Learn more about chest/breastfeeding, meet other like-minded parents and chat with our San Diego lactation consultants at the 2024 San Diego Latch On.
San Diego Latch On Event 2023 - WHO'S READY???
Meet SDBFC's Newest IBCLC - Yvonne Caycedo
Meet SDBFC's Newest IBCLC - Erin Thom
We are so thrilled to introduce you to our newest lactation consultant at SDBFC! Erin joined us on April 3, 2023 and will start seeing her own clients on May 22, 2023! Here is our interview with Erin. We can't wait for you all to meet her!
Erin, tell us about yourself!
I was born in Covina and raised in Whittier, CA. I graduated from La Habra high school, and unsure of what I wanted to do, I decided to attend community college. I struggled to find my path, changed my major what felt like a million times, and went to college off and on throughout my 20s. In between being a student, I fancied myself an avid traveler, and would try to go to one international location a year. I saw beautiful places and had many life experiences by the end of my 20’s. I returned to college full time at the young age of 29 as a nutritional science major and graduated with my bachelor’s in nutritional science from California State University of Los Angeles with honors. While in my bachelor’s program, I served as the President of the Student Health Advisory committee, was an active member of the student dietetics committee and volunteered at several local hospitals as well as a food pantry we had set up on campus. One of my volunteer locations was at St. Mary’s in Long Beach, where I worked with local HIV/AIDs positive members of the community to assist them with their diet plans and ensure they had access to adequate nutrition. After graduating, I had every intention of taking a year off before returning for my master’s degree to become a registered dietitian. As with all best laid plans, life had other plans and I got pregnant 3 months after graduating!
What inspired you to become a lactation consultant?
As stated above, I became pregnant 3 months after graduating with my bachelor’s degree. At the time, I knew very little about motherhood, breastfeeding, and birth plans. I decided to throw myself fully into the pursuit of knowledge of all things prenatal and postpartum. I wanted to feel empowered in my birth, mothering, and breastfeeding journeys. I began reading everything from Ina May to Maya Bolman. I knew early on I wanted to breastfeed and in the midst of it all I decided to switch gears and pursue an education in lactation. Thus, I enrolled at UCSD and became a lactation counselor at 9 months pregnant. I gave birth to my son Wylder with few complications but within a few days, our breastfeeding journey got rocky. Breastfeeding was painful and I did not seek out help because I thought as a lactation counselor, I could manage it internally. I lacked the hands-on knowledge and extensive training that lactation consultants have to be able to navigate the bumps in the road we were encountering. I experienced a lot of pain for the first few months of breastfeeding; however, I managed to persevere and made it to 18 months of breastfeeding. I knew from my experience I wanted to further my education to become a lactation consultant and help moms like me. I returned to UCSD and began taking various medical training courses. Ultimately, I went on to complete my lactation consulting training and passed my board exam in 2021. I am very passionate about empowering and guiding lactating persons on their personal breastfeeding journey.
What are you most excited about working for the SDBFC?
I think most lactation consultants would agree with me when I say, we do not go down this path to get rich; lactation consulting is a career of passion. To put it simply, I love what I do. I am most excited to further my education at SDBFC and continue to grow and refine my skills as a lactation consultant. SDBFC emphasizes and encourages employees to further their education via attendance seminars, participation in classes, etc., to ensure we are always giving the most current and best evidence-based recommendations to our clients. I am eager to learn and ecstatic for the new knowledge I will attain working at SDBFC. I love that SDBFC strives to service families of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. I am excited for the diversity and range of clientele I will have the privilege of assisting as a lactation consultant at SDBFC.
What are your top 3 tips for a brand new chest/breastfeeding parent?
Give yourself grace and be kind to yourself. You just created and brought a human being into the world – you are a Rockstar!
Tools are our friends. Tools, like nipple shields, can get a bad rap but they can be really useful in aiding someone in continuing or furthering their chest/breastfeeding journey.
ALL human milk counts! Your chest/breastfeeding journey might not look exactly like you had planned, but remember that every drop of human milk you are able to provide for your baby matters!
Welcome to the team, Erin!
Model Call for Family Photo Shoot
SDBFC and SDBFC Foundation are hosting a professional photo shoot in a few weeks and are looking for 10 parents/babies of varying ages to participate. The photographer will be taking breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding photos, so you are still welcome to apply even if you are not nursing at this time.
These photos will be used by the San Diego Breastfeeding Center and the San Diego Breastfeeding Center Foundation (our nonprofit) on our website, social media, and marketing materials. Our goal is to show the diversity of families in our community. As a 'thank you' for participating, each family will receive 5 digital images that your can print on your own.
