Will I need to pay for breastfeeding help at Baby Café Bakersfield?

No. Families can always access our breastfeeding care and support for free. You will not need to provide any insurance information or payment to receive services.

When should I reach out for breastfeeding help?

As soon as you think you might need it. If you are pregnant, we would love to meet you and talk to you about your breastfeeding plans and needs. If your baby is already here, please reach out as soon as you think you might need some information or help. Many things about learning to breastfeed can be hard, and we are here to help make it easier for you.

It seems like breastfeeding should be easy. Why should I get professional help?

While breastfeeding is a natural process that you and your baby were designed to do, there is a lot of bad information out there, and there are things that can come up which can make it hard for you to learn. You and your baby are unique - getting professional help means that you two will get exactly the help and information that you need for your situation. The internet can’t do that for you. You need to talk to real people with real knowledge and clinical skills.

How does Baby Café Bakersfield pay its bills if families aren’t paying them?

Baby Café Bakersfield operates using donations from the community. When people pay it forward, the families which need us tomorrow will receive the breastfeeding care they need. Breastfeeding support is very valuable to individuals and to the community, so we welcome your generosity and look forward to hearing from you if you have any ideas or suggestions of others who might want to donate!

Is breastfeeding really that important?

Breastfeeding is an important part of human health. It is part of the way the human body was designed to help. Human milk is the optimal food for babies, and nothing even comes close to its ingredients. It is a living fluid that provides protection from infection and disease, hormones that a baby’s body needs for development, growth factors to help babies grow normally, and the nutritional building blocks of health. Breastfeeding also matters to mothers, allowing their bodies to develop normally throughout their adult life, protecting them from many types of cancer. Breastfeeding also protects the health of the breast throughout the lifetime. Reaching out for breastfeeding help and support can make the difference if breastfeeding is feeling really hard. We’re here to help!