In this article, I will show you where to find professional and appropriate help regarding lactation and breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is undoubtedly the best natural way to feed newborns, infants, and young children, but it is not always that simple. Starting breastfeeding immediately after birth (in a healthcare facility or at home) is certainly a prerequisite for successful breastfeeding, but it is not a guarantee.
It is advisable for women to familiarize themselves during pregnancy with the benefits of breastfeeding for the child, for themselves, and for society, with proper latching, with important factors that are prerequisites for successful breastfeeding, and also to get information on whom to contact when problems arise.
For breastfeeding to be successfully established, it sometimes requires a lot of effort from the mother, healthcare professionals, and the surrounding environment. That is why many mothers need appropriate support and credible information, which must be accessible 24/7.
Immediately after birth, healthcare professionals in healthcare facilities (or your chosen midwife, for home births) offer information and assistance. Help is available throughout your stay in the facility. Breastfeeding might go smoothly, and you won’t need any help, or help might be needed the very next day upon discharge from the maternity ward. In such cases, you will most often receive support and assistance from a community nurse or midwife.
It can happen that problems arise after 2 months, six months, one year, or with the birth of a sibling. At that time, you might also turn to your personal doctor, gynecologist, or perhaps the child’s pediatrician or a lactation consultant. Who are the appropriate lactation consultants will be discussed later in the article.
One of the goals of appropriate continuous support during breastfeeding is certainly to encourage and adequately support you to continue breastfeeding even after discharge from the maternity ward. We would like you to exclusively breastfeed your children for the first 6 months, or with complementary feeding until the child is two years old. Appropriate consultants will inform you why this is important, how to achieve it, what to do when you find yourself in a dilemma, how to take care of yourself, and how to ensure adequate nutrition during breastfeeding.
It is important to talk about breastfeeding and its importance for the child, mother, family, and wider society, as this will lead to it becoming a norm in society. Too often, mothers do not have adequate support after discharge from the maternity ward and give up breastfeeding. Perhaps they encounter breastfeeding for the first time with the birth of their child, or they receive inappropriate information about breastfeeding, or they are too “bombarded” with aggressive marketing of infant formula. All of this consciously or unconsciously influences our decisions.
And where can you find appropriate, professional help and support regarding breastfeeding?
- Firstly, you can call any baby-friendly hospital (BFH) 24 hours a day (you can find the list via this link) or in breastfeeding-friendly healthcare facilities (BFHF).
- You can seek help from the community nursing service or at a children’s dispensary.
- Even during pregnancy, inquire whether your nearest maternity hospital has breastfeeding support groups (or if your nearest health center has one).
- You also have access to consultants from LA LECHE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL (LLLI) and
- International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC).
In the maternity hospital, you will also receive the UNICEF booklet “Successful Breastfeeding for the Good Health of Children and Mothers,” which is also freely available online: click.
LA LECHE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL (LLLI)
You will also hear from “lay” breastfeeding counselors who regularly educate and improve their knowledge of breastfeeding. Their organization is a non-profit, non-political, and non-religious international organization whose purpose is to promote breastfeeding, disseminate information, and provide support and assistance to mothers who wish to breastfeed their children. LLLI operates as a non-governmental organization, a consultant to UNICEF and WHO, and numerous national breastfeeding promotion committees and national pediatric academies.
It brings together many mothers, and experts from the fields of medicine and psychology also collaborate with the organization: professional breastfeeding experts IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants), doctors, pediatricians, obstetricians, nurses, midwives, psychologists, and others.
They believe that breastfeeding is extremely important for the child, mother, and family, as well as for society as a whole.
This is voluntary and free help and support from consultants. They operate on the principle of “MOTHER TO MOTHER” HELP, so an LLLI breastfeeding counselor is a mother who has breastfeeding experience and helps another mother, encouraging her self-confidence.
