Discover the PathJudith Andrade RN IBCLC RLC D. Div.I am a breastfeeding resource nurse and a certified/registered lactation consultant.Bring your hungry baby to the warmth of our consultoria. We hope to help change you and your baby...
My storyI remember my first experience of seeing a woman breastfeeding outside of my own family home. It was way back in the 50’s when many women were bottle feeding with 'formula', a combination of evaporated milk, boiled water and sugar. I would not have known much about formula, but my mother, who was a public health nurse, had taken extra time off work after an illness. To keep busy at home, she fostered some babies and children who could not be placed. I remember helping her and my grandmother to prepare the formula, then boiling the bottles, nipples, and formula in those big pots. Of course, my mother and her sisters, other family members and friends all breastfed so this was a new skill. I never felt this was the right thing for babies. I wished we could have gotten real mother's milk but even The Hospital for Sick Children had calls out for donated breastmilk because their bank was low in those days.When I was around seven or eight, I attended Sunday School class in the mornings. There was a mother minding her older children during the class while cuddling her new baby under a mound of white knitted blankets. I asked her if I could see her baby. She smiled and pulled back the cover. There was her beautiful baby breastfeeding so naturally. My heart did a little leap and I knew then that I would breastfeed my own kids, as surely as I would know a year later that I wanted to be a nurse. I did not connect the two skills until almost 30 years later but in the past 30 years I have dedicated my energy toward enabling healthy mothers and healthy babies through natural birth, woman to woman support and breastfeeding education. I have watched the rebirth of breastfeeding with a happy heart and even though many women still endure much difficulty in getting started, I know that those women who need help, should be able to access services in both the pre and postnatal period. I first took formal breastfeeding education in 1985 and again in 1987. From there I just continued to learn more about the Science of Breastfeeding through lectures, seminars and workshops throughout North America. The Art of Breastfeeding came from watching women breastfeed. I was lucky enough to work with women of diverse cultures. Their natural ability to take the challenges of breastfeeding in stride taught me a lot about patience. No matter what skills and knowledge I add to a growing list of new thought and ideas about breastfeeding, I realize that the mother-baby complex or dyad is a unique, specialized bond that follows a pattern as ancient as life. Despite the many interruptions we put in the way of 'natural' motherhood, the final success of breastfeeding depends on mothers and babies connecting easily, often and skillfully. When the dyad is disturbed for whatever reason and for however long we are challenged then to reconnect mother and baby so that the flow of breastfeeding is re-established. This is where I can be of assistance to families. My resume is available for those wishing to review the contents and my professional credentials.
E-mail us at: info@discoverthepath.com Please note that I will not do telephone consultations. Public Health Nurses are available to do home visits and telephone services. Telehealth will also offer telephone advice.
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Discover the Path Lactation ServicesOffices Creemore Ontario serving the Georgian Triangle.
Judith Andrade RN IBCLC RLC
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