Mother Stories
A Morning With Sylvia Esmundo (& Her Wearable Willow Pump)
Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano
Photography by Photographed by Michelle Drewes
Mar 22, 2018
We’ve already told you about the innovative, wearable Willow breast pump (if you missed it, read up here!). And now we wanted to show you the boundary-pushing product in action. Thanks to Sylvia Esmundo, a San Francisco-based ecommerce expert, blogger, social media influencer, and mama of two (Olive, 5 months, and Theo, 5), we got a first-hand look at what pumping with Willow really looks like in the hustle-bustle of everyday life. Tag along below, as Sylvia shows us her morning routine, while discussing her breastfeeding journey, parenting philosophy, transitioning back to work, and navigating going from one kid to two.
This post comes courtesy of Mother + Willow.
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- "I love breastfeeding, but faced different challenges with both children. First, poor latch issues led to unbearable pain and the inability to continue nursing from my right breast. With my second, I suffered mastitis and also could not continue nursing from my right breast. Despite these challenges, I was able to breastfeed for 2 years with my son, and continue to breastfeed my daughter, who is now 5 months." The Willow pump, charging up for the day.
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- "I treasure the connection between a mother and child, the soothing abilities, and the incredible protective health benefits breastfeeding and breast milk provides. These make the struggles—both in nursing and pumping—absolutely worth it."
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- "Willow gives back time to breastfeeding mothers like me. Until now, pumping sessions interrupted our day and prevented us from whatever we were focused on up until that moment—work, children, husband, friends, self-care. Even the most portable breast pumps were designed in a way that made it impossible to pump in public, thanks to bottles with flanges and tubes hung from my breasts and also connected to a loud, motorized base. My pumping sessions always took place in fashion sample closets, startup bathrooms, the corner of my living room couch, my car, and those sad, windowless closets called 'quiet' rooms. Now, with Willow, I can pump anywhere, everywhere, without disrupting my day. Once I got the hang of setting up each Willow pump (since the design is so innovative compared to traditional breast pumps, I had to familiarize with the Willow’s new versions of breast pump parts and the process), I’ve been able to tackle that early morning pumping session while prepping my preschooler’s lunch, getting my son’s breakfast on the table, changing my daughter’s diaper, and getting myself dressed for the day. I can take work calls without worrying about a loud breast pump sound, and I can even pump with Willow while I work at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop, editing photos and writing posts for my upcoming brand collaborations."
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- "Returning back to my day job means my daughter will spend her days at daycare and I’ll need to pump throughout the day to provide her daily breast milk. And when my day is typically packed with meetings and deadlines, this has traditionally made pumping the ultimate obstacle for working outside the home mothers like me."
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- "Oh my god, Willow will be a major game changer for me when I return to my day job. I can bring the fully charged pumps to work and right before my scheduled pumping sessions, put them into my bra (once I got the hang of it, I no longer need to go to the bathroom to do this, it’s so quick and easy!), press the power buttons on each pump, and continue my work! Which means I’ll be significantly more efficient at work—I can attend all my meetings, I can support my employees more, I can focus on my daily projects and deadlines, and pumping at work will now be a stress-free experience. Plus, at home, instead of being tethered to cords and breast pump bottles that keep me from building castles and boats and planes with my oldest son, Theo, Willow lets me do both at the same time. This helps keep my bond with him stronger than ever.”
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- "I never experienced mastitis with my son, so I knew only the general advice for preventing blocked milk ducts and mastitis—avoid wearing underwire bras, don’t wait too long between nursing sessions, etc. After my first week of breastfeeding with Olive, I woke up one night with chills, body aches, and an extremely sore right breast. It felt like the worst flu ever, I felt like death, and I could barely function. I immediately knew it was either a blocked duct or the beginning of mastitis, so I fired off a cry for help from my amazing mom communities and received an outpouring of advice—how to massage my breast and unclog the blocked duct in the shower, natural remedies to take immediately, and when to go to the doctor. Despite all this amazing advice, it turned out I had an acute case of Mastitis that evolved into a large abscess that needed to be drained multiple times by an amazing breast surgeon (thank you, Dr. Susan Lee-Char!), which was its own unforgettable experience. Thankfully, nothing worse happened, and even though I can no longer nurse from my right breast, I’m grateful I can still nurse, period, and provide 90% of my daughter’s nourishment from breast milk."
