Trouble breastfeeding? Lactation consultants can help.

August 7, 2024

Providence Health Team

[5 MIN READ]

Breast milk has many benefits, including nutrition for babies and bonding time for new families.
Many new mothers struggle with breastfeeding. Lactation consultants can provide help and support.
Providence offers a full continuum of maternity services — from prenatal care to labor and delivery, breastfeeding assistance and other and postpartum needs.

Trouble breastfeeding? Lactation consultants can help.

Breastfeeding can be one of the most miraculous parts of having a baby — and also potentially one of the most frustrating. August is National Breastfeeding Month, which means now is a good time to discuss the benefits of breastfeeding and how new moms can get breastfeeding support.

Maureen Anderson, CNM, DNP, MST, is a certified nurse midwife and international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) with Providence. She recently participated in a Talk With a Doc podcast episode focused on breastfeeding — why it’s important and how to get help.

Why breastfeeding is important

Anderson says she likes to help patients understand how milk production begins after they give birth. “After the baby comes out, the placenta is delivered,” she says. “The placenta is not only a conduit through which all of the oxygen and nutrients came during the pregnancy, but it's also an enormous gland that is secreting all of these hormones. When pregnancy ends, the placenta’s hormones are no longer present.”

“And with the placental hormones gone,” Anderson continues, “the other hormones can do their job. They can signal to you, OK, it's time to make milk. You are no longer pregnant. You can let go of all of this extra fluid that you've been making the whole time.”

About 19 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy, her lactation tissue is activated and produces pre-milk, called colostrum, which is heavy in sugar, nutrients and antibodies. After the placenta is removed, her body starts producing mature milk, but that process can take several days.

“Babies are built to withstand the time period between when they were born and when their mother’s milk comes in,” says Anderson. “They have lots of really slow-burning brown fat, and they can also get nutrients from the colostrum.”

Benefits of breastfeeding

Some of the main benefits of breastfeeding include:

Nutrition. A mother’s milk provides the baby with the ideal nutrition for the first year of life.
Antibodies. Mothers share their antibodies with their babies, helping to build a strong immune system.
Bonding. Both the baby and mother can enjoy the close feeling of snuggling and spending time with each other.
Convenience. Mothers can breastfeed their babies without sterilizing equipment or making fresh bottles of formula.

The importance of community in breastfeeding

Breastfeeding has plenty of benefits, but it’s not always easy. Breastfeeding demands also peak when a woman’s hormones affect her emotions. That’s where lactation consultants like Anderson come in.

“We didn't evolve to live like we do,” she says. “We should probably still be living in groups … where more than one person was lactating at a time. And there was that little old lady on the edge of your village who knew how to do everything, and she would help all the women who were lactating.”

Lactation consultants have worked with many breastfeeding women and can provide support and education. A lactation consultant can talk with you about the following:

Comfort positions to help babies latch
Breast pain or infections
Whether babies are getting enough milk
Pumping and storing milk safely
Skin-to-skin contact after delivery
Nursing multiples or babies with special needs
Breastfeeding mothers returning to work

There’s more than one way to feed a baby

Mothers who don’t want to or can’t exclusively breastfeed because of milk supply or other issues can also get the help they need from lactation consultants.

“There are plenty of reasons why people don't want to breastfeed, or physically can't breastfeed,” says Anderson. “Sometimes they don't want to because of time, because they're going back to work soon, because of a trauma history that makes them not like their body being exposed in that way, or they don't feel safe to do so.”

“There are people who just don't want to,” Anderson continues. “And that's OK, too. And then there are people who physically have a more difficult time either because of a lack of tissue that will produce milk, or a hormonal condition such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).”

Anderson points out that women can choose to breastfeed exclusively, breastfeed and pump, pump and supplement with formula, or use formula exclusively.

Resources at Providence

Providence offers a wide range of maternity services, including care during pregnancy, labor and birth, as well as parenting classes and postpartum care.

In Portland, Oregon (where Anderson works), Providence offers the Mother and Baby Clinic. There, mothers can receive the support they need, both during their pregnancy and after they have their baby. Providers will assess both the mother and child and offer assistance with breastfeeding issues if needed.

“Call us,” says Anderson. “We're here. We're so lucky at the Mother and Baby Clinic at Providence to have three locations that are open seven days a week. Babies don't know what day it is. They don't know what time they're going to be born. They don't know if it's a major holiday. If you have an emergency, sometimes we can see you on the same day. It is such a unique program. No other hospital system has something as comprehensive and as nimble as we do.

Contributing caregiver

Maureen Anderson, CNM, DNP, MST, is a certified nurse midwife and international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) with Providence.

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