From Delivery to Feeding: The Quiet Harm of Not Being Believed (When Baby Feeding Problems Are Dismissed)

Before we dive in, I want to offer a gentle heads-up. This post touches on experiences of feeling dismissed, unheard, and unsupported within the medical system, particularly during birth and early motherhood. If you’ve walked through any part of that, please take care while reading.

I was listening to a podcast this week that left me struggling to hold back tears. Not because the stories were unfamiliar, but because they were too familiar.

Stories of women describing excruciating pain during a cesarean, only to be told “you’re having anxiety” or "it's just pressure." In spite of writhing in pain with tears streaming down and a traumatized partner looking on like a deer in headlights knowing something is desperately wrong.

What happens when first experiences of parenthood are shaped by not being believed?What does that teach us about trust? About asking for help? About speaking up, even when it’s inconvenient?

The moment of being dismissed isn’t just a bad memory, it changes something. It reshapes how people speak. How people advocate. How safe people feel in their own instincts.

The dismissal doesn’t stay in the delivery room. It echoes.

Into postpartum.

Into feeding.

You say, “I think something’s off.”

And they say:

“Babies cry.”

“Just give it time.”

“Try to relax.”

But your gut says: This isn’t fine.

And what happens when, once again, no one listens?

Baby feeding problems dismissed by providers, family members, friends... aren’t just frustrating. They’re disorienting. They make you question your judgment, your adequacy, your connection to your baby.

Feeding struggles often aren’t just about feeding.

They’re about being unheard.

Again.

This experience, and the ones I hear from parents every week, is part of what led me here.

To work rooted in listening. To a mission that says:You don’t have to prove your pain to be helped.

This isn’t a typical sales pitch.

It’s not a funnel.

It’s not a strategy.

It’s a call to action to trust your instincts!

To remember that your concerns are valid.

Your voice is needed.

And you deserve care that starts by believing you.

This is why one of our core values is trust.

Because without trust, feeding therapy can’t happen.

It’s the foundation of every relationship.

You deserve support that meets you with belief, not dismissal.