Invited to a Group

[Smalls181]

Hi all. We just moved to my husbands home town, a very small town where everybody knows everybody sort of thing. I only know a few people here, but word of mouth got around that I am a "natural, breastfeeding a toddler" mom. So I got a call the other day from a local lactation consultant, inviting me (and my nursing toddler) to a group meeting. This groups purpose is to come up with ways to support breastfeeding mothers in the area and to help them be successful at nursing. Pretty cool, huh?! I would love to show up to this meeting with some ideas on hand of ways to help. So any suggestions you all have would be great.

I know that there are SOME breastfeeding groups in the area, but I have no idea what they are like. I believe they are through the Health Department. I tried to go to one, but couldn't find the church it was being held at.

There is no LLL.

There are classes through the Health Department.

Any other ideas?

[PJJ]

Ideas

You could call the local health department and ask for the maternal-child section--some are so small they don't have that, but it is worth a try.
Also, just seeing you will be a good example.
And you could always just start an attachment parenting group there, but try to make sure you have some allies, because things can get ugly in a small town fast when there is disagreement.

Also, this is a great article if you find the group amenable to learning about "normal" lactation.

http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html


Good luck!

[sahmama_12]

I had my first son in a small town (dh's hometown) and I was the only mom I knew who bf. I would recommend maybe contacting local stores and restaurants and asking them to put up signs saying they are welcoming to bfing moms and asking them to have their staff informed and trained to help bfing moms avoid harassment. I know that would have helped me greatly while NIP.

Maybe orgn'z a playgroup once a week (maybe in a church basement or something they are usually cheap or free) for bfing moms with other kids and AP parents or something similar.

In the town I live in now the parent resource centre has a bfing support group meeting once a week and the local supermarket donates a big basket of fresh fruit for the moms to snack on. It really helps some of the more hard up moms get some good food into them.

The only other thing I can think of is mega advertising let the bfing moms know your out there with support b/c sometimes the groups are there but if the moms who need support don't know what good are you doing??

hth

[gingerbane]

No advice for you but that sounds really cool

[Janice in Canada]

I live in my dh's hometown - very small town with people who have known everything about each other for generations.

I grew up in a similar type town, except *I* was the "local" there.

I would say to slow down a bit, on offering suggestions. Why not attend the first meeting with an open mind, and just meet the other people and find out what they already know and have done. *They* are the locals, and chances are they already know all the local resources.

What you can offer is your own experience in bfing a toddler (perhaps this is uncommon there?) and your experience from where ever you lived before.

I just think that rushing in with a whole bunch of ideas, may not get you off on the right foot. Small towns are used to "newcomers" coming in and thinking they know better and want to change things, etc, and it turns them off. Just take it slow and get to know people, and your ideas may be better accepted in the long run.

just my experience from small towns - really has nothing to do with lactivism!

Janice

[yarngoddess]

You could be prepared to give them the info on what the "laws" are for your area. I grew up in small town ("arm pit of amreica" is the town's nickname) and most were OK with breast feeding- but babywearing was unheard of! LOL :P

I agree with the pp about just listening and following the discussions they have- and to answer anyquestions the group may have. You might be a source of "new info" being from "else were" lol. Good Luck, and hope you make some friends!