A good friend of mine who lives in upstate New York loved breastfeeding her son and was in a really supportive community towards breastfeeding. She was also very good friends with a published lactavist. All in all, her breastfeeding world was a happy and supportive place. When she was ready to wean her 20 month old she called LLL for support and guidance. The first thing she was asked was "Why do you want to wean your baby?" This would seem like a perfectly normal question to somebody looking in from the outside, but to my friend what she heard was "There is something wrong with you for wanting to wean your baby." I think two things were at play that caused her to feel criticized. One was a low level of trepidation about LLL due to precisely the reputation that we have been discussing and the other was the general insecurity of motherhood that makes women feel defensive and on guard at any hint that they are not doing it right. When you approach a situation with a prejudice that you might be criticized and  also the situation itself makes you predisposed to feel criticized you have a perfect storm. 

Despite this, most LLL leaders are able to help new moms keep their little boats afloat with a kindness and selflessness that I so admire....We can do nothing to change the fact that mothers feel raw and vulnerable when it comes to any discussion of their mothering, but we really do need more voices out there talking about the remarkably life-affirming organization that is La Leche League, so that when women pick up the phone to call they do it with optimism rather than fear.

Kathy Lilleskov RN IBCLC 

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