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Mothers Helping Mothers
La Leche League International By Dorothy Patricia Dimmig
When considering breastfeeding or if you're already a breastfeeding mother, chances are you have heard the name La Leche League. It is referred to in many articles and books, and by hospitals and doctors worldwide. La Leche League International (LLLI) is a nonprofit organization that provides support, encouragement and information to breastfeeding mothers. "La Leche League is just mothers helping mothers," says Lisa Wayda, a group leader in Mocksville, N.C.
La Leche League held its first meeting on October 17, 1956, at the home of Mary White, a mother from Illinois, with a few interested moms. In just two years, the group had incorporated and published the first edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding(Plume, 2004), now in itsseventhedition. The group went global in 1964 and changed its name to La Leche League International Inc. with groups in Mexico, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. The first international conference was held that year with 425 adults and 100 babies in attendance. Seventeen years later at the LLLI 25th Anniversary Conference, there were 3,800 adults and 2,300 children attending. Membership has increased at a phenomenal rate to a current count of more than 200,000 members.
LLLI maintains a board of medical and legal experts that assists the group with answering questions and developing programs. "When a mother calls a leader or comes to a meeting and has a question that is beyond the range of knowledge of the group leader, there is an order we follow," says Kim Linville, a group leader in Cooleemee, N.C. "First, there is a library of books we have at our disposal. We look there to see if we can find the answer to her question. If we can't, then we contact our supervisor, and so on, until we get her the information she needs or an alternate place to look."
