From Nurse to Author_ Laurie Clark-Grubbs' Journey to The Mother-Baby Connection

Yaya Diamond TV

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/02xegtkz In The Mother-Baby Connection: Breastfeeding Stories, Laurie Clark-Grubbs, RN, IBCLC, shares inspiring real-life journeys of mothers navigating the joys and challenges of breastfeeding. With honesty and compassion, these stories celebrate every path from triumphs to tender moments of letting go—reminding us that love and connection take many forms.  Laurie began her career as a registered nurse spending twenty years in Nursery, Neonatal Intensive Care, and Labor and Delivery before following her compassion as a Lactation Consultant which has defined her 51-year journey. In 1994 she launched her private practice and in 2002 she opened Virginia’s first Breastfeeding Boutique supporting families through personalized care and education. Laurie lives in Winchester, Virginia, USA.  ⚡ VidChapter AI generated these chapters, try it out https://vidchapter.com/?affiliate=yayadiamond Recommended podcast platform get 10% off: https://podopshost.com/register/?ref=yaya   Tools and Services I use: Appsumo has the best lifetime deals ever!!! I love this site.  appsumo.8odi.net/yayadiamond The easiest way to make your graphics: https://buff.ly/2RTQLn0 Best website for musicians. Try it for free on me: https://buff.ly/2GMYugG Make money with Fiverr.com: https://buff.ly/2KjTVvV   Our Amazon store: https://buff.ly/34RYNlm DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. My affiliate links usually provide either a free trial or discount so go try them out on me! Thank you for supporting DreamChasersRadio.com  so I can continue to provide you with free content each week! Privacy Policy: https://buff.ly/2XSrflS ™Yaya Diamond Red Hot Reality Ent. LLC

Transcript

00:00Hi there, I'm Lori Clark Grubbs. I'm the author of The Mother Baby Connection Breastfitting Stories, and I'm with Yaya

00:07Diamond.

00:30Liberation flowing just like the breeze. Chase your dreams and feel at ease. Be good. Be very good.

00:43Now that was my mom, and I literally am a mom, and this book just touched me. When I thought

00:50about it, I was like, okay, yeah, this is one of those books that's like, no matter how old your

00:55children get, you're still mom.

00:57You're still mom. Even when mom's not here, she's still mom. And I absolutely love this book. I love, love,

01:05love.

01:05I wanted to show you the cover of this book as well, and it's just beautiful. The Mother Baby Connection

01:11Breastfeeding Stories.

01:13Now I got a breastfeeding story for you. I don't know if you want to hear it, but I really

01:16don't care if you do or don't.

01:18My first time trying to breastfeed was like trying to get teeth, and there were no teeth involved. I thought

01:24there was.

01:24I thought mine was going to fall off, and then they introduced me to different things and different little techniques

01:31and all the stuff.

01:32And I was like, oh, and I became a pro at it. But I would never substitute that connection of

01:41that breastfeeding connection with my children because those are the times where no one else was needed except for me.

01:48And I felt so selfish. I was like, yep, give me that baby. That's my baby. The breastfeeding connection is

01:54beautiful.

01:54And I want to welcome our guest to the show today. Laurie, thank you so much for coming in and

01:59being here and talking about your book today.

02:02Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.

02:05Now, I know I had my little breastfeeding story, and I didn't really go into it too good because, you

02:11know, it's a little graphic, you know, because it's breastfeeding.

02:13I know. But what inspired you to write about the mother-baby connection after more than 30 years of working

02:19with mothers and babies?

02:21Oh, I've witnessed countless stories of courage, resilience, and transformation.

02:32And I reached a stage in my career that I felt like I had a growing responsibility to preserve these

02:41experiences.

02:42And after a lifetime of work, I thought it was the right time to give voice to these stories.

02:49Oh, yeah. You know, and, you know, I like what you're saying. It's not always easy.

02:54I thought that my hoo-hoo was going to fall off.

02:58I mean, I was broken and scarred and bleeding.

03:03I mean, you see, I mean, you know, the first-time mom who doesn't know how to do it, you

03:10know, doesn't know what to do and how to just let the baby cry and then pop it in there.

03:16That's what my nurse told me. She said, let the baby cry and then you pop it in there.

03:21And I was like, okay. She said, it won't hurt even though, you know, you're hurt. It won't hurt once

03:26you do it right.

03:28Now, some people say that it's natural, but it's not always easy and it isn't.

03:33One of the most common challenges that new moms face, like I face, like getting it in there, like getting

03:40the whole thing in there.

03:41But there are other challenges that moms face that are just, you know, not always easy.

03:47No, and you're correct.

03:49A lot of times moms expect to be perfect and they expect that breastfeeding should be perfect as well.

03:57And it's not natural.

04:01If it was natural, then everybody would be breastfeeding.

04:05It takes, you know, it's just one of those things where it's not a perfect world.

