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Twin Cities Mothers Share Their Lactation Support Advice for Healthcare Providers
Minneapolis City CouncilTuesday, January 13, 2026
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[0:03] I think initiating conversation early on
[0:07] but not just leaving it at that. Asking
[0:10] what their experience is with
[0:12] breastfeeding, what what do they know
[0:14] about it? What does that look like
[0:15] within your family? Um
[0:18] some families that don't have that
[0:20] experience or don't have that support.
[0:22] How can I right? What what are your
[0:25] goals? How can we achieve that goal?
[0:27] What feels good to you? what feels right
[0:29] to you. I think also um being informed
[0:32] of patients if they have a history of
[0:34] trauma. Um making sure that there's
[0:36] enough support there or options um so
[0:41] that mom's able to if that's her goal to
[0:43] breastfeed.
[0:45] Building trust. The expert is the person
[0:47] you're speaking with. It's always the
[0:48] person you're speaking with. So asking
[0:50] lots of questions.
[0:52] um getting an understanding of who are
[0:54] their support people, whether it be
[0:56] family, friends, um are they getting
[0:59] their information from Tik Tok, you
[1:01] know, social media. Um
[1:06] we know that historically there has been
[1:09] some trauma that has been done to
[1:12] eliminate breastfeeding. And so
[1:15] educating people and getting that back
[1:17] to be the narrative is what's important.
[1:20] um you don't know where somebody comes
[1:23] from or if they've had experience and so
[1:26] asking lots of questions is where you're
[1:28] going to get your information.
[1:29] >> Well, I'll say I have two advice to give
[1:32] to everyone or have a provider that is
[1:35] in connections or interactions with
[1:39] women
[1:40] especially women of color
[1:43] about lactation or breastfeeding. And
[1:46] the first one is understanding the
[1:47] cultural norms. I think that's very
[1:50] important because we have diverse set of
[1:52] people diverse belief diverse culture
[1:57] you know people have a thousand one
[2:02] belief system of why they can do this
[2:05] and not and I believe that providers you
[2:08] know support groups healthcare whatever
[2:12] that can if they can understand the
[2:15] cultural at least to some extent of What
[2:19] is involved in different cultures in
[2:22] relating to lactation, relating to
[2:25] breastfeeding would really help in
[2:28] establishing connections and trust with
[2:31] the mothers. Not putting my expectations
[2:34] on what breastfeeding is like, but you
[2:37] know what is it for you? Is
[2:39] breastfeeding breastfeeding all the time
[2:40] exclusively?
[2:42] Maybe not. For some people in any amount
[2:45] of breastfeeding is considered
[2:46] breastfeeding. Maybe they're only
[2:48] pumping because they feel uncomfortable
[2:49] about it. And it's not my place to tell
[2:51] them what is truly breastfeeding. And I
[2:54] think that that is an error I constantly
[2:55] see with some people who really advocate
[2:58] for breastfeeding. They're like, "Oh,
[3:00] this is everything and that's all you
[3:01] got to do." And there's nothing in
[3:03] between. And if you're pumping or if
[3:05] you're um bottlefeeding some formula and
[3:08] breastfeeding, that's not really truly
[3:10] breastfeeding. So really stepping away
[3:13] from who you are and really believing
[3:16] that the people that you're serving know
[3:19] who they are and listen with an open
[3:22] mind and not put your own expectations
[3:24] on other people.