Do you want to get a tattoo?
Do you have pierced nipples and concerned that could impact breastfeeding?
Were you told you have to wean in order to have surgery?
Get the real info here. Now.
If you are a new listener, we would love to hear from you. Please consider leaving us a review on itunes or sending us an email with your suggestions and comments to [email protected]
WE HAVE TRANSCRIPTS!! You can also add your email to our list and have episodes sent right to your inbox!
Things we talked about:
Dianne’s fun story about J-Lo [4:55]
Nipple piercing [10:20]
Tattoos [14:57]
Healing is the biggest risk [22:24]
Contrast dye [25:25]
General anesthesia [26:17]
Declining surgery due to breastfeeding [28:43]
Implants and reduction surgery [30:51]
Today’s Shout Out is to @MishapeupLLC [20:25]
@purposeiam
@parentsyournotalone
This week’s episode is brought to you by Original Sprout! Original Sprout carries safe, effective, and pediatrician tested shampoos, conditioners, styling and body care products produced and packed in California, USA. Use code BADASS for 25% off your purchase at www.originalsprout.com!
Today’s episode is also brought to you by Sheila Darling Coaching! heila Darling is a social worker, certified hypnotherapist and mindfulness meditation teacher. Head to www.Sheiladarling.com to schedule your consultation today. And mention the badass breastfeeding podcast when scheduling your consultation and receive 10% off a coaching package.
Links to information we discussed or episodes you should check out!
Set up your consultation with Dianne
Check out Dianne’s blog here~
Here is how you can connect with Dianne and Abby~
- Abby Theuring https://www.thebadassbreastfeeder.com
- Dianne Cassidy http://www.diannecassidyconsulting.com
Music we use~
Music: “Levels of Greatness” from “We Used to Paint Stars in the Sky (2012)” courtesy of Scott Holmes at freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott Holmes
TRANSCRIPTS
dianne (00:00):
hi, welcome to the Badass Breastfeeding podcast. This is Dianne, your lactation consultant,
abby (00:26):
and I’m Abby. The badass breastfeeder. and today’s episode is brought to you by Sheila Darling
coaching. Sheila Darling is a social worker, a certified hypnotherapist and mindfulness meditation
teacher, and could be your start to a more peaceful life. And today’s episode is also brought to you by
Original Sprout. Original sprout carries, safe, effective, and pediatrician, tested shampoos, conditioners,
styling, and body care products produced and packaged in California USA. Uh, and, uh, we’ll hear more
about these sponsors later, but these sponsors make this podcast possible. So please head to
badassbreastfeedingpodcast.com and check out our sponsor page. If you need anything, check there
and see if you can give any of our sponsors, uh, any business. Uh, and while you’re there, you can scroll
down and enter your email address and get episodes sent straight to your inbox. Um, and I also want to
say and ask, um, many of you might know, or maybe you don’t, I don’t know, whatever we, when, um,
when we upload the, uh, episode onto the podcast onto the website, they, I use a, um, I use an image
from the community because like a year ago I asked everybody to send me photos so that I could, you
know, use pictures of people in this community as like the little thumbnail image. Um, there’s not really
any way to give credit there, but like at least you could just see like, uh, it’s not like a stock image. You
know, I love the real images of actual, like people. I mean, stock images are actual people too, but
they’re not, they’re like kind of posts, you know, I just have people in this community. Um, and I also,
like, we like to make me memes about, you know, breastfeeding information or whatever. So if you have
any photos that you would be okay with us using, um, please send them in, um, to badassbreastfeeding
[email protected] and we would love to use them. And we would love everything like breastfeeding
little newborns to toddlers, to pumping, to bottle feeding, to cause we taught, we cover, we cover all
these topics. And um, if I have an image that’s relevant for the topic, it’s really, I get really excited about
these things. So all kinds of people, all kinds of breastfeeding and chest feeding, please send them in.
