Our mission
Community IBCLC care for all in Ontario
The vision
To provide a fully funded safety net,
of IBCLC continuity of care, preconception through weaning,
to all Ontario families requiring lactation and infant feeding support.
Where the support runs out
Nine in ten families start.
In Ontario, 92.1% of families begin breastfeeding. More than nine in ten decide it is worth trying. By six months, about 36% are breastfeeding exclusively.
Almost every family in this province wants to breastfeed. What changes between those two numbers is not willingness. It is whether skilled help was there in the weeks when feeding got hard, and whether a family could afford it when it was.
Initiation: Ontario rates reported in The costs of suboptimal breastfeeding in Ontario, Canada, International Breastfeeding Journal, 2025. Exclusive breastfeeding at six months: Statistics Canada, exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months.
Every family deserves the best start
Infant food insecurity in Ontario.
Formula prices in Canada have climbed nearly 84% since 2017, and about 30% in just the last two years, on Statistics Canada’s figures. Thunder Bay parents interviewed by CBC News described paying $90 to $120 a week.
Jessica Pope, CBC News, 14 November 2025: Desperate parents needing baby formula turn to online strangers as Canadian prices nearly double since 2017.
What breastfeeding support returns
IBCLC support is not a luxury, it is a critical health intervention.
The World Bank puts the global cost of promoting and protecting breastfeeding at an estimated $0.6 billion a year, against potential economic returns of about $30 billion a year over the next ten years, or about $35 for every $1 invested. It estimates breastfeeding can help avoid over 800,000 child deaths and 20,000 maternal deaths globally each year.
Annette Dixon, World Bank, 1 August 2018: Breastfeeding: A Foundational Investment in Human Capital.
Building healthy futures together
The bill is the barrier.
Today, many families pay for community IBCLC care out of their own pockets. What we want is IBCLC support with nothing to pay out of pocket at all.
Getting there is not something IBCLCs can do alone. We want to work with organizations and programs that can reduce, or remove, the need to charge a parent for lactation care.
Interested in being part of the solution
Let’s have a conversation.
Funders, policy makers, referring providers and IBCLCs who want to help: CLC Ontario would like to hear from you. Thank you for your interest in helping more families in Ontario reach their feeding goals.
Send us a message
Contact CLC Ontario.