Nikki, I don't have any experience providing breastfeeding support to Korean mothers, but I am a sociocultural anthropologist with a couple years' experience living and doing research in South Korea. 

From what you described, I don't think you made any particular cultural errors.  The situation simply sucks for this new mother -- giving birth in a foreign country where she doesn't speak the language, coping with a lot of postpartum pain, and being dependent on her husband as the only English speaker in the household.  Even her mother's presence may not be an entirely positive factor, or may simply underscore for her how homesick and isolated she has been here.  All that, of course, is on top of the stressors on most any birthing woman and new mother in our society -- a medicalized, intervened-with birth, probably some fairly didactic instructions from hospital staff, violations of lifelong modesty rules, and intense sleep deprivation. 

In contemporary South Korea, homes are very private places.  With everything else on this mother's shoulders, plus the confusion of hearing different information/instructions from you than she was given in the hospital, plus the baby screaming ... I suspect that she simply reached her point of overwhelm but didn't even feel able to express that to a stranger, either through her husband or through a more direct expression like tears.  I would read her turning her back to you as self-protective, not as a rejection of you or a signal that you harmed her in any way. 

You did your best, and you *did* succeed in conveying some very key information about breastfeeding basics.  You cannot use what you do not have -- fluency in a mother's own language, a magic wand that mitigates all stressors and trauma. 

If possible, I think the best thing for this mother right now would be supportive community from other Korean young mothers.  If you have follow-up contact with her husband, you might suggest that he help arrange this.  Korean-speaking churches are key support networks for Koreans in the U.S.  Or he may have Korean colleagues at his university who know or who are young mothers.  This is a less direct route to breastfeeding help, to be sure, but it may be more effective in the long run.  

Respectfully, 
Rebecca N. Ruhlen, PhD, IBCLC, LLLL, Breastfeeding USA Breastfeeding Counselor
Davidson, North Carolina

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome