Our founder Kayleigh was a long-time birthworker in LA, who provided birth and postpartum doula services, placenta encapsulation, lactation support, childbirth education and newborn care courses. After 3 years in the field, she decided to add midwifery to her specializations and is working towards becoming a certified professional midwife (CPM). She is nearing completion with her clinical rotations.

Working directly with pregnant people, caring for newborns and providing one-on-one lactation support and education provided her with unique insight into the challenges of infant feeding, its proper handling and storage and the immense nutritional benefits of breastmilk. A large portion of Kayleigh’s work involved helping her clients with establishing milk supply and creating a freezer stash for their transition back to work after parental leave.

In February ‘22, Kayleigh gave birth to her first child and her family decided to leave Los Angeles and relocate to small-town Michigan to be closer to family. Because of the difficulties with transporting her frozen breastmilk across the country, Kayleigh opted to donate her stash. Once settled in Michigan, a friend who exclusively pumped was asking for weaning tips, because “it was either that or buy a third chest freezer!” These two instances, coupled with her extensive experience as a birthworker sent Kayleigh down the rabbit-hole in search of a way in which to simplify infant feeding without compromising on the myriad benefits of breastmilk. Her research led her to freeze-drying, which had actually been thoroughly studied in peer-reviewed articles since the ‘50s and was already in use in various milk banks around the world! And thus, Mothership Milk was born, all with a baby at her boob!