Le Leche League (LLL) is an international organization that promotes breastfeeding through local gatherings. LLL was founded in the 1950's. Le leche is Spanish for the milk, a name chosen so that women could meet without fear of being judged for breastfeeding. "Our Mission is to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother."
When my journey with baby Lily started, I knew I wanted to breastfeed, but I felt that it would be so instinctive and natural that I wouldn't need to read any books or connect with any support. In class, we watched Baby-led Breastfeeding, and I could feel the connection to Lily pour out of me. I could feel how excited I was to breastfeed. The hormones and instincts were roaring. I started reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, and my attitude changed. Reading about breastfeeding helped me feel so much more connected to Lily. I immediately looked for breastfeeding classes and meetings near me. I started to look for other classes, too, such as baby care, infant massage, infant CPR, etc., because learning more and more about taking care of baby just makes those loving mothering hormones roll out of me.So, I end up at this breastfeeding meeting in a small nursery. Seventeen women, six infants, three toddlers, and one preschooler attended the meeting. Among them were two little ones who were only three weeks old, as well as two pregnant women (one being me!). One woman was there with her 30 year-old daughter and her children (three generations!). One woman did not bring her twins who were born 6 weeks early. One woman did not bring her little one so they could practice bottle feeding at home, so that she could go into surgery next week. Several of the women have grown children who they breastfed, and there were a couple of mentions of being members of Le Leche League for 20 to 30 or more years. A couple of the moms are breastfeeding toddlers of two years and older. All women are welcome at meetings, and there are three times per year that this chapter invites husbands to attend.
The topic of the meeting was to discuss some of the benefits of breastfeeding. Excerpts were read from an article written by an LLL founder about how the use of language around breastfeeding impacts it's acceptance in society. Breastfeeding is the normal way to feed a baby, and it's benefits aren't benefits. They are the status quot. Instead of looking at benefits of breastfeeding as bonuses, we should look at the disadvantages of formula feeding as handicaps. For example, we might say that breastfed babies have a better immune system and are sick less, but we should instead say that formula-fed babies have weaker immune systems and are sick more.
I've mentioned a lot of positive things about breastfeeding that we learned in Bradley class. I learned more new things in conversation at the LLL meeting:
- The hormones released in pregnancy and breastfeeding currently relieve one woman's symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
- Someone mentioned that not only is a breastfeeding woman at reduced risk for feminine cancers, but a breastfed daughter is also at reduced risk to develop those diseases.
- Breastfeeding women's periods are slower to return. Several women who exclusively breastfed said that they didn't have a period for a year to 18 months after their little ones were born.
One interesting note for this mom-to-be: the room was neat and tidy, but by the time the toddlers were done with it, it was a disaster. LOL!
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