Marilyn Hogan, IBCLC, RLC has been a lactation consultant since 1989. The abbreviations stand for: International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Registered Lactation Consultant.

Marilyn is the mother of an adult son. She had been involved in various human rights issues since the late 60’s. Breastfeeding and parenting became a primary focus since the birth of her son in the late 1970’s. She is proud to have the privilege of sharing her understanding of good mothering through breastfeeding as a lactation consultant.

Marilyn says:

I have grown as a person over the years — and throughout the years as a parent, although now that my son is an adult too, I don’t provide a parenting role any more. Over the years, I have continually developed a better understanding of the mother-child breastfeeding relationship as a natural process in parenting. I have continued to develop professionally by receiving continuing education about breastfeeding, attachment parenting, and the weaning process. I have also learned what an enormous accomplishment it has been for women to breastfeed at all in the twenty first century where the formula industry and a less-than-breastfeeding-friendly culture exists.

If a woman breastfeeds for one day or one year or even much longer, my hat’s off to her. I hope women are getting all the support, encouragement, and help they need to meet their breastfeeding goals and to have happy, healthy children. If not, I hope this site will help.

Indeed, I hope it helps anyway, even if you are getting all the support you need. I hope it will provoke your ideas about the concepts and philosophy of breastfeeding and breastfeeding support in the community that is expressed on these site pages. Thoughts can translate into talking things over with friends, family, with colleagues at the workplace, and even at the bureaucratic level with the goal of action and legislation that protects mothers, children, and families everywhere.

Maybe you’re thinking that last one is an unrealistic hope. Perhaps — perhaps not. The face of the Western workplace has been constantly changing and evolving. Women comprise a substantial part of the workforce nowadays, and more workplaces are learning to accommodate their needs, including helping moms make their children high priority. Women have been supporting each other in many cultures over the years, so we should be able to do that too, even if we have a modern, high-tech society in the developed world.

Fortunately, new work paradigms are being developed in our industrialized nations, such as working from home, flexible schedules, being able to bring kids to work, reducing consumption so that less money is needed, and so on. So these creative approaches to work and consumption should help us to empower parents and support mothers too. Let’s respect motherhood as the important — vital — work that it is!

Time will tell, but we CAN try changing things in our communities. After all, when you try, sometimes you can succeed, and more changes take place when we try to make them happen than when we don’t.

Marilyn Hogan, IBCLC, RLC