We recently connected with Heidi Sardon and have shared our conversation below.

Heidi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

I was grateful to be able to help someone continue their lactation journey by offering natural advice to deal with mastitis. She had already seen a medical provider who hadn’t done much for her nor explained what to expect. I let her know don’t typically have to give antibiotics unless there is a bad infection, but let her know of a few soothing remedies she could do, including crushing up some cabbage leaves to put into her bra. That was a new idea for her that helped her out until the issue passed. She had been stressed out prior to that, thinking her lactation was over at 8 months when she wanted to continue. Fortunately, she was able to overcome the issue and continued.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Having given birth to two children 20 years apart, I saw firsthand how mothers are treated according to their age and perceived experiences. As a 17-year-old, medical professionals doubted when I was in labor due to me pain tolerance. I was sent away from the hospital a few times and almost gave birth at home alone before being taken to the hospital by ambulance.

At 37, I wanted a water birth, but my insurance denied coverage for this natural option. The rest of my birth plan was respected, unlike the way I was treated dismissively as a teen mom.

Over two decades, I have not seen enough improvement in maternal support provided for any natural options during birth, postpartum and especially with lactation. This is especially true for certain minority groups.

It was like pulling teeth to try to gain access to a lactation care provider in the hospital after giving birth. They told me that they had lactation consultants, but a couple of days later, they never got the chance to come see me. I finally got to connect with a lactation specialist after being discharged from the hospital, but they used terminology I was unfamiliar with. I had to look it up on Google to try to make sense of it.

Established in 2018, I joined the Indigenous Firstfeeding Coalition Colorado (IFCC)– a coalition created to combat extremely low lactation rates in Indigenous communities due to generational and historical trauma— a few years after its launch. I then complete training as an Indigenous Lactation Counselor to be able to support efforts more effectively.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My older son’s favorite resilience story is when my ACL was snapped during my first MMA cage fight and I still continued on and won the match without anyone realizing the injury. It took two weeks and two medical visits while I completed other laborious tasks at work and home before having a provider finally suggest an xray.

Yet, I believe choosing to exclusively nurse two children took even more resilience when lactation support is so sparse and most advice for any issue is just to provide formula instead.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Networking with others in the field is crucial. If we are to provide support for others, we must also receive support for ourselves. It is also incredibly encouraging to see the strides that others are making and be able to share experiences and ideas.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/nativenipples
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/nativenipples
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indigenousfirsttfeedingCO

Image Credits
Heidi Sardon