The Milk Mentor, Albany, NY (2026)

04/02/2026

Children’s books have a beautiful way of shaping how little ones understand the world around them. Long before children can fully explain their feelings, stories help them recognize comfort, connection, family relationships, and the rhythms of everyday life.

On Children’s Book Day, we’re celebrating some of the titles providers at The Milk Mentor often recommends to families—especially those that gently normalize babies’ needs, connection, and breastfeeding within the story of early childhood.

A few favorites include:
• What Does Baby Want? by Tupera Tupera
• B***y Moon and B***y Moon for Two by Yvette Reid
• Mama's Milk / Mamá me alimenta by Michael Elsohn Ross
• Hello Baby by Jenni Overend
• Gnomes by Wil Huygen

Books like these can help older siblings prepare for a new baby, help toddlers understand breastfeeding in a calm and natural way, and give families a simple way to talk about nurturing, care, and connection.

Reading together also becomes part of those quiet moments of closeness—curled up on the couch, winding down before bed, or resting together during the early days with a newborn.

Now we’d love to hear from you:
What are your favorite children’s books?

📚 Drop them in the comments below—bonus points if the story features breastfeeding or celebrates babies and family connection.

04/01/2026

April is Cesarean Awareness Month, a time to recognize the many families whose birth stories include a cesarean—and to talk openly about how this can intersect with the breastfeeding journey.

Cesarean birth is common and often lifesaving, but it can also introduce some unique considerations when it comes to early lactation. Surgical birth can sometimes influence the timing of milk production, early skin-to-skin contact, comfort with positioning, and the physical recovery needed to establish feeding in the early days.

None of this means breastfeeding isn’t possible after a cesarean. Many families go on to have deeply successful and meaningful breastfeeding relationships. What can make a difference is anticipating these variables and having supportive care in place.

A few proactive steps that can help include:
• Prenatal lactation education to understand what early feeding after a cesarean may look like
• Discussing skin-to-skin and feeding preferences with your birth team ahead of time
• Identifying comfortable positions that protect the surgical incision (such as side-lying or football hold)
• Planning for extra support during the early postpartum recovery period

If challenges arise after birth, reactive support can also be incredibly helpful:
• Early and frequent milk removal to support milk supply if baby is sleepy or separated
• Hands-on lactation support to help with latch and positioning while your body heals
• Guidance on pumping, supplementation plans if needed, and protecting milk production
• Ongoing follow-up to support feeding as your body recovers from surgery

Birth stories unfold in many different ways. What matters most is that families receive compassionate, evidence-based support that meets them where they are—especially during moments of recovery and adjustment.

Cesarean Awareness Month is an opportunity to acknowledge these experiences and ensure families have the knowledge and support they need to feel confident navigating breastfeeding after surgical birth.

03/25/2026

REMINDER! Two new Lactation Circles this week! Link to register in bio.

03/11/2026

Everyone talks about “the village.”

But when you’re in the thick of new parenthood… sometimes it doesn’t show up.

So we built one.

Today’s Lattes & Lactation at had sunshine, babies, nursing in carriers, bottle refusal, first outings, friends old and new including and .

Education.
Support.
Community.
Friendship.
Tears.
Laughs.

We’ve got it all.

Plus caffeine.

The village is here. Won’t you join us? ☕️🤍

03/10/2026

March is coming in like a lion and my heart is so excited about it. 🤍
We’ve got community.
We’ve got education.
We’ve got collaboration.

✨ Breastfeeding Basics (Albany) — for expecting parents and anyone wanting to start their lactation journey with confidence. This one is foundational. Practical. Empowering.

✨ Lattes & Lactation (Saratoga Springs) — caffeine + community + real talk.

✨ Lactation Community Circles in:
• Ballston Lake
• Albany
• Delmar
• Ballston Spa

And I am especially thrilled to welcome TWO incredible local lactation professionals to our line-up who are now hosting circles:

🤍 Marissa Palmer, CLC of
🤍 Amy Fealey, CLC of and

Collaboration over competition.
More access. More locations. More support.

Whether you’re pregnant and preparing, newly postpartum, exclusively pumping, combo feeding, navigating supply questions, or just needing to sit in a room with people who get it — there is space for you this month.

Come as you are. Stay or go as you need.

Register via the Eventbrite link in bio.
Let’s fill these rooms. 💧🤍

03/08/2026

Happy International Women’s Day 💃

Celebrate women — but also recognize the labor that keeps families and communities alive.

Feeding babies, caring for children, and sustaining the next generation is real work and that work is predominantly sustained by women and often, it’s invisibly. This work deserves respect, and systems that actually support the people doing it.

Caring for the next generation has always been work worth valuing on international women’s day and the other 364 days of the year 💪

03/08/2026

On this International Women’s Day, celebrate women — but also recognize the labor that keeps families and communities alive.

Feeding babies, caring for children, and sustaining the next generation is real work. It deserves visibility, respect, and systems that actually support the people doing it.

Celebrating women also means recognizing the work they do every day — including the quiet, relentless, and deeply human labors of love like breastfeeding.

Because caring for the next generation has always been work worth valuing all 365 days of the year.

03/01/2026

Breaking news: Finger-Stache-Man-Bun-Dad-with-Useless-Nipples believes breastfeeding “just comes naturally.”
Mom heard breast size determines milk supply.

And before I studied lactation? I thought milk shot out of one dramatic center hole like a full-blown Austin Powers style femme-bot situation.

We are ALL bringing something into the room.

That’s why I start every Breastfeeding Basics class with this question:

What myth, fact, or rumor have you heard about breastfeeding?

Because we can’t correct what we don’t name.

Breast size doesn’t determine supply.
Babies and parents both learn.
And no — it is not one single jet stream. Think fountain vibes.

Join me for Breastfeeding Basics on 3/6. Bring your myths. I’ll bring the science.

Drop one you’ve heard below.
Finger Stache Man Bun Dad is ready to have his mind blown.

02/28/2026

Finger Stash Dad #2 has entered the chat and he brought “nipple confusion” with him.

Let’s clear something up.

Babies are not confused.

They are smart. They are efficient. They are hard wired with a primitive infant suck reflex.

If milk flows faster from a bottle with less effort, they’re going to notice. That’s not confusion. That’s energy saving. That’s efficient. That’s flow preference.

When we slow the bottle down, pace feeds, and match the work of breastfeeding, we protect the breastfeeding relationship instead of blaming the baby.

This is part of the series I’m doing leading up to Breastfeeding Basics on 3/6 — because I’d much rather you understand flow dynamics now than panic-Google “nipple confusion ruined everything” at 2am.

Sound off.

02/27/2026

Yesterday we talked about how to hold baby to nurse.

Today we’re talking about what happens at 2am.

I love when partners want to help overnight. Truly. That “let me take a shift” energy? Gold star energy ⭐️.

Here’s the thing though: skipping overnight milk removal can impact supply — and if mom has to wake up to pump anyway… that’s not really more rest. What it is in many cases, whe breastfeeding is going well, is more dishes, more metal load about milk storage and safety guidelines and needing to juggle a whole new additional skill set. Yikes. That’s a LOT of learning when you’re already exhausted.

Sometimes the most supportive move isn’t a bottle. It’s a snack and a refilled water bottle. It’s diapers. Burping. Skin-to-skin. Resettling.

Teamwork doesn’t always look like taking over. Sometimes it looks like collaboration and protecting the milk supply while caring for mom and bae in other ways.

This is part of a little series I’m doing leading up to our next Breastfeeding Basics class on 3/6 — because these are the conversations that are way easier to have before baby arrives.

And now the real question…

Should the dad stash become a permanent character? 😅

Drop a vote below.

02/26/2026

“Show me how you’d breastfeed.”

The number of pregnant women who immediately push the baby’s head into the breast?

Almost all of them.

Not because they’re doing it wrong.
Because no one ever showed them. Because they’ve been told over and over to protect the head, but never told why. I’ll tell you why - because the head is the heaviest part of their body so their neck needs support in the early days.

Breastfeeding is only a small part instinctual. It’s primarily a learned behavior. With no longer living in multigenerational communities and with the rise of the formula industry, we’ve lost decades of generational knowledge to pass down to the younger folks in our communities.

In our culture, most people are expected to learn breastfeeding:
• Sleep deprived
• Sore
• Engorged
• At 2am

We can do better than that.

In Breastfeeding Basics, we practice:
✔️ How to bring baby to breast (not breast to baby)
✔️ Why pushing the head backfires
✔️ Ear-shoulder-hip alignment
✔️ Deep latch mechanics
✔️ What’s actually normal in the early weeks

So you walk into postpartum feeling prepared — not panicked.

📍 March 6
⏰ 6:30–8:30 PM
📍 1807 Western Ave, Albany

Register on Eventbrite — link in bio.

Come learn it before you need it.

— Becky, The Milk Mentor 🤍

02/25/2026

Hot take:

Natural and biologically normal does not equal instinctual.

As a learned behavior, it’ll take time. It’ll take patience and sometimes it’s not something you can just “push through” without support.
Low transfer isn’t “just give it time.”
Pumping confusion isn’t user error. Pain might be common but it’s not normal and you were never meant to do this in isolation.

It’s a skill.
For you.
For your baby.

And skills require education, practice and support.

Deep latch.
Oral function.
Fl**ge sizing.
Weighted feeds.
Real answers.

No shame.
No fluff.
No “just keep trying.”

You don’t need to tough it out.
There’s help available for you.

— The Milk Mentor 🤍

The Milk Mentor

04/02/2026

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03/25/2026

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03/10/2026

03/08/2026

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02/28/2026

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