Behind the Latch

We were taught to keep our hands in our pockets. Maya Bolman was taught the opposite — by her great-aunt, a midwife in Belarus, who could take an engorged, aching breast and leave it soft in an hour. In this episode, I sit down with Maya to talk about the skill most of us were never trained in: what to actually do with our hands. Maya Bolman is an IBCLC in Cleveland, Ohio, with 26 years in hospita...

Low milk supply might be the most common concern we field—and one of the hardest things in lactation to actually measure. In this episode I sit down with researcher Dr. Katie Kivlighan to separate what we can quantify from what we're guessing at, and to look at the tools and technologies that are about to change how we assess it. Episode Summary "Low milk supply" gets used as a catch-all, but it i...

In this episode, Dr. Lisa Stellwagen shares the journey of establishing a hospital-based milk bank, the science behind donor milk, and the future of infant nutrition and milk banking. Discover how policies, safety standards, and community efforts are transforming neonatal care and supporting vulnerable infants. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Milk Banking and Its Importance 04:07 The Journey to Es...

In this conversation, Dr. Elizabeth Kar discusses her research on breastfeeding promotion and the challenges faced by breastfeeding families during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the impact of reduced lactation support and the infant formula shortage. She emphasizes the importance of lactation consultants and community support in successful breastfeeding, critiques the marketing strategies of...

Margaret interviews, Molly Waymouth, a senior policy analyst at RAND, and they discuss her research on informal milk sharing, its prevalence, risks, and policy implications. They explores how systemic barriers and economic factors influence families' choices and what can be done to improve access to safe, affordable donor milk and lactation support. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Conversation...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Trillitye Paullin, CEO and co-founder of Free to Feed, who shares her groundbreaking work translating emerging research on food reactivity in breastfeeding into practical clinical guidance. Together, they unpack one of the most misunderstood topics in lactation: how dietary proteins transfer into breast milk and what that actually mea...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Victoria Fonville, MS, PhD candidate in Nutrition at UNC Greensboro, about her recent scoping review on lactation during perinatal bereavement. Together, they explore what the research actually tells us about lactation after infant loss—from the lived experiences of bereaved families to the gaps in care from healthcare providers. Vict...

Dr. Bode shares his journey into human milk research and the founding of the Human Milk Institute—the only institute in the world dedicated entirely to studying human milk in all its complexity. Together, they explore how human milk research is evolving from isolated disciplines into a collaborative, systems-based science that integrates molecular biology, clinical care, and public health. The con...

What We Talk About The origin of the “high lipase” breastmilk myth and how it spread through the lactation community Why biologically it does not make sense that some mothers produce excess lipase in milk What lipase actually does in human milk and why it is critical for infant fat digestion What parents are actually noticing when milk smells “soapy,” “metallic,” or “rancid” How riboflavin oxidati...

What We Talk About How Mina’s grandmother’s experience as a wet nurse shaped her path into lactation Why “hospital-grade” doesn’t actually mean anything in marketing—and what truly defines a multi-user pump The critical first 7 days postpartum and why delayed access to an effective pump can permanently impact supply Why wearable pumps and personal-use pumps often fail NICU mothers trying to establ...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret sits down with Dr. Mandy Golman, PhD, MS, RN, IBCLC, MCHES , professor at the University of Texas at Tyler, to discuss her powerful qualitative study exploring the perceptions, barriers, and facilitators to obtaining the IBCLC certification among U.S. healthcare practitioners. Margaret first encountered this research as a poster presentation at the IL...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret interviews Indira Lopez-Bassols, IBCLC, educator, and PhD candidate based in London, about her journey from clinical lactation consultant to published author in the Journal of Human Lactation . Indira shares the story behind her case study, “Assisted Nursing: A Case Study of an Infant With a Complete Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate” and her recent ref...

