Community support in breastfeeding

August is celebrated as National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, a time to show support for breastfeeding mothers and advocate for safe environments for breastfeeding families.

For many families, breastfeeding can take the support of their entire community.

“It takes a village to breastfeed,” Tricia Williams, the lactation coordinator at Greater Regional Health, said. “It takes friends, family, myself, they have amazing breastfeeding support for people that are on WIC, and we just kind of all help each other out to try to make a woman’s breastfeeding experience as good as it can be.”

While media often portrays breastfeeding as an easy, intrinsic act for both mother and baby, that is always the case.

“There’s a lot of issues with people naturally breastfeeding, whether they don’t know that they have flat nipples or inverted nipples and sometimes the baby has a tongue tie or lip tie or receding chin,” Williams said. “If it goes really well, I am so happy, but sometimes it doesn’t go as planned and it can be really disappointing to the mom.”

Mom guilt, especially regarding feeding their baby, is a real difficulty for many mothers. While science lauds the benefits of breastfeeding, such as lower risk of breast cancer and diabetes for mom and tailor-made milk for baby, this isn’t always an option for families.

“My motto is, fed is best. Your baby is going to be healthy whether you breastfeed or not, because sometimes it just doesn’t work out and mom’s mental health is far more important than breast feeding,” Williams said. As lactation coordinator, she is able to help patients both physically and mentally on their breastfeeding journey, even if it means needing to switch to formula.

Sometimes, a breastfeeding mother may need peer support along with professional support. That’s where MATURA and WIC step in. One of their many programs for mothers includes a peer support group.

“We currently have one peer counselor who covers our 12 county area, and she’s available to address common breastfeeding concerns like positioning or just supporting those moms who need a cheerleader,” Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Coordinator Astra Jennings said.“Then we have a process in place so that if she comes across something that is above her scope, we can refer them on to our nurses or lactation support.”

While support after birth is certainly needed, Jennings said prenatal learning is just as important.

“I really do feel that moms who get prenatal information about breastfeeding, the more they can feel comfortable with the whole experience before the baby gets there kind of builds that confidence and then they have that confidence in their bodies and are able to feed their children,” Jennings said. “We just want to build that collaboration between everyone so that mom gets the support that she needs, and that’s the main focus of our program.”

Families who utilize WIC services can tailor their food packages to their breastfeeding journey, whether it’s supplementing a can, 50/50 or doing all formula.

To qualify for WIC, families must bring their paycheck stub to the office to see if they fit within the income guidelines. If a family qualifies for Medicaid, SNAP or HeadStart, they automatically qualify for WIC.

Williams’ services are available for area women free of charge, whether they birthed at Greater Regional Health or elsewhere. For more information, she can be contacted via the obstetrics department at Greater Regional Health.