Dear Wendy,

The "Magnificent Seven" are the founding mothers of La Leche League.  It
all  began in 1956 at a picnic in Illinois when Marian Thompson and Mary
White had a conversation about the frustrations of trying to breastfeed
their babies in a bottlefeeding society, mainly the lack of information
and lack of support.  They began talking with some of their other
breastfeeding friends -  Edwinna Froelich, Mary Ann Cahill, Viola Lennon,
Mary Ann Kerwin, and Betty Wagner.  They had all successfully nursed at
least one child and between them had traversed the many paths of
frustration, failure, and eventually success that attempting to
breastfeed had set them on.  They decided to try to help the other women
in their community by sharing their knowledge and offering support.  Thus
La Leche League was born at that first meeting where pregnant moms met
with these experienced mothers and learned about the wonders and
realities of breastfeeding.  The founding mothers received information
and encouragemnt of a medical nature from  two fantastic local doctors
who shared their vision, Herbert Radner and Gregory White.  From there,
La Leche League  has expanded and grown to international proportions, but
remains as it has always been, very personal, mother-to-mother support.
It has begun again the handing down of vital information, from generation
to generation, that somehow had gotten interrupted by the birth of our
modern, technological society.

It is no accident that many of the IBCLC's of today began their training
within LLL.  I still think it is one of the best places, if not the best,
to really learn counselling skills, both on the phone and direct contact.
 HRE or its equivalent is something that all LC's should experience.  All
the book knowledge in the world won't help you if you can't communicate
properly with that mom in trouble.

I would encourage all LC's to seek out La Leche League or other lay
breastfeeding groups in their communities. Attend at least a few
meetings. Get to know the leaders and the groups, understand what they
may have to offer to your clients.  They  sponsor nice, relatively
low-cost conferences where you can mingle with many moms who are nursing
babies and children of all ages.

Actually, there have been some much more eloquent tributes to LLL
recently on Lactnet, so I guess that is enough for now.  Everyone have a
Happy New Year!

Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant Services
Rochester, New York
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