My Story

Why this site exists. And why it had to.

I’ve watched too many women give up on breastfeeding not because they couldn’t do it – but because no one gave them the right information at the right moment.

I know, because I almost was one of them. Three times.

My name is Natalie. I’m a mother of three. I’m still nursing my youngest, who just turned eleven months old. And every single one of my breastfeeding journeys was different, hard in its own way, and full of moments where I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

This site exists because of those moments. And because I believe every mother deserves the information I didn’t know was out there.

Baby One: The One I Thought Was Easy

My first daughter latched perfectly from minute one. I remember thinking – oh, this is what everyone worries about? It just happens.

The only issue we had was that I was an over-supplier with such a forceful letdown that she would choke at the breast. I had to express before every feeding just so she could handle the flow. At the time I counted it as a blessed problem.

We had three beautiful months together. Then I was hospitalized with an omental infarction – a blood clot in my omentum. One of the most painful experiences of my life. She was supplemented with formula while I was in the hospital, but we made it back to the breast when I came home.

Then, at four months, the infarction got infected. Sepsis. A week in the hospital on IV antibiotics and strong pain medication. I pumped – they brought me a pump – but I had no idea what I was doing, and no one told me I could ask for a lactation consultant. No one told me I should.

The pain in my stomach was intense. Pumping was hard. I was weak with infection, and by the end of my hospital stay the pump hadn’t been used in days.

By the time I came home, my supply was gone. The medications, the stress, the inadequate pumping – it had all taken its toll. I tried. But I couldn’t get it back. We switched to formula permanently, and I was devastated. Not because formula was wrong. But because I felt like my body had failed, and I didn’t know then what I know now: it wasn’t my body. It was the absence of the right support at the right moment.

Baby Two: The One Who Taught Me to Fight

My second daughter came into the world with a severe tongue tie. Her tongue couldn’t reach past her bottom lip. When she cried, you could see the classic heart shape at the tip – the indent that told you everything you needed to know.

Two lactation consultants in the hospital. Neither could get her to latch properly. They told me to follow up when I got home. I had a pediatrician appointment at three days old, so I pushed through.

She seemed to be getting milk. Good burps. Satiated. Reasonable time at the breast. But by a few days old the pain was almost unbearable. My nipples were cracked and bleeding. I cried every time she latched. I said I was going to quit – more than once. I actually tried to give her a bottle of formula, but she refused. Wouldn’t even consider it.

After having to quit so much earlier than I wanted with my first, I was determined to have a better journey.

The pediatrician gave me exercises. We worked on her latch every single day. Slowly – very slowly – it got better.

And then it became wonderful. She breastfed until she was two years old, when I got pregnant with my third. Two years. That little girl who I cried over every feeding in the first weeks gave me two years of one of the most meaningful experiences of my life.

The difference between quitting at two weeks and feeding for two years was information. Exercises. Persistence. And someone telling me it could get better.

Baby Three: The One I’m Still Fighting For

My third daughter is eleven months old. We are still breastfeeding. And this journey has been the hardest of all.

Her latch was okay at first – I needed help in the hospital to make it great, but we got there. Minor issues, mostly laziness. She kept falling asleep at the breast. What I didn’t realize was that she wasn’t getting enough milk. She seemed so content.

I was an oversupplier again. But this time, baby couldn’t handle my large nipples and my oversupply. She was falling asleep not from contentment – but from exhaustion. She was working too hard for too little milk.

By her two-week appointment she was nowhere near her birth weight. We tried everything to keep her awake at the breast. But my supply had started to dwindle from inadequate emptying. Things got worse quickly. We had to do extra doctors appointments just to track her weight.

I started pumping exclusively and switched her to bottles so we could monitor her intake. Power pumping for days. Drinking the tea, eating oatmeal every morning, skin-to-skin around the clock. Baby on the breast for comfort even when she was bottle-fed, just to keep the stimulation going. We even did weighted feeds each day. Some days I barely made enough. I got up in the middle of the night just to pump so she’d have enough to eat the next day.

There were a lot of tears. A lot of moments where I wanted to quit. But I kept going. Exclusively pumping for the first few months, then slowly, slowly trying the breast again.

Around four months old, I tried again. It took about a week for her to adjust. But she did.

Now, at eleven months, we are breastfeeding exclusively. No pump. Her latch is great. I still have moments of wanting to quit – it’s hard with two other kids to carve out the time. But she’s most likely my last baby. And I tell myself it’s worth it. Even when I have to remind myself often.

Why This Site Exists

Three children. Three completely different journeys. And in every single one of them, there was a moment where the right information – delivered at the right time – would have changed everything.

With my first, I didn’t know I could ask for a lactation consultant in the hospital. I didn’t know how to pump effectively. I didn’t know what I was losing until it was gone.

With my second, I didn’t know about tongue tie. I didn’t know that the pain I was experiencing was not normal and not something I just had to endure. I didn’t know that it could get better.

With my third, I didn’t know about large nipple anatomy. I didn’t know about falling asleep at the boob. I didn’t know about power pumping or the science behind supply and demand. I figured it out – but I figured it out alone, at 2am, piecing together information from a dozen different sources while running on no sleep and a lot of tears.

No mother should have to do that.

Boobs for Babies exists to be the resource I needed. Real science, explained plainly. Real techniques, not just platitudes. Honest information about what’s hard and what’s possible – because breastfeeding is often hard, and also often more possible than anyone told you.

I am not a lactation consultant. I am not a medical professional. I am a mother who has been through it – all of it – and who has spent years learning the science behind what my body was doing and why.

What I do bring is a research-trained mind. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in Psychology – a research-heavy discipline that taught me how to read peer-reviewed studies, evaluate evidence, and separate strong claims from weak ones. Writing research-based articles was genuinely my favorite part of my degree.

I later pursued a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health and maintained a 4.0 GPA before life, motherhood, and a second pregnancy changed what was possible in that season. I am not a doctor, pediatrician, or lactation consultant. But I do know how to find reputable sources, read the research, and translate complicated information into plain language that can actually help a mother in the middle of the night.

That is what this site is: evidence-informed breastfeeding support, written by a mother who knows how overwhelming it feels to need answers and not know where to turn.

Everything on this site is grounded in real research and reviewed against reputable sources. Everything is written for the mother who is exhausted and overwhelmed and needs answers, not lectures.

The Mission

Boobs for Babies exists to help more mothers reach their breastfeeding goals through the six-month mark – and beyond – by giving them real science, real-life techniques, and honest information they can actually use.

Eventually, we hope to grow into something more: a resource that can help connect mothers with affordable lactation support when they need hands-on help. That work starts here, with clear information, practical guidance, and encouragement without shame.