Over the past few years here in Scotland there has been an upsurge in
'breastfeeding support groups'.  By which I mean not LLL or similar
organisations, but groups based at health centres, clinics, and maternity
hospitals, whose purpose is to allow mothers and their babies to get together
and share experiences, offer support.  Usually a health professional will be
present, sometimes a lay breastfeeding counsellor.  Some groups are postnatal
only.

A group in Paisley has used this idea to provide breastfeeding information
antenatally as well.  It is held in the local maternity hospital,  run by
midwives, and has pregnant women, mothers and babies all getting together.  For
part of the session, the pregnant women go into a different room with a midwife
to talk about getting started, with particular emphasis on teaching positioning
techniques.  Originally the group met every 2 weeks, they now meet weekly due to
demand.  The next step is to get similar groups running in the community,
recognising that not everyone finds a central location easy to get to.

The Scottish Joint Breastfeeding Initiative (late lamented) produced helpful
guidelines for such groups.

Mary Broadfoot   Paisley, Scotland