with me.
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So I'm going to switch back now because I gotta
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know what a baby formula educator does.
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Yeah. Yeah, So I had a COVID baby.
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He's five now, and I, like many moms, had assumed
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that I would breastfeed. I took all the classes, I
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read the books, you know whatever, and then not what
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I know, and it was also a pretty common experience.
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It did not work as seamlessly as I thought it
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was going to. And so I was like, you know,
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if I'm not gonna breastfeed because this is not working
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for me, it's not working for him, it's not working for.
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Us, then I'm going to be I'm going to learn.
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All of the things. I'm going to be the best
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formula feeder there there is, you know. And so I
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started looking for resources and they're just weren't a lot.
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There weren't a lot of resources about formula other than
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sort of thinly veiled breastfiting pages that said basically.
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Don't do it.
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Even your formula can says breast is best on the back,
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and so I did a whole bunch of research myself
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and I got certified as an infant feeding technician, and
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I became sort of the de facto formula mom and
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my group of friends, where I would start getting texts
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from people that are like, you don't know me, but
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Emily said, you know about formula.
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What do you think about you know this one? Or
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my baby's gassy, which I do.
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And I realized that there that people beyond me wanted
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to talk about formula and had questions about formula, and
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so I started an Instagram platform. It's called the Formula Mom,
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and it has grown and grown and grown, and I
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got h hired by a formula company and so now
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I lead education for them as well as still doing
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my Instagram work. And it's been a wild journey. It's
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been a fun journey.
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It's amazing how people guilt you at times. I was
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a nursing mom and I was one of those people
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like my having babies. My Lama's coach was like, we
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should be filming you for Lama's classes, that you're the
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kind of mom we want to film you know. Oh,
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I don't know if the baby will nurse and just
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boom right on.
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Absolutely not.
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But when I decided, because I would pump, but I
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was like, you know what, there's going to be times
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that I am not going to be here. Something's gonna happen.
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We won't have milk. I went on a formula study
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because I never gave my kids anything I didn't taste first,
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So I've wanted to find the formula tasted the most
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like me. I think that makes sense, Yeah, you know,
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and did find one. It was powder. I liked them
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powder better than the hands. But I will never forget
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them calling from me from Lala cha because my first son,
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at six months old, was walking around holding onto furniture and.
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Yeah, he was wild.
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The earliest you can do anything, That was this kid.
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And he didn't want a nurse. It was too constricting
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for him.
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Yeah, he wanted to be free.
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Yeah, I'm pumping and putting them in and I'm like, And
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they actually said to me, well, you know what, just
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starve him, don't give him anything, and he'll come back
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to the breast. I said, do me a favor, don't
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ever flip and call my house.
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That's wild.
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I said, say that to somebody I'm a first month now.
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I had coached in the delivery room four times ago
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my own I think with kids my whole life, so me,
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I was not intimidated, but others would have not said
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their baby anything to force them back to the breast.
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You know what is breast best for you? Here, let
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me break this to you, mommies, for the first two weeks,
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as long as they get that colosstrum, you've given them
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everything you really can. The rest of it is free
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milk mm hm. So you know what, even though you struggle,
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you got that beginning part in that's all that mattered. Yeah,
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that's weird, but they don't tell you this. They make
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you feel like there's something right, and you know what,
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there's nothing wrong. Mommies. You do what is best for
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you and baby. And some women don't want to the breastfeed,
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and you don't need to. That's why companies are doing
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everything they can to make them as healthy and to
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give kids as much of a good start as possible.
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Absolutely, yeah, and it is wild because you know you're
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not alone in hearing just absolutely unhinged advice from folks
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who want to keep mom's breastfeeding. And if that's the
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mom's goal, absolutely, then you know, work with somebody who
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can help you. But the amount of stuff I hear
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that people have told moms is truly unhinged. Some of it.
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I'm like, this is crazy, this is crazy. And we
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also know too that the best thing for a baby
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is a mom that is emotionally engaged, that isn't depressed,
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that isn't dissociated. And so if breastfeeding is making you
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unable to have a good bond with your baby because
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it's so stressful or it's so taxing that you can't
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engage with your baby. I got to a point where
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it was like my baby would cry and I would
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just be like filled with anxiety, right because I was like,
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oh no, he needs to eat again. And so it
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was like we switched to formula, and then I was
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able to bond. And that's what they always say, right,
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like breastfeed, if you breastfeed your baby, all bond. I
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did not are bonding with that baby till I stop resbating.
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Because then I could just enjoy him.
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So yeah, it's a it's a wild place to exist
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on the internet in the center of that discourse, for sure.
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It truly is. And again you know what bonding with
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your baby is, folding your baby is looking in their
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eyes and feeling your heart. Absolutely, yes, just singing doesn't
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mean they can't be against your chest and feeling your
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flesh and feeling your heart. It's it's amazing how even
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in today's world, well especially now in today's world, you
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know where well, it's like, well, that's your job. My
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grandson was in intensive care for a week and so
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because of his bloodshirt. He was actually fine, but his
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mom had tremendous complications and so she was pumping colostrum.
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And then at that point, I mean they were pick
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pickline feeding him and everything. It was time for him
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to try to learn. He couldn't latch. It was just
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too much. And here's my son. Well, you know it
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would be much much better if we breastfeed. I was like,
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oh really, then whip one out.
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I don't know that we need your hear this.
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No, you will not make her feel bad, you know,
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And I kept telling her you gave him the most
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important part. You know, you pumped until you were completely dropped.
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That's all you could do. And you did a great job.
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And he's a good, healthy kid. It's going to be seven,
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he's great, you know, yes, it really is amazing, even
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my son, it would be so much better if we
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did this. Oh really, unless you're become an umbrella and
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you're in, they're opening your wide. You're just along to
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the ride, buddy. Serious. But again, these are conversations that
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I love having because we so have to get out
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of the closet. Yeah, we so have to make moms.
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Remember you're doing a great job.
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Yes, absolutely, and.
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How somebody else does it fabulous, Thanks for the exactience.
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But this is for me, yes absolutely, and again, and
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so the work that you are doing as that baby
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formula educator, really, Malorie, thank you because it's an important
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thing that you are doing to give me confidence to
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parent as it works for them.
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Yeah.