World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, 2021, is a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanize action on themes related to breastfeeding. The 2021 theme is “Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility.”

According to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), breastfeeding is a universal solution that gives everyone a fair start in life and has the foundation for good health and survival of children and parents. WABA is a global network of individuals and organizations dedicated to the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding worldwide.

WABA’s goal is to achieve a world where breastfeeding is the cultural norm, where parents and families are enabled to feed and care optimally for their infants and young children thus contributing to a just and healthy society.

As reported in the Lancet Series on Breastfeeding, 2016, scaling up breastfeeding can prevent 20,000 maternal deaths, 823,000 child deaths, and $300 billion in economic losses annually. The series further declared that genuine and urgent commitment is needed from governments and health authorities to establish a new normal where every parent can expect to breastfeed and receive support to do so.

On a national level, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) officially declared on August 6, 2011, that August is National Breastfeeding Month. According to the USBC, in recognition of National Breastfeeding Month, each year the USCB hosts a social media advocacy and/or outreach campaign inviting breastfeeding coalitions, member/partner organizations, and individual supporters to join online actions and conversations to build support for the policy and practice changes needed to build a “landscape of breastfeeding support.”

In our efforts to support the endeavors of the USBC, for the month of August and every day of the year, including holidays, Nest Collaborative offers online breastfeeding support to all parents, new and experienced.

Whether you’re a new parent, or you’re having another baby, online breastfeeding support is available via telehealth.

Nest Collaborative is a collection of International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) who provide lactation counseling services via telehealth. Since 2018, we have been conducting online, video appointments (telehealth) to help guide parents through their breastfeeding journeys.

Amanda Gorman, the Founder, is a mother of two and a Board-Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She founded Nest Collaborative after experiencing the lack of available resources for nursing parents both professionally in her primary care practice and personally, as a mother who struggled to breastfeed.

Amanda brings a passion to Nest Collaborative to expand access to lactation counseling services via telehealth–breastfeeding support that is accessible, affordable, and preventive.

Telehealth helps us expand access to care for all parents. We offer

• On-Demand, Virtual Appointments Within 24 Hours
• Scheduled Virtual Appointments 7 days/week, Including Evenings
• Board-Certified Experts
• ALL commercial insurance & Medicaid plans accepted
• Breastfeeding Support for Twins and Multiples
• Breastfeeding Support in Spanish (Hablamos Espanol)

Lactation counseling has never been more convenient. You can have live, on-demand video visits with a consultant of your choice.

We’re all parents who have breastfed and understand the challenges. We’re here to offer you the best evidence-based advice, support, and guidance to help you reach your breastfeeding goals. We advocate for what you want and work closely with your primary care team to provide you with the best breastfeeding support you need.

At Nest Collaborative we offer online breastfeeding support in several areas, including but not limited to:

Breastfeeding Education emphasizes the importance and benefits of breastfeeding and educates parents on how their bodies make milk, what is in their milk, and explains what “latching on” means in reference to breastfeeding.

There are many good resources for breastfeeding education. For your convenience, we put together our own list of resources for moms–great books on the subject of breastfeeding.

Prenatal Planning for Breastfeeding discusses the benefits of prenatal education for breastfeeding, helping parents to prepare for breastfeeding from the time before baby’s birth to after baby’s birth. Our lactation counseling services via telemedicine include such topics as:

• Guidance for parents about anticipated situations and signs of effective breastfeeding or breastfeeding problems.
• The benefits of breastfeeding to parents, babies, and society.
• Correct positioning to help the infant latch on to the breast effectively.
• Specific needs in the early days of breastfeeding.
• Resources that are available to help with problems.
• Common fears, concerns, problems, and myths. This includes recent concerns about COVID-19 and breastfeeding.

The latest advice coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding breastfeeding and the coronavirus is as follows:

Risks to the pregnancy and to the baby

• Pregnant people have had a higher risk of severe illness when infected with viruses from the same family as COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections, such as influenza.
• It is always important for pregnant people to protect themselves from illnesses.

