Ilene, I am surprised you took the suggestion that suggested that the general
principle of human variability obtains even in LLL -- an organization to
which all of us in the bf community owe a great debt -- as an attack on the
organization or its leaders in general.

It is true that there's a lot one needs to do to become a leader:  a lot to
learn, and a lot of communication skills.  And its true that many, many
leaders serve vast numbers of mothers with that knowledge and those skills.

But both of those are true of doctors, too, and (as KB points out) nurses and
the rest of us, and heaven knows not many Lactnetters subscribe to the idea
that they are infallible!

LLL helps the vast majority of women it touches, and does it through
committed volunteer action.  But there's no sense imagining that those
virtues mean that no women fall through the cracks -- that the LLL mix of
help and principles are right for every single family, or that -- the point
in the original post -- there aren't women out there ordering from the LLL
catalog without getting the particular flavor of support that their
particular family needs.  And I think even many (though not all) committed
LLL types would agree that the rate of helpfulness is higher for white middle
class SAHMs than it is for mother of color, or working class mothers, or
employed-outside-the-home mothers in general.

I spend most of my bf counseling time with women who for various reasons
think that LLL wouldn't be the most helpful venue for them.  That is despite
the fact that LLL in my area helps many, many mothers.   Nothing is perfect
for everyone; some of the same qualities that make LLL great for the families
it IS great for are the same ones that make it imperfect for others.

The original post was about a practical question of caring for those mothers
LLL doesn't happen to serve perfectly.  This isn't an attack, it's a reality
check.  Nothing is 100%, not even something as wonderful as LLL.   That's not
a criticism of its volunteers -- they are human like the rest of us.   We
don't blame them for that, God forbid!  But we also shouldn't forget about
the needs of people who for whatever reason fall outside LLL's sphere of help.

Elisheva Urbas, NYC

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