Early Life and Influences
I was born in Southern California. My father was an engineer
and well-known inventor. In the 40s and 50s he worked on early television. He later
invented many things, including the first telephone-answering device. My mother
was an English teacher and poet. They were like hot and cold, and their
marriage was very unhappy.
They really embodied conflicts that are ubiquitous in our
society: cold hard science on the one side, impervious to emotional realities
and to experiential evidence, (and disdainful of natural medicine); and on the
other side a vibrant love of life, a willingness to explore every avenue of
“truth,” a need for love and being loved.
It was difficult growing up with two such different parents.
I felt the conflict more consciously when I was older. My father looked down my
interest in herbalism and alternative medicine, but my mother looked down on my
strong reliance on my logical mind.
I moved to Switzerland when I was 19—both to get away from a
difficult situation and to pursue one of my greatest loves—music. I attained my
degree, fell in love, and founded a family in Basel. I loved Switzerland had lot to look forward
to: mothering, teaching, creative writing, yoga, meditation, nature, herbalism, and good
eating with friends and family.
A Life Altering Event
My plans crashed when I experienced low milk supply with my
first born baby. I was devastated! I would even say, traumatized. None of my
healthcare providers could help me. They offered well-intentioned advice that
didn't work at all.
In the years that followed, and more and more with each
subsequent child, I learned about the many foods and herbs that were used by
Swiss mothers to increase their milk supply. (Interestingly, information about
these 'remedies' was known to mothers, but not their health-care providers.) With
astonishment, I saw a huge difference in my production.
I spoke to my healthcare providers again—only to realize
that they did not highly regard any results that individual mothers might experience.
If it hadn’t been researched and studied, they didn’t want to know.
Over many long years of breastfeeding, I had plenty of time for
my logical brain to ascertain and reaffirm that that these foods did in fact
have a significant and positive impact on my milk production. And it was
thrilling to see that they greatly improved the quality and ease of my life as
a breastfeeding mother.
Researching Mother Food
Seeing the difference that this knowledge had made in my
life, I began to feel passionate about this study. Luckily, I had access to
excellent university libraries in Basel, Switzerland. In 2000, I became
certified as a holistic lactation consultant in Switzerland (CH.HU.SI.)
(founded by a renegade but highly regarded lactation consultant). The course
included extensive training in the ways that nutrition and herbs affect milk
supply, and their use in supporting a mother's and her baby's health.
My research was just in time for the dawning of the
Internet. In 2000 I joined a newly formed yahoo group for mothers with
extraordinary breastfeeding problems called MOBI (mothers overcoming
breastfeeding issues).
Each year, several hundred mothers with, well, mostly low
milk supply, joined MOBI for support. In 2005, we became a non-profit. During
this time I also wrote and published "Mother Food," which encompasses
not only lactogenic foods and herbs, but also a range of essential dietary
information that can reduce or mitigate problems such as depression, colic and
allergy.
We have to realize that we cannot wait for cold, hard
science to give us the facts about a lactogenic diet. While a multitude of
studies have looked at the influence of “feed” on dairy cows, there is no
economic interest in this study on women.
Luckily, we don’t have to be concerned: it’s just food, it
doesn’t need to be FDA regulated.