If you are interested, here are the details:
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Time and Location:
12:30-1:30p Southeast Clinic with Chardá (704 Euclid Ave, San Diego, 92114)
2p-3p SD Community Birth Center with Jarrah Foster (2801 Fourth Ave, San Diego, 92103)
4p-6p San Diego Breastfeeding Center with SDBFC Staff (8325 University Ave. La Mesa, 91942)
Requirements: Each family must sign a photo release form prior to the photo shoot, giving SDBFC and SDBFC Foundation permission to use any of the photos on our websites, social media, and marketing materials.
If interested, please send an email to info@sdbfc.com by May 16, 2023. Include:
Your name
Phone number
Age of your baby
A photo of you, your partner (if he/she would like to be photographed, as well), and your baby. This can totally be a photo from your phone....doesn't have to be professional!.
Indicate while clinic photo shoot you would like to attend
Indicate whether you are comfortable being photographed while breastfeeding. Not all photos will be of breastfeeding families, so it is still possible to participate even if you have already weaned or your baby is not breastfeeding at this time :-)
Once we know who is interested, we will choose 10 families based on infant's age. We are hoping for a nice variety of age groups! We will be contacting chosen participants by May 19, 2023.
FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW SDBFCF CLINIC IN SOUTHEAST SAN DIEGO!
Last week we celebrated a MAJOR MILESTONE as part of our Foundation’s Three Year Strategic Growth Plan! In an effort to INCREASE ACCESS to equitable and affordable lactation support in San Diego’s “first food deserts,” it has been our mission to expand our services to Southeast San Diego. On Tuesday December 13th, we did just that!! We welcomed friends, colleagues and community members into our newest Foundation clinic space in Southeast San Diego during a lovely open house! Located inside Access Youth Academy and led by the incredible Chardá Bell, IBCLC, CBE, CD, this clinic will offer a FREE weekly chest/breastfeeding support group that starts on Jan. 3rd, 2023 and, starting in February 2023, FREE or low-cost private lactation consultations!
Here are some thoughts from Chardá:
“Last year I wrote about how Black families, particularly in Southeast San Diego, often do not have access to breastfeeding support when they are struggling with challenges. Well thanks to some major work in the community, things have changed. In a collaborative effort, the San Diego Breastfeeding Center Foundation and Global Communities have now created a weekly breastfeeding support group to fill this gap and reduce disparities through increased ease of access. But that’s not the best part, keep reading!
“Healthy Start contracts with the San Diego Breastfeeding Center Foundation to provide amazing FREE lactation consults to its participants and that individualized help is critical. Yet another thing that is just as important is being able to see someone else who looks like you doing the same thing, going through similar situations, so you don’t feel so alone and have the strength to continue. These parents didn’t have a place to go after/between consults where they felt comfortable to share with other peers the struggles and joys of breastfeeding while Black. These struggles are unique barriers experienced most frequently among Black women and are reported to include but not limited to: lack of social, work, and cultural acceptance, language and literacy barriers for our Black diverse populations, and overall lack of access to information that promotes and supports breastfeeding, acculturation, and lifestyle choices.
Not to mention the disincentive to breastfeed due to the disproportionate rate of infant formula distribution to Black mothers in the hospitals.
“My goal has always been to get a support group in my hometown of Southeast San Diego, a mid-size area of the county, that is predominantly African American, low income to upper middle class, with some military families. I’m proud to be assisting in the opening of the first breastfeeding support clinic in Southeast San Diego; through steady exposure, easy access to support, and most importantly free support available to those who need it most. These resources will empower Black families and make chest/breastfeeding a traditional norm again. By improving chest/breastfeeding rates within the Black community, we will be achieving better overall health and well-being while reducing racial inequities for our entire community.”
THIS IS THE WORK we are so excited to be a part of, and it truly wouldn’t be possible without the consistent grassroots support we receive every year from YOU, our community members! If you’re as excited about this clinic as we are - NOW IS THE TIME to help us! Let’s ride this momentum all the way to our $15,000 end of year goal!
Meet SDBFC's Newest IBCLC - Aisha Lope de Haro-Salleh
We are so thrilled to introduce you to our newest lactation consultant (pending) at SDBFC! Aisha joined us on September 16, 2022 and will start seeing her own clients on October 31, 2022 Here is our interview with Aisha. We can't wait for you all to meet her!
Aisha, tell us about yourself!