Parent-to-child transmission

• Parent-to-child transmission of coronavirus during pregnancy is unlikely, but after birth, a newborn is susceptible to person-to-person spread.
• A very small number of babies have tested positive for the virus shortly after birth. However, it is unknown if these babies got the virus before or after birth.
• The virus has not been detected in amniotic fluid, breast milk, or other maternal samples.

Breastfeeding if you have COVID-19

• Breast milk provides protection against many illnesses and is the best source of nutrition for most infants.
• You, along with your family and healthcare providers, should decide whether and how to start or continue breastfeeding
• In limited studies, COVID-19 has not been detected in breast milk; however, we do not know for sure whether parents with COVID-19 can spread the virus via breast milk.
• If you are sick and choose to direct breastfeed:
  • Wear a facemask and wash your hands before each feeding.
• If you are sick and choose to express breast milk:
  • Use a provided, dedicated breast pump.
  • Express breast milk to establish and maintain milk supply.
  • Wash hands before touching any pump or bottle parts and before expressing breast milk.
  • Follow recommendations for proper pump cleaning after each use, cleaning all parts that come into contact with breast milk.
  • Consider having someone who is well, feed the expressed breast milk to the infant.

From the time period spanning childbirth to the onset of labor through the delivery of the placenta, intrapartum breastfeeding education includes the following:

• Immediate issues such as correct latch and positioning.
• Adequate milk removal.
• Stability of the infant.
• Comfort of the parent.
• Concerns of parents and family members.
• Referrals for postpartum support.
• Signs of success or potential problems in the first few days after hospital discharge.

If you are looking for prenatal planning support for breastfeeding, our board-certified lactation consultants at Nest Collaborative can help. Most commercial health insurance plans will cover a prenatal visit with our team. We’ll confirm this prior to your visit.

Our expert team provides lactation support for prenatal and postpartum parents, during any stage from beginning to end.

Good breastfeeding tips can help you meet your breastfeeding goals successfully. Here you can learn what makes a good latch, see different breastfeeding holds, and find out how to tell if your baby is getting enough breast milk. You will also learn tips to read your baby’s cues for when he or she is ready to eat and learn what to expect during the First Week Feeds.

This valuable section also addresses some Frequently Asked Questions, such as:

1. How often should you breastfeed your baby?
2. How long should a breastfeeding session last?
3. How do you know if your baby is getting enough milk?
4. How much do babies typically eat?

Our consultants are all board-certified and have the skill and experience to offer breastfeeding tips on any feeding and supply concern you may have. Ultimately, our goal is to help you meet your breastfeeding goals.

Balancing life with breastfeeding may have its challenges, but having early access to resources offers the needed support and guidance.

Having a new baby and learning to breastfeed takes time, so it is important for new parents to take care of themselves. Try to listen to your body so that you can tell when stress is affecting your health.

In this section, we discuss self-care tips, and concerns about Breastfeeding in Public, Supplementation, Pumping and Storing Breast Milk, Pumping Your Breast Milk, including How to Pump. Here there is a great source of information to help parents through their breastfeeding journeys, including Return-to-Work Challenges after Family Leave.

If you are looking for help with balancing life while breastfeeding, our lactation consultants at Nest Collaborative can help.

Visit our website at www.nestcollaborative.com to schedule your lactation counseling session via telehealth. Just click on Book Now in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage to get started.

The process is very simple.

In support of the WABA’s goal to achieve a world where breastfeeding is the cultural norm, and where we celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, 2020 alongside our partners, we are steadfastly committed to offering new and experienced parents continued online breastfeeding support 24/7.

We further recognize that on a national level, August is National Breastfeeding Month, and throughout the month we will continue our outreach campaign to join online actions and conversations to build support for the policy and practice changes needed to build a “landscape of breastfeeding support.”

If you are a new or experienced parent in need of online breastfeeding support, schedule your appointment now. If you don’t see a time that works for you, we are happy to find one that does. For after-hour appointments, give us a call at (888) 598-1554.