Nova Scotia·NewA popular infant feeding support service at a Halifax clinic is set to be scaled back. Parents and babies will still be able to access support by appointment, but a drop-in service will be discontinued in January, and the health authority has not said why. Health authority has not explained the elimination of a drop-in serviceTaryn Grant · CBC News · Posted: Nov 07, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 15 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Mayela Lopez Rodrigues nurses her three-month-old son, Santiago. She says nursing was painful until she got help from a lactation consultant. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)Polina Lerman was losing hope. Her milk supply was dropping and she knew that nursing wasn’t providing enough nourishment to her infant daughter.“For weeks after that I tried everything that you can imagine. Every old wives’ tale,” the new mom said in an interview.But things turned around after she started receiving guidance from a lactation consultant at a clinic in Halifax. Thanks to that specialized support, Lerman said she’s now producing five times more milk and is confident in feeding her three-month-old baby.But the publicly funded clinic is set to be scaled back in the new year.Parents and babies will still be able to access support by appointment, but a drop-in service will be discontinued in January.The operators had recently extended the hours of the weekly drop-in session in response to demand.The service was run by a nurse practitioner, who is also a lactation consultant, and the Chebucto Family Resource Centre. It was funded by Nova Scotia Health and based out of one of the health authority’s public health clinics in Halifax.Nova Scotia Health would not make anyone available for an interview and provided a statement that did not say why the popular offering is coming to an end.Polina Lerman says her milk supply was low and she was nearly ready to give up on breastfeeding her baby girl before getting help at the infant feeding clinic in Halifax. (Maria Digou/Submitted)No matter the reason, Lerman said she’s disappointed. The sentiment is shared by Britney Benoit, who researches infant feeding.Benoit, an associate professor of nursing at St. Francis Xavier University, said there are “glaring gaps” in access to breastfeeding support in all regions of the province, and that the need for support is “very, very common.”“I think there is an assumption that breastfeeding is easy, it’s natural, but it’s absolutely not,” Benoit said in an interview.“It is something that can be challenging, that requires really extensive hands-on physical support to breastfeed in those early days,” she added.Britney Benoit, associate professor of nursing at St. Francis Xavier University, says it’s very common for moms to need help with breastfeeding. (Hilary Hendsbee/Submitted)Benoit’s description of scarce access to help and the critical need for it is reflected in national statistics on breastfeeding. According to a 2022 report from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Nova Scotia lags behind the national average in breastfeeding rates in the first six months after birth. Benoit said there’s a strong body of evidence showing that exclusive breastfeeding in those first six months has significant health benefits for both mom and baby.“These include things like prevention of infection and chronic disease in infants and prevention of reproductive cancers and other chronic diseases in the breastfeeding parent,” she said.Health minister has asked for more informationMayela Lopez Rodrigues said she likely wouldn’t be breastfeeding her three-month-old son anymore if it weren’t for the support she received at the Halifax clinic.“It was getting extremely painful and I had already gone to a doctor and have had other nurses at the hospital trying to help me out with breastfeeding… None of that really helped,” she said in an interview.After a few sessions with the lactation consultant at the Halifax clinic, she said her issues were resolved.“I was raving about the clinic … and telling a lot of my friends who are expecting to like, be aware that there is that resource for them if they ever need it.”News that the clinic’s services are being cut back left her feeling “extremely saddened.”The statement issued by Nova Scotia Health said infant feeding support services are offered across the province, and the health authority is committed to providing “the right care, at the right time, in the right place, from the right provider.”Nova Scotia Health Minister Michelle Thompson said Thursday she had just learned about the health authority’s decision and asked for more information. “We know the early years are a critical time for children, and I need to understand the decision before commenting,” Thompson said in a statement.MORE TOP STORIES ABOUT THE AUTHORTaryn Grant covers daily news for CBC Nova Scotia, with a particular interest in housing and homelessness, education, and health care. You can email her with tips and feedback at taryn.grant@cbc.ca With files from The Canadian Press
Breastfeeding support services to be scaled back at Halifax clinic
