Protecting Your Potential for Breastfeeding

Durbin explores weighty topics such as institutional, racial, and societal barriers to breastfeeding. And yet the tone of her book is friendly and non-judgmental, with an interesting mix of historical information, wider policy recommendations, and concrete suggestions about how families can achieve optimal breastfeeding outcomes. Her overviews of the basics of breastfeeding are clearly presented, with helpful summaries and bullet-points that identify key issues. She includes evidence-based, practical solutions to breastfeeding challenges and describes effective ways parents can improve their communication skills to get help when they need it. Stories have great power to teach, and a strength of the book is the inclusion in each chapter of case studies (True Stories) that illustrate the real-life consequences of Durbin's aptly coined phase: "lactation interference factors."

-Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC

"Protecting Your Potential for Breastfeeding is a gem! Expectant parents, new parents, and lactation enthusiasts alike will find value in this comprehensive resource that covers everything from the science of human lactation to the cards we are dealt societally that prevent families from reaching their nursing goals. As a lactation equity expert, it was refreshing to see that Durbin included commentary on the cultural and racial impacts on breastfeeding experiences in the US. I'm looking forward to the discussions that this text will ignite around ways we can all contribute to reshuffling the deck, so to speak, to make lactation more accessible for all."

-Nekisha Killings, MPH IBCLC
Founder, The Melanated Mammary Atlas(R)

Although human milk is the optimal choice for babies, many people struggle with breastfeeding. In the United States and numerous other places, most babies begin breastfeeding on the first day of life, but because of pervasive factors that create obstacles to lactation, many people stop breastfeeding long before they had planned. For this reason, most infants in the U.S. are partially or fully formula fed before they are six months old. Why are so many people struggling to meet their infant feeding goals?

Outside of the field of lactation, most people are unaware of the negative factors that can adversely impact milk production and infant feeding. Protecting Your Potential for Breastfeeding pulls back the curtain on this challenging situation so that new parents can make informed decisions that will empower and strengthen their potential for making human milk. In this book, you will read about best practices for breastfeeding and how to set yourself up for success. In addition, you will discover over 70 lactation interference factors that can sabotage infant feeding and prevent people from reaching their breastfeeding goals.

This indispensable guide to breastfeeding also includes:

• Prenatal lactation education to help you get infant feeding off to a great start
• A modifiable breastfeeding plan
• The RELAX Method for breastfeeding your newborn
• Evidence-based research about the benefits of skin-to-skin contact
• Information about proactive parenting skills for new families
• How to minimize or avoid over 70 lactation interference factors

Kelly M. Durbin is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), childbirth educator, author, and volunteer breastfeeding counselor. Her breastfeeding research is published in numerous top-ranked international journals. Kelly is passionate about prenatal education and lactation support. She teaches birth and breastfeeding classes in Phoenix, AZ, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.