04:11And if it were a perfect world, like I said, everybody, everybody would be doing this and babies need to

04:17be taught to latch and moms need to be taught how to teach their babies to latch.

04:23So these are big challenges that they face.

04:27And I think perfection is number one.

04:30Yeah, definitely.

04:31What do you think about what my nurse told me?

04:33Just let that baby cry.

04:34When it gets really big, that mouth gets real big.

04:36They just go pop.

04:37I have heard that many, many times in my career.

04:42Oh, yeah.

04:43And it worked, though.

04:44It did work.

04:45It did.

04:46It worked.

04:46It did.

04:47It did.

04:47So many moms, they do feel that pressure that goes around breastfeeding.

04:52Some women don't have enough milk and some women don't even produce milk at all.

04:57And then there are the adoptees, people who have adopted a baby who really don't always.

05:03Now, there are different, I guess there are different things to help them to actually laxate.

05:08But I've heard the myths, but I don't know if it's true or not.

05:11I'm not a nurse.

05:12I'm not you.

05:14Laurie, what do we want to know about this?

05:18What message do you want them to hear from your book?

05:20Well, I think I want them to know that they're not alone.

05:28No, every breastfeeding journey is unique.

05:31And they're definitely not alone.

05:34And if they don't meet their goals to do this, that the love for their baby will get them through

05:42the difficult times.

05:44And they're going to be a great mom, whether they breastfeed or not.

05:48And they're going to be the best mother this baby could have.

05:52Definitely.

05:53I agree with you.

05:54I definitely agree with you.

05:55I think that, you know, there's always personal experiences.

05:58Do you have any personal experiences with breastfeeding?

06:01I do.

06:02I was not successful.

06:05And you know what?

06:06That must have been hard.

06:08And I didn't have the help because this was before I was a lactation consultant.

06:13It was before lactation consultants were ever heard of.

06:16Wow.

06:17So I had problems that I couldn't fix myself.

06:20So I, you know, I had a great deal of guilt.

06:23This was wonderful that you wrote a book about it because you firsthand know.

06:28Now, me personally, I thought that I was a cow.

06:34I was like, move over, cow.

06:37I'm coming here because I just, I didn't stop lactating.

06:42I didn't stop.

06:43But, you know, there's so many memorable stories that you could share.

06:48Tell me about them.

06:49What is one memorable story you can tell about from your practice that truly reflects the heart of this book?

06:56There are so many.

06:58There are so many.

06:59But the one that I like to say and the one that I like to tell is the story of

07:04a mom and dad who came in to see me.

07:07And the mom was born without hands.

07:12But she desperately wanted to breastfeed.

07:15So her husband told me, he said,

07:18Lori, I will do anything to help her.

07:22How can we make this happen?

07:24So I showed him how to latch the baby to the breast.

07:28And he got it.

07:31And once the baby learned to breastfeed, then she didn't have any problems actually helping the baby on.

07:40The baby would breastfeed just fine by itself.

07:42Oh, my gosh.

07:43That is beautiful.

07:45That is beautiful.

07:46That is, oh, my gosh.

07:48I had the picture in my head of him helping.

07:50Because usually breastfeeding is like, here's the baby.

07:53And you just walk away.

07:55You know, hey, she's got the baby.

07:57The baby's with her now.

07:58And that's it.

07:59That's their time together.

08:01That's that bonding time.

08:02And so I think I understand the guilt behind it, because you feel like your body should be able to

08:08handle it.

08:09And your body should be able to do this.

08:11And you should know by instinct, you know.

08:14Yes.

08:15But it doesn't happen like that.

08:17It doesn't happen like that.

08:18And, you know, babies don't come with instructions.

08:21I wish they did.

08:23Me too.

08:23I wish they did.

08:24I wish they did.

08:26Oh, my gosh.

08:27What continues to inspire you about the resilience of women, though?

08:30Women who can't do these things.

08:34You know, resilience.

08:36I see, well, resilience is in every single story that is in that book.

08:44Not only do women show resilience, they show perseverance, they show determination, and they show courage.

08:53And in their vocabulary, quitting is not a word.

09:00Mm-hmm.

09:01Yeah.

09:02Yeah.

09:02And it's difficult.

09:03I mean, you know, I personally loved the time that I had breastfeeding with my children.

09:13And I didn't want to share it.

09:16I didn't want to share it.

09:17I was like, mine.

09:19Mine.

09:19You go away.

09:20And when the bottle got introduced, it took me out of the equation.

09:24And I felt horrible sometimes.

09:27Like, why do you have, give me my baby back.

09:31You know?

09:32But there seems to be compassion woven throughout every chapter of your book.

09:37Why do you believe that compassion is sometimes more powerful than advice?

09:44Compassion is very important.

09:47Compassion creates a safe place where vulnerability is welcomed.

09:53And moms are empowered to try to learn and to grow.

10:09And compassion builds trust.

