The destructive power of the American journalistic playbook on breastfeeding Evolve Lactation Podcast

My day-to-day work revolves around supporting the current and the aspiring lactation care provider with the resources they need to continue learning, to practice evidence-informed lactation care, and to treat people with kindness and compassion in their contacts with them for the purposes of lactation support. I am immersed in the world of lactation care and the universe of lactation supporters every single day. I am fully committed and I don’t intend to retire anytime soon.
That’s why I read that New York Times article with alarm. There are some very damaging tropes being perpetuated within it. (I refuse to link to it and give them even more website traffic. A quick Google search will bring it up.)
The New York Times has pulled out the American journalistic playbook on breastfeeding and lactation once again. They’re checking off the boxes on all the false narratives that confound all efforts to truly support people with their breastfeeding goals.
Those false narratives:
* everyone who is pregnant is pressured by everyone to breastfeed for the whole time their baby is a baby
* lactation consultants are overpaid people who exist to take your money and shame you into breastfeeding
* if you have problems with breastfeeding, you have to stop and do something else instead
* pediatricians are experts in breastfeeding
* the Affordable Care Act means that everyone has access to lactation care through their health insurance and insurance companies reimburse lactation consultants for their work
* hospitals push breastfeeding beyond the limits of safety
* clinical issues in lactation are easily explained or dismissed by people who have not studied them in depth or ever worked with a lactating dyad
Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Here’s what I can’t wrap my head around: they could be using their platform to amplify information about how breastfeeding has been found to decrease the rate of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, reduce first-year infant mortality, and reduce lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women and people who give birth, but instead The New York Times is publishing an article that calls lactation support into question and breaks the public trust in the IBCLC.
We don’t have time for this. Many, many people want to breastfeed and cannot access the clinical and peer lactation support they need to do so.
Publishing debate about a complex clinical scenario which impacts a small percentage of lactating dyads in a mainstream publication and then conducting what they called an “investigation” by people who are not experts in clinical lactation is not at all productive and it is, I would argue, harmful.
There is tremendous harm in perpetuating the myth that lactation consultants are greedy, unethical people whose only objectives are, according to the American journalistic playbook on breastfeeding to a)overcharge you for their services and b)make you feel bad for how you are feeding your baby.
Nothing could be further from the truth in either aspect.
I’ve spent the better part of the past 15 years specifically serving IBCLCs and advocating for the profession and the credential. I’ve volunteered with ILCA and USLCA, served on the Board of USLCA, served on local organizations and for non-profit AND for-profit companies which serve the IBCLC. I offer specialized services for IBCLCs and those aspiring to earn the credential.
I’ve been a practicing IBCLC since 2009, proudly serving families in California.
I could write an entire book about what I have learned from all of those experiences.
Thank you for reading Evolve Lactation with Christine Staricka IBCLC. This post is public so feel free to share it.

What I know is that people get into the field of lactation because they uncover that they have a passion and/or determination to break down the barriers to breastfeeding that they or others close to them have fac