Get Help With Your Breastfeeding

If you need help with breastfeeding now, here are some addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and hyperlinks. One (or more) of these should lead you to an answer to your question, a lay breastfeeding counselor, or a medical professional with expertise in breastfeeding. Additionally we offer message boards, including one with our resident lactation consultant, and other resources and information.

• Two lists of "Frequently Asked Questions" and answers about breastfeeding are maintained by La Leche League International and by the Nursing Mothers Association of Australia. Visit those two sites to see if your question has already been answered by the leading experts on breastfeeding in the world.
• Concerns about medications in mother's milk?  The estimable Dr. Thomas Hale has a web site with information about this issue, including a service for getting up-to-date information about particular drugs and ordering information for his book, "Medications in Mother's Milk".
• The Adoptive Breastfeeding Resource Website has information for mothers who want to breastfeed an adopted baby.
• Thanks to ParentsPlace and Medela (a breastpump company), an entire pamphlet on breastfeeding basics by pediatrician William Sears and nurse, breastfeeding consultant, and childbirth educator Martha Sears is available on the Web. It will answer most of your questions.  Another site with helpful information is "Where to find help with breastfeeding."
• To find a professional lactation consultant anywhere in the world, first try the medical facility where your baby was born, and/or the medical professionals who assisted at the birth of your baby. If they cannot help you, try the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners, which maintains a geographic database of board-certified lactation consultants. They can be reached at the following: e-mail: iblce@erols.com, phone: 703-560-7330, or fax: 703-560-7332
• La Leche League International has trained lay breastfeeding counselors (La Leche League Leaders) available in most communities.  Instructions for finding a leader in your community are on the LLLI web site.  You can also call LLL at 847-519-7730 or, toll-free in the United States only, at 1-800 LA LECHE Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Central Time. You can also send an e-mail to a La Leche League Leader using the form at this address.  They promise to answer within a week, so this is not a means of getting an urgent question answered. Some local La Leche League groups have put up their own web pages. 
• The National Childbirth Trust of the United Kingdom has trained breastfeeding counselors available.
• Another organization that provides mother-to-mother support in the U.S. is the Nursing Mothers' Counsel, Inc., P.O. Box 50063, Palo Alto CA 94303.  Another site with information about  the Nursing Mothers' Counsel.

Formerly part of