Thursday, June 4, 2015

What to expect at a meeting


Many mothers have expressed reservations about attending a LLL meeting for various reasons. We would just like to clear the air and tell everyone what really goes on at a meeting. 

When you attend an LLL meeting you will see a melting pot of mothers. Women of different races, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds and religions. Working mothers and stay at home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Some are a little crunchier or more granola than others. We all nurse(d) our infants or toddlers for different lengths of time. We are all diverse but have the same goal, doing what is best for our children.

We always say at the beginning of meetings, you may hear a lot of information and opinions, but take home what works best for you and your family and leave the rest. We encourage mothers to bring their children to meetings and care for them however they need to, whether it is changing diapers, feeding from the breast or a bottle, with or without a cover. After all, they are half of the equation in the mother-child relationship.

There are many preconceived notions about what La Leche League meetings are and are not. We are not breastfeeding Nazis. We support mothers in their breastfeeding journey where ever they are at and for as long is mutually desired by infant and mother. Whether you are pumping and feeding from a bottle but want to nurse from the breast, supplementing with formula, using an SNS, nipple shield, or dropper, we are here to help you. We are not hippies that walk around topless breastfeeding toddlers, we are everyday women doing everyday things. We do not cater to only stay at home moms, in fact all of our leaders work in some capacity and the majority of our members go back to work at some point. The fact that our leaders do work or have worked while breastfeeding children makes it that much easier for them to relate to and provide support for mothers who are returning to work and need to know how to manage breastfeeding at work. 

We encourage women who are pregnant to come to meetings as well, you can never be too prepared and it is never too early to start thinking about breastfeeding. 

We provide information, support, and education based on our own extensive experiences and through peer reviewed and evidenced based practice. We strive to supply mothers with information regarding current best practice for infants. We support the biological need for infants to be close to their mothers and we encourage breastfeeding as the biological norm. 

Many women feel they do not need LLL because they do not have any trouble breastfeeding. LLL is not just about helping women who are having difficulties breastfeeding but also building a support system within our community for breastfeeding mothers and finding camaraderie in breastfeeding. It is an open space to share experiences, good or bad, and not be judged. It is a place to openly express your feelings and concerns. Our meetings are completely free and we encourage mothers of all walks of life to come and share your own experiences and learn from others. Even if you feel that you do not have anything to gain from a meeting you may have experiences and knowledge to share that could greatly help another mother who is struggling.

It takes a village to raise a baby and in this day and age we are not all blessed with a village, or anything close to it, we need to go out and find our own village and create our own support system. 

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