The Deep Connect
It begins with one mother turning to another and saying, “I’ve been there too.” For a new mother who is navigating exhaustion, uncertainty, and the unspoken pressures of early motherhood, these words are more than comfort. They are anchors. Across the world, mother-to-mother support groups are proving that breastfeeding success is not only about having the right information, but also about having someone who listens, understands, and walks beside you.
Breastfeeding is a central part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is linked to many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mothers and caregivers need to be supported and enabled to follow the WHO’s recommendation to continue breastfeeding alongside appropriate complementary foods from age six months to two years and beyond. In a brief on breastfeeding , we have seen the importance of breastfeeding and the colossal effects its absence can have on young children’s lives. Optimal breastfeeding is so crucial that it could save over 820,000 children under the age of 5, each year14.
Why Peer Support Makes a Difference
What mothers have felt for generations is now backed by research. The science is clear: community-based peer support changes breastfeeding outcomes. When mothers receive encouragement and guidance from trained peers, especially during pregnancy and the first weeks of postpartum, they are far more likely to initiate and sustain breastfeeding.
A 2023 review found that peer support significantly increases both any breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding rates at one month, with benefits often extending through the first three to six months of life (AHRQ, 2023). A 2025 public health analysis reported that mothers with access to structured breastfeeding support, much of it delivered in community settings, were 3.6 times more likely to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour after birth compared to those without such support (BMC Public Health, 2025). Another recent study found that proactive, ongoing guidance increased the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months by 31% (BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2025).
Beyond the numbers, mothers consistently describe peer support as the bridge between knowing the benefits of breastfeeding and having the confidence to continue, offering emotional reassurance, practical tips, and a safe space to share challenges that only another mother can truly understand (International Brestfeeding Journal, 2024).
These numbers come to life in communities around the world like in Malaysia, where peer support is reshaping breastfeeding journeys.
Case Study: Peer Counsellor Success in Malaysia
In Malaysia, the Malaysian Breastfeeding Peer Counsellor (MBfPC) Program trained volunteer mothers to offer structured support to their peers. The program’s impact was clear: mothers who received peer counselling were significantly more likely to exclusively breastfeed at both four and six months compared to those without such support. Every mother in the intervention group reported that peer support helped her reach her breastfeeding goals, and nearly all said they would recommend it to others (Mohd Yusof et al., 2021, ResearchGate).
In rural and urban communities alike, the Malaysian model shows how structured, culturally attuned peer programs can sustain breastfeeding well beyond the early weeks.
Why Peer Groups Work:
Peer groups succeed because they go beyond sharing information, they create emotional resonance. When mothers exchange stories, they feel truly seen, understood, and supported in ways that transcend facts and instructions. The advice they receive is rooted in local customs, language, and lived experience, making it culturally relevant and easy to relate to. And unlike formal healthcare systems, which can be distant or slow to access, peer groups often provide help that is faster, closer to home, and deeply personal.
Call to Action: Expand the Circles of Support
To make peer power a reality for every mother, we must expand the circles of support whether at home or at the workplace. A breastfeeding-inclusive workplace especially can provide the much-needed support for nursing employees by offering reasonable break times; a private and comfortable space for expressing milk, and ensuring access to a refrigerator for storage. This means scaling Mother Support Groups nationwide, from crowded urban slums to remote rural villages, to workplaces and homes, so that no mother feels alone in her breastfeeding journey. It means investing in the training of women-led federations, such as Care Groups, whose networks ripple support across entire communities. We must also embed peer support into health facilities, ensuring mothers receive encouragement and guidance even before they return home. Finally, we should amplify the success stories of these programs, inspiring policymakers, employers, and funders to view peer support not as a supplemental service, but as a cornerstone of maternal and child health that in turn fuels entire economies with a productive, healthy workforce.
The lesson is the same: peer support transforms breastfeeding from an individual act into a shared journey. It empowers mothers with knowledge, confidence, and solidarity, building circles of care that ripple through families and communities.
When a mother hears, “I’ve been there, and I’m here for you,” she gains more than advice. She gains the courage to keep going, the strength to navigate challenges, and the freedom to feed her child anywhere, without fear.
Nutrition Connect, a GAIN initiative, together with global partners, is celebrating World Breastfeeding Month 2025 by spotlighting the transformative power of mother-to-mother peer support groups. With peer-led networks reshaping breastfeeding journeys by offering emotional reassurance, practical guidance, and culturally attuned care. Backed by research, these groups significantly improve early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates, proving that shared experience builds lasting confidence. Through collaborative action, Nutrition Connect and partners aim to expand circles of support worldwide, be it at home, at the workplace or in communities at large, for ensuring every mother feels empowered, informed, and never alone in her breastfeeding journey.
