by Amy Spangler
August 13, 2007

Erika Clowes, like most mothers, thought breastfeeding would be easy, “but instead, it was a nightmare,” according to CNN Medical News correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

As a result, Erika, along with other mothers, formed the Booby Brigade, a breastfeeding support group (a group Erika thought she’d never join, let alone start.) Cohen reported, that with the help of this newly-formed group, plus the guidance of a lactation consultant (some problems exceed the knowledge of even the most experienced moms), Erika and her son Charlie were eventually able to breastfed.

Unfortunately, all stories don’t have happy endings. If you look at the recently released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, you’ll see that among babies born in 2004, only 74 percent were breastfed at birth and only 30 percent were breastfed 3 months or more. The data suggest that breastfeeding isn’t “easy” for lots of moms and babies.

Even Erika’s story isn’t your typical happy ending—it took Erika and Charlie four months (not weeks, but months) to actually breastfeed. In this case, patience and persistence paid off. But it’s important to remember that even with lots of knowledge and support, there are mothers and babies who may be unable to breastfeed for a variety of reasons.

Having learned through her experience that sometimes moms make mistakes, Erika and her cohorts recommend the following:

• DON’T go it alone. DO get out of the house—fast!

• DON’T forget you have experienced breastfeeding friends. DO invite one over.

• DON’T assume you don’t have enough milk. DO review your baby’s breastfeeding behavior, i.e. frequency and length of feeding; signs of milk transfer.

• DON’T be shy about breastfeeding in public. DO prepare an arsenal of snappy comebacks in advance.

• DON’T expect gobs of milk the first day. DO know that before you get gobs you have to get drops!