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- "Theo and Olive have a 4 1/2 year age gap between them. Talk to almost any mother of two, and they’ll probably say that this age gap is one of the most ideal for an easier transition to two. In our case, our 4 year old is highly self sufficient—he goes to the bathroom, gets dressed, eats, and sleeps on his own. He also plays independently, and this has made all the difference. Theo loves being helpful when his sister Olive needs something. If she starts fussing or crying, he’ll go to her and start playing with her to help her calm down, he’ll watch her if I need to leave the room for any reason, and he loves to make her laugh. We walk Theo to school every morning together. Now that she’s older, Olive takes a few of her day naps in their shared room while Theo plays quietly. And Olive adores her brother like no one else—she looks at him like he hung the moon, while Theo couldn’t be more proud to show off his little sister to his teachers and friends." Putting on Willow.
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- "Spending quality 1-on-1 time with our son when there’s a highly vocal, sometimes hysterically screaming infant in the house. Morning school prep and morning nursing. Cooking dinner is almost impossible if my husband isn’t home. And making sure our son doesn’t ever feel like we’re choosing one child over another. But those challenges feel like almost nothing by the end of the day, because there is so much awesomeness and love from mothering these two tiny humans." It's advised to wear Willow with a wireless bra, like this soft-cup version by Storq.
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- "Wait until the first one is 4 years old! Ha. Regardless of the age gap, my best advice is to over communicate to your eldest child so he doesn’t feel like you’re choosing sides. 'Theo, we’ll go to the playground once I finish feeding Olive.' 'We’ll read one story and then I’ll go help Olive go to sleep.' Letting our kids know what’s going to happen next helps them manage expectations and limit meltdowns."
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- "Helping little humans grow, thrive, love, and see all the goodness in this world." What Willow looks like, under wraps.
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- "Safety, always."
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- "Thelonious 'Theo' Jae is named after one of our favorite Jazz musicians that we listened to every morning on our work commute (Thelonious Monk). My husband is half Korean, so Jae is Theo’s Korean name. Then there's Olivia 'Olive' June. No jazz musicians this time, but both my husband and I always loved the name Olive and all the versions of names/nicknames stemming from it (Olivia, Olive, Liv, Livvie, etc). June is Olive’s Korean name, but it also happens to be another name that I’ve always loved."
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- "I like to call my parenting style, 'You CAN take them with you.' Lots of people think you give up a lot once you have kids. You can’t go here, you can’t do that. Not in my parenting book. We’ve raised our son, and now our daughter, bringing them along to almost everything we want to do (except date nights and mamas nights out, etc). Dinners at cool, tiny restaurants without high chairs, Instagram-worthy brunch dates with single friends, influencer events (Theo lives for the cute blogger event food, balloons, and photo booths!), international adventures to Tokyo and Thailand, movies (I took both Theo and Olive to movies when they were a month old because I love movies), work parties, and everything in between. They go where we go, and life is way more fun."
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- For books—Wonder Weeks and Happiest Baby on the Block (we’re using the author's SNOO bassinet with Olive!). For webssites—Mother Mag (I’ve been a loyal reader since day 1), Hellobee, and all my amazing online mother communities I belong to."
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- "I was born in Los Angeles but grew up in the Bay Area (Foster City) with my younger brother, mom, and dad. We were surrounded by my large extended family, which meant lots of loud family parties, lots of cousins, and a full, happy home. I lived in an awesome community where we would be out playing with our friends until dinner time and all weekend long."
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- "My parents took us everywhere with them. In addition to my mom’s full-time nursing career, they were also business owners, so I was always used to seeing them juggle their careers and all our kid stuff, mostly with grace, but sometimes not and that’s ok because it showed that great parents mess up, it’s inevitable. And when my dad suddenly passed away when I was 13, seeing my mom tackle single motherhood will forever shape my view of mothers." Sylvia wears Willow while packing her son's lunch.
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- "I always wanted healthy children, period. Boy, girl, it didn’t matter. I grew up with a brother, so I knew I always wanted at least two kids, and having one of each is awesome because it gives each of them more perspective and (hopefully) empathy and support for the opposite gender." Willow from the outside.
