Hello everyone. I have been reading Lactnet posts for several weeks, and
this one I had to respond to. For 3 years I was a breastfeeding counslor
for WIC, in SC. I delt with mothers of all ages, but my favorite were
teens. I found early intervention, prenatal education over the course of
the pregnancy, and alot of support yeilded long term(at least 3 to 6
months) nursing for teens here. A problem that I encountered, as I am sure
we all have, was the OBs were not promoting BF at prenatal appts. If you
can catch a teen mom soon after delivery, give them education on the
benefits and a good line of support, they tend to do well. I also found
that if grandma, or someone else in the family nursed(aunt, sister, ect.)
it helps.As for returning to school, we provided pumps, and contacted
school nurses to arrange for them to pump during the day. If they didn't
want to pump, we informed them they could bottle-feed during the day, and
nurse at night. You would be surprised how many older mothers are not aware
this is possible. My motto was some breastmilk was better than NO
breastmilk!! Good luck!

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