History of the LLL
La Leche League began with a dream: that all mothers who want to breastfeed their babies would be able to do so.
Seven women has this dream in common. Each had to overcome a variety of difficulties before she was able to breastfeed with ease and confidence, and each knew of too many mothers who were unable to breastfeed at all simply because they had no one to turn to for information and advice. In order to turn their dream into reality, these seven women grounded the La Leche League.
The start
It was at a picnic that Mary White and Marian Thompson decided there had to be a way to help their friends who wanted to breastfeed their babies but found only frustration and failure when they tried. With their own nursing babies cradled in their arms on that summer afternoon in 1956, they talked about finding a way to help other women experience the joy and deep fulfillment of breastfeeding.
In the weeks that followed, Mary talked to Mary Ann Kerwen, her sister-in-law, and Mary Ann Cahill, who casually mentioned the idea to Betty Wagner. Marian contacted Edwina Fröhlich, who got on the phone to call her good friend Viola Lennon. Each had nursed one or more babies. They had no detailed plans, but were willing to try. Two local physicians, Drs. Herbert Ratner and Gregory White, advised them on the medical aspects of breastfeeding.
Confident of their information and enthusiastic about breastfeeding, they invited their pregnant friends to a meeting at Mary White’s house one October evening in 1956. What they offered to interested neighbourhood mothers then was the same as is offered by LLL Leaders worldwide today: information, encouragement, and support on a mother-to-mother basis. In all the years since the grounding of the organisation, this has remained the same.
Today, La Leche League stands as the internationally recognised authority on breastfeeding and is contacted by mothers, fathers, medical personnel and lactation consultants for its expertise on breastfeeding.
La Leche League International serves as a consultant to UNICEF and the WHO and is a founding member of the WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action). La Leche League’s Annual Seminars for Physicians, held in North America, are accredited by renowned medical societies and attract doctors from all over the world. Workshops for Lactation Specialists are scheduled twice yearly and are considered to be important training opportunities.
The organisation
When the organisation was founded, use of the word ‘breast’ was not allowed in polite company in the United States. The name of the organisation was inspired by a shrine in St. Augustine, Florida, dedicated to the Mother of Christ under the title „Nuestra Senora de la Leche y Buen Parto,“ which, translated freely, means “Our Lady of Happy Delivery and Plentiful Milk.”
La Leche League lives from the committment and work of many volunteers. It is an independent non-profit organization that finances itself exclusively through donations, memberships and the sale of articles useful to parents and children.
«The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding»
When the seven founders wrote the first edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding in the 1950s, they were all stay-at-home mothers. Writing was done in-between other chores. More often than not, the writing desk was the family dining table, and transcript pages had to be gathered up hastily at mealtimes.
The seven women were mutually agreed from the beginning that their families were their first priorities, which allowed them to set aside LLL work when their families needed them. As their children grew and circumstances changed, more time became free to commit to the growing organisation. Despite differences in age and background, they were always united through their belief in the importance of mothering and the value of breastfeeding.
What La Leche League has achieved
In the past few decades, much has changed in the nurseries and pediatric wards of hospitals – some of it thanks to the influence of the LLL.
In the past, mothers and newborns were routinely separated after birth for up to 24 hours. The LLL was against such a separation because babies need their mothers and because mothers benefit if they can breastfeed as soon as possible, so that the mother-child bonding is not disturbed. Today, mothers can usually hold and breastfeed their children immediately after birth. What was unthinkable 40 years ago is commonplace today, and the LLL has done much to help.
The usual practices for after the neonatal period have also changed considerably. Forty years ago, it was recommended, for example, to introduce solids to babies somewhere between one and three months of age. Medical research and evidence that milk production declines when supplementary foods are introduced too early led the founders of LLL to suggest that complementary food should not be introduced until at least the fourth, and preferably the sixth, month. Today, this recommendation is also supported by paediatricians.
In the 1940s and 1950s, mothers were taught by “experts” how to raise their children. The average mother no longer trusted her own instincts and abilities. At the time, predominantly male experts dominated the field and these seven women set out to return the children to their mothers. Even before self-help groups became modern, the LLL recognized their importance for mothers, thereby giving them back the control and responsibility for matters of family health.
In the beginning, women came with basic questions: How do I know that my child is getting enough milk? How do I know if it is hungry? When will my child sleep through? Even today, women in the LLL meetings are seeking corroboration; mother-to-mother support, the hallmark of LLL; and answers to these same questions. Mothers still give as the main reason for early weaning that they (supposedly) have too little milk.
