>
>
>The thing that I want to know is, why is that information not disseminated
>widely? Why aren't the mother to mother breastfeeding support groups
>trumpeting that at every opportunity ("Find a breastfeeding support network,
>if not us then in your family, friends and neighbours, you need one to be
>successful at breastfeeding").  Breastfeeding support is seen as being an
>added extra and it is not. Women need to hear what you say below but not
>from an ad campaign but from someone real whom they know and who cares about
>them.
>
I think the answer is that many of them don't have access to the
resources (human, financial) needed to promote themselves, to be "out
there." (Of course, many people do think some of us are pretty far out
there, in a different way.) It can be hard to find opportunities, the
time, the money to do what we'd like to in an ideal world. For instance,
LLL Leaders use the money they raise from memberships and donations to
buy books for their lending libraries and supplies (name tags, copies of
leaflets, etc.) for their Groups, rent space for their meetings and
activities, participate in professional development activities, etc. as
well as for publicity materials.

But many not-for-profit organizations are finding that the number of
volunteers is decreasing, staffing of not-for-profit and charitable
organizations is decreasing because private (donations) and public
funding is decreasing, memberships are decreasing, and volunteers are
risking burnout. I volunteer for arts, educational and religious
organizations, and it's all the same story. This is especially true when
recruiting in the population most committed to bf -- young mothers.

On the other hand, public and community health, hospital and
government-funded programs don't necessarily run according to a
consistent program, with consistent staffing, etc. Sometimes it seems
that hcps do not recommend or value the services volunteer or paid
support people provide. Volunteers are particularly undervalued in the
"medicalization" mentality. And, I should add, it can be discouraging
for overworked volunteers (overworked doesn't necessarily mean flooded
with phone-calls, it can also mean 24/7 availability and the burden of
fund-raising) to see that people running the support groups may or may
not know more about breastfeeding than they do, but are paid, and for
some well-paid hcps to provide inadequate or unsupportive information,
while the volunteers who are passionate and knowledgeable about how to
support mothers are getting 0 dollars for their time.

I believe that many women used to come to LLL because it was the only
place to get help when they had a common bf situation -- sore nipples,
frequent waking, were told they didn't have enough milk, etc. Once they
phoned and got an unexpecting dose of warmth and empathy along with
their information, and especially once they (and their cuddly,
magnetized babies :-) got in the door of a meeting, they realized that
they really did like the mother-to-mother support they got there. They
would come back, become long-time members, perhaps become Leaders, and
there would be a continuous flow of mothers.

Now, I think, the problem is getting them in the door. They get some
help in the hospital, from a midwife, at a clinic, from a doctor. They
find out how to fix the latch and count diapers. They consider this is a
medical problem (parenting is also a medical issue) and they have
"treated" it.

Did we have "donating to LLL" on the New Year's list?
How about trumpeting the value of LLL at every opportunity?

Jo-Anne

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