Um, and like I said, bottle-feeding or SNS or any kind of whatever breastfeeding is to send it in. And, um,
yes, bad-ass breastfeeding [email protected]. If you have any images, that’d be great. Thank you. And
now Dianne has our review of the week.
dianne (02:54):
I do. You just have to be sure that you’re okay with that image being put out all over the place.
abby (02:59):
So as long as yes, We will use it publicly. You’re okay with it. Yeah.
dianne (03:04):
And our review this week came from Instagram and I’m not quite sure I didn’t put the date on it. So I
don’t really remember when it came out to us, but it comes from HB fee five 55. And she said, just
wanted to say, thank you for a great podcast. I’m a NICU nurse following my lactation dreams. I became
an IB CLC last year. And I’m about to start my first LC job. This month. I’ve been dreaming about this for
seven years. Your podcast is so fun to listen to. I’ll definitely be a better LC. Thanks to you. Badass ladies,
Heather.
abby (03:37):
Oh my God. That’s awesome.
dianne (03:39):
You know, So I just, I love when we get the health professionals.
abby (03:43):
I know that’s what, yeah. I mean, I love everybody because obviously everybody is spreading the
information to everybody. But with the, when it’s the health professionals, it’s like they have such a
reach people that they come into contact with, you know?
dianne (03:56):
Yeah. It’s amazing. And we do get messages a lot from not necessarily, you know, reviews of the week,
but messages from people who said, you know, like this has been a great journey for me. I’d like to
become a lactation professional. How do I go about doing that? And I think it’s great because we need
you. We need lactation professionals on the planet.
abby (04:17):
And if you’re on the fence, like just do it. It’s like a career that you can’t, you can’t go wrong. You’re
going to be helping. You’re going to be helping parents and babies. You’re just going to be.
dianne (04:29):
That’s amazing. So thank you so much for the review. You said she sent that in through Instagram. So,
um, you know, if you need to get creative in how you send us reviews, that’s totally fine. We get them.
We love them. But if you want to put it on iTunes, that’s really helpful for us too. So go ahead and send
us your thoughts. And we love to, we’d love to hear what’s going on in your, in your world with your
baby and today, Oh, wait, I had a little story I was going to tell. Yeah, because it had a little bit to do with
the, um, with the sleep thing. So I listened, we have, um, Sirius XM radio and I, we listened to the house
and stuff like that. So I was listening to it the other morning while I was, I don’t know, eating breakfast
or something. And there’s one specific station that I listened to. And they’ve got the same, you know,
morning personality. And she was talking about how Jennifer Lopez is twins turned 13 this week. Oh my
God. I know. Isn’t that crazy? I had no idea. Yeah. So, um, I remember when they were born only cause I
follow like crazy anybody that has twins, I’m like psychopath about it. But so she had these twins 13
years ago and she posted something. Must’ve posted something like on social media, Instagram or
something about Twitter, who knows that she had her was her twins birthday. She was bringing them
breakfast in bed. Um, she was making breakfast for them. And uh, the morning personality on the radio
was like, you know, such a sweet picture of, you know, J-Lo with her twins. She was like, they were in
the same bed, which I thought was a little strange, but whatever. And I was just like, Oh my God, like,
we’re never going to get past this are we, we are now. And it just like on the heels, of course it’s the
same week we put out the Tracy Cassles episode about sleep.
abby (06:23):
Oh my God, we should send it to her.
dianne (06:25):
I was just like, Oh my gosh, like this will never go away. The family bed concept for people will just, it’s
just so it’s such a strange concept to our society. That, I mean, I was, and of course my twins slept
together, took it like they were like 13. So for me I’m like, Oh, that’s awesome. Of course I’m going to
say, that’s awesome.
abby (06:51):
Wait. The kids were in bed together or the mom was in there?
dianne (06:54):
The kids were the twins were in the same bed.
