Hello.
My name is Moira Clark and I am your 1000th subscriber from France. I am
British and have lived in the Paris suburbs for 9 years. I have 2 children
aged 5 and 7.
I am training as a Breastfeeding Counsellor with an English speaking mother
to mother, volunteer, non profit making association called "MESSAGE Mother
Support Group" which has almost 1000 members of all nationalities. MESSAGE
has 5 senior BFCs (one of whom is NCT Great Britain trained) and 7 trainees
including myself.
As far as I am aware, the only two associations giving English speaking BF
help, information and support in France are MESSAGE and LLL (LLL, French
and English speaking, is represented in France).
French women in the Paris region do not commonly BF their babies, or not
beyond the first few weeks and there is little post maternity facility
information and support in French, apart from LLL and one suburb hospital
offering a BF help line. I think that this is because of different cultural
beliefs and social attitudes, because of the abundance of bottle feeding
equipment and information available here and because of mis-information
about BF.
MESSAGE has some English speaking contacts in other parts of France but we
are not very well informed about French attitudes to BF outside the Paris
region and would welcome information.
I look forward to participating in Lactnet and sharing the information I
receive with my group here in France. Thank you for the messages of
welcome. If you would like information about mothers/babies/children/BF in
the Paris region, please e-mail me on [log in to unmask]