Happy Birthday to our country! I’d also like to say Happy Birthday to the lucky next generation of nursing families! Why you ask? The 4th of July festivities changed for me in 1990. That was the day I gave birth to my first child, Nicholas. Breastfeeding support was lacking. My mother was a big part of my support system, but she had not breastfed a child. She was incredibly helpful and I’m sincerely thankful for her support till this day as I know that’s not always the case. When I started in this work, it was rare that the nursing parent I was working with had been breastfed. I was working with a generation of breastfeeding families who were trying to figure it all out from scratch. Now, more and more, clients tell me, “Yes! I was breastfed!” Even as I watch my own children having children, I think, how lucky they are to have my support and knowledge about breastfeeding. (OK, they had a little extra boost since I’m an IBCLC!) I can’t wait to see the breastfeeding statistics in the next few decades as more new families have the benefit of experienced breastfeeding support. We can go back to grandmothers, aunties, and sisters surrounding new mothers with experience… just the way it was decades and decades ago. A true village. Oh, and one more thing, Happy Birthday to my son, Nick too! 
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