Last week, I was delighted to be invited back to once again co-host the AiArthritis Voices 360 podcast with Cheryl Crow of Arthritis Life and Danielle Dass, a regular co-host on the show. This podcast is produced by the International Foundation for Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Arthritis (IFAA) with the goal of inviting all stakeholders to take a seat “at the table” to discuss the most pressing issues being faced in the arthritis community.
One important issues for many individuals living with autoimmune arthritis is motherhood. And there are so many issues to discuss that fall under that umbrella! The path to pregnancy. Managing pregnancy itself. The postpartum period. Medications and their impact on pregnancy and breastfeeding. Physically parenting babies. Physically parenting toddlers…the list goes on and on! So I’m thrilled that IFAA has decided to a special series devoted to these important issues.
The first time I co-hosted this show was for Episode 11: Oh Baby! Pregnancy Planning With A Chronic Illness, which we recorded at the 2019 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA. We discussed how reproductive health has become a much more important topic at ACR over the last few years – and how exciting it is to see the data developing on the use of medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding. We were lucky to be able to speak to Linette Dryer from MotherToBaby, an organization that collects and analyzes information on the safety of medication during pregnancy and breastfeeding. We also talked about how important it is to plan a pregnancy and work as a team with your doctors when living with a chronic illness.
This time we jumped into a discussion about breastfeeding. After moderating the Mamas Facing Forward private Facebook group for more than 5 years now, I can tell you that breastfeeding is one of the most common topics of discussion for the postpartum period. We talked about whether “breast is best” (spoiler alert: not for everyone), the increase in breastfeeding-friendly treatment options, and how to tackle some of the physical challenges moms with arthritis might face when it comes to this repetitive task.
Click below to listen and stay tuned! Cheryl and I have been invited back again to continue discussing postpartum challenges for new mothers living with AiArthritis diseases!
Episode 51: Oh Mama! Special Series Episode 2 – Breastfeeding with AiArthritis Diseases
