Helping mothers feed their newborns

Amy Brill,who lives in Windsor Terrace,survived nine months and six days of pregnancy,then 40 hours of labour. But after a few days of nursing,she was in excruciating pain.

Amy Brill,who lives in Windsor Terrace,survived nine months and six days of pregnancy,then 40 hours of labour. But after a few days of nursing,she was in excruciating pain. Brills pediatrician wrote out a number. Call this woman, he said. Shes seen every new mom in Brooklyn.

Not quite,but over the last five years this woman,Freda Rosenfeld,has seen some 2,000 new moms,some of them multiple times,and many with multiple babies. Rosenfeld is part medical professional,part therapist and part sleuth; a hand-holder and tongue-coaxer. At 52,she cruises with a got breastmilk? sticker on her minivan.

A certified lactation consultant,she swoops in at one of the most vulnerable moments in many womens lives,charging 200 160 if you come to her for help with what is supposed to be the most instinctive of acts but often is simply not.

Once you go home from the hospital,youre on your own with this little alien creature,and you have to figure out how to keep it alive, Brill,39,recalled of her daughters birth 16 months ago. So you put it on your nipple and wait for it to eat,and hope all is right. It really,really hurts to have someone sucking on your nipple like 10 times a day, Brill said. So you call Freda.

About 74 per cent of American mothers tried breast-feeding their newborns in 2006,according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was up from 58 per cent in 1985 and 27 per cent in 1970. But many struggle to make it work and give up by three months,a third of infants were exclusively breast-fed in 2006; by six months,14 per cent.

Rosenfeld was certified in 1990; there are now some 20,000 such professionals worldwide,including 582 in New York State. She has succeeded with babies with Down syndrome,despite their poor muscle tone,and with adoptive mothers,using a gizmo called a supplemental nurser to bring in their breast milk. She has rooted out problems like reflux and thyroid disorder,and stroked thousands of tiny tongues in service of the perfect suck. She prescribes exercise regimens for newborn mouths,and sometimes recommends that a doctor clip a babys frenulum,the tissue beneath the tongue.

I get paid to be neurotic and hold babies, she said. Who could ask for more?