For Breast-Feeding Moms, Stores and More TWENTY-FIVE or so years ago, Wendy Haldeman, a nurse and lactation consultant, was standing in a Toys "R" Us parking lot when a female acquaintance ran up, yanked up her shirt and cried out, in reference to one of her exposed breasts: "What is this on my nipple?" Of such strange encounters, business plans are born. Today, Ms. Haldeman and her business partner, Corky Harvey, are the founders and co-owners of the Pump Station and Nurtury, a breast-feeding resource center and baby boutique in Santa Monica, Calif. Their service has managed to survive in an industry that has become dominated by megastores like Target and Babies "R" Us and online retailers like Diapers.com. Besides the ease of online shopping, Diapers.com offers 24-hour delivery at no shipping cost. And Target has started carrying more specialized baby care items like breast pumps and nursing bras - products that had long been the purview of stores like the Pump Station. But the Pump Station survives by offering a service that is not in danger of being co-opted by giants anytime soon: assistance and education for nursing mothers. Other businesses around the country with a similar theme include the Upper Breast Side in Manhattan, DayOne in the San Francisco area and Isis Parenting in the Boston area. Ms. Haldeman leads a monthly breast-feeding class that is consistently sold out; she packs 30 breast-feeding consultations into her five-day workweek. Ms. Harvey, who teaches a baby care class, has a similar schedule. Over the last decade, as baby products have ballooned into a $9.8 billion industry, stores like the Pump Station have become more than just resource centers for nursing mothers. With an avalanche of baby care items on the market - how to decide between the Binky Most Like Mother Latex Pacifier and an Ortho-Pro Pacifier? - many parents are bewildered. And the Internet itself can be cluttered with conflicting information on sleep training and other baby care methods. When mothers turn to the Pump Station, they are often seeking a path through the chaos, along with products approved by a trusted source. "When someone is sitting here going, "Oh my God, there are 20,000 bottles out there," we can tell them, "But this bottle is going to be fabulous and will allow Dad to feed the baby and you to go back to work," " says Cheryl Petran, the Pump Station's chief operating officer and a former buyer for Target and Montgomery Ward. Felina Rakowski-Gallagher, owner of the Upper Breast Side, says people shop at her store in large part to hear what she thinks. "If you're coming here instead of going to a pharmacy or going online," she says, "you're coming because you want an opinion." The Pump Station has commodified its owners" tastes into a list of "Corky and Wendy's Top 25 Recommended Baby Care Products." The items, including the Skip Hop diaper bag and the Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder - can be bought in the store or on the Web site. "We do the research; we check it out," Ms. Haldeman says. Is this a good product? Is it safe? Is it ethical? Is it good for moms and babies? And then we'll bring it in. Customers are willing to pay more for this Good Housekeeping-like stamp of approval, Ms. Petran says. "Pricing isn't much of an issue" at the Pump Station, she says, even though many items can be found for less on sites like Amazon.com. The store offers a community environment of moms interacting with other moms. On any day, there may be a stroller jam of women in commiseration as they browse for organic swaddling blankets. Such an environment has helped the Pump Station expand locally in a shifting economy. A branch opened recently in Westlake Village; there is also a location in Hollywood. Hundreds of years ago, you sat by the campfire and talked about breast-feeding. You had that support, that community," Ms. Petran says. You just don't have that anymore. So moms come here, and it is the proverbial campfire, where you can talk and share. Am I doing this right? Am I not doing this right? That's a part you're not going to get sitting in an aisle at Target. AN increase in breast-feeding rates has also helped business. According to the most recent information available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of babies in the United States were breast-fed at birth in 2008, compared with 70 percent in 2000. Nursing is particularly popular with the Pump Station's biggest demographic: white, college-educated women over 30. Demand was even high in 1986, when Ms. Haldeman and Ms. Harvey began renting breast pumps out of their houses and consulting with new mothers about how to breast-feed. When their husbands became tired of panicked women knocking on their doors at 2 a.m. with nursing questions, they moved to a 200-square-foot office. "We had 50 breast pumps to rent," Ms. Haldeman says. We were open part time; we had a part-time secretary. And in three years, we were renting 1,000 pumps" at a time. As the business grew, "Moms said, "Wouldn't it be great if you had nursing bras?" Ms. Haldeman recalls. "So we said, "O.K." We started bringing in nursing bras. Then they said, "Wouldn't it be great if you had some baby clothes?" As women made requests, we kept trying to meet their needs. That's what we've always done, to this day. And what about the woman in the parking lot from all those years ago? Ms. Haldeman says she politely suggested that they go sit in the woman's car so she could examine her. "My daughters were with me," Ms. Haldeman says, laughing. They were just horrified. E-mail: proto@nytimes.com.