More Than a Quick Fix
Joyce Whiting
Gloucester, Ontario, Canada
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 35 No. 4, August-September 1999, p. 93
Think about the job we do
as LLL Leaders. Our mission statement in Canada includes "to empower
women to breastfeed their babies." I am concerned that some women
think that LLL only fixes breastfeeding problems. Some may have no idea
of the far-reaching benefits of LLL information and support. How can
we change this perception?
Eleven years ago I attended
my first LLL meeting in the eighth month of my first pregnancy. I had
made an extra effort to attend the meeting even though my prenatal classes
had included some discussion of breastfeeding and bottle feeding. I
was living in Quebec, Canada, and planned to give birth in a French
hospital on Montreal's south shore. I wanted someone I could call if
things got tricky and my high-school French proved inadequate. The only
two women I knew who had breastfed were 3,000 miles away. I felt that
the LLL membership fee would easily cost less than one long transatlantic
phone call. I also thought that I could learn everything I would need
to know about breastfeeding in a two hour "lesson" at the
meeting.
Not all expectant mothers
think of LLL as a lifeline to reach out to as I did. So how are we going
to reach them? How can we give them the message that becoming informed
will help them avoid most problems and make the ones that do occur less
worrisome?
We need to appeal to pregnant
women with messages such as,
Thinking of breastfeeding?
Let LLL help you become informed.
Thinking of breastfeeding?
Inform yourself now. Come to an LLL meeting.
We can let women know about
what LLL has to offer through posters and pamphlets in malls, at prenatal
classes, wherever pregnant women might be.
LLL is more than a fix-it
phone line. That would be opposite to the message our mission statement
and purpose embrace. It includes education which is empowering. We need
to provide information in a way that conveys the message:
You make the decisions.
You choose the information you need. With adequate resources for information
and support, you can do it.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:13 UTC 2007.
