Our Story

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I returned to work at 10 weeks postpartum with my oldest son. It was the hardest week of my life up until that point. I had to commute 54-miles, one way, to a career I had built in the NICU. I LOVED my job, but I also loved my brand-new baby, and I especially loved breastfeeding him. 

Breastfeeding was so important to me but being able to leave him with a bottle was crucial. That first week home, after 3 x 12-hour days away from him, he resisted breastfeeding. I started to panic and then remembered everything I already knew about infant feeding... 

• His feeding was still reflexive
• He didn't just 'forget' how to breastfeed
• How I was feeding him mattered
• The environment mattered
• Hunger mattered, but it wasn't everything 
• His stress and frustration mattered
• And more...

We both took a deep breath and within 5 minutes he was breastfeeding like a champ again. Balancing breast and bottle feeding was never an issue again for the two of us. Nor was it an issue when I had to leave my second son for a 3-day work trip when he was just 12 weeks old. Or when my third son would stay home with a babysitter while I went to yoga or out for date night. 

I never expected to dedicate my life's work to helping breastfeeding families whose babies were struggling to take a bottle. This path really found me. However, I know exactly what it feels like to need (and want) your breastfeeding baby to take a bottle. I won't stop helping families until there isn't one breastfeeding family in the world struggling with bottle feeding and the urban legend of 'bottle refusal' is gone. 

~ Shannon