La Leche League

[Fanny1460]

For the pregnant beauties who plan to breastfeed, who has yet been to her first LLL meeting?
I've been next week and plan to go every month. It's cool to chat with mums with nursing babies, who have the experience to help you. Besides, they have a good library with books from natural childbirth to gentle discipline...
They recommend that the women go when pregnant and I recommend it. I'd rather be prepared and not panic if there's any problem with my baby in the first days when we begin breastfeeding.
It's not formal and you can ask any question.

[Amys1st]

To find a local meeting,

www.lalecheleague.org

[MyLittleWonders]

I never went with either boy (though I wish I would have with ds#1 as I think we would have made it much longer than 9 months), but with ds#2 still nursing, I am going to start going to get some exposure and verbal experience with tandem nursing. :thumb Plus, I've heard good things about my local LLL meetings and the park days that they do too.

[Caroline248]

I am also planning on going for the tandem nursing situation as well! I think the next local meeting is the first Wednesday in February, so I am looking forward to it.

~C~

[*guest]

My mom's been on me to go to one. I will probably try one in a few months. Good to know they are really helpful.

[grace's voice]

I never went to one with dd, though I wish I would have. I'm planning to start with the next meeting, which is next month. I think it's great too to have established a realtionship with your leader before your baby is born, so you feel more comfortable calling her for help. Also, I recently found out that for legal reasons La Leche Leaders can't offer to come to your house. So if you call for help and you really need someone to come over, or meet up with you somewhere, you need to ask. They are more than willing to go above and beyond to help you out, its just that you have to ask them first. Just thought I'd share that! Also, everyone make sure you've got a copy of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding on hand when baby comes, that was such an awesome resource when dd was born!
I got this website from my LLL leader, its got a ton of good info:
http://www.kellymom.com/

[BundleFishMama]

Also, I recently found out that for legal reasons La Leche Leaders can't offer to come to your house.

Hmm....that must be a local policy, it's different in different parts of the country - around here we do occasionally offer to make "house calls" if the situation seems to warrant it!

[Amys1st]

Kelly- I have heard that as well. The website is excellent. But it has to be in order for LLL to recommend. They recommend slim and none usually for legal reasons and others. Around here, we are about 20 minutes from the international LLL, so there are literally hundreds of leaders but they keep a pretty conservative stance on things.

Also fyi- the 2007 LLL conference is being held in Chicago! I plan on attending!

[The4OfUs]

You know, even though I :love the community here online, in real life I am like the "anti-joiner" :lol I don't know what's wrong with me! Is there such a thing as a "social hermit"? I think online message boards were MADE for me.

I didn't go to LLL with DS one, I just went to Kellymom online and other sites whenever I had a question, and was blessed to have a wonderful nursing relationship with him for 14 months...and since he's not nursing and I don't have to worry about tandem, I don't plan on going this time, either.

However, I have suggested to a couple friends IRL to go to meetings because they were having problems with BF their little ones...so go figure.

As I said, I'm weird.

I'm really lucky that things DID go well for me with DS' labor, birth, and early nursing, because I did absolutely NOTHING to prepare for it :lol No birthing classes, no birthing books; the only thing I did was check a few videos available online about how to get a good latch.

Oh yeah, I was DEFINITELY Blessed.

[KBinSATX]

I just called the local leader yesterday and will attend the meeting next months. I am due in May (sorry for sneaking in on your June board but if DS is a week late I will be a June mom, too... ;) ) That will give me about 4 meetings before due date.
Initially I thought that might be a little early but the local group leader thought 4 meetings before delivery was perfect and thought I should come the next one.

[grace's voice]

You know, even though I :love the community here online, in real life I am like the "anti-joiner" :lol I don't know what's wrong with me! Is there such a thing as a "social hermit"? I think online message boards were MADE for me.



Oh yeah, I'm EXACTLY the same way. Acctually, the only thing that's making me go this time is that I'm training to get my breastfeeding educator certification and it's a requirement to attend a certain number of meetings. Otherwise, I'd totally be at home consulting books and the internet. :D

Also, I believe that there are only 4 "topics" they cover (I could be wrong) and they just rotate through them, though every meeting is different because different questions come up and whatnot, so the last poster who mentioned having 4 to go before birth that's probably why your leader thought it was perfect.

There probably are a lot of benefits of being a "joiner" that I'm not yet aware of... we shall see!

[KBinSATX]

I am not all that into clubs etc. either. In fact we love to live on our little farm and NOT have people visit us. :D
But one of the potential benefits I am hoping for is to meet other women (hopefully I am not the oldest) with similar interests, etc. to perhaps make local friends but also know somebody for my son to interact with later on.

[DaryLLL]

from

http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/LLL.html

What are the meeting topics?

* The advantages of breastfeeding—Mothers are amazed to hear about the many remarkable qualities of human milk, their bodies fantastic ability to produce milk as well as the positive impact breastfeeding has on families, the environment and society.
* Adjusting to life with a new baby—This meeting focuses on the first six weeks and offers tips to make the transition into being a family as smooth as possible.
* Overcoming difficulties—Leaders and mothers have excellent ideas to help mothers overcome roadblocks that may impede breastfeeding progress.
* Nutrition and weaning—Pregnant women enjoy this topic so they can optimize their unborn baby's health. Mothers learn how to start solids for their babies. Nutritious options for family meals are shared

Any questions on or off the topic are welcome at any time!

[BundleFishMama]

Also fyi- the 2007 LLL conference is being held in Chicago! I plan on attending!

