As an LLL Leader and LC, I feel the need to respond to this topic as well.  A
La Leche League Leader is a special "breed" to begin with.  She volunteers
her time at Monthly Meetings, receives calls throughout the month, and if she
is worth her weight in salt--does home visits and promotes LLL.  If she goes
above and beyond the call of duty, she participates in LLL at the state and
national levels.  These jobs are supposed to be "mother size", but in some
areas, they are not.

       One of the most important factors is that all of this work is
VOLUNTEER.  I have been a Leader for eleven years, and it is very difficult
to get a Leader Applicant to begin with.  Why would anyone offer to do sooo
much without pay.  Time and time again, I have had great potential Leader
Applicants become Bradley instructors, Parent Educators, Healthy Baby or WIC
employees.  These are not high paying jobs, but at least they PAY something,
so given the option, a lot of women prefer to be paid for their efforts-- and
I don't blame them.  That is why a number of LLL Leaders become LCs!

       When I refer moms to LLL for support, I stress that it is a volunteer
organization, and all Groups and Leaders are different.  If they are not
happy with a Meeting they atttended, they can try another one.  If they are
not comfortable with a particular Leader, they can call another one.
Likewise, however, time and time again as a private practice LC, I have come
across women who don't get what they need in the hospital, and my comment is
also the same.  Every nurse or LC is different also.  I would never blame an
LLL Leader or LC for a mother's lack of success.  We all know moms who went
beyond sore, cracked, bleeding nipples and naysayers to breastfeed anyway.
In the same vain, we all know moms who will look for any excuse in the world
to wean.  We have heard every excuse from, "I had no milk" to "My baby was
allergic to my milk," and my personal favorite, "I couldn't give my son a
frenotomy because it's too traumatic (even though he already had a
circumcision)!"  Much of every moms success is due to her perseverance.  The
mother who truly wants to nurse her baby will not sit at home and dry up for
two weeks waiting for a LLL Leader (or an LC) to call her back.    --  Debbie
Albert, Ph.D., IBCLC


In a message dated 7/21/01 12:03:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> The secretary for the place my husband works had this problem.  She
> called the LLL and waited 2 weeks to get a call back...by which time
> she'd weaned her daughter.  She had sore nipples and was sure she
> "wasn't making enough milk".  :-(
>
> Now that she knows my husband, and has met me, she knows she could call
> me if she needed help (on a subsequent baby), though I don't know if she
> WOULD if push came to shove...but it's too late to even suggest that
> now, as her daughter is 16 months like mine, and hasn't nursed since she
> was about 6 weeks old.  :-(
>
> Such a tragedy.
>
> Fio.

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