[dsr_]

There's definitely one issue not mentioned here, and it even has a tie-in to software development.

You may recall the famous dictum "The only intuitive interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned." -- possibly Bruce Ediger. That turns out to be wrong. While human infants have an instinct to suckle on a nipple rubbed against their lower lip, human adults have no instincts about presenting the nipple, holding the infant, or anything else close by. All of that is learned behavior -- and bad positioning can be very painful.

If you don't have women breastfeeding around you to teach you, you're at a major disadvantage. It used to be the norm; now we have certified lactation consultants.

[klondike_klive]

If you can get hold of one. The one at our hospital was on holiday. We got so much different conflicting advice and brusque indifferent visits. We wanted to breastfeed to help the baby's microbiome because raised infection markers sparked a precautionary round of antibiotics for his first seven days. I was also on antibiotics as a baby in the seventies and have suffered awfully all my life with eczema, asthma and allergies. The doctor was very dismissive about our concerns. But the baby wouldn't latch, the doctors kept coming round saying they wanted to raise the baby's weight and would have to give him formula if we couldn't get him to feed. Horrible environment, hot as hell in a crowded and loud ward. Very dispiriting. Not surprised babies don't feed, not surprised many women give up. And to cap it all off it was "breastfeeding awareness week" in the hospital!