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- "It’s just that—juggling. We’ll drop things, but we get the hang of it eventually. Learn from the failures, celebrate the small victories. Aim for monthly date nights, even if it’s at home, keep laughing together, and do NOT talk about the kids on date night. Self care is a saving grace—even 5-10 minutes of yoga, a beach walk, meditation, music or dance, or reading, makes a major impact."
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- "This probably sounds ridiculous, but I’m lucky to know and be inspired by so many amazing mothers from my mother communities. Every mom I know has taught me something different from the other. But all of them are working mamas, many are entrepreneurs (usually with more than one job!). And most recently, working mothers of 2+ kids who share my 'You CAN take them with you' parenting philosophy, and mamas of boys (feminists in training) are my inspiration. Jenna Jackson of LA made August Handbags, Natalie Alcala of Fashion Mamas, Liz Stanley of Say Yes, Katie Hintz-Zambrano of Mother Mag, and Surya Grover of Tosan, Ariel Gordon of Ariel Gordon Jewelry, and Melissa Davis of Ruby Press are real life mom friends I regularly stalk on Instagram or hit up for advice. As for celeb mamas—Sofia Coppola, Marion Cotillard, Mila Kunis, Eva Chen, Charlotte Groeneveld (Fashion Guitar), Sazan Hendrix (our daughters are a month apart so it’s been fun seeing her journey), and Chriselle Lim."
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- "I’ve worked in marketing, product, and merchandising in fashion, tech, and retail for over 15 years. I’ve also been blogging for 10 years, which has grown from a hobby into a career. Currently I work on the e-commerce team for a national home brand, as well as create original content for my blog, Sylvie in the Sky, and social channels." Packing up Willow for on-the-go use.
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- "As mentioned, I was born in LA, but grew up in the Bay Area and attended high school in San Francisco. I studied Design and Communications at U.C Davis and Fashion Merchandising at the Academy of Art University. I’ve had an incredibly inspiring career across fashion, retail, and tech in companies of all shapes and sizes—S.F. tech startups, boutique PR firm Ruby Press, POPSUGAR., ShopStyle, Gap, Williams Sonoma, and Kate Spade. I’ve lived in London, San Francisco, and Los Angeles."
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- "Travel for work is something that I don’t enjoy as much as I used to before motherhood. I used to travel every 6-8 weeks to NYC for work, which is now too much for me as a mom. But traveling two times a year to cover New York Fashion Week over a few days is definitely do able."
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- "Mom guilt only strikes on the days I miss the mark completely—missing Theo’s school party, being late to school pickup, etc. When the mom guilt creeps in, I remember my mom and everything she did for us and everything she juggled on top of all of that. That helps me remember everything I do well for my kids, and everything I’ve accomplished on top of that, and that awesome moms mess up from time to time." Sylvia wears Willow while working at Andytown Coffee Roasters.
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- "Olive starts full-time daycare next week, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for her. I’ve been lucky to have 5 months of maternity leave, and Olive is at an age now where she’s really curious and seeking new sensory experiences. Group daycare is great for that. Theo started daycare at a similar age and it was a great experience for him. And unlike the first time, I know I won’t be missing out during these daycare days. I’m confident that working outside the home makes me feel like a better mom for both of my children, and makes our mornings, evenings, and weekends that much more awesome together."
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- "Give yourself an extra hour to do everything. Prep as much as you possibly can the night before. No matter how crazy the mornings are, wake up the kiddos with big hugs and kisses. Lunchtime workouts will be a saving grace. And get the Willow pump."
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- "I’m having the best time right now! The future of retail is innovating everyday, and Influencer marketing is growing and evolving every second. As long as I’m working on something that helps keep a brand ahead of the curve, I couldn’t be happier."
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- "Everywhere! There are so many rad spots, old and new, in my neighborhood. Ocean Beach, Mollusk Surf Shop, Hook Fish Co., Andytown Coffee, Outerlands, Polly Ann Ice Cream, The General Store, Judahlicious, and Devil’s Teeth Baking Company." For more on Sylvia and her family, make sure to follow along with her on Instagram. For more on the innovative Willow pump, check out WillowPump.com.
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