I'm Kristy I'm 26 years old and I have a beautiful 3 year old son and I created Breastfeeding Mama Talk in September 2012.
What made me want to start the page at all was because breastfeeding seemed to be the topic that I was the most passionate about and I would go on all these mommy pages and only wanted to talk about breastfeeding and how wonderful it is or on the other side of it which is my passion for defending a woman's right to do so however, wherever, and for however long she chooses. So I thought why not start my OWN page somewhere I could post whatever I wanted and be some sort of support system for all these woman something I was not lucky enough to have. I only lasted three short months and the closest I have ever got to breastfeeding in public was in my car and yes the bathroom. If I knew then what I know now I feel it could have went much differently and that was my goal was to maybe change someones bad experience into a great one. People don't realize that with breastfeeding it's more than just how much milk can I produce, what nursing bra is best, what kind of pump works best. That is just the little details. It takes a good support system (most of the time) to breastfeed and keep at it long-term. So that is what I was going for just a place for all us woman to get together, ask questions, post pics, share vents or brags.
I imagined maybe it would get about 500 followers IF that and that was perfectly acceptable for me. I never cared about how many followers the page would get. The purpose was to support anyone who needed it and of course the more the merrier. Well in time people just kept coming more questions, more pictures, and more support. People from all over the world were coming together and it amazed me. I never thought the subject of breastfeeding would attract so many people. I didn't realize then just how crucial this support was I knew it was important but didn't realize just how much until a few months into running the page.
Well about 7 months ago facebook kept banning me off my account and removing breastfeeding pics I was livid because we always post according to facebook policy. Well I was encouraged by my followers to call my local news station. Honestly my adrenaline had to be going strong because I actually went ahead and called. Not something I ever imagined myself doing. Well when I was told she would take it up with their producer I thought, “okay whatever I tried I won't be getting a call back.” And if it did pick up I thought maybe they would do a 20 second segment just explaining the incident and showing the screen shots. Well 30 minutes later I get a knock at my front door. A million thoughts are going through my head, “could this really be happening? Am I dreaming?” Well I'm not usually someone that likes being in the spotlight but breastfeeding support is near and dear to me so I wouldn't have stayed true to my cause if I turned down an opportunity to speak out about it. I was the voice of millions of woman in those very moments. The next day it went viral I was in even more disbelief and a couple of days later another reporter shows up unannounced. After that people started flocking to the page like crazy and it brought some amazing people to my team.
Well expanding our cause into something more than just a Facebook page was never anything that we planned. It sort of just came to me. I feel like not expanding our cause would be a waste of an amazing opportunity to reach out to more people beyond Facebook land. The women that I have helping me are definitely the heart of the page and I don't think it would be where it's at without their enthusiasm, passion, and of course their time.
I could go on and on, so hopefully, that gives you just a little insight on the roots of why the page even exists, and how it got to be to where it is today.
So buckle up and join us in our fight to normalize breastfeeding and in supporting women from all over the world with their journey to mommy-hood.
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