My practice in northern Wisconsin is going on seven years. I work at educating professionals, para-professionals and families. Our rate of breastfeeding among Native women is higher than the national average. My success in Illinois and Wisconsin is based on the strategy that almost every woman would breastfeed if given enough information and support. I give a background of how infant feeding has come along so far, how mammal milks differ and why and how women are wanting to have a better outcome than experienced with using artificial baby milk.
Most women respond by choosing breastfeeding.
The challenge then is to help these new moms continue breastfeeding through the barriers. Some hospital protocols, unsupportive work sites and inexperienced family members and extended family may present problems for new moms learning to breastfeed. Mothers who are forced to leave their babies and go to work while continuing to breastfeed are doing something that no other female in their family history has done. They are pioneers of a sort. It s important to know that more women are breastfeeding now.