You are a pregnant woman who wants to breast/chest feed but doesn’t know what to expect. You have heard that breast/chest feeding is difficult and painful, but you aren’t sure what you can do to avoid it.  You attend prenatal visits regularly and have educated yourself about labor, birth and breast/chest feeding. You know that formula is an acceptable way to feed a baby, but you know you would like to avoid it if at all possible.You are seeking as much practical information about succeeding at breast/chest feeding as possible.

 

What your issues tend to be?  You don’t know what you don’t know.  You don’t know what you can do in the hospital to ensure infant feeding is successful. You don’t know that although your pediatrician says he is breastfeeding friendly he will most likely not know how to manage lactation if formula is necessary.  You don’t know that if body feeding is painful something is probably wrong and you don’t know where you will go to fix that pain.  You don’t know that it is awesome to have a support network of friends and family who have breast/chest fed, but that they may not be able to help you if you have really specific breastfeeding issues, especially in the early weeks.

 

What you need most right now? You need clear, practical information that you can access whenever it is convenient for you.  You need tools to use when the baby arrives to make sure you are “doing it right” and access to resources to call upon when things aren’t going so right.  You need an online community of breast/chest feeding mothers with similar situations to your own moderated by a Board Certified Lactation Consultant so that you can feel supported, stretched to your full potential and loved. You need ways to help your partner understand what he can do to help you succeed at breast/chest feeding and how important his support is in your overall success.