Breastfeeding Support Ideas

• Give pregnant women books about breastfeeding as a "congratulations you're pregnant" or baby shower present. I highly recommend Shiela Kitzinger's "Breastfeeding Your Baby".
  

• Buy a pregnant woman a membership to the Australian Breastfeeding Association (or your nation's equivalent group).

• Provide people with information from the World Health Organisation about the importance of breastfeeding. Did you know that the WHO recommends a minimum number of 2 years breastfeeding for optimal health and well-being?
  

• Provide expectant mothers and fathers with information from other trustworthy sources about the importance of breastfeeding and the risks of formula feeding (such as the kellymom website, see Ilithyia Inspired breastfeeding articles and brestfeeding websites for more).
  

• If a woman tells you she couldn't breastfeed tell her how sorry you are for her. Ask her what she tried and what kind of support she got? Eg. did she sleep with her baby, express, refuse to supplement with formula, enlist the help of the ABA and lactation consultants or other lactating mums who could donate their milk? Remember that the actual number of women who cannot breastfeed or produce enough milk to feed their babies is minute. Be an outlet for her grief, because it is there, it is just not often given the space to be expressed in a society where breastfeeding is not considered normal.
  

• Find a struggling mother a lactation consultant.

• If you're lactating offer a struggling mother your milk if she needs it, even if it's just for a couple of days or weeks as she learns how to do it herself. She will get there with her own breastfeeding.

• Remind her that many people start off struggling, there is a period of adjustment and learning, and that's normal and it's okay, and it doesn't mean she won't get to a place of ease and enjoyment.

• Don't give up on the struggling mother even if she wants to give up on herself.
  

• Share your own breastfeeding story to give others inspiration and hope, or provide them with with the inspirational stories of others (to see a list of breastfeeding stories click here).

• If you know someone is being provided with incorrect information correct it immediately. Even if it is a health professional giving her this wrong information, you need to give her access to the facts, and remember that doctors, nurses and midwives don't necessarily know the facts about breastfeeding, and some of them even receive promotional information from formula companies.
  
  
• Don't be afraid to get topless and nurse in front of your friends, family, other mothers, mothers-to-be, the world! If we are to normalise breastfeeding it has to be seen and accepted, and how is a woman supposed to suddenly know how to breastfeed if she hasn't even seen it done before her time comes?

• Challenge the assumption that many women can't breastfeed or don't produce enough milk. How insulting this incorrect assumption is to women! Our bodies were made to breastfeed. If so many women can't breastfeed, women would not have breasts! If you know a mother who is concerned about her supply give her the information which will set her mind at ease (eg. how breast milk production works, and what she can do to increase her supply in the unlikely event that she needs to do something to help build her supply).
  

• Encourage mothers to disregard the "advice" of their mothers who formula fed. Sadly our mothers generation had even less support and access to information than we have today, and many of them believed they had no choice but to use formula, and believed that formula was just as good as breast milk. Some of these women find it hard (or refuse) to accept that they got it wrong or were lied to, and to reassure themselves they like other women to do the same as they once did. Your support can be as simple as saying "aren't we fortunate that we have better information and support than our mothers ever did?"

• Share you experience. Don't be afraid to tell other mothers how much breastfeeding means to you and your children, and all that you've gained from it in addition to increased health. If someone tries to silence you because they think your breastfeeding joy is offensive to mothers who don't breastfeed pull them up on this, you can say "that has nothing to do with my story", ask them why they don't value your experience as much as those mothers experiences? If you're feeling really brave you can ask them why they feel threatened by your breastfeeding joy?

• Don't limit your support to mothers of newborns. The earlier a woman has access to good breastfeeding information and support the better! Share your wisdom with pregnant women, young women who are thinking about starting families, and girls who express an interest in having babies in the future.

• Don't forget the guys! According to the Australian Breastfeeding Association a woman who has a partner who is supportive of breastfeeding is ten times more likely to breastfeed than a woman who doesn't! So share your knowledge with the men. Give men who are uncomfortable with breastfeeding the opportunity to explore why that is and talk about how he can overcome this issue for the health and well-being of his children.

Feel free to suggest more....