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In the bustle of running two coffee shops for eight years and becoming a mom, Central Coast Lactation founder Aryel Sawdey found one adage to be untrue.
"When I had my kids, I realized, oh, there's not really this village that everybody talks about or these women that are relatable to me," Sawdey said. "I felt like everyone that was talking to me about breastfeeding hadn't breastfed in the past 20 years, and they just kept on telling me, 'Oh, nope, it shouldn't hurt.'"
With the pandemic-induced shutdown, advice from a friend, and a desire to help other moms, Sawdey enrolled in an online program and amassed 177 hours of breastfeeding education. She passed a lactation specialist certification exam before opening Central Coast Lactation four years ago in Paso Robles. Sawdey, who's also a doula, eventually wants to crack the highest ranking for lactation professionals -- becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.
She told New Times that she entered the profession to increase awareness around an issue with scant information available.
"With my first child, I had a horrible time breastfeeding, and it was one of those cry every night things, and I just tried to suck it up," she said. "When I approach moms now, ... I want to meet moms in these like, deep, dark holes we find ourselves in the first few months of having a baby."
One of Sawdey's clients, Samantha Rosson, gave birth to her baby last summer at Sierra Vista Medical Center. While the hospital ensured that a staff lactation consultant checked in on her periodically, Rosson said she wanted more postpartum breastfeeding care as a first-time mom.
"Having a lactation consultant on call can mean the difference between continuing breastfeeding and giving up," Rosson said. "On night five with my baby, I thought I wasn't making enough milk for him, and I gave him a little bit of formula. The next day, I let Aryel know and she encouraged me and validated how overwhelming breastfeeding can be at times."
The new mom attended French Hospital's breastfeeding classes before her baby was born. She opted for Sawdey's services to make sure she was on the right track during the initial weeks with her baby at home. Rosson credited Sawdey for putting her mind and body at ease.
"When I first started pumping, Aryel assured me that pumping output is no indication of actual milk supply," she said. "I was concerned when I started pumping that I had low supply, but she said that the body is not used to pumping and that the baby is much more efficient at extracting milk than a machine."
Rosson told New Times that she hasn't had to supplement her baby with formula ever since she continued to pursue breastfeeding and learned more about latching techniques and different positions.
In fact, Sawdey's Instagram profile, @centralcoastlactation, is packed with information.
"Did you know? You should never dilute breastmilk with water," one post said.
"Why you should ditch your nursing pillow," said another.
A third Instagram square advertised her as a guest speaker for the SLO Moms Social Club, which meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 9 a.m. in Vibe Health Lounge.
"It's just like such an interesting field, because it is something where I'm trying to work myself out of the job," Sawdey said. "My biggest goal is I want to not be needed by these mothers."
Serving clients all over San Luis Obispo County, Sawdey offers her expertise as a birth doula with post-birth lactation support, in-home and virtual lactation support, phone consultations and troubleshooting, prenatal chats, and night nanny care. Find her intake forms at centralcoastlactation.com/services.
Breastfeeding also doesn't have to be a distant memory for moms if Sawdey is involved. She immortalizes breastmilk, so to speak, in jewelry. She offers pieces as parting gifts to her clients, but silver breastmilk rings, mother-and-child heart-shaped breastmilk pendants, and gold-plated sterling silver breastmilk earrings are available for purchase on her website.
"I just taught myself how to do it, and moms really only need about a tablespoon of breast milk to give me," she said. "The process is really ... skimming the fat off the top and dehydrating it and then mixing it with resin to make a keepsake they could have forever."
State law also recognizes the value of breastfeeding. The California Department of Public Health released a breastfeeding initiative in 2022 that was funded by Title V Maternal and Child Block Grant. One of the goals of the initiative is to make breastfeeding the community norm in the state from six months through at least the first year of an infant's life. It also aims to ensure hospitals and health care clinics implement infant feeding policies and that lactation accommodation is a reality for all working moms and their employers.
"They're really encouraging for women to breastfeed," 15-year doula Teresa Gibson told New Times. "Insurance will pay for a breast pump for [mothers]. ... I work with a lot of women that are with Medi-Cal, but even my clients that are not necessarily with Medi-Cal and that are paying me out of pocket, they all, through their insurance companies, get that free breast pump."
Gibson is a SLO County doula who signed on with a referral program and nonprofit called SLO Doula Connection. She moved from Los Angeles to the Central Coast four years ago and has worked with roughly 40 moms. She currently has five clients who are at different stages of their pregnancies. Visit slodoulaconnection.com/teresa-gibson to connect with her.
"I would rather them take a lactation class over a childbirth education class," Gibson said. "I can easily teach them what they're going to go through [during] birth, but for the lactation part of it, you have your baby, and you're home with that baby within a day, and it can be scary."
Breastfeeding classes and lactation support would have helped Gibson decades ago when she gave birth to her children, she added. She resorted to reading books and calling national organization La Leche League to figure out why one of her babies wasn't latching on.
"I did have homebirths, so I wasn't in a hospital getting those services, so we had to really work it out," Gibson said. "I had friends that were breastfeeding and different things like that. So that's how I learned. But the beginning was hard." Δ