abby (06:57):
Oh my God. Why is that? Even a thing? I thought you meant like they were all in the same bed together,
which is also not a big deal, but yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Kids were in the same bed. So the DJ was like, okay, you know this picture with her bringing them
breakfast. She might’ve been in bed with them before she got up to get them birthday breakfast, who
knows. But she was like, you know, J-Lo bringing them breakfast. And they were in the same bed, which
is strange, but whatever, That’s exactly how she said it.
abby (07:26):
Oh my god. If you have a thought in your head that just comes, you know, you don’t have to say
everything that comes to mind. , You know what you don’t have to just because you have a little tiny
little let a little like stray thought that goes by. Sometimes you can just let it go. You know, you could just
be like, Oh, hi, thought by thought, you don’t have to say you don’t, you know, you don’t have to be just
like this verbal, like sprinkler, you know, core sprinklers are just like, you don’t have to do that. And
generally, if you have a thought like that, it’s not a good one. Right. Keep it to yourself, you know,
analyze it later.
dianne (08:03):
So I thought that that was just so fitting because we talk so much about how the normalcy of the family
bed and everything. And I mean, it’s just so our society is, is just so foreign to that.
abby (08:17):
It’s so sad that intimacy like that between twins is not even accepted.
dianne (08:25):
I know. No.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Well, I saw my kids in bed together. I would be like, Oh my God, don’t move. I got to get the camera
dianne (08:33):
Not killing each other. Not roughly.
abby (08:36):
Wow. They’re actually getting along. They’re actually like sharing an intimate moment. God. Why does
anybody have anything to say? Except like that’s beautiful and wonderful.
dianne (08:45):
I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know.
abby (08:48):
Now I’m mad again. We were going to have a fun episode and now I’m mad.
dianne (08:48):
I’m sorry. I just, I just needed to tell that little story. Yeah. This episode has nothing to do with that,
abby (09:00):
But our whole podcast does
dianne (09:02):
Yeah, absolutely. But if you didn’t listen to Tracy Cassles, definitely jump on that episode because it’s
amazing. And you won’t regret it, but this week we’re going to talk about body modifications, which is
another topic and surgeries. Yeah,
abby (09:15):
Absolutely. Yeah. This is a cool topic because people have a lot of questions about it, especially tattoos,
you know, they’re like, can I, is it safe because this is a time right? Where like people are often inspired
to get them, you know, your identity is kind of shifting not kind of your identity is shifting in major,
major ways. Um, you probably fought through like really difficult times to get a breastfeeding chest
feeding relationship going. Um, and you are going to just feel like really empowered by that. And you’re
going to, if you’re somebody who is into tattoos, you’re going to be like, Oh my God, I want to get this. Is
it safe? Um, and so we’re going to talk about all that tattoos, um, nipple, piercings, um, what else?
That’s those,
dianne (09:58):
surgeries
abby (10:00):
all kinds Of surgeries, um, which we realized that tattoos are not surgeries, but these are all things that
kind of like people wonder, like, is it safe for me to do this right now? Whether it’s, you know, a tattoo
or LASIK or anything like that? Like, yeah. So we’ll just break it down.
dianne (10:18):
So what should we start with? Yeah. Well, I don’t know.
abby (10:20):
The first page is nipple piercings and I feel like there’s so much information about this. I didn’t even so
much stuff I didn’t even think about, um, when looking into this. Um, but nipple piercing. So there’s a
couple of angles to go at this with. So if you already have a nipple piercing, um, and you’re like, I’m going
to have a baby, like, um, can I, can I breast chest feed with a, um, nipple piercing? Um, you can, and
there’s a few things that you want to like really kind of remember about this is that the most important
thing that I’ve gathered from this is that it’s healed the healing part of a nipple piercing is the most
important part. So if you have one, if you’ve had one for years and you’re gonna, you’re planning to, um,
breast or chest feed, um, you’re good to go, cause it’s already healed. It’s like, you know, you’ve got the,
you can take the jewelry out. That’s another thing you really, really need to make sure you’re taking the
jewelry out every single time that you put your baby to your, to your nipple. Um, because obviously they
can, can’t get a proper latch when there is, um, jewelry on there. And, um, that’s
dianne (11:29):
So bacteria on that jewelry, there is
abby (11:31):
Yep. Bacteria, and we don’t obviously want them to suck it off and swallow it. Um, So, and nipple
piercings, what can actually take a really long time to heal? They can take sometimes like a year or two
to heal. Uh, so if you’re, if you’re pregnant and thinking about getting one, it’s not a good time right
now. Um, if you are breastfeeding and you want to get one, you should probably wait because it’s going
to need to heal. I mean, just piercing your nipple while you’re breastfeeding is going to just really kind of
throw things.
