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Breastfeeding 101: what is La Leche League and where can I find a meeting?
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LLL Leader, Virginia Gleason,with her nursing baby.
What is La Leche League?
"LLL is an international organization started by seven women in 1956 who wanted to offer information, encouragement and support to any women who desired to breastfed their baby," says Jennifer Shafer, who is a LLL Leader with the Tulsa organization.
"LLL is an International organization that strives 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," says leader Virginia Gleason.
According to Shafer, LLL gets calls from doctors, mothers, fathers, nurses, lactation consultants and other professionals throughout the world for breastfeeding expertise. It is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization, entirely supported by donations, memberships, and sales of materials.
How is La Leche League different from other breastfeeding support groups?
Shafer says, "LLL offers mother to mother support. All leaders are first and foremost moms that are enthusiastic about breastfeeding and have usually overcome their own obstacles in their breastfeeding."
LLL leaders are trained to help moms with the most common breastfeeding issues. "Because we have leaders accredited through La Leche League International there is a structure to our organization which exceeds that of a local support group," says Gleason. "We have up to the minute resources and information on all areas of breastfeeding at our finger tips through contact with other leaders both in our area and across the United states as well as medical professionals who allow our organization access to their research and discussion forums."
According to Shafer, a lot of leaders called LLL for help when they first started nursing and now they want to give back and assist other moms. All leaders speak from experience in having successfully nursed babies. "We can speak from experience and sometimes that is so comforting to a crying mother," says Gleason. "I can honestly tell her, “I have been there.”
How to find a meeting?
Most groups post notices in local newspapers or you can find a group at www.llli.org or call 1-800-la leche. In Tulsa, you can find out more on the La Leche league Tulsa website.
There are nine Tulsa area leaders who run a total of five meetings a month, including an Owasso meeting and a NE OK meeting. In addition, monthly mothers night out are planned.
Tulsa Meetings:
Day Meeting
3rd Thursday of the month at 10 a.m.
Schusterman-Benson Library
32nd and Harvard
Toddler Group
2nd Monday of the month at 7 p.m.
Whole Foods
41st and Peoria
Night Meeting
4th Monday of the month at 7 p.m.
Hardesty Regional Library
93rd and Memorial
Are there any special events planned for breastfeeding awareness week?
Osage Nation WIC luncheon called, Reclaiming Breastfeeding, on Thursday, August 6th from 11:00-1:00
For more information:
Everything you could possibly want to know about breastfeeding!
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