Amy, I am counting down the days to the big 50th already!!! And saving my pennies....it's going to be a big expense (but at least we're planning to drive out, not fly). We're going to make it a family vacation actually, my younger brother lives in Chicago so we're going to spend some time either before or after the conference with him sightseeing. I've never seen Chicago except for changing planes at the airport! Just wish my brother didn't live in a teeny efficiency so we could stay with him instead of the hotel! :lol Last year's conference in D.C. was easier since we're originally from there...

--from the queen of "joiners" - my DH cringes every time someone approaches me from a new group/playgroup/organization/etc. :lol I think he wishes I were more of the "social hermit" as a PP called it - if I stayed home even 1 day per week I *might* get some housework done! (or not....I might be on MDC all day...LOL)

[ckhagen]

I definitely reccommend going to anyone who's never been. Even if you know everything there is to know about BFing, it's nice to get together with other moms who share the same ideas.

I'm a serial joiner too. You name it, I've signed up for it. Haha.. it seems like I've got a meeting every day of the week. My house never gets clean either because I'm always tearing it apart trying to get to the next playgroup, support group, or volunteer shindig. Maybe this new baby will slow me down...

[Amys1st]

Its funny I used to be right in the middle of social butterfly and social hermit.
I have an outgoing personality so I spent many years in outside sales. I also worked retail in high school and part of college and enjoyed being around people. BUT then in my down time, I needed my own space to be alone and not have to talk to anyone or be with anyone.

Now that I'm a sahm with a daughter who also is very social, but also likes her space sometimes, I could fill my calendar with an activity a day if wanted to. Some weeks I am very happy being at home and doing stuff here, but other days, I really like that interaction with other people. Usually people who share a common interest whether scrapbooking, breastfeeding, coffee clubs etc.
So when I first went to meetings for LLL, dd was 3 mos old and another mom wanted to go- so I went as her "chaperone" so she would not be alone. But I did like the social interaction, talking with moms who also were breastfeeding and it made me comfortable knowing that I am not the only mama who may have spent the entire day before nursing my growing babe and no there was nothing wrong with my baby...

Most meeting I have attended, you have the subject at hand for discussion, like Darlll said, but in my experience, that is to keep things going. If someone has another question, that would be covered. If the subject said dosen't really need to be addressed for whatever reason, we cover what other questions are.
an example- the topic is nutrition and weaning. Well a new mama walks in almost in tears and we find out during introductions that she is almost in tears because she is having trouble with sore nipples and baby not thriving according to her sources. Now for a leader to brush that off and get to the topic, that mama would learn nothing and feel like a failure to boot. So she can start asking questions and other mamas might say "that happened to me....." Then we find out, she is holding the baby wrong, and no the new baby has gained weight and is getting 8-10 diapers a day blah blah blah. Then we can tie the subject together talking about nutrition for this mama and then passing it on to the baby. Then move onto talking about weaning the other topic. In the meantime, this original mama can relax, nurse and learn something and then ask questions of the leader and other mamas around here. An example I have seen a few times I might add.

If there are no other questions about the topic to be covered or any other, they call the meeting closed and usually then the topics are amoungst the moms in attendance. At the last meeting, this social time where people are either getting ready to leave, gather their toddlers etc a mother asked about starting solids to the other moms and we could talk about it. Another wanted to talk about cloth diapers to a cding mom of 2.

So you may not make all your new best friends at the meeting, you may not like anyone. But its a fountain of knowledge for more than just brestfeeding.

In all the meetings I have attended, I have only seen one person complain about the meeting. It was an expectant mom who said- I thought we would talk about nurtrition and weaning!!! Why she needed to know that right away, no clue. Maybe she thought it would be a lecture series or something instead of a bunch of nursing moms in a circle with a mess of toddlers, some nurslings themselves. :lol

[SoCaliMommy]

Not going to go.. didnt with my daughter. just used the hosp help and kellymom site
and we nursed for 18months :thumb

[Amys1st]

Bundlefish mama- I will commute to the conference since its literally 30 minutes door to door. But dh said it might be fun to stay down there a few days. I might host a bbq in my backyard for any mamas who want a home cooked meal in the burbs (away from city prices) and the ability to just nurse any old place in my house and back! Closer to the date, I will find out who of the mdcomers are going and go from there.

My only concern is bringing a 15 mo nursling since I do remember dd really running back then at that age. Maybe dh would do better down there and have me near by to nurse.

[2boys4us]

I started going to LLL meetings when ds # 2 was was about 5 months or so.
I really got to know and like the moms in our group so I just kept going even after he stoped nursing :)

[mimid]

I'm hoping to start in February.

[BundleFishMama]

Bundlefish mama- I will commute to the conference since its literally 30 minutes door to door. But dh said it might be fun to stay down there a few days. I might host a bbq in my backyard for any mamas who want a home cooked meal in the burbs (away from city prices) and the ability to just nurse any old place in my house and back! Closer to the date, I will find out who of the mdcomers are going and go from there.

My only concern is bringing a 15 mo nursling since I do remember dd really running back then at that age. Maybe dh would do better down there and have me near by to nurse.

Ooooh, a BBQ, how fun!!

At the last int'l conf my DDs were 2 3/4 and 13 months, so IKWYM, it was a little hard but it worked out great, they have such great activities and play areas set up for the toddlers, and a father's lounge where DH could hang out and entertain them while I was in sessions and then just come find me to nurse them. So you'll manage :)