My secretary's roommate had a baby last week. All went well and the baby was full term and healthy. The mother tried to breastfeed her baby for two days, but the baby never succeeded in latching on, so she switched to formula (provided for free by the hospital) and gave up trying to breastfeed. So that's a scenario where it strikes me that more support for the mother could have made a difference. She didn't have any visits from lactation consultants. She had access to free formula and bottles to make the decision to give up trying to nurse an easier one than it might have been otherwise. She didn't have access to valuable information about the benefits of breastfeeding, both for her and her baby, as well as the economic benefits. (That formula sure is pricey). Also, she didn't have a breastpump, so she had no way to build up her supply while waiting for her baby to figure out the whole latch thing. So those kinds of supports could have really helped her, but she didn't have them.
Nora and Milo couldn't latch at all for the first couple of weeks. They were just too tiny. It took a lot of stubbornness on my part, a very high-quality breastpump, and tons and tons of help and support for me to make the transition to breastfeeding them. It wouldn't have happened without the support, especially one wonderful lactation specialist nurse at the doctor's office. This whole nursing thing is just hard, period. It's hard for a lot of people for a lot of reasons. People just need help making it work, I think. Those who don't are lucky.
Oh, and Milo has now decided he doesn't like nursing. It's like he and Nora have traded places. This whole thing never gets any easier.
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