If you are a expectant or new mom, trying to decide whether or not to breastfeed can be very difficult! If you have to work outside the home, trying to breastfeed your baby can seem almost impossible. This is where a mom support group can be invaluable!

You are not alone. Moms across the country are trying to make these tough decisions too, and sometimes just having another person to talk to can help! When moms connect over issues like breastfeeding, the knowledge and encouragement get shared around and you can find support no matter which decision you end up making.

I breastfed all three of my children. I consider myself lucky because I was able to without a lot of hardship. With my first, I worked outside the home for the first few months, ten hours a day. However, the job was five minutes away from my house, and my husband was a stay at home dad. My schedule ran in three short shifts, 9-12, 1-4 and 5-9, which meant every three or four hours I could come home for an hour and nurse my daughter.

She was an easy baby, too, and slept through the night from the age of two weeks, so even when I switched jobs and worked nights I was able to feed her before I left and put her to bed. I would get home right before she woke in the morning! By the time she was a year old, I had found a job that let me work from home, and from then on I was a work at home, stay at home mom. My boys were able to breast feed too!

I have a lot of friends for whom it wasn’t so easy. They had to work long days away from the home, and some were single moms or moms with hubbies who worked, so the baby went into daycare as soon as their maternity leave ended. One or two tried to pump breast milk and send it for their babies, but most just decided to switch to formula. A couple used formula from the start so they wouldn’t have to do a switchover.

I always tried to offer all of these moms support, because I don’t know what I would have done in their place!  I knew I was lucky to have an easy decision. I always felt that breastfeeding was a natural way to make my babies healthy and strong, and they weren’t sick very often. Even today, my older ones only have ever had one ear infection each, and my 18 month old (who is just about weaned) has never had even one. Of course, that might be due to not being in daycare, too; I notice the first year they are in school they spend a lot of time being sick as they get used to all the germs!

The only other thing that I notice about formula is that nearly all the moms I know that use it have babies that colic all the time. I don’t know for sure if it is connected, but it seems to be that they always have to keep switching the formula all the time looking for one that doesn’t upset their babies’ stomachs. None of mine ever were colicky, and I know I am very lucky!

The best thing for any mom is just to do whatever works best for her and her baby. I believe in breastfeeding, but I realize that not everyone can or wants to breastfeed, and I respect their decision!

Whether you decide to breast feed or go the formula route, it’s important that you have people around you that support your decision. You are the mom, and you have to ultimately decide what works best for you AND your baby!

Single moms have to do it all. Sometimes it’s easy to look around at the couples with or without kids and feel like no-one understands what you are going through. This is when you need help the most, and there are a lot of places you can get backup and single mom support.

Support groups are everywhere, whether it be the single parents in your neighborhood or building, the other moms who show up at the PTA meeting with baby food on their blouse, or even the parents’ group at church. Strike up a conversation and make a new friend. You might be surprised at how much you have in common with the immaculately dressed woman in 3-A when you run across her at midnight in the laundry room. When you see her bleary eyed and make-up free, in grungy sweats with her hair jammed in a scrunchie washing kid vomit out of sheets, you might just realize your worlds aren’t so far apart after all.

Many people in a mom’s life can offer a single mom support by taking turns carpooling or offering to baby-sit in shifts so she can have a chance to run errands or even just sleep for a few hours. Churches often offer a cheap alternative to standard daycare, and mother’s day out programs are great.

If you can find a group dedicated to single mom support all the better!  These loosely organized networks of single parents can help all members cope with the trials of handing kids, a job and a life on your own. They can hook you up with coupons, deals, babysitters and nannies, let you know who the best household help options are, qualify you for group rates on tickets for fun activities or just offer a few understanding shoulders to cry on when life seems too complicated.

When you are a single mom, support can just mean validation or assurance that you are doing an OK job. Parents can feel so inadequate sometimes, and wonder if they are shortchanging their kids. A group of moms going through the same things can help a lot just by reinforcing the fact that you are not alone.

If you are a single mom, support might be al you need to get that extra boost to help you through the week. Look for a support group in your area and join up today. Help is on its way!