Hi Lisa, here are my thoughts.

While breastfeeding is normal, it is probably not normal to many of  
the women you are seeing, or else they would be doing it and having  
minimal problems.  So if your goal is to help the mothers be  
successful, your language should reflect how you understand that this  
is a new skill that they are learning, and they are doing a great  
job.  You can help them see how their baby loves their breasts and  
their milk.  Focus more on showing them the beauty and goodness of  
their milk and their breasts, and how their baby naturally seeks  
their nipple.  This may be the first positive experience many of them  
have had about their bodies.  They may feel afraid because they love  
their babies so much and want to do things right, or are scared that  
their lives will turn upside down in a way that is impossible for  
them to deal with.  Explore these fears and gently suggest that they  
consider how breastfeeding can make their lives easier/their babies  
healthier/keep their mother-in-law from taking over etc.  The only  
way you can improve breastfeeding rates is to figure out exactly why  
the breastfeeding is not currently happening, and challenge those  
ideas in a way that mothers can actually hear and consider.

When speaking with staff, you may want to assess their understanding  
of breastfeeding and what they need in order to support mothers and  
babies to breastfeed.  Staff probably need to see how keeping mother  
and baby together makes their job easier, not harder.  They may need  
ways to document how breastfeeding is going.  Before you decide what  
approach to take in your language, I think you need to understand  
where people in your environment are coming from and what kind of  
messages they might be receptive to hearing.  Your work will be a lot  
easier if your co-workers see you as a reasonable person who is not  
trying to make their lives more difficult.

I wish you the best of luck, and let us know how things are going!

----
Lynnette Hafken, MA, Mother of 3, LLLL, IBCLC
http://www.nurslings.com
"Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It  
is also owed to justice and to humanity." ~James Bryce



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