“I look at mother and baby as dance partners, both physically and emotionally,” says consultant Pat Shelly, holding baby Claire Miller. Behind her, Trisha Christopher holds daughter Margaret McCommons at the Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington.

THE WASHINGTON POST / NIKKI KAHN

Laura Osuri’s eyes, bloodshot from lack of sleep, rimmed with tears as 2-week-old Isaac slept in his car seat carrier, oblivious to his mother’s worry and frustration.

“The first week he was nursing fine, no problem,” said Osuri, 31, as she collapsed into a chair at the Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington. Then the baby started to arch his back and cry, she said. He had become so uncooperative and she so sore that she’d stopped nursing four days earlier.

“It just wasn’t worth it,” Osuri said, almost apologetically.

It was another mystery for lactation consultants Pat Shelly, who explored Isaac’s mouth with a rubber-gloved pinkie and quietly studied the baby as he finally began trying to suck.

Nicknamed “the breast whisperer” by some clients, Shelly’s work has gained traction as breastfeeding has gradually increased nationwide. She is part of a booming breastfeeding industry that in the past 15 years has given rise to specially designed pillows such as “My Brest Friend,” hands-free pumping bras and charm bracelets that keep track of a baby’s feedings.

In the Washington area, where parenting consultants specialize in everything from infant sleep problems to college applications, Shelly is in high demand. House calls, billed at $150 an hour, begin at 7 a.m. and end about 11 p.m. In between, she is booked solid, seeing about 80 women a week for classes and private consultations at her center downtown. Office appointments cost $85 an hour, with two free visits reserved each week for low-income families.

For Shelly, breastfeeding is less a business than a 25-year cause. Her center is nonprofit, and many of its classes are free. Her message: Breastfeeding may not always be easy, but it’s the healthiest option for babies’ development and immune systems, as well as for their mothers’ stress levels and improved protection against some cancers.

Getting that message out, she said, means battling the influence of well-financed formula companies, brief maternity leaves that allow little time for mother and baby to get in sync, workplaces with no place or time for working mothers to pump, and an American society squeamish about a woman’s breasts providing a child’s food.

Shelly is like a detective with her clients, ferreting out problems: a baby with a small tongue or high palate, a mother with a low milk supply.

“I look at mother and baby as dance partners, both physically and emotionally,” Shelly said.

Clients have included breast cancer survivors, women who have undergone breast surgery and those who want to nurse their adopted babies (yes, it’s possible).

She also helps women with breastfeeding long-term, particularly after returning to work. Government studies show that almost 75 percent of newborns are breastfed, an amount that falls to 42 percent by six months and 21 percent at a year. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding exclusively for six months and then continuing, along with iron-rich solid foods, until the baby is at least 1.

“Women need a village, and we’re in a big city,” said Shelly, 52, a self-described “earth mother” to two adult sons whom she breastfed for two years. “Some women don’t want to listen to their mothers when it comes to breastfeeding. They want a professional.”

Many clients say they found Shelly

a cheerleader who withheld judgment.

“Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world, but it’s not natural for everybody,” said Erica Pressman, 37, who turned to Shelly when daughter Tali, now 4 months, was losing weight at a few days old and developed reflux at 3 months.