La Leche League
La Leche Liga (abbreviated LLL, English La Leche League ; la leche is Spanish for 'milk') is a non-profit organization that supports breastfeeding . She advises pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and their families on questions about breastfeeding and motherhood. La Leche League was founded in the USA in 1956 as La Leche League and is currently represented in 78 countries. The organization is internationally recognized as a non-profit professional organization and has an official relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a non-denominational and politically neutral institution and makes its experience and publications available in around 30 languages.
LLL counselors are mothers with breastfeeding experience who have completed training as LLL lactation consultants. The LLL counselors accompany parents during breastfeeding and support them with breastfeeding difficulties and insecurities. Questions can be discussed by phone, e-mail and face-to-face in breastfeeding groups. The advice is provided exclusively on a voluntary basis. The work of La Leche Liga is financed through donations and memberships.
The Professional Advisory Board of La Leche League International, made up of experts and academics, provides information on current research and reviews the specialist knowledge in LLL publications.
La Leche Liga is close to the attachment parenting developed by William Sears and contributes to the dissemination of this doctrine of education.
history
La Leche Liga was founded in the USA in 1956 by Mary Ann Cahill, Edwina Froehlich, Mary Ann Kerwin, Viola Lennon, Marian Tompson, Betty Wagner and Mary White. Two of them, Mary White and Marian Tompson - both breastfeeding women - had worried that many mothers in their circle of acquaintances had to inadvertently wean because of a lack of support. Together with five other friends and with the professional support of two doctors, they then founded the La Leche League.
philosophy
The breastfeeding advice from La Leche Liga is based on the philosophy of the founders:
- Maternal care through breastfeeding is the most natural and powerful way to understand and meet an infant's needs.
- Mother and child should be together early and often, this creates a satisfactory relationship and a sufficient supply of milk is guaranteed.
- In early childhood the child has an intense need to be with his mother; this is just as fundamental as his need for food.
- Breast milk is the natural food for babies. It adapts in a unique way to the changing needs of the child.
- For the healthy, full-term child, breast milk is the only food required until the child shows signs of needing more solid food, around the middle of its first year of life.
- Ideally, the breastfeeding relationship will continue until the child has outgrown it.
- A conscious and active birth promotes a good start to breastfeeding.
- The loving support, help and partnership of the father promotes breastfeeding and the mother-child bond. The irreplaceable father-child relationship is an important element in the whole of early childhood development.
- Good nutrition means eating balanced, different types of food that are as natural as possible.
- From early childhood children need loving guidance that includes understanding their abilities and responding to their feelings.
Austria
La Leche League Austria was founded in 1979 as a club. Around 70 breastfeeding consultants are currently working on a voluntary basis in telephone counseling and mostly monthly breastfeeding groups.
Germany
financing
La Leche Liga Deutschland eV is a registered, non-profit association that is financed through donations and memberships.
The LLL lactation consultants work voluntarily and from home. All consultations from La Leche Liga are therefore free of charge for all mothers seeking advice. Membership fees are used for training and further education, for specialist literature, for creating new publications and for public relations.
history
American mothers brought La Leche Liga to Germany in the 1970s. The first English-speaking breastfeeding groups took place on military bases, led by American advisors. Soon, German women also visited the breastfeeding groups. Edda Langmann and Hannah Lothrop were trained through the USA and became the first two German LLL consultants.
La Leche Liga has been a registered association in Germany with regional breastfeeding groups since 1977. Today the association's headquarters are in Mechernich. LLL was booming and spread to many cities, the breastfeeding groups were well attended, and more and more women were training to become lactation advisors. In 1981 "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" ("Handbook for the breastfeeding mother") was translated into German.
After the first few years of the La Leche League in Germany, a crisis arose in the early 1980s. The association lost its first chairperson along with many advisors and applicants. Some of the retired consultants then formed the working group of independent breastfeeding groups. In 1982 Edda Langmann was elected as the new first chairperson, the general assembly approved a new statute, and the association's headquarters were moved from Bonn to Munich.
There are currently around 250 active consultants in Germany. Monthly group meetings are offered and around 6,000 telephone and e-mail consultations are given each year.
La Leche Liga Germany is represented in the national breastfeeding commission, networks with other breastfeeding organizations and midwives at the “Round Table Breastfeeding” and maintains contacts with midwives and specialist staff on site.
Breastfeeding meeting
LLL breastfeeding meetings take place across Germany at monthly intervals. Breastfeeding meetings are characterized by the exchange of experiences. In addition to a focus on breastfeeding and parenting, there is time for individual questions.
LLL advisors can be reached via their published contact address and can provide further assistance by phone. Behind the central e-mail advice form is a pool of advisors. Since all counselors work on a voluntary basis and in their free time, the counseling is free of charge.
Every LLL consultant completes training and further training. A contact point for medical questions is available in difficult cases.
Switzerland
Breastfeeding promotion in Switzerland began in 1974. In 2018, 95 lactation advisors were volunteering for La Leche League Switzerland (LLLCH).
literature
- The manual for the nursing mother. The comprehensive reference work for breastfeeding. (Original title: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, translated and edited by Hanna Neuenschwander and Cornelia Weller), 3rd, extended and completely revised edition, La Leche League, Zurich 2004 (first edition 2001), ISBN 978-3-906675-02-2 .
- Sleeping and waking. A parents' book for children's nights. Williams Sears (translated and edited by Hanna Neuenschwander and Cornelia Weller), 2nd edition (first edition 2005) 4th edition, La Leche League Zurich 2010 ISBN 978-3-906675-03-9
- Breastfeeding, job and family. Gale Pryor, Kathleen Huggins (translated and edited by Hanna Neuenschwander and Cornelia Weller), 1st edition La Leche League, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-906675-40-4
- Motherhood, 101 Tips for Mothers of Newborns. Alice Bolster. La Leche League Switzerland, Zurich, 2008 ISBN 978-3-906675-05-3 .
- Grow in love. Dr. Carlos Gonzalez. 5th edition supplemented and revised by the author. La Leche Liga Deutschland eV, 2011, ISBN 978-3-932022-14-2 .
- My child doesn't want to eat. Dr. Carlos Gonzalez. 5th edition La Leche Liga Deutschland eV 2011, ISBN 978-3-932022-12-8 .
- We're still breastfeeding: About life with breastfed toddlers. Norma Bumgarner. 2nd edition, La Leche Liga Deutschland eV 2003, ISBN 978-3-932022-13-5 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Overview of organizations with an official relationship to the WHO ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 33 kB)
- ↑ Plus près de toi, mon bébé. Retrieved January 30, 2015 . Le Monde, January 16, 2010
- ^ A Brief History of La Leche League International. In: illi.org. La Leche Ligue International, accessed January 12, 2020 .
- ^ Annual report La Leche Liga 2018
Web links
- Official Homepage (English)
- Homepage of the German department
- Homepage of the Austrian department
- Homepage of the Swiss department (German, French, Italian, English)
