It seems fitting to open National Breastfeeding Month with a focus on peer counseling and mother-to-mother support. Next to the mother-baby bond, one of the most critical relationships for sustaining breastfeeding can be a close connection between a woman who knows and has experience breastfeeding with a new mother learning to breastfeed.

Of course breastfeeding moms need support and encouragement from everyone – physicians and health care professionals, employers, policymakers, community members, family and friends. And while there is a time and place for clinical lactation support, there is a unique role that mothers can play in helping other mothers with the day-to-day realities of breastfeeding a baby, the questions and concerns that might pop up in the middle of the night or the desire to share the experience with someone else who truly understands the trials and triumphs of breastfeeding.

La Leche League was founded on the notion of peer support. Women helping women is also the idea behind the many successful WIC breastfeeding peer counselor programs.

Mother-to-mother support is vital to building community networks that will encourage women and their families. These social supports are especially important in communities of color, in which the structures of poverty and structural racism have historically played – and continue to play – a significant role in determining health outcomes, and where cultural competency is critical.

The promising news is the growing number of culturally based, community-oriented programs that engage women in support of women. These programs complement the work of physicians and health care professionals with companionship and emotional support along with knowledge, training, resources and first-hand experience.

New Mexico WIC offers an excellent example of mother-to-mother support with a culturally competent breastfeeding peer-counseling program that has expanded to more than 50 communities across the state. The peer counselors are past or current New Mexico WIC mothers who have successfully breastfed their own babies. Peer counselors establish a connection with moms outside WIC clinic hours, providing ongoing encouragement, assistance and support.

In Hawaii, an organization based on the island of Molokai called Ka Honua Momona (KHM), seeks to model sustainability through reviving native cultural traditions, including breastfeeding practices that engage multiple generations. Former Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has commended KHM for including fathers in its breastfeeding program.

Now in its 25th year, Birthing Project USA has replicated its African-American maternal and child health program in more than 70 communities. The Birthing Project relies on volunteer “SisterFriends,” who provide emotional support and education to new mothers during pregnancy and for one year after the birth of their children, including encouragement and help with breastfeeding.

Five years ago, advocate and mother Kiddada Green started Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) in Detroit to increase breastfeeding awareness in the African American community. BMBFA’s signature program is the Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Club, a regular mother-to-mother support group at which women share stories, offer encouragement and learn from each other. BMBFA now is developing a model to replicate the breastfeeding club and partnering with St. John Hospital’s Mother Nurture Project to increase the number of black lactation consultants in Michigan. The Mother Nurture Project has its own weekly breastfeeding support groups, similar to those hosted by BMBFA. The Mother Nurture support groups are so successful they’re overflowing, with women coming back week after week, even after they’re through breastfeeding their children!

Collaborative, community-based, mother-to-mother efforts like these inspire me and give me hope. They deserve our attention and encouragement during National Breastfeeding Month.