I was born in Brooklyn, NY to Puerto-Rican and Malaysian parents. My mother was in the Foreign Service so we moved around quite a bit to countries like the Dominican Republic, Canada, Mexico, and Nicaragua. As a teenager, we moved to Arlington, Va where I graduated from high school and then went onto college in upstate NY and graduated from Ithaca college. Upon graduating, I decided to follow in my parents’ footsteps and become a Peace Corps Volunteer. I served twice, once in Bangladesh and again in Togo, W. Africa where I ended up extending for a third year working on HIV/AIDS prevention and women empowerment programs. When I returned stateside, advocating for social justice issues really spoke to me, so I got involved with the labor movement. It’s where I fell in love with a San Diego native who convinced me to move out here in the summer of 2013. It turns out it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. By the fall of that year, we got married, bought a home in the quaint neighborhood of Rolando Village, and found out we were expecting our first child just a few months later. Fast forward to today, we have two amazing kids, our daughter Kai and our son Zehn who both attend the Language Academy, a Spanish and French immersion school in our neighborhood. Becoming a parent and starting a second career as a lactation consultant has truly been humbling and incredibly rewarding in all the ways. My gratitude is endless.
What inspired you to become a lactation consultant?
As a new stay-at-home mom and San Diego transplant, I started a local moms’ group in our neighborhood as I was craving a sense of community for me and my daughter since all of my friends and family were back on the east coast and my husband’s family were all back in the midwest. There were about 6 of us new SAHMs that would meet at our local park every Wednesday morning and sit in the shade of a pepper tree and breastfeed our little ones as we shared stories that made us laugh and sometimes cry. Being a new breastfeeding family isn’t easy. Over time, our group grew and so did many of our families. So many stories were shared of feeling alone, embarrassed, insecure, or just disappointed in our bodies when trying to face and overcome our breastfeeding challenges. The one thing that helped to empower us most to continue on our breastfeeding journeys was the advice and compassion from a trained lactation consultant. Some of us met one in a hospital or at home. I met a few in a couple of support groups and they changed my life. It was through our shared stories and experiences that I knew becoming a lactation consultant was the work I was being called to do.
What are you most excited about working for the SDBFC?
It’s an honor to be working at the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. Working with a team of professional and skilled lactation consultants is pretty much a dream come true. Being able to provide lactation care for families from diverse cultures and backgrounds and varying socioeconomic circumstances makes the work that much more meaningful and rewarding. It’s important that our center welcomes everyone and that everyone feels welcomed.
What are your top 3 tips for a brand new chest/breastfeeding parent?
No one knows your baby better than you do. Trust yourself.
Try to silence the noise. There can be so much pressure from family, friends, or our community/social media that we often feel pulled in so many directions. It’s ok to do what feels right for YOU and your family. It will inspire others to do the same.
Yes, some people have a challenge-free breastfeeding experience- their baby has a beautiful latch and mom’s milk supply is plentiful. And then there are the rest of us. Seek help. Go to a breastfeeding support group or make an appointment with a lactation consultant. We can’t wait to meet you!
Welcome to the team, Aisha!
Meet SDBFC's Newest IBCLC - Lana Mihaiyu
We are so thrilled to introduce you to our newest lactation consultant (pending) at SDBFC! Lana joined us on September 16, 2022 and will start seeing her own clients on November 7, 2022. Here is our interview with Lana. We can't wait for you all to meet her!
Lana, tell us about yourself!
I was born and raised in California, and I love all of the wonderful landscapes this sunny state has to offer. My husband and I met while living abroad in Tokyo and together we moved to New York City. We enjoyed several years in the City before making the move out west in 2015. The birth of my daughter was a turning point for me and I felt called to support families in their transition to parenthood. This led to a career shift where I trained to become a postpartum doula and eventually went back to school to study lactation. I am very passionate about the impact a kind gesture, thoughtful guidance, or encouragement can have on new parents and their parenting journey.
My daughter is now almost 4 years old and recently started “breastfeeding” her stuffed toy tiger, Stripey. My heart is full.
What inspired you to become a lactation consultant?
I can still remember the lactation consultants that visited me in the postpartum unit after the birth of my daughter. They were thorough and supportive, and I was moved by their care. I spent nearly a year reading everything I could find relating to breastfeeding, infant sleep and development, and maternal health and outcomes, just to help me navigate my new normal. Recognizing the importance of representation in the lactation field, I felt drawn to supporting others and providing that same level of compassionate care that I received.
What are you most excited about working for the SDBFC?
I really respect how San Diego Breastfeeding Center supports families from all corners of the community. The services are personalized and professional, but most importantly, accessible. I grew up in a military family, so I value the support we provide to our service members and their families, as well.
What are your top 3 tips for a brand new chest/breastfeeding parent?
My first tip would be to take a prenatal breastfeeding class! Having an understanding of what to expect in the first few hours and days after birth can be really beneficial and empowering.
2. Next, prioritize rest, healing, and supporting the immune system. Childbirth is a major physical and emotional event, so it’s equally important to nourish and nurture the new parent.
