BFAR Support Group

The first BFAR resources began in 1995 when Diana West, Carol Maranta, Lara Cowan-Vesper, Colleen Dunhill Jones, and Christine Gilmore Eubanks found each other on an online bulletin board (the first internet social media platform). They were each struggling to breastfeed after their breast reduction surgery and wanted to find other people in the same situation to share resources and support. 

The five moms began a private email group in 1996 named “BFAR” — an acronym for BreastFeeding After Reduction (pronounced “bee-far”). To their surprise, the acronym BFAR quickly caught on in the lactation field and is now used around the world to mean breastfeeding after breast and nipple surgeries.

Around 2005, the BFAR email group had become so large that Diana and Carol converted it into a forum on the BFAR website that Carol Maranta managed and moderated expertly for several years. The forum eventually expanded to include information and support for anyone breastfeeding after any type of breast or nipple surgery. In 2012, it was moved to today’s closed and private group on Facebook.