Mommy Moments: Paige

This week on the blog we are so excited to introduce you to Paige! Paige is a working mom, a Social Media Strategist, and has a son named Jacob. Paige works for a company called Bobbie and for those who are unfamiliar with Bobbie, Bobbie is an organic infant formula brand that’s founded by Moms and the first to have a European style recipe that meets FDA standards based in the US. I reached out to Paige to see if she would be interested in sharing her experiences with us as a working mom and her role at a mom-founded company (which I personally think is AMAZING!).
 
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your little one.
My name is Paige and I hold a lot a variety of titles but the best one is Mom. My almost 3 year old, Jacob is a small glass of perfection that loves sports, singing and telling me his Dad is cooler than I am.

2. I was told that you have an interesting story in how you started working for Bobbie. Would you mind telling us a little about Bobbie and sharing more about your career journey? 
For anyone that hasn’t heard of Bobbie, we are an organic infant formula brand that’s founded by Moms and the first to have a European style recipe that meets FDA standards! We aim to evolve the conversation on how we feed our babies and me doing that on my personal Instagram account was how I first met the Bobbie team. 

August 2020, National Breastfeeding month, I made a post asking my followers to normalize the conversation that breastfeeding is not easy for everyone. I shared my feeding journey, the internal battle of deciding to use formula and reminded parents to do what is best for them and their baby. 

This post caught the attention of the Bobbie Community and Missions Lead and I was asked to share my experience amongst other Moms that were also shaking the stigma in their personal lives. I didn’t join the call in hopes of an opportunity, I was just excited to be in a space of parents that have gone through the same experience as me and to reinforce the narrative that I was not alone. 

Following that meeting, I joined the Bobbie community and stayed up to date with their exciting developments as a new company. As of May, I became the Social Media Strategist and for the first time I truly felt that my work was making an impact because this (a company shaking the stigma) is what I wish I had when I started my feeding journey. 

3. As a working mama, juggling home and work life can be difficult. How is it parenting in a pandemic? How do you balance between the two?
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was working in a completely different industry that did not provide much flexibility. When my son’s daycare closed I had no other choice but to figure out how to balance working full time and engaging my toddler at the same time. Hard isn’t even the word – I would schedule meetings during his naps, continue working once my husband got home from work, and even work through the night in hopes of getting ahead of tomorrow's responsibilities, which was highly unlikely. I did this for one year.

Now that things are getting back to “normal” and Jacob is in daycare, balance has become much easier! I am able to get my work done during work hours and focus on family time after daycare pickup. We have experienced moments of temporary daycare closures due to his classmates being sick or a potential outbreak but luckily, I work with a team of Moms that are experiencing the exact same thing. A baby or toddler on a Zoom call is nothing new at Bobbie!

4. Do you experience ‘mom guilt’? What do you like to do to take care of yourself?
I definitely do [feel the guilt] about numerous things, but am thankful it’s gotten better as Jacob's gotten older. As mothers, I feel we put so much pressure on ourselves to be who we think we should be and to have it all together. When these moments come up, I remind myself that I’m only human and sh*t happens. At the end of the day, Jacob doesn’t need a superwoman – he just needs his mom.

5. Can you please share with us your (breast)feeding journey?
I had every intention to breastfeed. I remember creating a registry for my baby shower and had friends tell me to add a pump and start looking into formulas – I completely ignored them. I ended up having an emergency c-section but after the craziness of that experience I was ecstatic to see that Jacob was latching without issue. I pictured myself to be ‘that mom’ that breastfeeds everywhere without worry... but that image did not last very long. 

Shortly after, breastfeeding became extremely painful and Jacob wanted to eat all the time. Something told me he wasn’t getting enough milk – but I second guessed myself because I had only been a mom for a short time and questioned if my ‘instincts’ were that strong. My husband and I discussed the option of formula – he was all for it but when I shared the potential transition with others, I only received negative feedback:

“It doesn’t matter if it’s painful you have to deal with it – you’re a mom now!”

“You shouldn’t use formula, breast is best!”

I have never felt so guilty in my life... I felt like a horrible mom and we were only in week 1! I gave it one last try, bought a breast pump and it took 4hrs to get 5oz. I asked a fellow mom that pumps for advice and she said she can get 8oz in a couple minutes! 

We decided to try formula.

When we gave Jacob that first formula bottle I was in tears! Not because it wasn’t my milk but because he was so happy and full! It was like night and day. 

6. If you could go back in time before you had kids and offer yourself advice about motherhood, what would you say?
“Everyone has an opinion – you do what’s best for you and your family!”

7. And finally, what is your favourite part of being a mama?
I love that I am that person whose kisses make everything better [for Jacob], who he needs the cuddles from when he’s sick and to now realize what unconditional love is.

We would like to thank Paige for taking the time to answer our questions and sharing her experiences, both at Bobbie and of her feeding journey.
As a mom who also envisioned exclusively breastfeeding her twins but couldn’t, I can honestly relate. I felt so guilty and I felt like I had failed my babies. I know now, after reaching out for support from professionals and my support system, that being a mom is hard and everyone’s experience is different. At the end of the day as Paige had said, “everyone has an opinion - as long as you do what you feel is best for you and your family”, I think that is all that matters.

If you would like to learn more about Paige and Bobbie, you can visit the website here or on Instagram here.