On finding #MyPeopleABM: Physicians share what ABM means to them

Jennifer Caplan, MD, FAAP, IBCLC
North Scottsdale Pediatric Associates, AZ USA
I joined ABM after going to an AAP conference in 2008 with my nursing baby. At the conference, I ended up spending almost the entire time with the Section on Breastfeeding because my baby was not interested in staying with my husband—so I brought her with me. And I felt more comfortable hanging out with the breastfeeding crowd. I ended up riding in an elevator with some of the organizers and one of the women told me I should join ABM.

I had been so energized by the discussions at that conference—learning how to do frenotomies, hearing about the “Ban the Bag” efforts in Massachusetts, finding out about Baby Friendly Hospitals for the first time. So, I joined ABM and attended my first conference in 2009.

Being at an ABM conference is amazing. I’m really not a conference person—networking does not come easily to me, I don’t really like the marketing/advertising hall, but I do love learning about new things. ABM is the only conference I really enjoy going to. I always come away from the conference with at least a dozen new ways to practice and a new energy to spread my knowledge to others. And I love the people I meet at ABM conferences—so many perspectives, so many different ways they express their passion for supporting the mother-baby dyad. After another couple conferences, I had been convinced to become a lactation consultant.

I usually make it to the ABM conference, but even in years where I don’t go, I still get a lot out of my membership. I probably use the protocols more than anything else—always the most up to date, comprehensive source on breastfeeding topics. I enjoy seeing the new research coming out in the journals. And just knowing I’m a part of an amazing group that is a political force for advancing breastfeeding and advocating for women is important to me.

Surgeons who pump: #ILookLikeASurgeon

If you follow trends on social media, you have seen the viral tweets and pics from women surgeons who have copied the New Yorker magazine cover showing three women leaning over an operating table.   These posts share two common hashtags:  #ILookLikeASurgeon and #NYerORCoverChallenge.  As an admin for the 7,000+ member Dr. MILK online physician mother breastfeeding support group, I wanted to see this picture taken from the perspective of a multi-tasking surgeon mother who fits in pumping her milk between cases and a very hectic schedule.  I asked our members to try and coordinate OR schedules and pumping schedules to make this happen.  Three superstar OB GYNs from Baylor College of Medicine created this pic while at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in Houston, TX.  They don’t literally pump their milk while leaning over an operating table, but this picture represents the duality of surgeon moms who balance patient care needs with meeting the nutritional needs of their infants.  Their stories of breastfeeding/pumping challenges and successes will hopefully encourage mothers of all walks of life to confront and remove barriers to maintaining a milk supply while at work and #normalizePumping.

Here’s what their workday looked like when they managed to take this picture:  One doctor had a delivery and then a c-section while the second had a fetal surgery.  The third surgeon was performing a robotic hysterectomy.  They tried to coordinate the photo between the delivery and c-section but timing wasn’t right, and then just before the fetal surgery the three women rushed into an empty OR to make it happen. 

Naturalizing Breastfeeding Through Filters

Every day since 2010, I spend a couple of hours reading and responding to posts in  a Facebook group of physician women who are breastfeeding/pumping/advocating called Dr. MILK (www.drmilk.org).  And in the last 72 hours our group’s feed of 5200+ international physician mothers has exploded with dozens of deliciously gorgeous #brelfie pics of themselves nursing or pumping for their kids using the concept of the #treeOfLife breastfeeding selfie.

I completely derailed my entire Sunday evening of finishing newborn nursery charts and billing to create my own “Tree of Life” photo with dazzling filters, and I wanted to give credit to the person who came up with the idea.  So I did some serious journalistic Googling and found Cassie @keeponboobin (Instagram, Twitter) and tagged her in a series of posts of my own kids from 2012.  She wrote back in admiration of my edits (feigned blushing) and reposted my pics to her own account (as is customary in social media etiquette).  I asked her to be interviewed for this blog to explain how this viral campaign came to be and how it has changed the landscape of women fearlessly posting bare-breasted nursing photos.

The very FIRST tree of life pic!

The following are excerpts from our dialogue of her inadvertent campaign to #naturalizeBreastfeeding and give women confidence to share with the world their pride in making milk for their children.

How did this Tree of Life concept unfold?

“After celebrating my 12 month anniversary of nursing my daughter, I wanted to commemorate with a nursing photo that I could hang on the wall. I had recently learned about how breast milk was considered a living organism and that having fascinated me, I chose to try and incorporate that into our photo. We had a rough beginning when we started nursing, so this was something that was truly special to me. I came up with the idea to use Photoshop and create a flower, with the vines going from my breast to her brain. A metaphor for her ‘blossoming’ into this beautiful child. While nursing her one day, I took a photo of her on my cell phone and decided to play around with it, kinda work out the idea I had come up. “

“I was able to add a flower to the photo but didn’t really like the way it looked. That is when I decided to try a tree instead. I gave it a kind of artsy look through the app’s many filters they offer and just fell in love with it. I had originally intended to take a professional photo with my camera and do this all on the computer but I really loved what I had created.”