Even in her groggy, post-sedation haze, Chandra Burnside was adamant about breastfeeding her firstborn son. It was May 2010, and the then 29-year-old lobbyist had just given birth in an emergency caesarean section in a Virginia hospital. Upset that the delivery hadn’t gone as planned, Burnside was determined to get breastfeeding right. After all, decades of research have shown that breast milk confers vital nutritional and health benefits to babies, including protection from illnesses like diabetes and from sudden infant death syndrome.

But that didn’t go according to plan either. Burnside both nursed and then pumped her breast milk around the clock to keep her supply flowing, just as she had learned in the 45-minute class she had taken