About me

My name is Jessica Tanner. I was born and raised in Walla Walla, WA and currently live in Richland, Washington. I am 38 years old and the mother of three children and I breastfed each one but all were vastly different experiences! I have a Bachelors and Masters degree in Education and I taught for 6 years before staying home to raise our children. I have been a stay at home mom since April 2013 and I am so grateful for that opportunity! I recently received my Lactation Counselor certification from Childbirth International and am excited to begin my journey with helping other moms in their breastfeeding journey!

My oldest was born in April 2013 after two years of infertility. I have severe endometriosis that was finally discovered after exploratory surgery to understand why I wasn’t getting pregnant with medications and IUIs. After removing the endometriosis, I was pregnant the following month and that began my breastfeeding journey. I really struggled to feed my oldest and maintain my mental health. She had a shallow latch that caused a lot of pain, my recovery from birth was really difficult and my post partum anxiety was severe. I began working with a lactation consultant when she was just a few weeks old and it changed my entire experience. It was still really tough as I navigated recurrent thrush, clogged ducts, mastitis, cracked nipples, a colicky baby and so much more but through her support, I was able to persevere and our breastfeeding relationship thrived! About 6 months into our journey, my issues had diminished and we got the hang of each other and I was able to nurse her through 19 months old. I quit when I was 5 months pregnant with our second child-My only natural conception!

My second child was a dream to nurse! That was some in part of having a better idea of what I was doing but she had a great latch to begin with! However, I was so burnt out from nursing my oldest while pregnant with hypermesis gravardium (severe morning sickness) and having two kids 1.5 year apart that I made the decision to switch my middle to formula between 7 and 8 months old. My mental health was struggling and that choice gave me the ability to come out of that post partum fog and feel better for my family.

In 2016 we began to try for another baby. Our girls were 2 and 3 years old and we didn’t know if my endometriosis would have come back so we wanted to try sooner than later. I had had signs of its recurrence and sure enough, it was back. I had another surgery which resulted in one of my Fallopian tubes being removed along with the endometriosis and we began IUI’s with medication soon after but none of them were successful. We made the switch to IVF but that came with a whole new set of obstacles as we navigated the decisions required. Our first cycle was not successful but our second attempt was and we were pregnant with twins. One of our twins passed away in utero around 10 weeks gestation. Our miracle baby was born at just 29 weeks gestation after a placental abruption and near death experience for us both!

As soon as he was born, he was transferred to another hospital capable of caring for him but I had to stay behind due the amount of blood loss. He was 48 hours old before I was able to see him but I knew what I needed to do and I began pumping as soon as I was able. By the end of that 48 hours, I was discharged and I had a syringe of just a few mLs of colostrum to deliver to my baby in the NICU. And amazing donor had given milk to the NICU milk bank and he was able to have breastmilk in his feeding tube before I was even discharged! Throughout his 6 week stay in the NICU I continued pumping and was able to feed him while grow a supply for my freezer. Around 5 weeks old the NICU nurses helped me work on nursing him. I was so hopeful that we would still be able to have a breastfeeding journey. He did okay but still had a really weak latch and still got food from both his feeding tube and a bottle.

He was finally released from the NICU at just under 35 weeks gestation. Every feed, I would try to get him to latch and feed some and when he got too tired he finished with a bottle while I pumped. One day, when he was almost 4 months old (only 1 month adjusted age), he made the transition! He was strong enough to get his full meal from breastfeeding! We maintained our breastfeeding relationship until he was 18 months and self weaned! Throughout his journey I was also able to donate over 1500 ounces of breastmilk to other mamas in my community!

Through my journey of becoming a mother, my passion continues to lie in breastfeeding! During covid I began taking classes related to lactation knowing that someday I would pursue a dream of supporting mothers in their own journeys! That took another backseat as I continued to homeschool our children and then support them in their transition into school post covid. I am now ready to begin working with families as I have just received my Lactation Certification from Childbirth International!

I am SO excited to go on this journey with you!