A couple of male friends laughed incredulously when I mentioned such people as lactation consultants existed. Their simultaneous response was "Women have been BF for thousands of years! What new age nonsense is this?"
Well, it's true really BUT in all those years, women had community and family support, mothers would educate daughters, if not, then an aunty or a neighbour in the community, or whatever. They would even feed each others babies when there were problems. These days sadly we DO need lactation consultants, because the culture of breastfeeding has slipped out the window, and big corporations have come up with an alternative which is all too readily available. So the importance of breastfeeding and encouragement to persevere have taken a back seat.