But Why Do I Need a Lactation Consultant?
For as the saying goes, “It’s natural, why do we need help?” To which my response is always, “So is childbirth and we have OBGYNs, midwives, doulas, nurses, and fathers all tending to mothers before, during, and after.” At the end of the day though, there is nothing else you will do more of for the next year (or more) of your child’s life than express milk. Why would you not work with someone to ensure you (and your baby) are doing it in the most efficient way possible?
Lactation is very natural, breastmilk is very homeopathic. Unfortunately, nature is imperfect though. Just as some children have difficulty with their speech, reading, math, or throwing a ball well - some babies need help removing milk from the breast (and sometimes the bottle too). This is not new, there is documentation of babies being spoon-fed, cup fed, etc. before the invention of a bottle (and formula). What has changed though is how families grow, often times we are not raising children around our immediate family, where we have lineages of mothers who had numerous experiences breastfeeding their babies. Here comes in a situation where a lactation consultant is necessary. As mothers are caught up in the hormones and stress of early postpartum, it is difficult for us to settle ourselves enough to troubleshoot a difficult feeding. A lactation consultant is merely someone who can provide that extra support, which our ancestors expected out of their mothers and grandmothers.
This brings us to another need for lactation consultant is our severe decline in breastfeeding in recent history. The 1970s was a period in time where breastfeeding was at an all-time low in the United States. This is observed in Figure 1, where <30% of babies were introduced to breastfeeding in the hospital and <10% of babies were still breastfed at 6mo until the mid-70s. Majority of babies were formula fed from birth and those that were breastfed, their mother was not adequately supported. There were many factors that caused this, but one of the byproducts of this event is we sadly have an entire generational gap of breastfeeding mothers. Statistically it is rare for today’s mothers to have a mother who successfully breastfed and even more rare for her grandmother to have breastfed. Here lies another reason today’s mothers need a lactation consultant, because even with the traditional support of a mother and grandmother their immediate lineage often does not include norms that support a successful breastfeeding journey.
Figure 1: The percentage of babies introduced to breastfeeding versus the year in the United States. (1)
With all this said, there are numerous studies, which indicate that introducing prenatal lactation education before mothers deliver highly increases their rate of success. Not only increasing their defined rate of success, mothers (and fathers) who attend prenatal breastfeeding courses improve their overall efficacy, including a more positive attitude towards breastfeeding in general. (2) Furthering, it has also been found that women who attend breastfeeding education before deliver, even have a reduced risk of severe nipple damage. (3) This is important as many women complain of nipple damage early on and even use it as a main reason to no longer breastfeed. Lactation Consultants are critical in the success of mothers breastfeeding expectations by providing proper education.
Putting all data and reasoning aside, at a minimum mothers feed their babies 8x/day, but 12x/day is a lot more realistic in the early postpartum days. We hire personal trainers to teach us to have effective workouts, which usually only consumes about 1-2 hours of our day. Lactation Consultants help mothers protect their time and their mental sanity, both of which are very minimal in our early mothering days. At a minimum we feed out babies for 15% of our day, hiring a lactation consultant allows mom (and baby) to optimize feeding sessions. In return this optimizes mother’s milk supply, babies weight gain, baby’s sleep patterns, mother’s confidence, and so much more!
Are you convinced that breastfeeding is the best option for your baby, but struggling with the idea of being their only food source? Did you know there are multiple ways to breastfeed? Checkout my free E-Book, How Will You Breastfeed today!
With Love,
Antoinette C., CLC
Owner, Breastfeeding Reborn
(1) Ryan, Alan. (1997). The Resurgence of Breastfeeding in the United States. Pediatrics. 99. E12. 10.1542/peds.99.4.e12.
(2) Kehinde J, O'Donnell C, Grealish A. The effectiveness of prenatal breastfeeding education on breastfeeding uptake postpartum: A systematic review. Midwifery. 2023 Mar;118:103579. doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2022.103579. Epub 2022 Dec 14. PMID: 36580847.
(3) Gao H, Wang J, An J, Liu S, Li Y, Ding S, Zhang Y, Chen Y. Effects of prenatal professional breastfeeding education for the family. Sci Rep. 2022 Apr 2;12(1):5577. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09586-y. PMID: 35368032; PMCID: PMC8976833.