Makes Milk with Emma Pickett: breastfeeding from the beginning to the end

This summer bonus episode is a replay of episode 76, where I speak to Scott Mair from Fatherhood Solutions. I’m taking a break over the summer holidays. I’ll be back with a brand new episode on 2nd September 2025. In this 2nd part of my conversation with Scott, we answer questions on natural term breastfeeding, dealing with comments from family members, where to go for advice, and sex and intimacy...

This summer bonus episode is a replay of episode 75, where I speak to Scott Mair from Fatherhood Solutions. I’m taking a break over the summer holidays. I’ll be back with a brand new episode on 2nd September 2025. Scott is an ex-military dad of seven children, and one grandchild, who specialises in fathers’ mental health and inclusion. Who better to answer your questions about how dads can support...

This week, I’m joined by a breastfeeding legend - Jan Edye. Jan was one of the first people to qualify as an IBCLC in the UK, and has run her local breastfeeding support session for decades. She’s a fount of all knowledge and it’s a joy to have her on the show. We’re talking about grannies and breastfeeding. From how to talk about past experiences, to what to do if you stay over to help, to what J...

This week’s episode is a prime example of how everyone’s situation is unique, and every solution must be too.  My guest is Phoebe, a nurse from Paris, France. Phoebe shares her experiences, including her initial plans to breastfeed, facing issues like inverted nipples, her daughter Adele’s jaundice and weight loss, and conflicting advice from healthcare professionals. At four months postpartum, af...

This week I’m talking to Amy Winterbourne, a mother of two from Watford, about her experience breastfeeding after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Amy shares her journey of breastfeeding her eldest son, William, until he was two and a half, and how she weaned him gently during her pregnancy with her younger son, James. She then delves into her MS diagnosis when James was nearly one, d...

 My guest this week has personal and professional experience of tandem feeding to share with us. Nicola De Sousa is an infant feeding coach from Jersey, in the Channel Islands. She fed her toddler Mikayla, all through her pregnancy and alongside her infant Diogo. We talk about Nicola’s experience of feeding both her children, but also from 28:30 we answer your questions about tandem feeding. For d...

My guest this week shares her amazing journey of triandem feeding - what she calls the ‘path of least resistance’, though I think the rest of us would describe her as inspirational. Golnessa is a GP from Fife in Scotland, and is currently breastfeeding her three children, Gus (10 months), Gertie (3 years) and Gilligan (5 years).  We talk about the challenges, logistics and the emotional support in...

In honour of this being officially my 100th episode, I’m answering listeners’ questions this week. We cover natural term breastfeeding, weaning older children, dealing with conflict with family and a response to a request to share my own breastfeeding story. If you’d like to read the questions, you’ll find each one in Bold in the transcript for this episode. My new picture book on how breastfeedin...

We’re trying something a little different this week - Tara and I have created a section of the show especially for young people. If someone in your life would like to know more about periods, breast development and what else can change from the age of about 8 to 12 years, they should listen from 46:45 onwards. My guest this week, Tara Ghosh, is a certified women's health coach and period educ...

 If you have a baby, or are supporting parents of a baby, who has a Pavlik Harness, the chances are that you haven’t found much information about how to combine a Pavlik Harness with breastfeeding. I’m hoping this episode helps. I’m speaking to Cara from Midlothian, and Jodie from Essex, both twin mums who have breastfed babies through their treatment for hip dysplasia. They share their personal j...

 We often cover struggles and challenges on this podcast, but my guest this week, Shonagh Johnson, from East Lothian, is a great example of how well tandem breastfeeding can go.  Although she had some nipple sensitivity, Shonagh found feeding her first daughter Freya relatively easy after a swift home birth. Despite having no expectations of how long they would feed for, she carried on throughout...

  Every so often a project comes along with the potential to radically change the experience of lactating parents. My guest this week, Amber, has one such project. Amber Clark is an infant feeding specialist nurse and IBCLC working in Wessex. Her work, the Early Breast Milk Improvement Project is all about improving outcomes for pumpers by fitting flanges properly and increasing pumping efficiency...

