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Breastfeeding Is Challenging – But There Are Ways To Make It Easier

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Experts recommend breastfeeding for the first year of life, including exclusively for the first six months, but according to the CDC, only about 35% of infants are still breastfeeding by their first birthday, and only 25% are breastfed exclusively until age 6 months. That’s no surprise, though, when we consider how challenging breastfeeding is on its own, and how much more difficult society makes it. In fact, hitting any of these landmarks is an achievement, but the good news is that there are also ways to make breastfeeding easier.

Don’t Wait

It’s a myth that you’ll only be able to breastfeed if you start immediately after birth, but doing so can make it easier. That’s because your infant’s nervous system is actually wired to seek out the breast in the hours after birth. Attempting a first feeding during this time, then, can encourage a natural latch and make subsequent feedings easier. 

Invest In A Pump

Just because you’re breastfeeding, that doesn’t mean that you have to handle every feeding on your own. In fact, you shouldn’t. Instead, look into getting an insurance-covered breast pump and choose a storage system that lets you keep extra milk on hand. This will be particularly handy if you’re going back to work, but can also help you manage engorgement without wasting milk. If you really find yourself overrun with extra ounces, there are milk banks where you can donate excess breastmilk.

Buy Some Bottles

If you’ve got a breast pump, you’re obviously also going to need some bottles, and there are many different kinds on the market, but what kind you choose isn’t as important as you might think. Though some doctors recommend particular bottle designs for breastfed infants, the reality is that every baby is different and, since nipple confusion is a myth, you don’t have to worry about your bottle choice conflicting with breastfeeding. Plus, as any new mother can tell you, the most important thing about choosing bottles is that it means your spouse can take a few nighttime feedings and you can get a little sleep.

Develop A Routine

It’s important to develop a pumping routine if you’re going back to work while breastfeeding, but even if you’re staying at home, having a schedule can make things easier on your body. Many experts recommend beginning to pump around week 2 or 3 after birth and introducing a bottle around the same time. This will ensure that your baby is comfortable taking a bottle even if it’s not necessary yet – that way they won’t go on hunger strike for daycare or grandma or whoever takes over childcare when you’re away. 

Know Your Rights

It’s important to know your rights as a breastfeeding mom, especially when pumping at work, but this also applies in other settings. Not only do you have a right to a private, non-bathroom place to pump at work, but you also have a right to feed your baby anywhere your baby has a right to be. That includes everywhere from restaurants and playgrounds to places of worship, and no one should tell you otherwise.

Breastfeeding is a serious commitment, but it’s also a beneficial and worthwhile one that contributes to your baby’s health and your relationship, so it’s worth considering what steps will help you navigate the process. Often, that means ensuring you have the right tools to help you navigate the process. 

Breastfeeding can be complicated, yes, but at least the solutions for making it more manageable are simple.

Michelle has been a part of the journey ever since Bigtime Daily started. As a strong learner and passionate writer, she contributes her editing skills for the news agency. She also jots down intellectual pieces from categories such as science and health.

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Lifestyle

The Message Women Need Today: Cathi Carrier’s Mission to Bring Back Self-Worth

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Many women spend years quietly stepping out of the frame, avoiding cameras, hiding behind filters, or brushing off compliments because they no longer recognize the person staring back at them. It is not vanity that drives those moments; it’s a deeper feeling of slipping away from yourself. That emotional weight is something Cathi Carrier has witnessed for more than three decades, and it’s what shaped the mission behind Purely Bella.

Cathi didn’t build her career in a boardroom. She built it in a treatment room, one client at a time, listening to stories that rarely make it into conversations about skincare. Women would sit down and immediately apologize for their appearance, convinced they were “too late” to take care of themselves. What she saw instead were women who had given so much to others that they had forgotten how to give to themselves.

Her understanding didn’t come from textbooks. It began when she was a teenager struggling with acne that felt bigger than a skin issue; it affected her confidence, her social life, and even the way she carried herself. That experience gave her empathy long before she had professional expertise. She knew what it meant to feel uncomfortable in your own skin, and she never forgot it.

In her treatment room, skincare became something deeper than cleansing and moisturizers. It became a place where women were welcomed without judgment, where they could talk openly, exhale, and feel seen. Over the years, she learned that skin reflects far more than age or stress. It reflects how much space a woman has allowed herself to take up in her own life.

Stories like Sara’s stayed with her. Sara, a retired schoolteacher, walked in with her shoulders rounded and her spirit dulled. She apologized repeatedly for her skin, barely making eye contact. Carrier designed a simple treatment plan, but the real change came from the conversations, the consistency, and the small moments where Sara started to reconnect with herself. Months later, Sara hugged her and said she finally felt like herself again. That transformation, skin healing paired with emotional renewal, is what convinced Carrier that skincare can be a form of healing when done with intention.

Still, she reached a limit. Her treatment room could only help one woman at a time. The desire to create a greater impact pushed her to start Purely Bella, a brand built to carry her philosophy beyond the walls of her spa. The transition wasn’t glamorous. She had to learn manufacturing, sourcing, regulations, and everything in between. But she stayed focused on real women and real results, clean formulations that worked, without the fear-based marketing the industry often leans on.

Purely Bella’s mission is rooted in a simple promise: you don’t need to turn back time to feel beautiful. You need to move forward with confidence and grace, knowing your best self is not behind you. Cathi believes this deeply. She speaks often about how a morning skincare routine is not just about products, it’s a daily choice to care for yourself, a reminder that you matter.

Her mission is also a response to the pressures women absorb from the world around them. Society is quick to tell women their value fades with every birthday. Cathi rejects that entirely. She wants daughters to grow up watching their mothers feel proud in photos, not hide from them. She wants women to recognize that aging is not the enemy; the real enemy is the culture that tells them to shrink as they grow older.

In a crowded beauty landscape, Cathi Carrier is not asking women to chase perfection. She is inviting them to remember who they are, and to step back into the frame with confidence.

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