BREASTFEEDING mothers who run into difficulties once home from hospital can now get professional 24 hour help through Baby Matters, a home and clinic based private service recently set up by former hospital midwife and certified lactation consultant, Julie O'Connor. [text deleted]... Approximately 30 per cent of Irish women currently breastfeed their, newborn infants although this figure drops to around 15 per cent when the baby is three months old. This low percentage of breastfeeding mothers (at least 50 per cent of mothers breastfeed in many other EU countries and in the US) is in spite of both the Department of Health's promotion of breastfeeding and the breastfeeding policies now in place in all Dublin maternity hospitals. [text deleted, but read on...] "Breastfeeding is hard work but if women had more realistic expectations about it, they would cope better. Once you get established in breastfeeding, it is a fantastically therapeutic and relaxing experience," enthuses O'Connor. Copyright The Irish Times, March 4, 1996, CITY EDITION, By SYLVIA THOMPSON Arly Helm [log in to unmask] (MS, Nutrition & Food Sciences, CLE, IBCLC; LC for IHC)