Sometimes the thing we need most is the space and time to figure it out ourselves. My guest this week, Becca from Oxfordshire, had a challenging start to breastfeeding her son, Rupert. A combination of a tongue tie, slightly inverted nipples, and troubles latching, led to severe nipple damage just days after Rupert’s birth. Becca turned to exclusive pumping to let her nipples heal, and days turned...

My guest this week is Dr. Louise Goldsmith, a urologist and aspiring IBCLC from North London. Louise successfully breastfed her first daughter but was taken aback when that previous history didn’t protect her from a crisis of confidence second time around. Carrie’s feeding style was very different to Paloma’s, which surprised Louise and her husband, and they feared she was not receiving enough mil...

 Vicky, my guest this week, is a fantastic example of successful breastfeeding at work. She is a nurse in a busy intensive care unit, who takes regular breaks to pump in a dedicated room, with the full support of her manager and colleagues.  This success story is even better when you hear how she got to this place - her daughter Evie’s birth was painful and distressing, ending with a ventouse deli...

Many breastfeeding parents also choose to carry their baby in a sling or wrap as they go about their day. There are so many carriers out there to choose from that it can be an overwhelming decision. That’s where my guest today can help.  Lizzy Allen is a babywearing consultant, but she's also a breastfeeding peer supporter, trained with the ABM. She runs Chester Sling Library, which offers su...

Uni-boobing - feeding on just one breast - is more common than many of us think. Whether through child-preference, injury, or as a result of surgery, like my guest this week, it’s absolutely possible to exclusively breastfeed on just one breast. My guest, Coral, had duct surgery due to unexplained bleeding and a family history of breast cancer, in her twenties. Although she was told she probably c...

Back in 2020, Ann Owen felt like she was the only person in the UK breastfeeding a four year old. Not an unusual feeling for an extended breastfeeder, but Ann’s next step was unusual. She’s a photographer, specialising in documenting birth and post-partum journeys, so she started a project to meet and photograph other families with older nurslings. Now she travels all over the UK, meeting nursling...

 My guest this week, Sarah, is a great example of the power of self belief. Sarah’s twins, Louie and Robyn, were conceived through IVF during the COVID lockdowns, and had a tricky birth resulting in transfusions and a hospital stay. Throughout all this, Sarah knew that she wanted to breastfeed her twins, and advocated for herself despite busy maternity staff not providing the support they needed....

 We’re doing something a little bit different this week, as you may have guessed from our title. I'm talking to Liz Lee-Smith, who is @‌thebirthhistorian on Instagram. She's an antenatal educator,a breastfeeding peer supporter, and she's a history nerd as well. And we’ll be discussing wet nursing, by looking at the lives of a handful of women through history.  One note of warning, w...

There’s a common assumption that if you breastfeed, you can never be apart from your child, and you have to sacrifice career ambitions if you are going to breastfeed longer term. My guest this week is here to bust that myth, and show how you can both breastfeed and also travel for work. Jessica Greenfield is a singer-songwriter and member of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. She has continued to...

My guest this week, Sarah Perry, is an author, lecturer and mum to two-year-old Zangi. She overcame a challenging birth, an extended hospital stay and inverted nipples, to meet her breastfeeding goals and continues to feed to this day. Sarah is also a wheelchair user and in this episode she shares some of her powerful writing about her experience of motherhood. We talk about breastfeeding with lim...

The Story of Jessie’s Milkies is available from Amazon here: The Story of Jessie's Milkies Or, if you prefer not to use Amazon, ask your local book shop to order from our other publisher, Ingram Spark, and libraries can order from them too.  This podcast is presented by Emma Pickett IBCLC , and produced by Emily Crosby Media .

Many parents who don’t meet their breastfeeding goals experience feelings of grief and even trauma that can affect their lives for years to come. This week I’m joined by the brilliant Dr Harriet Holroyd, a clinical psychologist and EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) practitioner, to discuss some approaches to resolving those feelings. We discuss some of the reasons for breastfeed...

Too often I meet parents who have been told by their dentist that their toddler should stop breastfeeding because it contributes to tooth decay, so when I met this week’s guest, I knew I had to have her on the show to talk more about this issue. Dr Gillian Smith DDS is a dentist from Bray in Ireland, who specialises in treating children and patients with additional needs. Together we explore why d...