My name is Hilary Jacobson. I was born in California, and moved to Switzerland, where I studied music, when I was 19. Ten years later, I was a music teacher with a love of writing fiction and poetry, when I experienced low milk supply with my first baby. I was devastated, and I felt so alone -- none of my healthcare providers seemed able to help me.
In the years that followed, I was gradually introduced to foods used traditionally by Swiss mothers to increase their milk supply. When I saw the difference they made, (unfortunately, not in time for my first baby) I spoke to my healthcare providers again. Strangely, my pediatrician and mother-care nurse knew little about this subject. They both believed that low milk supply was caused by "psychology" and that galactagogues (herbs and foods that enhance supply) were mere placebos. To their minds, foods and herbs did not really affect lactation.
Over the course of nurturing my four babies, I became convinced that the foods did in fact have a very concrete effect on my milk production. In the case of my third and forth babies, I was able to nurse them exclusively and with an abundant supply for more than a year -- as long as I remembered to take my lactogenic foods and herbs, my supply was strong.
I went on to research lactogenic foods and herbs over a span of many years, and in 2000, became certified as a holistic lactation consultant in Switzerland (CH.HU.SI.). That course of study included extensive information on the ways that nutrition and herbs affect milk supply, as well as their use in supporting many facets of a mother's and her baby's health.
In 2000 I also joined an online forum for mothers with low milk supply called MOBI (mothers overcoming breastfeeding issues). In 2005, we became a non-profit, and in 2006, we launched our website at www.mobimotherhood.org, providing information and moral support to mothers with extreme breastfeeding problems.
I am sometimes asked if the Swiss certification program is translated into English, and unfortunately it is not. The good news however is that several lactation consultants with a background in herbs and nutrition are planning a similar curriculum here. In the United States, there will one day be a school of holistic lactation consulting. I will always be proud that my research and my book "Mother Food" have been instrumental in this movement.