As more people pursue the IBCLC credential, mentorship has become one of the most critical—and misunderstood—components of lactation education. In this episode, Kristina and I take a close look at Pathway 2 and Pathway 3 mentorship , clarifying what mentors are actually responsible for and why mentorship must go beyond observation and paperwork. Kristina explains that effective mentorship is engag...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret sits down with Ellen Chetwynd , IBCLC, PhD, and longtime Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Human Lactation , to explore a fundamentally different way of understanding breastfeeding challenges: body-led breastfeeding and the Infant Suck Strength Exam (ISSE) . Dr. Chetwynd shares how years of clinical practice—and noticing what wasn’t explained by commo...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret sits down with former student and practicing IBCLC Maya Lott to explore culturally responsive lactation care through the lens of working with Jewish families. Drawing from Maya’s clinical experience, academic background in Jewish philosophy and law, and her widely shared paper on counseling Jewish families, this conversation offers practical guidance...

Lactation Exam Mastery Course! Master the IBCLC Exam Today! In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret interviews Meaghan Beames , Registered Massage Therapist, educator, and infant craniosacral therapy specialist based in Toronto. Meaghan shares her journey into craniosacral therapy following her own early breastfeeding struggles and explains how this gentle, hands-on modality can support inf...

Lactation Exam Mastery Course! Master the IBCLC Exam Today! In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret interviews Dr. Valérie Verhasselt , Professor of Immunology at the University of Western Australia and Head of the LRF Centre for Immunology and Breastfeeding. Dr. Verhasselt discusses her groundbreaking research on colostrum and food allergy prevention , focusing on her recent study demonstr...

LACTATION EXAM MASTERY COURSE- Stop Guessing How to Study for the IBCLC Exam. In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret interviews Dr. Zoya Gridneva , Research Fellow with the Geddes–Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group. Zoya discusses her research exploring maternal adiposity, glandular tissue distribution, breast anatomy, milk production, puberty timing, parity, and breast development ac...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Dr. Anita Lugo , Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, IBCLC, researcher, and Assistant Professor at Moravian University in Pennsylvania. Dr. Lugo’s work focuses on one of the most critical—and often overlooked—components of breastfeeding success: outpatient lactation care after hospital discharge . Her recent review highlights the powerful i...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Dr. Helen Ball , Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Infancy and Sleep Centre at Durham University in the United Kingdom. Dr. Ball is one of the world’s leading researchers on infant sleep and parent–infant nighttime behavior. Her work bridges anthropology, public health, and clinical practice, offering an evidence-based und...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Dr. Kelsey Bianca , psychology professor at Cecil College in Maryland, whose groundbreaking research focuses on the lived experiences of exclusively pumping mothers. Kelsey’s work shines a light on an often-overlooked population in lactation research—parents who feed their babies human milk through expression rather than at the breast...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Jill Rabin, MA, CCC-SLP/L, IBCLC , speech-language pathologist, lactation consultant, and co-author of Your Baby Can Self-Feed, Too . Known for her pioneering work in Adapted Baby-Led Weaning (ABLW) , Jill specializes in responsive feeding for infants with Down syndrome, prematurity, oral motor challenges, feeding aversion, and medica...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Gabriela Alvarado, MD , maternal health policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and current Pathway 2 student. Drawing from both her professional expertise as a physician and researcher, and her personal experience as a breastfeeding parent, Gaby shares insights from her recent qualitative study exploring Latina parents’ experiences...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Dr. Jess Daigle , pediatric hospitalist, NICU physician, founder of Tiny Steps NICU Grad Care , and NICU mom. Drawing from both her professional expertise and personal experience, Dr. Daigle shares how her own NICU journey shaped her passion for supporting families through the vulnerable transition from hospital to home. Together, the...

In this episode of Behind the Latch , Margaret Salty interviews Maya Nakamura, CNM, PhD(c) —a midwife researcher from Sapporo, Japan—about her work on nipple trauma and her recent study on silver nipple protectors . Maya shares how years of bedside experience, watching mothers struggle with painful nipple damage, pushed her into research and innovation in clinical assessment (including AI-based im...