Mothers' Milk Bank Austin

This week’s National Breastfeeding Month theme is:  Breastfeeding saves lives in an emergency. There are many questions regarding child feeding during natural emergencies, such as a hurricane or the current COVID-19 pandemic. Is it safe to breastfeed? What happens when moms are separated from their children? Can changes in a breastfeeding mother’s diet during a natural emergency affect the nutritional content of their breast milk? To help us answer some of these questions, this week, we spoke with Angeliz Rivera - a registered nurse and breastfeeding mother of a 10-month-old baby. She cares for patients in the prenatal clinic at the University District Hospital (UDH) in Puerto Rico’s Medical Center. Angeliz shared her experience working as a nurse when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, leading the island into a desperate humanitarian crisis. She also shared useful tips on how to raise awareness about the importance of breast milk in daily life. C heck o...

Photo by Aneta Hayne Photography Before we get into a topic that I am very passionate about, let me introduce myself. My name is Naya Weber and I’m mother to two little boys who were both breastfed beyond infancy. It was my own struggles that motivated me to pursue a career in lactation. I’m an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) - my job is to support families experiencing postpartum breastfeeding challenges. In addition to working with families, I am the social media manager for Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin. I’m grateful to have found my way to MMBA, an organization that does so much good and uses their platform to promote good health from an early age. Normalize breastfeeding - it has been a term all over the internet for the last several years. Moms posting breastfeeding selfies (#brelfies) on social media to a variety of reactions - from praise to the more critical, “why is she posting that ??!” I think the real question we need to ask ourselves ...