LLLI Philosophy
By Leslie
Del Gigante
Westerville OH USA
From: NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 14 No. 2, March-April 1997, pp. 36-40
Attend one or two La Leche
League Series Meetings or read a few chapters of THE WOMANLY ART OF
BREASTFEEDING and it soon becomes apparent that La Leche League is about
more than breastfeeding as a method of feeding a baby. Over the past
forty years, many mothers have shared the exhilaration of the mother
who returned home from her first LLL meeting and enthusiastically announced,
"It was so much more than what I anticipated! Sure, I expected to hear
why and how to breastfeed, but it didn't stop there. The most important
message--more unspoken than spoken--was to listen to my baby and my
own mothering instincts!" Like many of us, La Leche League itself began
with a focus on breastfeeding, but the Founders soon came to realize
that breastfeeding was only the beginning of something much more enduring--mothering.
Forty years ago, as the Founders
prepared their first meetings for interested friends in Franklin Park,
Illinois, they researched medical texts for "scientific arguments for
breastfeeding." Mary White recalled, "We were all gung-ho on every latest
scientific finding on lower percentage of allergies and all those medical
goodies." It wasn't until eighteen months later that the seven Founders
met with local physician and supportive friend, Dr. Herbert Ratner,
to "clarify the goal of La Leche League." Mary Ann Kerwin remembered,
"We were pretty much ready to zero in on breastfeeding per se, but he
felt we should make our goal broader." Edwina Froehlich explained, "He
kept saying, 'What else is it besides the techniques of breastfeeding
that you talk about?' And finally we said, 'Well--mothering.'"
Mary Ann Cahill later wrote
about the meeting for the second issue of the LLL newsletter, July/August
1958.
Dr. Herbert Ratner
started the discussion. "What is the purpose of La Leche League? How
is it being accomplished?" The League's purpose, Board members agreed,
is to help women breastfeed their babies. One of the group explained,
"We show mothers how to manage the actual nursing and we talk on the
many advantages of nursing to mother and baby. You know, all those impressive
statistics on immunities and such." Our discussion leader knew the statistics
... however he continued ... "Do you believe that learning the mechanics
of nursing and listening dutifully to statistics--necessary as that
is--will sustain a nursing mother when she's struggling to calm a fussy
baby?" The Board members paused to ponder ... No, a statistic on immunities
or cancer prevention is out the window when the baby is out of sorts.
Do member-mothers give up nursing then? Again, no! A phone call, a visit,
making another League meeting, and the troubled mother invariably works
things out, ends up talking enthusiastically about her nursing baby.
This talk ... Talk that has a constantly recurring theme. The
quick, strong, love-ties so natural between a nursing mother and her
baby. The mother's sure understanding of her baby's needs and her joy
and confidence in herself to satisfy them. The happy dividends from
this good relationship as the baby grows up. A theme first sensed, gradually
understood and absorbed, finally realized by a mother as she nurses
her own baby. A goal for La Leche League, the Board members unanimously
concluded. Help mothers successfully breastfeed their babies and so
successfully mother them.
As word of what La Leche
League had to offer reached women beyond Chicago's western suburbs,
the Founders compiled a "Course By Mail" for mothers living too far
away to attend meetings. "Four years and ten babies from the day it
was started," THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING replaced the loose-leaf
"Course" as a source of information and support for nursing mothers,
and also as the basis for working with mothers preparing to be LLL Group
Leaders. As more and more women applied for leadership during the early
1970s, a time of tremendous growth for LLL, the Board recognized the
need "to define exactly what constituted League philosophy." In 1972,
a committee of three began work "to clarify and define League philosophy."
One committee member described the process: "We took the manual and
pulled it apart.... We categorized all of the philosophy in it. We kept
narrowing it down and narrowing it down, and finally we got it down
to eight categories." The Board condensed each category into one sentence
and the eight "concepts" were officially adopted. During the next three
years, two more concepts were added and, with minor editing, those same
ten concepts stand today as succinct statements of LLLI philosophy.
Each of the concept statements
appears in THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING, seamlessly woven into the
text. While each relates to different aspects of breastfeeding and mothering,
together they form a whole picture of what LLL believes about breastfeeding
and how it affects mothering. La Leche League believes:
Breast milk is the superior
infant food.
Many of us decide to breastfeed
because we believe breast milk provides the best nourishment for our
babies. Nature has perfected human milk for human babies: it is easily
digested by baby's maturing digestive system, it contains just the right
nutrients in just the right balance for optimal human growth, its immunological
properties protect the baby from infection, it minimizes food sensitivities
which cause allergies, and it changes as baby grows to meet his changing
nutritional needs. Science cannot yet duplicate breast milk's complex
and dynamic composition. Human milk is a living tissue, like blood,
containing live white cells.
Human milk, produced as baby
nurses, requires no paraphernalia, sterilization, or special storage.
(Of course expressed human milk must be carefully stored.) Mother's
milk is ready when her baby is hungry. Mothers living anywhere in the
world can produce milk that is perfectly suited to their babies.
The act of breastfeeding
not only provides a baby with all the benefits of human milk, it also
places baby where he feels most secure, in his mother's arms. This is
where "mothering through breastfeeding" begins.
Mothering through breastfeeding
is the most natural and effective way of understanding and satisfying
the needs of the baby.
Breastfeeding soothes and
satisfies our babies. More than that, "mothering through breastfeeding"
means recognizing and learning from the many opportunities breastfeeding
provides us to connect with our babies. A baby is born with a natural
instinct to seek the breast and to suckle; he is comforted most naturally
by the body he has been a part of for the months prior to his birth.
In an otherwise unfamiliar world, the familiar sound of mother's voice
and heartbeat, and the warmth of her body soothes her baby because it
feels like home.
In response to a baby's sucking,
the mother's body produces hormones (prolactin and oxytocin) which trigger
nurturing behavior. Combine this natural nurturing behavior with the
frequent and close mother-baby contact breastfeeding requires and you
have the makings of a powerful educational opportunity for mother and
baby. The baby feels secure because his needs for warmth, food, and
contact with his mother are met. His energy goes not to handling stress,
but to natural growth and development. Closeness to an attentive mother
who is sensitive to his cues encourages the development of communication
skills between mother and baby and builds the baby's sense of trust.
At the same time, mother, through frequent and intimate interaction
with her baby, has ample opportunity to get to know her baby as an individual
and to learn from him how to read his cues and meet his needs. The simple
act of breastfeeding, then, meets both a baby's basic needs for mother,
warmth, and nourishment, as well as a mother's need to learn about and
gain confidence and pleasure in nurturing her little one.
Mother and baby need
to be together early and often to establish a satisfying relationship
and an adequate milk supply.
Both mother and baby benefit
when they can be together and nursing as soon after the baby's birth
as possible. A mother's reward for the rigors of childbirth is holding
her new baby in her arms, and this is the optimal time to bond with
her baby. Moreover, when the baby is put to the breast immediately after
birth, his sucking hastens the delivery of the placenta and causes the
uterus to contract, resulting in less blood loss for mother.
A baby is comforted by the
familiar presence of his mother and, if he's healthy, full-term, and
not feeling the effects of childbirth medications, his sucking reflex
is usually at its strongest just after birth. This strong sucking reflex
coincides with the production of colostrum, or first milk, by the mother.
In the first days of life, colostrum helps a baby's digestive system
start working, and provides a strong dose of immunological protection
against disease.
Colostrum gradually becomes
mature milk. The production of human milk is based on supply meeting
demand, so the more often a baby nurses, the more milk his mother will
produce. If mother and baby are together "early and often," this chain
of events unfolds easily, in most cases.
Alert and active participation
by the mother in childbirth is a help in getting breastfeeding off to
a good start.
Breastfeeding is the natural
culmination of pregnancy and birth, and choices made during pregnancy
and birth can affect breastfeeding. Mothers find it helps to inform
themselves about available childbirth options. They look for a healthcare
provider who will work with them to meet their goals of a birth with
minimum intervention and an early start at breastfeeding. Learning as
much as possible about the course of labor and delivery prepares mothers
for the incredible experience of birthing a baby. When a mother chooses
to minimize the use of medications during childbirth (whether vaginal
or cesarean), both mother and baby are awake and ready to initiate breastfeeding
soon after birth.
