Family members, physicians, and other health care providers all play a role in influencing individuals’ choices about infant feeding. A parent’s perception of the attitudes of hospital staff toward breastfeeding has been shown to be predictive of breastfeeding failure by 6 weeks of age. Many families receive conflicting, unsubstantiated, and often improvised advice. Access to trained lactation support varies depending on the community and health insurance such that optimal breastfeeding care is not guaranteed.
Healthcare professionals do not routinely receive training in lactation support at schools in the U.S. Therefore, it is incumbent on those working with mothers and infants to seek continuing education and training to better support the families they serve.
Find Lactation Support
ZipMilk – West Virginia’s Lactation support directory
ZipMilk, a project of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition, is a site that provides listings for chest/breastfeeding resources sorted by ZIP Code. It is designed for use by consumers interested in help or support for chest/breastfeeding, as well as by providers who want to give their clients access to such resources. These resources are not a substitute for medical advice.
The data on ZipMilk is collected and maintained by the WV Breastfeeding Institute. The WVBI vets each listing submitted prior to making them public. Reasonable verification of data is asked of each organization at least once a year. Search terms are designed to be consistent from state to state, and to encompass as many multi-state as well as local resources as possible.
West Virginia joins 15 other States that participate in ZipMilk. To find trained lactation support near you, go to zipmilk.org.
If you are a trained lactation support provider, go to this link to submit your listing, so mothers can find you for help.
National Women’s Health and Breastfeeding Helpline
Do you have a women’s health question or trouble with breastfeeding? Call us anytime between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, at 1-800-994-9662 to talk with a health information specialist in English or Spanish.
“Our women’s health information specialists who answer the phone are also trained as breastfeeding peer counselors. You can call us for free, as many times as you need to!“