Breastfeeding and Lactation Counseling
What is the Douglas County Health Department Breastfeeding Support Program?
The Breastfeeding Support Program is a part of WIC that helps mothers to understand and embrace breastfeeding as the best and healthiest way to provide nourishment for their babies. The program also teaches mothers how to breastfeed and helps them when they have questions or difficulties with breastfeeding.
What are the advantages of breastfeeding?
- Human milk is dynamic. It is a living and life giving substance that contains thousands of living cells per millimeter. Artificial milk (formula) has no living cells.
- Human milk reduces the incidence and severity of infectious diseases, and provides babies with immunities to certain diseases
- Human milk provides the ideal nutrition for baby and contributes to every aspect of baby's development. Most importantly, the composition of a mother's milk changes as baby grows older so baby always gets just what is needed. The composition of formula is always the same
- Breastfeeding contributes to a mother's health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and by increasing the spacing between pregnancies.
Breastfeeding Counseling
Although WIC clients are a priority at Douglas County Health Department, breastfeeding support is available to all persons living in Douglas County. We can provide you with helpful information to get breastfeeding off to a good start or to help you know what to do if a problem arises.
Our office hours at the Health Department are 8:30 to 4:30 Monday thru Thursday. You may drop by or call us at 217-253-4137. You can also email questions to jcunningham@douglascountyhealth.org