Even when mothers are informed
and prepared, there are no guarantees that childbirth will go according
to plans. Even if mother and baby must be separated immediately after
birth, with information and support they can establish a successful
and satisfying breastfeeding relationship.
For the healthy, full-term
baby, breast milk is the only food necessary until the baby shows signs
of needing solids, about the middle of the first year after birth.
Adding other foods to a baby's
diet before he indicates readiness for solid food is not necessary and
may be detrimental to his health and well-being. Human milk remains
the perfect food for the healthy, full-term baby well into the first
year of life. When other foods are introduced too soon, the baby may
nurse less and mother's milk supply may decrease as a result. Early
solids can also trigger allergic reactions and fussiness. A baby who
is ready for solids will be able to move food to the back of his mouth
and swallow, and will have a well-developed digestive system that is
ready to handle solid food.
Ideally the breastfeeding
relationship will continue until the baby outgrows the need.
Once a baby has started solids,
does he still need to nurse? When should a baby wean? Forty years ago
women in the US, if they breastfed at all, were expected to wean their
babies well before the age of one year. "Everybody told me that you
should nurse a baby for nine months," Vi Lennon recalled. Mary Ann Cahill
remembered, "Everybody's mind was tuned to the fact that the mother
weaned the baby. Weaning was something a mother did."
Edwina Froehlich was the first of the Founders to nurse a baby well
beyond his first birthday, and the others offered support and encouragement
even as they waited to see how it would work out. Betty Wagner and Edwina
recalled the evolution of the Founders' thinking. "We started giving
a lot of thought to weaning and discovered that although medical textbooks
said it should take place no later than nine months, they didn't offer
a solid reason why." Edwina continued, "It gradually dawned on us that
we were asking the wrong people.... We decided that it would be much
more likely to be a woman, a mother, who would know. We
finally concluded that if a baby didn't want to wean, there was no good
reason for insisting on it."
Weaning is a process, not
an event; it begins when foods other than human milk are introduced
and is completed when a baby no longer nurses. Breastfeeding is so much
more to a baby than a source of food; it means security and comfort.
These emotional needs do not end when the first solid food is introduced.
Gradually, these needs are fulfilled in ways other than nursing. As
each infant has his own style and schedule of nursing, each baby-child
has his own style and schedule of weaning. An attentive mother can follow
her little one's lead as snacks or drinks, cuddling, and other activities
gradually replace nursing.
Good nutrition means
eating a well-balanced and varied diet of foods in as close to their
natural state as possible.
Many women improve their
diets during pregnancy and while nursing. They may also begin to think
more carefully about nutrition when it's time to introduce solid foods
to their babies. When our little ones have started life with the perfect
infant food, it's natural to want to continue to feed them a high quality
diet. Wanting to give wholesome food to their babies has led many mothers
to improve the entire family's eating habits. One simple rule to follow
is to eat a wide variety of minimally processed foods. This minimizes
the amount of food additives and sugar that family members eat and maximizes
nutrition. Just as human milk benefits babies, wholesome foods contribute
to the family's well-being.
In the early years, the
baby has an intense need to be with his mother which is as basic as
his need for food.
Behavioral scientists verify
what breastfeeding mothers observe every day: babies need to be close
to their mothers. One might say that nature has designed breastfeeding
as a bridge from the womb to the world. Human babies are born without
the ability to survive on their own and they depend on someone else
to understand and meet their needs. Studies show that these needs are
for more than food; like many other mammals, human babies need the stimulation
of touch, as well as food, to thrive. It is through touch that babies
begin to learn about themselves in relation to others and the world.
Psychologists believe that a secure attachment to mother in the early
years is crucial to social development. They point to the importance
of baby's first relationship as the foundation for future relationships.
Just as the frequency of
breastfeeding varies and gradually decreases as the months go by, so
does baby's need for mother's constant presence. Having come from mother's
body, baby does not at first perceive that he is separate from mother.
