I am a lay breastfeeding supporter and was invoved in setting up and running a
hospital-based support group a few years ago.  I know things are very different
in US to UK, so I hope this is relevant.

I suggested we keep a fullish register of attendees.  My idea was not so much to
trace the women who came, but to provide material for statistics.  So, we
recorded, for example,what area of town women came from, which was later useful
as we did an analysis of what we had done in first 3 months, then first year, to
present to hospital board to justify the use of staff time, and payment of
travel expenses to me (volunteer).  Town areas were useful to show not just
middle class mothers came.  You could decide what to monitor (in a confidential
way) and build this in to your info collection.  going round asking some details
also meant that the group facilitator(s) had a chance to greet each woman
individually.  Even if you don't *have* to justify having the group, its nice to
have a small annual report, which might included asking women for feedback and
including this.  We got some interesting suggestions.  Also, if you need to
justify, in this country, groups like this help hospitals to acheive step 10 of
UNICEF BFI (always good to point out that this is international set of standards
of good practice).

In looking where you will have this group, there were two things I wished we
had:  COMFORTABLE chairs for breastfeeding, or at least a supply of stools (we
did have some pillows).  Our chairs were too high off the ground, plastic
moulded jobs which aren't comfortable for anyone.  I also wished we had had a
smaller seperate room off the meeting room which I/we could take mums into who
had a difficulty.  Some mothers could not voice distress or needs in the group.

Also, if several are involved in facilitating the group, some sessions sharing
philosophy and building team trust are good.

Hope this is useful.

Magda Sachs, Breast Feeding Supporter for BfN The Breastfeeding Network