10:12And trust lets mothers believe in themselves.

10:17I hear you.

10:18I hear you.

10:19So compassion is very important.

10:21I think so.

10:23I think we should have not only compassion on others, but ourselves.

10:26Because there'll be times where we could be our own worst enemy.

10:29And I think that happens.

10:30You know, it did happen to me in the beginning when I didn't understand what I was doing.

10:34And how it needed to be different.

10:36And I think that my mind was like, you should know what this is.

10:42You should know how to do this.

10:43Come on.

10:44You know?

10:44This is instinct.

10:46So what makes the mother-baby connection different from any other breastfeeding books currently on the market?

10:51I think it empowers women.

10:55It normalizes their struggles.

10:57It reduces their isolation.

11:00And it validates their struggle.

11:04And I think that it gives perspective to their stories, to their own stories.

11:13Yeah.

11:14You know, many mothers feel overwhelmed by these conflicting information that you have online.

11:19And believe you me, there is a lot of conflicting information, you know.

11:22Just go in there with the common code and put your symptoms in and all of a sudden you're dying.

11:27Yeah.

11:28Exactly.

11:29Oh, my gosh.

11:30How does your book help cut through this misinformation and provide clarity?

11:35Well, I wrote my book with the knowledge that I have for the past 32 years in doing this.

11:42And I know they get an awful lot of misinformation from the Internet and other sources.

11:49But I wanted my book to show that, look, the information in the book is really tried and true.

11:57It's information that I've given mothers for years and years and years, and it works.

12:02So I think that that's really important for moms to succeed, to have the correct information.

12:10Definitely, definitely.

12:11And so emotionally, this can be an emotional roller coaster because you have the women's hormones coming down at the

12:21same time that the baby's being born.

12:23There is all kinds of different things that are going on emotionally and physically at that time.

12:28So what emotional truth do you hope every reader take away from your book?

12:34What do you want them to take away?

12:35I want them to know that mothers are not alone.

12:39They face uncertainty.

12:41They face exhaustion and they face self-doubt.

12:45But I want them to know that the bond between them and the baby is built on countless acts of

12:57love.

12:58And that's what gets them through this.

13:02And it's not perfection.

13:04Yeah, definitely.

13:06What is the number one breastfeeding tip you wish every parent knew before bringing their baby home?

13:12The number one tip that I would tell moms is this is not natural, of course, and that is a

13:20learned skill.

13:21And not to expect perfection in the beginning.

13:25And they need to have these three things.

13:28They need to have patience and they need to practice and they need to persevere.

13:36And as long as they can do those three things, they will find that breastfeeding should work out for them.

13:48I agree with you.

13:49When future generations of parents discover the mother-baby connection, what do you hope the book represents to them?

14:00Relevance.

14:02If I wrote this book 40 years ago, it would have been relevant 40 years ago.

14:09And since I wrote it today, it's relevant for today.

14:13And in 40 years from now, it's still going to be relevant.

14:16The stories are the same.

14:18The names are going to be different.

14:20But the information in this book is timeless.

14:25Yeah, I agree with you.

14:27And I agree with you wholeheartedly.

14:28I'm still going to be selfish with my kids.

14:31And I would have never given a moment.

14:33I would have been like, okay, I can't breastfeed, but the bottle is mine.

14:37Yeah, that's true.

14:39Because I think that moment, those few months where the baby is on that milk should be that bond between

14:49the mother and the child.

14:51And I love that you've written a book to take the guilt away.

14:55So, if you can't breastfeed, guys, get the bottle and say the bottle is yours.

14:59Be selfish.

15:01Just like as if you were breastfeeding, take the bottle.

15:04The bottle belongs to mom.

15:06That's it.

15:07All right?

15:08We're done.

15:10I want to thank you guys so much for tuning in.

15:13And thank you, Lori, for being on the show.

15:15Here's that book again, The Mother-Baby Connection, Breastfeeding Stories.

15:19And I would say that this is going to be a beautiful, beautiful thing for you guys to get.

15:24If you are expecting a baby, if you have a newborn baby, if you have a friend that's having a

15:29newborn baby, a family member, anybody, you know, babies are being born all the time, all the time.

15:35And I'm absolutely loving it.

15:38Thank you again, Lori, for being here.

15:40Thank you so much for having me.

15:42Oh, anytime.

15:43Did we miss anything?

15:45No, I don't think so, unless you have any other questions.

15:49No, just be selfish with your babies, ladies.

15:52Just be selfish.

15:54If you can't breastfeed, you can bottle feed, but that bottle is yours, darling.

15:59Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in.

16:01Don't forget to dare to be different.

16:02We have real people, real dreams, real wins right here at Dream Chasers Radio Success Stories with me, your host,

16:07Yaya Diamond.

16:08And until next time, guys, don't forget to dare to be different.

16:11Bye.

16:12Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do,

16:17do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

16:19Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

16:23Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended