Hoosier Breast Friend LLC

Hoosier Breast Friend LLC Hoosier Breast Friend LLC is a group of private practice IBCLCs specializing in holistic support.

06/18/2026

Let’s talk about DMER! 🤱🏽

DMER stands for Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex. It is characterized by intense feelings of negative emotions, anxiety, sadness, and sometimes nausea during the letdown. It can come with a “pit in the stomach” feeling, dread, or even irritability. The wave of symptoms are brought on by hormones and usually resolve within a few minutes (once the letdown passes). It can happen during any letdown which means those random phantom cries, the internal clock that says your baby should be hungry now, pumping, and any other scenario where your body is triggered to make milk flow can all come with DMER symptoms.

During a letdown, oxytocin levels surge while dopamine levels abruptly drop. This dip in dopamine triggers an immediate but brief emotional crash. This is not postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, or a breastfeeding aversion, but can definitely co-exist and potentially worsen these issues.

DMER is not a reflection of your parenting or connection with your baby. It is very real, and the effects can be very hard to cope with. If you need support navigating DMER, a skilled IBCLC can help!

06/17/2026

Anybody relate? 🫣 what would you add? 🥵

“I wish I had known how hard it is to breastfeed after a NICU stay.”This is an area that receives little attention to de...
06/13/2026

“I wish I had known how hard it is to breastfeed after a NICU stay.”

This is an area that receives little attention to detail when it comes to lactation and breastfeeding, and needs it the most!

There are so many reasons a baby may need a NICU stay, whether it is immediately from birth or occurs sometime after their initial discharge. Each situation is so unique — the level of intervention and type of support needed varies from baby to baby.

Breastfeeding and lactation support are often low on the priority list, and even lactation staff may not be adequately educated to support breastfeeding in this setting or know how to transition to breast after discharge. There are also often policies that undermine breastfeeding efforts, and pushback from staff when parents want to breastfeed or supply breastmilk. Parents often feel like the only way home is a bottle or feeding tube. These tools or others might be a necessary part of the process but there is also a lack of support and knowledge on transitioning back to latching directly.

These challenges make establishing and continuing breastfeeding or returning to breastfeeding exceptionally difficult. Although it can look really bleak, latching to feed after a NICU stay is possible! Extra support with a skilled IBCLC may be necessary.

06/12/2026

It be like that sometimes 😂😂😂

06/11/2026

Does your baby have red neck creases? 😖

If you gently lift baby’s chin and notice red, deep, irritated creases in the neck, you’re looking at a big red flag for neck tension.

Your baby may:
➡️ Struggle with latching
➡️ Develop a side preference, head turning preference, or positional preference
➡️ Have difficulty with tummy time and meeting movement milestones
➡️ Be more prone to yeast growth and skin irritation in the area

Things that can help:
➡️Support extension and work towards normal range of motion
➡️Switch up feeding positions so baby isn’t always in the same head position
➡️Keep the area clean & dry
➡️Switch up how baby lays/turns their head during the day

If you’re noticing your baby wears shoulders like earrings and you’re not even sure they have a neck, it’s worth investigating and finding support.

06/10/2026

This is definitely a simplified way of putting it, but it is true that human milk is perfectly designed for human infants and will have the appropriate nutritional content, hormones, and antibodies right down to the time of day. This is why as babies grow, their milk volume needs do not continue to grow astronomically. On average, they need about 1-1.5oz per hour and feed every 2-3 hours.

As a side note: it is important to note that some components of human milk are controlled by the nutritional status of the lactating individual. For example, there is a persistent myth that human milk does not contain vitamin D. This is incorrect. Vitamin D deficiency in human milk occurs because the person making milk is already deficient, and we simply cannot give what we do not have. This is something that can and should be addressed in the lactating parent’s diet for the health of both parties.

If you (or your healthcare provider) has concerns about your baby’s weight gain or growth, contact an IBCLC as soon as possible. The most likely culprit is actually inadequate volume, not inadequate nutritional content of the milk.

06/09/2026

Let’s talk about flow rates.. 🍼

Did you know there is no standardization across bottle ni**le flow rates? Meaning one brand might market their bottle ni**le as slow flow, but actually flow faster than a different brand of “medium” or “fast” flow ni**le. Each company sets their own criteria and testing, so the flow rate listed on the ni**le does not reliably tell you how fast or slow liquid flows.

Flow rate refers to the rate that milk is drained from the bottle during active sucking. This is often confused with drip rates, which show you how fast the bottle drips when gravity takes over. How fast a bottle drips when it’s held upside down won’t necessarily line up with how quickly it flows when vacuum is added!

At the end of the day, the flow rate label on the package is really just another marketing gimmick - just like “anti colic” and “breast-like” labeling.

If your baby is struggling with taking a bottle, please reach out to us to help assist why.

06/05/2026

Imagine pumping 8+ times per day, trying 6 different pumps, nursing as many times as your baby will tolerate, eating all the right things, and taking the supplements just for some stranger on the internet to tell you:

-It’s extremely rare to actually not be able to make enough milk.

-You just need to try harder.

-Milk production is all supply and demand.

-Stress kills milk supply, you have to take better care of yourself.

The internet can sometimes be helpful, sure. But if you are having concerns please do not listen to the random strangers on the internet or AI overviews, but seek help from a professional. 🥵

This is your reminder to feed your baby not the freezer. 🗣️We have seen people trying to build the ever elusive freezer ...
06/04/2026

This is your reminder to feed your baby not the freezer. 🗣️

We have seen people trying to build the ever elusive freezer stash and feeling inadequate because they can only ever store an ounce or two. We’ve seen people use formula instead of their expressed milk because they feel like they have to have milk in the freezer. We’ve seen babies furious at the breast because they’re nursing right after pumping to store milk.

Let’s be real. What are you going to do with that milk? Is it going to collect in your freezer until you run out of space and buy a dedicated deep freezer? Then what? You’d be amazed by how many times people get all the way to age 1 with a freezer full of untouched milk, then panic about what to do with all of it before the “best by” date.

If there isn’t a plan for using 1500 frozen ounces, then you probably don’t need to stress about making sure you have it.

Pumping enough to feed your baby while you’re away and having a little cushion is plenty. Your freezer isn’t ever going to be hungry so don’t focus on feeding it.

06/03/2026

We promise we aren’t trying to torture you. Sometimes it really is as simple as just adding in an extra pumping or nursing session.

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Michigan City, IN

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(219) 229-9330

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