3. And lastly, keep your list of resources handy. Know who to reach out to for lactation support, postpartum support groups, etc., and get in touch early.
Welcome to the team, Lana!
Meet SDBFC's Newest IBCLC - Kathleen Smith-Mercado
We are so thrilled to introduce you to our newest lactation consultant (pending) at SDBFC! Kathleen joined us on September 16, 2022 and started seeing her own clients on October 28, 2022 Here is our interview with Kathleen. We can't wait for you all to meet her!
Kathleen, tell us about yourself!
I grew up on the east coast in Virginia and Maryland. My family moved to San Diego when I was 16 years old. I went to college in San Francisco where I met my husband. We continued to travel in our 20’s, living in Australia and eventually moving back to San Diego where we both have family. I was a pastry chef and he is a beer brewer, after we got married we moved to Nashville, TN. It was here were we welcomed our two beautiful daughters into the world. We quickly realized how difficult it was raising a young family without the support of our extended family around. Shortly before my second daughter was born, my mom passed away from her battle with breast cancer. With the loss of mother, a lack of support in raising two babies under the age of three, and a colicky infant, I was diagnosed with postpartum anxiety. My husband was incredibly supportive and as therapy helped me cope, I realized that I never wanted another parent to feel as alone as I had felt. At the end of 2019, I trained to become a postpartum doula and my journey into the world or birth work had begun. I fell in love with supporting families helping parents reinforce their parental intuition. There is something magical about watching a family not just survive parenthood but truly thrive in it. I now work part-time as a lactation consultant and part-time as a postpartum doula while spending as much time as possible with my amazing family.
What inspired you to become a lactation consultant?
I struggled to breastfeed my first daughter and had little to no instruction on how to do it. I did not even know I could make an appointment with a lactation consultant outside of the hospital! Our first night home was a disaster and I ended pumping and bottle feeding her. I was an exclusive pumper for her for over 6 months and had a massive supply that I was tied to. When my second daughter was born, I was more prepared. We got off to a rocky start, the lactation consultant in the hospital shamed me for “caring too much” and “trying too hard”. I sought the help of a lactation consultant once we got home, and they were very supportive. My daughter had a tongue tie that I was told would not cause a problem and to not revise it. I spent the entire first year of her life triple feeding because of her tie (nursing, then pumping and bottle feeding). My breastfeeding journeys were difficult and in my postpartum doula work I saw how many parents struggled regularly with this. I was inspired to learn as much as I could about breastfeeding. I was empowered to help normalize that breastfeeding can have its difficulties, but they can be overcome with proper support and kindness. I believe that everyone deserves access to breastfeeding support and that the way we speak to our new parents can truly impact their nursing journey.
What are you most excited about working for the SDBFC?
I have been a longtime admirer of Robin Kaplan’s work and the work that SDBFC does within the San Diego community. I truly believe that breastfeeding support should be provided to families of all incomes. I am excited to work with an organization that makes it possible for support and education to be accessed by all families.
What are your top 3 tips for a brand new chest/breastfeeding parent?
Remember that your first few weeks are a lot of “practice” in breastfeeding. Every nursing session serves as a practice for how to get in a good latch and good transfer. This practice means lots of focus on nursing, less distractions, and lots of time with your shirt off so surround yourself with people you are comfortable with.
2. Patience, for yourself, your partner and your situation. Remember, we are learning who baby is and their likes and dislikes. Just as baby is learning to live outside of the womb, it is important to give yourself grace and patience with every moment.
3. Accept help and ask for it when you need it! We are always so quick to let offers of help fall to the wayside but remember your friends and family want to help you! That’s why they are your friends and family. Let them bring you dinner or do your laundry. There will be another time for you to do the same for them but now is your time to be mothered as well. Parenthood is a journey that is truly built within your community. Parents with strong support systems thrive in parenthood.
Welcome to the team, Kathleen!
We still have San Diego Latch On T-Shirts!
Who Wants an Awesome San Diego Latch On 2022 T-Shirt???
We are so excited to share with you our newly designed San Diego Latch On t-shirt!
Here are the details:
We have a few sizes left
All prices include shipping
All proceeds will be donated to the San Diego Breastfeeding Center Foundation to help pay for lactation consultations for local BIPOC and low-income families.
Ready to purchase your awesome new T-shirt????
NAVY CREW T-SHIRT - AVAILABLE IN S, M, L, XL, 2XL
MAROON RACER BACK TANK - AVAILABLE IN S, M, L, XL (RUNS A LITTLE BIG)
Once purchased, your shirt will be mailed to you within 5-7 business days. Must live in the US.