logo

Welcome to the place where you can easily access TONS of FREE Breastfeeding information and GAIN valuable insight on best tips, how-to’s and “ need to know” about all things breastfeeding related. Today’s guest speaker is Melanie Scholz creator of the Breastbowl

Listen now to hear mothers share their breastfeeding stories. Hear interviews with well known authors pediatricians, midwives, doulas and others who eagerly share their knowledge.

 

Melanie Scholz:

” I have had these breasts for 38 years at the time when   she was born and never ever did anything come out of them so assuming that all of a sudden something comes out without checking or see for myself would have been quite a leap of faith.”

Episode 76       Melanie Scholz.

Breastfeeding mother of an 18 months old toddler. Melanie currently lives in Ontario, Canada. Her and her partner Carole are expecting their second child in November. Melanie holds a PhD in Biomechanics and works as a technical consultant for a company that makes research equipment and as a medical translator. Melanie is also the creator of the modern breastbowl, a bowl specifically designed for hand expression of breast milk.

Her Story.

Background History:

Mel grew up the eldest of 3 children. She was born in Germany into a diplomatic family and they  started moving all over the world. When she was 16, she moved to the Netherlands. She completed H.S and then went on to the University in Netherlands.  Once she finished school, she moved to Canada, met her partner and they soon started a family. Mel loves to travel, however, recognizes that it is a lot more work with a little one.  Mel talks about her  early aspirations to become a window washer in NYC and how she made her way to train for the position she is currently working in .

Breastfeeding History:

Her mom struggled to breastfeed for a few weeks.  She was greatly discouraged and told that if she wants to do something very good for her baby, that she would formula feed.  She listened to this advice and stopped breastfeeding. Mel states that she was quite preoccupied with preparing for the birth and hired a doula and took a childbirth class and within this time period, she did have some education about breastfeeding.  She was happy that she was taught hand expression and practiced the art of hand expression during the last few weeks of pregnancy. This helped to give her confidence that she did have milk available for her baby once her baby was born.  She also learned about the importance of achieving a good latch.

Early days of breastfeeding: Mel loved having her baby on the  breast and  bonding.  Her nipples were very sensitive the first few days and she was very grateful for the calendula cream that her midwives left for her.    She did have  blocked ducts and she realized her bra could be contributing to this as well as her oversupply could also be contributing to it.  Mel felt like she had to be “on top” of her oversupply as she felt like she needed for her breasts to be in “good working order.”

Breastfeeding Issues: She suffered with clogged ducts and oversupply.  She donated milk to a local mom who had low milk supply.  At this time, she was pumping to express her milk.

Where did Mel get breastfeeding advice: Her midwives were helpful and she hung around other new moms.  She learned that breastfeeding is not an exact science and that all women are different.  Mel was pumping for comfort, but received conflicting information about how to and when to pump.  For her, she pumped for comfort so that she did not have “soccer balls” for breasts.

Over time, she began to figure out what worked best.  She did get a scare as she felt like she went  from rock hard breasts to them feeling  “fluffy.”  She went from an oversupply to nothing, or so she thought. She became very worried as the pump was not working well any more. She tried hand expression and plenty of milk came out. She changed from something mechanical to something that felt more real.  This is when she “kicked the pump to the curb” and  stopped using a pump and began hand expressing.

Hand Expression: She tried using a salad bowl and thought that was weird and it certainly was not practical. This began her thinking about what else could she use as a container.

Her journey to creating the Breastbowl: She began to make a list of her criteria. Everything became about using something comfortable, It needed to be comfortable when using your right or left hand, needs to catch the spray of  milk, needed to have a reservoir to hold milk that you can easily transfer the milk. Now that she had the shape in mind, she decided she wanted it to be made out of glass so it was non-toxic, easy to clean and to keep clean.

Next step: She had to learn how to make it in glass.  She was able to take a year off as she had “mat leave.”  In Canada, she could take off a year and be paid a portion of her salary.  Mel goes into greater detail in the show.  She used this time to learn a new skill – glass blowing. She contacted a studio, took lessons, created a prototype, learned to spin and soon started to make breastbowls for others.  She made and gave away to friends, midwives and soon decided to open up her business and set up a website.  The breastbowl is pretty, practical, small and needs no electricity.

Positive Feedback: Others were getting very excited about the breastbowl. Mothers were feeling more in tune with their breasts, more connected.  Mel described some of her highlights:  No electricity and portable and fun to express into the bowls. She described the sounds of the sprays of milk hitting the glass and trickle down the bowel and how mesmerizing this is .

Current status: Dana continues to nurse and calls nursing “tookie.”   Nursings are quicker as her supply has decreased because she is pregnant with her second baby.  She would be fine if Dana wanted to wean as she is concerned about tandem nursing and is worried about the challenges that tandem weaning will bring.  She feels like she wants to focus on the new baby.  Lori suggested she listen to Episode #2  where Tressa talks in depth about her experience with tandem nursinghttps://www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/tressa_rappold/

Contact Mel:
breastbowl.com
mel@breastbowl.com
facebook.com/breastbowl

Submit a comment

your email address will not be published

13 + 14 =