dianne (12:09):
I don’t know that you’d be able to find anybody that would do it. Yeah. Well, that’s
abby (12:12):
True. That’s actually true. Nobody would do it.
dianne (12:15):
Yeah. I don’t think anybody will do it. That’s a good point. People do wonder, like I have had a lot of
families that have had a nipple piercing at some point in their life, but not when they’ve been
breastfeeding and, or chest feeding. And they’re always concerned that it’s going to somehow still
interfere and I’ve never seen it interfere in any way, as long as the jewelry’s out.
abby (12:42):
Right. I mean like some theoretical concerns are like milk leaking out of the piercing hole. Um, you
know, and like mastitis or clogged ducts or whatever, but like, no, you you’ve, you have a piercing, you
can totally breastfeed.
dianne (13:01):
Now the only thing that I would that I kind of had to chuckle about when I was reading up on it, you
know, just to make sure that I had all the info was them saying that, well, you should get it. If you want
to get a piercing, get it, you know, a year and a half before you become pregnant. Right. Who plans that,
you know, like, you know, so what, one of the reasons was because of healing that it takes so long for it
to heal and the hormones of pregnancy and things like that are going to interrupt that process.
abby (13:34):
The breast are going to be changing shape in major ways.
dianne (13:37):
Yeah. So if you happen to get a piercing and then three months later end up pregnant, then you
probably have to take that out and then just like, redo it again after the babies. Yeah. Is it might not heal
well for you and that’s going to cause a problem.
abby (13:56):
And if you’re breastfeeding right now and you want a nipple piercing, it’s better to wait until you’re
done. I feel like that goes without saying, you know,
dianne (14:04):
Could you imagine?
abby (14:08):
Wanting a nipple piercing while you’re breastfeeding, but you know, people just are different. So
somebody might. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. If you’re wondering if that would interfere with breastfeeding.
Yeah. That probably would,
dianne (14:19):
But if you had it and took it out, it’s fine. I don’t think you’re going to have any issues. Yeah. As long as
everything is healed you’re not going to have any issues.
abby (14:28):
Right. Um, and I think that’s all I have for the,
dianne (14:34):
Yeah. I think tattoos are the bigger, the bigger question the piercings might happen beforehand and
people say, Oh, I did have my nipple piercings. It’s going to be a problem. Right.
abby (14:45):
And this, the short answer is no, absolutely no reason to not breastfeed. No, just to take it out before
every feeding,
dianne (14:54):
But tattoos are something that we get asked about. Yeah.
abby (14:57):
Yeah. And there’s a lot of discussion around that too, because there are things to, you know, there are
things, I mean, there’s things to take into consideration, but these are all things that I think you would
be taking into consideration. Even if you weren’t breastfeeding.
dianne (15:10):
Absolutely. Now, do you have a tattoo?
abby (15:13):
I, yeah. I have two tattoos that were very much before I had children
dianne (15:18):
Yeah, I have many. So this is kind of, kind of funny because I did my, um, my blog that’s coming out this
week is actually on tattoos. Oh cool. So I already had, and that was like totally accidental because, you
know, I don’t plan anything. So the, I did a lot, you know, a bunch of research for it just to have some
good information I put in the blog, but in the blog, there are some like statistics and things like that,
about how many people that get tattoos and what a huge, huge growing culture. It is tattoos now. And
the majority of people that get tattoos, get them in a place that you can’t see them, which is where
most of the majority of mine are in places where you can’t see them if I have clothes on. So, um, that’s,
you know, that’s what happens a lot of the time with people. And you’ve got a lot of questions about,
can I get a tattoo if I breast, if I’m breast or chest feeding. And again, the short answer is yes, you can. If
you can find somebody to do it, because if you say hi, I’m breastfeeding or chest feed, again, like a
tattoo, the majority of the tattoo artists are probably going to decline. They’re going to say no. Right.
But in this case,
abby (16:34):
You know, that’s really for their own liability.
dianne (16:37):
Yeah, absolutely. It’s their own liability. but it is safe. It is safe to do there’s no, um, there’s, there’s no
research behind anything negative happening. It is recommended to wait until the baby’s about nine
months, but there really is. You have to, like you said, you have to follow precautions. You know, if
you’re pregnant or pregnant, if you’re a breast or chest feeding or not, you have to follow precautions
when getting a tattoo, you don’t want to get a tattoo in somebody’s basement or, you know, like
somebody who’s like, Oh yeah, I’m just practicing. Can I give you a tattoo like that?
abby (17:17):
Don’t do that ever.
New Speaker (17:18):
No, never do that. Make sure that they’re reputable. Make sure, you know, other people that have been
to the shop, make sure that you did, they have clean materials, every, all of that stuff.
abby (17:30):
Yeah. And I have more to say about that too, but should we take a break and hear from our awesome
sponsors? I know. Yes. We should time flies when we’re having fun on the badass breastfeeding
podcast. Yeah.
dianne (17:43):
Let’s hear from our sponsors. Absolutely.
abby (17:46):
Today’s episode is sponsored by Sheila Darling coaching. A new baby can add intense amounts of
anxiety and depression, no sleep, feeling overwhelmed, looking at your sweet baby and wondering how
this tiny human can cause so much chaos. The transition to Parenthood is an entire identity shift. You
weren’t prepared for. If one more person tells you that this time goes by so quickly, you might just
punch them in the face, transitioning to a new family member. It takes patience self-compassion and
support. Sheila Darling coaching can be that professional person that Dianne and I are always saying,
there is no shame in getting Sheila. Darlene is a social worker, certified hypnotherapist and mindfulness
meditation teacher. And could be your start to a more peaceful life head to Sheiladarling.com to
schedule your consultation today and mention the bad-ass breastfeeding podcast when scheduling that
consultation and you’ll get 10% off of a coaching package. And today’s Episode is also brought to you by
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their promo codes can be found in our show notes. Under this episode at
badassbreastfeedingpodcast.com. Our show notes also include further information about things that we
talk about in this episode and at badassbreastfeedingpodcast.com, you will also find our breastfeeding
resources, all of our other episodes and information about scheduling your very own one-on-one online
lactation consultation with Dianne And this week, Shout out, just disappeared from my phone. Okay,
here we go. It is mishapeup LLC. Uh, this is this she can be found at, um, I am on Instagram and this is a
wonderful, uh, account about wellness, um, pregnancy fitness specialist, infant toddler nutrition, and a
mental health advocate. Um, these are all obviously wonderful topics that we very much promote .
purposeIam, uh, the word purpose, and then I am all one word on Instagram. And, uh, this account also
owns, um, parents, your not alone. That’s another Instagram account parents. You’re not alone. Um,
which is a really cute account about, um, just like weird, funny things that get were captured on video of
kids. So a fun thing to put in your account. So check those out and, um, let’s get back to tattoos. Oh, my
papers are messed up. Okay. So yeah, so a lot of it, so most of the problems that come with tattoos are
improper aftercare. Yes. So you are caring for your tattoo properly and you got it in a you know, a
licensed, respected, reputable place. Um, you need, and then take it upon yourself to actually care for it
properly. You won’t have any issues. I mean, a lot of the inks are made with heavy metals, um, which
people might just choose not to have. And that’s obviously within your right to not to choose to not
never get a tattoo. Obviously some people don’t ever want to. Um, but the ink does not go into your
bloodstream. It does not go into your milk. Um, tattoos are there because they’re in the ink is injected
right under the skin and it’s walled off there. So it doesn’t, it doesn’t go into your blood. That’s why
they’re there. That’s why they’re permanent because they’re there and they stay there. Um,
dianne (22:24):
But the bigger, the bigger risk, like Abby said is healing. And after you have a baby contrary to the six
weeks, society tells you that you’re healed your body is not necessarily prepared to fight off all sorts of
infection right after you have a baby. So the longer you wait and the better care you take of the tattoo,
the less risk there is, is the biggest risk. Is you getting some kind of infection from this from not taking
care of it well, and passing that to your baby when you’re breastfeeding, that’s the bigger risk,
abby (23:02):
Right? And that’s, and that’s completely within your control. You know, you can, you can control that.
Um, and like we already talked about waiting a few months and having a, you know, an a little older
baby is a good idea, but all, you know, these, um, tattoo places, um, I was looking on Kelly mom, and
there’s a couple of links here, the association of professional piercers and the association of professional
tattooist. Um, and there’s all kinds of information on these websites about like reputable, um, tattoo
places and the, and the universal precautions is, um, what all these, um, places need to follow, like as far
as sterilizing their equipment and, and, and the, the, the safety precautions go way beyond that, just of
the cleaning of the, of the instruments. There’s all kinds of things that they have to follow to make sure
that, you know, that they’re, that they’re clean and all of that, which is why, if you go to one of these
places, you’re in good shape, and this is one of the things I love about this community, this like this body
mod community, is that they are serious about being safe. You know, if you are, you know, these, these
artists and these places that are, that are the reputable places, um, they’re serious about being safe and
they’re taking all these precautions and they take it very, they take a lot of pride in it. So you can, you
can absolutely find a place that’s safe. Um, one of the things I did read was that, um, you can’t donate
breast milk if you’ve received it re you know, recently got a tattoo. If you’re breastfeeding, they won’t
take your donation of milk. I don’t know how true that is.
dianne (24:47):
They also will not take blood donations after you get a tattoo. So I’m not surprised. Cause there have
been a few times where, when I used to donate blood quite a bit where it was within like a timeframe
that I had gotten a tattoo and was told I could not donate because I had a new tattoo that was less than
a year old.
abby (25:04):
So just keep that in mind, if you are a milk donor or if you would like to donate milk and you also want to
get a tattoos that you might want to wait on that, um, I think that’s all that I’ve got on that. So we
should move into surgeries because it’s almost time.
dianne (25:25):
So I just want to say, since we’re going to talk about surgeries, if one more person hears that they
cannot breastfeed after getting contrast dye I I’m going to kick somebody in the throat. Contrast dye is
perfectly safe. You are okay to breastfeed. If you have to get it contrast, I say that louder for people that
are sitting in the back and it’s okay, it’s okay to have contrast dye. And I know that that’s not a surgery,
but sometimes that can lead to a surgery. So contrast dye, if you’re not aware is something that they
might give you. If you need like a ct scan or an MRI or something like that, ultrasound, like it is okay. It is
not contra-indicated for breastfeeding at all.
abby (26:17):
So many things are not that we are being told. They are like any kind of surgery. People are like, Oh,
general anesthesia. You’re going under general anesthesia so you have to pump and down for 24 hours
or 48 hours. No, stop it. The reason why you’re awake is because it’s not in your system anymore.
dianne (26:31):
If you can hold your baby, you can breastfeed. What I always tell people is we do this for C-sections right
all the time. And we allow those. We re not allow. We recommend, we encourage those parents to
breastfeed chest feed after C-section surgery. That is a surgery. I know, I know it’s, it’s discussed. Like it’s
not, but cesarean is a surgery,
abby (27:00):
it is. And some Really powerful drugs come with that.
dianne (27:04):
Absolutely. And sometimes even being put under, depending on the situation that you need to have,
that C-section being put under general anesthesia, and it is encouraged to put that baby right to the
nipple when you are awake, it is no different. If you have to have your gallbladder out, or if you have to
have knee surgery or if you you know, that is, there is no difference there. You can still, right. You can
still,
abby (27:35):
I don’t. Yeah. I mean, all of this comes and then the medications come into it a while I have to have the
surgery and they have to be on this medication. Don’t it’s fine. Do you need to recommend your doctor
get the app called Lact med lactmed. And they can look up all the medications on there. And the vast
majority of them are totally safe. It’s much. It is much worse to up end a person’s life who is
breastfeeding, their baby or toddler or whatever. Then it’s not, it’s a non-issue and people’s lives are
being like thrown into chaos because of this. And people are panicking and they’re being recommended
these things for no reason. I mean, like in dental work, nitrous oxide, it’s fine. x-rays are fine.
dianne (28:28):
All of that is okay. And I do not. I, I, uh, I do not want any family to decline a surgery.
abby (28:41):
And then that’s what people do, right?
dianne (28:43):
And then you’re, you’re struggling to get by because you need a surgery to help you feel better or to
take pain away or whatever the situation is that you would need this surgery and you decline it until you
wean your child. And that’s not okay. You are being told that you cannot, that you can not feed your
child because of liability reasons. It is not that somebody looked up this information in your surgeon’s
office and said, Oh, this is not safe. Are now
abby (29:17):
They’re not looking at evidence For this.
dianne (29:20):
And I recently was speaking to a nurse practitioner just randomly, because actually it was like a prenatal
appointment. And she even agreed that that’s what is being told. And it is because of liability reasons.
And they always say, well, you might want to wait until you’re done until you’re done feeding your baby
because that’s easier.
abby (29:44):
Right? The only thing is LASIK eye surgery, because I was reading that hormones can change the shape
of your cornea, not for everybody, but sometimes it’ll change the shape of your cornea. So if you get
LASIK surgery, like while you’re, I don’t think people would, while you’re pregnant or while you’re
breastfeeding, then it might, when you’re, while it continues to change while you’re pregnant and
breastfeeding, then it could not work very well.
dianne (30:11):
Interesting.
New Speaker (30:12):
Yeah. I read that. I don’t know how, and I’ve heard that before. Um, so I mean, that’s just something to
think about or discuss,
dianne (30:22):
But again, that’s not because we always are worried about the baby. That’s what everybody’s worried
about. Nobody can, nobody thinks about the breast or chest feeding parent, right? Like let’s, let’s
consent there. Cause you’re not going to have one without the other. You have to think of both of them.
So yeah, something might be perfectly, perfectly safe for the baby, but it might not be safe for the
parent. It might not be as ideal for them.
abby (30:51):
Right. It might or might not be a great time. It might be better to wait, but usually not. Um, and things
like implants just real quick on a really huge topic like implants, um, you can still breastfeed and breast
reductions nowadays. They do as much as they can to, to, um, protect the lactation function of the
breast. So you can see my actually a friend of mine had breast reduction surgery and she’s having a baby
so I can let you know how that goes. Yeah.
dianne (31:21):
Yeah. I do have a lot of clients that did go on to successfully feed. Yeah. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of
variables there. It’s not, yeah. There’s a ton of variables
abby (31:32):
You should try. Oh yeah. It’s no reason not to. It’s not like, can I breastfeed or should I not? You should
absolutely go ahead and do it. And when you run into problems, you can work with a lactation
consultant through those problems or supplement if needed. Um, but you can still, you know, attempt
that breastfeeding relationship chestfeeding relationship, um, with, for yourself.
