La Leche League
| Abbreviation | LLLI |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1956 |
| Founded at |
Franklin Park, Illinois United States |
| Purpose | "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." |
| Website | www |
|
Formerly called
|
La Leche League |
La Leche League International (LLLI) (La Leche is Spanish for "the milk") is an international nonprofit advocacy group that distributes information on and promotes breastfeeding. It was founded in 1956 in Franklin Park, Illinois as "La Leche League" and has a presence in more than 85 countries.
The founders of La Leche League were seven mothers from Illinois, USA who had nursed their own children and were motivated to help mothers who, for a variety of different reasons (often related to social expectations and misinformation) had difficulties with and questions about nursing. As young women, Marian Tompson (1929- ) and her friend Mary White (1923-2016) began a conversation about the joys and difficulties of nursing while at a local church picnic in August 1956. They each invited other friends to join the discussion; Mary Ann Cahill (1927-2014), Edwina Froehlich (1915-2008), Mary Ann Kerwin (1931- ), Viola Lennon (1923-2010), and Betty Wagner (1923-2008). These seven women are considered the founders of La Leche League.
Drs. Herbert Ratner and Gregory White were invited to meet with them and advised the group about medical aspects of nursing, providing access to the small amount of medical literature about nursing then available. Herbert Ratner was influential in expanding the organization's philosophy beyond nursing.
At the end of World War II, most women bottle-fed their babies. By the time of La Leche League's founding, the nursing initiation rate in the USA had dropped to 20% of babies.
The first formal La Leche League meeting was held in October, 1956. The seven Leaders originally held meetings in private homes; more recently, hospitals, parenting centers, and other public venues have provided meeting spaces.
In 1957, Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, considered the father of the natural childbirth movement, also came to speak with them.
The first La Leche League Group outside of the United States formed in 1960 in Jonquiere, Quebec, Canada. The La Leche League became La Leche League International, Inc. (LLLI) in 1964 with groups in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand. In 1964 the first international conference was held in Chicago with 425 adults and 100 babies in attendance.
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Wikipedia