Breastfeeding is the single most important thing a mother can do to promote the health of her baby, and it lowers her risk of disease, too. Unfortunately, either through misconceptions, difficulties, negative perceptions and/or lack of qualified personnel before, during and after delivery, many moms’ give up on breastfeeding after just a few short weeks. To tackle these “booby traps”, two wonderful women, Bettina Forbes and Danielle Rigg, have worked diligently to develop a non-profit organization called Best for Babes. Best for Babes offers non-judgmental support and encouragement to all moms (both breastfeeding and not) and empowers them to make educated, informed decisions regarding their infant’s feeding needs. Their mission is “to Give Breastfeeding a Makeover, and to Beat the Booby Traps™– the Barriers to Breastfeeding Success” by taking the pressure off of moms and focusing on the “booby traps”.
Bettina Forbes was inspired to start this organization due to her own personal difficulties breastfeeding her first child, Raymond. Bettina overcame her own negative attitudes towards breastfeeding and fought severe postpartum depression and successfully breastfed Raymond until he was 16 months old. She then nursed her second child, Ava successfully for 2 ½ years. Read Bettina’s inspiring story…
Danielle Rigg is a certified lactation councilor and breast cancer survivor. She too had difficulty breastfeeding her first child and through this hardship, she was inspired to become a lactation councilor to assist moms to breastfeed successfully. After her bilateral mastectomy, Danielle was more inspired than ever to help moms in the gift of breastfeeding since breastfeeding has been shown to lower the risk of breast cancer, and was recently named one of “Ten Women Who Shape the World” by SHAPE magazine.
As a NICU nurse, I find what these women are doing admirable and I fully support their cause for I, too, have witnessed many of these “booby traps” in my years of nursing. I have seen doctors, nurses, family members and yes even lactation consultants get in the way of breastfeeding success. The good news…many hospitals are becoming more and more “breast-friendly” and staff education has assisted in transforming negative attitudes towards breastfeeding into more positive and supportive ones. We still have a long way to go, but at least we are making headway.
What I love most about Best for Babes is that they get it. They understand that not every mom has the ability or the desire to breastfeed and they support every mom’s decision. I wholeheartedly agree that “Moms don’t need to be harassed or made to feel bad” in their decisions to breast or formula feed. As their credo states “ALL moms deserve to make a truly informed feeding decision and to be cheered on, coached and celebrated without pressure, judgment or guilt. ALL breastfeeding moms deserve full institutional and cultural support to achieve their personal breastfeeding goals.” Well said ladies!
Want to learn more about this amazing non-profit organization? Visit http:///www.bestforbabes.com. Want to help Best for Babes? Find out what you can do to help here. Purchase Best for Babes onsies, t-shirts and tanks and support the cause!
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Babies 411 is an on-line information and resource center for parents. This site has been developed by a neonatal intensive care nurse with the sole purpose of promoting the health, safety, and well-being of all babies.
Author : Diba Tillery RN, BSN, IBCLC, CPST
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