Kristen Hinshaw, center, and Kristal Wilson, right, join other new mothers in a meeting of the breastfeeding and new parents support group at Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Monday. The group meets every Monday morning to help new moms (and dads) with breastfeeding and parenting issues. Local health organizations are trying to increase the number of moms who breastfeed and are sponsoring the screening of the documentary Breastmilk this Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center as part of World Breastfeeding Week.

Courtney Wallis stopped breastfeeding her first two kids after a matter of weeks, and was determined not to let that happen again But her daughter, born earlier this year, didn’t make things easy on her.

Unlike after her first two pregnancies, though, Wallis had ample support this go-around. The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department’s breastfeeding educators and support group helped her through some of the tougher times — not that she didn’t think about giving up.

“I was going to quit because it was just horrible,” said Wallis, a 36-year-old stay-at-home mom who recently moved from Lawrence to Topeka. “It’s just not as easy as it looks. But I stuck with it, and now we’re doing great.”

The local health department hopes it can get more mothers to start, and continue, breastfeeding because of the benefits to mom and baby, which experts say include increased bonding, a stronger immune system for the newborn and the financial and environmental savings from not using formula. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends mothers exclusively breastfeed for six months, while the World Health Organization says moms can supplement breast milk with solid foods for two years or longer.

“There are tons of reasons women should breastfeed,” said Jolene Croxwell, WIC supervisor for the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. “No. 1 is the bonding between the mom and the baby. There are also health benefits for the babies, like antibodies and immunoglobulins to protect them from illness and disease, that formula doesn’t have. For moms, there’s the increased weight loss after pregnancy, and it protects them from other diseases like breast cancer.”

The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department recently started looking at how it could improve breastfeeding rates by studying the mothers enrolled in its Women, Infants and Children program, which provides them with food vouchers and nutrition counseling. It found that 30 percent of moms who had just one prenatal WIC appointment dedicated to breastfeeding nursed their infants, compared to 90 percent of mothers who had two or more such appointments. The department now plans to increase the amount of time it spends educating expectant mothers on breastfeeding.

While nearly 80 percent of the roughly 600 moms in the program initiated breastfeeding in 2013, more than half of those mothers stopped six months later, another phenomenon the health department hopes to change. Moms often quit because they run into problems like their babies not latching properly, or when they go back to work or school. “I feel like some moms feel they have to give up breastfeeding if they start using formula,” Croxell said. “We recommend they continue to breastfeed, even if they do just one feeding a day, because of the added health benefits from breast milk.”

She added that moms who grew up in a household where breastfeeding was common are more likely to do it themselves, so the health department hopes to normalize the practice throughout the community. As part of that effort, the department is teaming with other organizations with breastfeeding resources to start a local breastfeeding coalition. In addition, the health department, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and La Leche League of Lawrence are hosting a free screening of the documentary “Breastmilk” at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week.

Tiara Greenwood, of Lawrence, has had a successful time breastfeeding her 7-month-old son. At the hospital, he was nursing within 10 minutes of a nurse placing him on his mother’s skin.

“It’s a great bonding experience,” said the 20-year-old Kansas University employee. “It’s not only healthier for the baby, it’s healthier for the mom, too. It helps you lose the baby weight faster, puts you in a better mood.”

Still, Greenwood attends the health department support group for the camaraderie and in case she runs into any issues along the way. For instance, her son would get distracted while he was feeding and look away, or want to eat all the time. Other support group members helped her work through the problems.

So, what would her advice be to other nursing moms?

“Just push through it,” she said. “It’s probably going to be hard, but you don’t want to give up because it’s going to be a great outcome in the end.”

Wallis is glad she was persistent. After her last child wouldn’t latch properly, she stopped nursing. But thanks to the local support group, she learned that babies don’t generally get the hang of latching until about 6 weeks of age. The breastfeeding educators at the health department also helped her identify a condition that was causing pain in her nipples, and she was able to treat it with over-the-counter supplements.

So far, Wallis’ daughter has gotten sick fewer times and been less gaseous than her last two children, which she attributes to the continued breastfeeding. Which wouldn’t have happened if not for the local support.

“I know for a fact I wouldn’t have stuck with it,” she said. “As much as my husband was trying to support me, there was no way he knew what I was going through.”

“I’m very glad I continued,” she added. “I would do it a million times over. The bonding has been amazing. I’ve been able to soothe her more easily. She’s just been a very healthy, happy baby.”