As time passes, this awareness grows and his ability to feel secure
away from mother develops. When his intense need for mother is met,
he can move on to new relationships with confidence.
Breastfeeding is enhanced
and the nursing couple sustained by the loving support, help, and companionship
of the baby's father. A father's unique relationship with his baby is
an important element in the child's development from early infancy.
In the breastfeeding family,
the father has the dual role of helping the mother continue breastfeeding
and establishing his own unique relationship with his baby. The Founders
realized that fathers played an important role in supporting the breastfeeding
mother and baby. So as soon as they thought about organizing their meetings
into a series of topics, they included a meeting for fathers. Marian
Tompson recalled, "We felt the father's meeting was very important because
we realized from the beginning that fathers weren't getting any support."
Mary Ann Kerwin added, "We knew fathers were very important persons
who at the time were too often neglected as far as babies were concerned."
A breastfeeding mother who
has experienced the support of the baby's father knows firsthand how
much the little things mean: his encouragement to continue nursing when
times get rough, his explanations to family or friends about breastfeeding
and its importance to his family, his realization and appreciation that
mothering a baby is important work, and his willingness to lend a hand
to keep the home running smoothly. A father's encouragement and support
make it possible for his baby to reap the benefits of breastfeeding.
With mother taking care of
the feeding, there are many ways father can interact lovingly with his
baby. Many fathers are great at calming a fussy baby and making bath
time a fun occasion. Each father in his own way establishes a unique
relationship with his baby, and his early and continued involvement
is basic to the well-being of the infant and the child.
From infancy on, children
need loving guidance which reflects acceptance of their capabilities
and sensitivity to their feelings.
Mothering through breastfeeding
leads parents to learn about their babies, recognize and appreciate
their individual temperaments, and respond to their cues. Parents come
to understand by experience that children are different and that it's
appropriate to respond according to each child's needs. Learning about
each child's personality, preferences, and learning style lays the foundation
for guiding that child in the years to come.
As babies change, so do their
needs and abilities. As we learn about child development, we come to
appreciate the inevitable "ages and stages" children go through. This
makes it easier to prepare for their developmental needs to explore
and satisfy their curiosity, to assert their individuality, and to express
their opinions. Knowing what's normal and respecting the child's unique
personality allows parents to work in accord with their child's natural
development.
Children require guidance
to learn to respect others and to acquire self-discipline and a sense
of responsibility. Parents' most powerful lesson is their own good example.
A child who feels good about himself can participate and cooperate with
others more easily. Positive and loving guidance builds the child's
self-esteem because it respects the child as a person with individual
capabilities and feelings. This trusting relationship with our child,
begun with breastfeeding and based on respect, can reap benefits for
a lifetime.
La Leche League began with
the personal breastfeeding experiences of seven women who wanted to
share with other interested women all they had learned about how to
breastfeed and how to mother through breastfeeding. Forty years and
ten concepts later, LLLI helps mothers around the world with approximately
8,000 Leaders leading over 3,000 Groups in 64 countries around the world.
In words very similar to the original Statement of Policy, formulated
in 1964, our current Policy and Standing Rules notebook states the following:
"LLLI believes that breastfeeding with its many important physical and
psychological advantages is best for baby and mother and is the ideal
way to initiate good parent-child relationships. The loving help and
support of the father enables the mother to focus on mothering so that
together the parents develop close family relationships which strengthen
the family and thus the whole fabric of society.... LLLI further believes
that mothering through breastfeeding deepens a mother's understanding
and acceptance of the responsibilities and rewards of her special role
in the family. As a woman grows in mothering she grows as a human being
and every other role she may fill in her lifetime is enriched by the
insights and humanity she brings to it from her experiences as a mother."
Since La Leche League's founding,
many thousands of us all over the world have found that its philosophy
of mothering through breastfeeding has enriched our lives as parents
and as people in ways we never anticipated. As we celebrate LLLI's fortieth
birthday, we invite you to see where the power of breastfeeding takes
you and your family.
[Ed. note: Quotes from
the Founders and details on the history of La Leche League are taken
from THE LLLOVE STORY.]
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:30:32 UTC 2007.
