My hospital's BF rate on discharge is.................................

[highlander]

a whopping 98%!! I'm not sure whether to believe it or not! The OB's chest visibly puffed out when she told me.
Apparently there is a 'lactation consultant' (how North America) on the unit.

Yikes, with all that support, I feel awfully pressurised to get it right. Need to trawl MN and do some more swotting...........

It's fantastic they support ladies so well within hospital. I hope it continues after 'release' though. When in hospital after giving birth to DD they weren't particularly pro breastfeeding (well, not so as you'd notice!) even while ladies and their babies were in there . It's really good to hear they have a lactation consultant on hand, it can really help with the any initial queries about positioning and whatnot, I know myself and several of my friends could have done with that kind of information, help and support!

That's phenomenal. It's what all hospitals need, it's so obvious. I remember when I was in hospital, nobody on the ward appeared to know anything about how to help a new mother to breast-feed. And when I went to the BF support group and found out more and more info about BF (it took nine weeks of hell to get it right) I realised that that impression was not altogether wrong, and that if there had been an expert on the ward, I might not have had so many problems, and other mothers might have felt more inclined to persevere. The only good thing the hospital did, was that they did point you in the direction of the BF support group once you were discharged, but TBH, by that time many women on the ward had already given up or not started bf at all. Getting it right in that crucial first couple of days is really important - but agree with Levanna, the support needs to continue afterwards. With my second child, I had no problems in the first three days, but when the colostrum stopped and the other milk came in, that's when the nightmare started again. And even though I'd been through it all once before and knew what to expect, because I had less support than first time round (I'd moved area and had an HV who knew v. little about BF and was more concerned about weight gain - plus I had a three year old to pay some attention to this time round) I had to give up after 2 weeks - couldn't face the thought of having to go through that hell again, and couldn't continue to ignore my toddler while I tried to BF. So the ongoing support is crucial as well. Hope you get lots of both Highlander.

it's almost too good to be true........

saying that, my local community health centre has drop in sessions once a month and a lactation consultant is there too.