I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to each and every supporter who has taken the time to bring attention to this important matter.

Please keep up the momentum by sharing with as many like-minded folks as possible. WE CAN DO THIS! Let's send the message to the system that BREASTFEEDING IS A HUMAN RIGHT! 

I would like to take a moment to tell my story, and I would like to hear yours as well. I know that I am not the only mother that the family court has stripped her of her right to breastfeed her child without interference. Please comment down below, if not just to say that you know the heart wrenching feeling. Breastfeeding is so important to so many families. 

About us: We live in Herkimer County, New York. I have a background as a former breastfeeding peer counselor with the WIC program, and successfully breastfed my now 13 year-old daughter for 3 years and 4 months - thanks largely to the support of WIC and the lactation consultants through Bassett Healthcare Network in Cooperstown and Herkimer, New York. My daughter and I had a beautiful breastfeeding journey in which she self-weaned through the process of child-led weaning. She never had a bottle or infant formula - which was my ultimate goal for Lorenzo as well, since breastfeeding was such a fundamental aspect of being unexpectedly blessed with another baby later on in life. I could not wait to revisit those cherished moments of nourishing my newborn solely from my body - as was intended by nature, and has occurred since the beginning of mankind. 

Lorenzo will be turning a year old on November 3rd, and he's spent a lot of time missing directly-from-the-breast feedings starting at around 7 months old. Lorenzo started mandated visitations without the ability to adequately drink from a cup or a bottle. He currently endures up to 24 consecutive hours between nurse breaks. He's been given infant formulas unnecessarily, even when he's provided with adequate amounts of expressed breast milk. 

I couldn't persuade the court that breastfeeding is a human right, and that my baby needed to be with me every night while he's still small enough to be cluster feeding overnight and nursing on demand throughout the day.

However, I wanted to create something good from this experience. Judges, attorneys, and other courtroom professionals NEED to be educated on why "mom can just pump a bottle for dad" is not the same for a breastfed child. It is not about dad not being allowed to see his child. It is about that child's feedings being prioritized above all else. Eventually, that child will no longer be breastfeeding, and then a traditional visitation schedule becomes appropriate. 

Lorenzo is still nursing on demand every moment that we are together. It's the absolute first thing that he wants to do upon being reunited with me. Despite it all, our breastfeeding journey still continues even though I'd have completely given up long before now if it weren't for my previously successful breastfeeding journey with my beautiful daughter all those years before. I have also recieved tons of support from Healthy Families and WIC on how to cope with, and accommodate these lengthy separations. I am luckier than many moms. 

I can't help but think of how many mothers have been robbed of their breastfeeding journeys... journeys that have ended at the hands of the family court system solely because of a judge's lack of education on breastfeeding. 

Courtroom professionals need to understand the vast differences between children that are breastfed versus children that are exclusively bottle fed.  

Please sound off below if you, or a breastfeeding mom close to you has been negatively impacted by the family court system. 

I'd also like to hear from dads who have supported their child's breastfeeding journey regardless of whether or not they were separated from the mom.