Since 1956, the LLL has become an international organization that is recognized worldwide as an authority in the field of breastfeeding and has influence in important areas.
LLL remains as a world leader when it comes to representing the needs of children.
Why La Leche League is still contacted today
Today, virtually all professionals agree that breastfeeding is best for mothers and babies. The attitude to breastfeeding has also changed fundamentally worldwide. Especially here in Western Europe, the question arises: Why is the LLL still necessary?
Despite the theoretical recognition of the benefits of breastfeeding, our Western culture is still not breastfeeding-friendly. The unspoken norm in the minds of most people, in the media and in advertising is still bottle-feeding.
Even breastfeeding-friendly professionals often lack the practical knowledge and experience to support a breastfeeding mother effectively. Breastfeeding means a long-lasting commitment. To carry this through, a mother needs affirmation and fellowship with other mothers. The LLL’s success is based on providing practical information as well as warm-hearted compassion and support. Through the generations, the needs of children and mothers remain the same, even when external circumstances change dramatically. In a society where there is increasing individualization, LLL has an important role to play in helping young mothers.
In a sense, breastfeeding was easier in the early days of LLL. Most mothers were not working and did not even consider this to be an option. The pressure on today’s mothers is great – they should be perfect mothers and housewives, but should also remain present in the workplace. Life has become more complex. It is no longer self-evident that the needs of a baby come first, and the decision to put the needs of the baby first requires much more courage and assertiveness than before.
Young mothers often want, or need, to work now-a-days. They are often ill-informed about combining breastfeeding and pursuing work outside of the home. Here LLL can offer competent help and support.
The goal of LLL is still the same today as it was over 50 years ago: to provide mothers with a satisfying and fulfilling mother-child relationship and at the same time creating optimal conditions for the physical and mental development of the children through breastfeeding.
Letters of thanks and congratulation
This letter is representative of letters from all grateful mothers:
“My life has become so much richer, and this I owe to the LLL. Not only did I learn to breastfeed my children, but I also became a cook who influences the health of the whole family through a balanced diet; I have learned to organize meetings, lead a group, complete a training, in spite of having small children in the house, and have met countless interesting people. I have attended conferences, became a trained specialist in a field that did not exist 20 years ago – and, above all, I have come to appreciate motherhood as the most important achievement in my life!
I would like to thank you for the support I have received in loving my children, letting them sleep with me, keeping them close to me at all times (though experts assured me that I needed to “teach them independence”), and I was allowed to grieve at each and every letting go.
I thank you for having taught me to see the world through the eyes of my baby and realize that it is normal for my baby to be with me and need me at night, and that I encourage his later independence by responding to his needs now. All mothers know this at heart, but LLL is needed to encourage them to trust their own instincts and feelings and to lose the fear of “spoiling” their children.”
This letter is representative of the many congratulatory letters received from official bodies and professionals
“The founders of LLL have had a positive impact on the lives of millions of mothers, children and other family members. Congratulations! These women, in my opinion, are real modern heroines who, with their great selfless work, have founded the strongest women’s self-help group in the world. The founders, and with them thousands of lactation consultants LLL who have learned to work on the same principles, have returned the babies to their mothers. Personally, I am proud to have been associated with the founders and LLL for 40 years. Our whole family, with six children and eight grandchildren, benefited from their work. I hope and wish that the La Leche League remain strong so that mothers and children around the world can continue to gain from the many benefits of breastfeeding and everything that goes with it.” (Dr. Hugh D. Riordan, President of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International, Inc., Wichita, Kansas)
A final word from the founders
We seven women wish to acknowledge and express heartfelt thanks to those who have made important contributions to the development of La Leche League.
Who knows how the LLL would be today without the support of two physicians, Drs. Herbert Ratner und Gregory White? As the fathers of breastfed children, these two doctors were a rarity in 1956. Without their unfailing support and guidance, it is almost certain that we who began La Leche League would have found it extremely difficult to face the criticism and sometimes hostility of the medical community toward two basic womanly functions: natural childbirth and breastfeeding.
Our own enthusiasm for and appreciation of these two functions survived because of the solid backing of these two physicians. We are eternally grateful to them, and we thank them also on behalf of the breastfeeding mothers to whom we have passed on what we learned. Over time, many other courageous physicians have also openly supported our efforts and generously shared their knowledge with us, and we are well aware of and grateful for their help.
We also wish to recognise and gratefully acknowledge our volunteer La Leche League Leaders. It is the daily efforts of the thousands of generous volunteers who have become La Leche League Leaders who have build La Leche League. Without their continuing efforts over the years, we would not be the organisation we are today.