Many answers to frequently asked questions can be found on the online forum “Breastfeeding” or on the website. They also organize support groups (regular monthly meetings, BFH, BFHF, within LLLI), which are free for mothers.
Because they operate on the principle of “MOTHER TO MOTHER” HELP, an LLLI breastfeeding counselor is a mother who has breastfeeding experience and helps another mother, encouraging her self-confidence. You can also find the phone numbers of consultants on their website.
Since there are very few LLLI consultants in Slovenia, you are cordially invited to perhaps join the breastfeeding experts. You will have the experience, and you will acquire the appropriate required education from the international breastfeeding association La Leche League International.
Their FB link: click
INTERNATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED LACTATION CONSULTANTS (IBCLC)
International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) are mostly healthcare professionals with appropriate education. It is an internationally accepted standard for the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding.
The IBCLC title is obtained after passing the IBLCE exam. The exam for obtaining the title is practically oriented and covers the areas of breastfeeding and lactation. It is a demanding, international program for verifying knowledge. After successfully passing the exam, consultants receive a certificate, which is valid for 5 years. After this time, they must renew it. Thus, the IBCLC title obliges consultants to continuous education.
Factors such as race, ethnicity, religion, social status, gender, age, health status, or political beliefs must not influence an IBCLC consultant’s relationship with those seeking help from the consultant. Provides physical, psychological, and moral support. In their work, an IBCLC consultant must protect the interests of individuals, justify public trust in their competence, and enhance the reputation of the profession.
With an IBCLC consultant, you will receive objective professional services free of charge, and their work is bound by the IBCLCE code of conduct.
A list and contacts of IBCLC consultants in Slovenia can be found on the website of the Slovenian Association of Lactation and Breastfeeding Consultants: click.
The association includes everyone directly or indirectly involved in lactation and breastfeeding counseling. Their purpose is to encourage, organize, and implement all activities and interests of the membership, specifically in the field of counseling and providing information about lactation and breastfeeding to all expectant and breastfeeding mothers in their home environment, and in connecting and collaborating with related associations, federations, and organizations at home and abroad, as well as with other legal entities and individuals. Their goals are quality and up-to-date work for the benefit and interest of the membership based on adopted work programs, and membership in similar international associations and federations.
Since they are predominantly healthcare professionals, you might unknowingly encounter them in practice. Nevertheless, all healthcare professionals working with pregnant women, new mothers, and breastfeeding mothers should have adequate knowledge related to lactation and breastfeeding, regardless of whether they have passed the IBCLC exam or not. Above all, they have a lot of experience.
Their FB link: click.
Appropriate breastfeeding consultants will help you with: establishing and maintaining breastfeeding. They will inform you why “rooming-in” or cohabitation of mother and newborn is important; in acquiring parenting skills, when it is necessary to calm or wake the child, and help you recognize signs of hunger in the child; last but not least, they will advise you appropriately to avoid unnecessary supplementation with formula and unnecessary use of bottles and pacifiers, and provide numerous other pieces of information. They will offer you support when problems arise or you are “just having a bad day.”
You most often need the most help and support with breastfeeding in your home environment. Therefore, it is important that your partner also learns about the benefits of breastfeeding, and that you choose appropriate consultants when problems arise. Not all help is correct, even if it is well-intentioned.
The photograph is from a personal archive.
I recommend purchasing the online lecture “What do I need to know for a successful start to breastfeeding”?
Read also:
Fathers and Breastfeeding – Relationship, Involvement, and Support
He wasn’t breastfed, but he received my milk
Hormones important for breastfeeding
Breast changes during breastfeeding and lactogenesis
Milk release or milk ejection reflex
Use of medications during childbirth and their impact on women and breastfeeding
D-MER Dysphoria during breast emptying reflex
Aromatherapy, breasts, and breastfeeding
Breastfeeding after the child’s first year of age
9 Instinctive Phases of the NewbornBreastfeeding in the Delivery Room
