Breastfeeding Education Needs to Change

Recently I’ve become convinced that current breastfeeding education is failing those who wish to exclusively bodyfeed. Why? Because feeding for 10–15 minutes per side every three hours is often not enough to bring in your full milk supply.

Hi! I’m Grace, a certified birth and postpartum doula (also a childbirth educator) who has been practicing for 15 years. I’m also a parent of three young adults, all of whom were exclusively breastfed. My parenting journey started in September 2002 when I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant. Those two lines radically changed my future.

When I had my babies in the 2000s, it was widely understood that the previously accepted standard of putting baby to the breast for 30 minutes every 3 hours would not bring in your milk supply. Instead, nurses and educators encouraged people to feed on demand, bringing baby to the breast whenever they showed hunger cues

Now I regularly hear people say that their health professional told them not to let baby use them as a pacifier, or that babies really shouldn’t be on the breast longer than 30 minutes every three hours. Those same parents are often told to top up their baby with formula or to pump after those 30 minutes because baby is slow to gain weight.

Now, I want to pause to acknowledge that breastfeeding is COMPLEX. There are so many factors that go into whether or not bodyfeeding works for you and your baby. One of the things I love about infant feeding in 2025 is that we have so many options available. However you feed your baby is excellent and amazing. Because when they are three, you’re going to find them trying to shove anything and everything in their mouth no matter how you fed them in the beginning.

I also want to acknowledge that exclusively bodyfeeding (EBF) is A LOT!!! You are signing up to have your baby attached to you most of the time for the next 4–6 months. EBF can be a wonderful, magical experience. It can also be draining and exhausting. Being touched out is not uncommon in that first year (or four) of parenting, even when bottle feeding. At the end of the day, you matter. Your mental and physical health matters. It’s absolutely okay to move away from exclusively breastfeeding to care for yourself. (Or for any reason, really.)

BUT according to Health Canada, 42.5% of those who stop breastfeeding in the first month do so because they don’t have enough milk. For those stopping bodyfeeding between months 1 to 6, 43.9% of parents say this is because of their milk supply. So when our education on bodyfeeding does not align with the physical realities of milk production, I’m going to call it out.

Worried about your milk supply? Try latching your baby whenever they cue, not when the clock says you should.