dianne (31:56):
And I mean, you see this all the time that families think they’re done having their children and go ahead
and get these modifications and then end up pregnant again, it happens totally. You know? And so it
doesn’t, you know, it doesn’t take away from that. You can still feed your child. Okay. Don’t let anybody
tell you no.
abby (32:20):
Right. And the thing that really just upsets me about is like how much of a panic people go into, because
they were told by this trusted resource that they couldn’t do this and that it’s not safe and it’s just not,
that’s not true.
dianne (32:38):
I got an email. I think it was this week from a listener that was going in for a surgery and asked about,
you know, how soon after general anesthesia can I feed my child? And I gave her the standard response,
you know, as soon as you wake up, as soon as you feel like you can hold your child, you can feed your
child. And don’t forget, we also encourage families, you know, parents that are breastfeeding
chestfeeding that have had cesareans to feed as soon as possible. And she said, Oh my gosh, I didn’t
even think about it like that. I had a cesarean too. And I did, I did feed right away. So I know that that’s
okay to do. And thank you so much. They just made it sound like, you know, I, I, I couldn’t feed,
abby (33:32):
Well, I think that these PR that’s why, you know, it’s so helpful to put things in, you know, to, to, to state
things like that, to kind of put into per sec perspective, because then that helps you, you know, all along
the way with all of your decisions, you know, you you’re like, okay, wait, yeah, let me, let me weigh the
risks and the benefits here.
dianne (33:52):
And I’m so glad that she thought to reach out because how many people just say, Oh, I can’t okay.
abby (33:59):
I get a lot. What I get a lot is I need to learn. I need to know how to wean my baby really quickly because
the doctor said, I need to wean before I can, you know, have this surgery or before, you know, cause I
have to go on this medication and I’m like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, hold on. Right. This, this is all
unnecessary. And your doctor just doesn’t know. And they don’t have the time to, you know, to, to
know everything. I get it. Um, but
dianne (34:28):
That’s why they have specialists for this
abby (34:30):
Yet. Right. That’s why there are lactation consultants, but that’s also why there’s like a lact med app. Like
please just download it and look things up. Like you’re going to be looking it up. They look it up anyway
to like, make sure about the dosage, you know, as far as your like height and weight or whatever, you
know, they’re going to double-check these things. I had a doctor do that once I actually actually was like,
Exley was the croup King when he was a baby constantly is horrible. And so we went one time and he’d
got this like little, the steroid pill or whatever you take. I can’t even remember how it was distributed,
but you know, it was, I don’t know, three or six months later, he got it again. And we went and he was
like, okay here. So you’re going to take this amount. And I was like, no, that’s different from last time,
that’s a different amount. And he’s like, well, he’s growing. And he like looked at, he took his little phone
out and he looked it up and he said, see, here, this medication, this, this weight is what’s recommended.
I’m confident that this is safe for your baby. And I was like, Oh, okay, thank you. Oh, so, you know, so
you got your little gadget there, download another app so they can do it. You can totally do. I mean, it
would just be like, Oh wait, you know what? Yeah, this is safe for lactating parents. Yep,
dianne (35:43):
Totally.
abby (35:45):
So, anyway, I hope you learned something. I hope that was fun to talk about tattoos and piercings. And I
really want like, uh, I really want a breastfeeding inspired, um, tattoo for myself. I know I’m still like,
well, I think I know what I want. I just need to have somebody like a talented artist draw it because it’s, I
can’t draw it. I’m not getting that tattooed on me. I
dianne (36:07):
Know. I can’t draw either for sure.
abby (36:10):
I don’t know what to do about that.
dianne (36:12):
You want more information? We do have other episodes on surgeries and Medication, not surgery, but
medication. I know we have another episode on medication, so yeah, I’ll link it in the notes. Um, so that
if you need to listen to another episode, you can do that. My blog is coming out this weekend as well, or
this week as well about tattoos. If you want more information there, but I hope it helped. Thanks for
listening. Thank you. Bye. Bye [inaudible].