LLL, Ecological Breastfeeding, and CNML

My love for mothering, breastfeeding, ecological breastfeeding, and eventually helping nursing moms started when I was just a few months pregnant with my first son. My husband and I were in college, and I had just finished my first bachelor’s degree. Another student lived in the apartment across the hall from us and she was also a mom. She invited me to the local La Leche League (LLL) meeting. I started attending monthly, and I was hooked! There I found Sheila’s book, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing.

After my son was born, I had several breastfeeding issues. A lactation consultant from the hospital came to my house to help me, and I also asked my LLL Leader for help. Breastfeeding got better. 

I stayed home with my son and took one class a semester so I could put in for a second bachelor’s degree. Originally, I had wanted to pursue a master’s degree but I knew I could not complete it in time without needing to put my baby in daycare. I really wanted to stay home with my son. So I chose the next best thing, a second bachelor’s degree. Since my husband was a grad student, he had a flexible schedule and would come home to take care of our son for the 1-2 hours I was at class. I never needed to use bottles. I just nursed my son really well before class and then nursed him when I returned. 

Once my son was over a year, I told the local LLL Leader that I wanted to become an accredited Leader. I started the process but then we soon moved to the Bay Area because my husband and I had completed our degrees and my husband now had a post-doc position. 

I found the local LLL group and continued the process to become a Leader. The LLL group was huge! There were sometimes 15-20 moms present! We had a monthly LLL meeting and a monthly Leader meeting because our group had several Leaders. I very much enjoyed all of it! Then nine days before my second son was born, I officially became an LLL Leader! In addition to taking breastfeeding calls and leading and attending meetings, I also volunteered to answer online questions. 

After two years of living in the Bay Area, we moved to our current town in northern New Mexico. I joined the local LLL group. I often led two meetings a month. We also had meetings sometimes to help those going through the Leader accreditation process. I started doing LLL work at the state level.

During all of this, Sheila’s book, Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, came out. In the book, she mentioned how a volunteer or retired lactation consultant could hold breastfeeding meetings at her church. At the time, I was working towards becoming an IBCLC. The idea of being a volunteer IBCLC and helping Catholic moms at my parish really appealed to me. I emailed Sheila for the first time and she put me in touch with Pam Pilch for she had also just emailed her about the same idea! Pam was also an LLL Leader at the time. The Catholic Nursing Mothers League (CNML) was born! 

Together, Pam and I came up with the CNML ministry. We wanted to encourage nursing moms and provide good, solid breastfeeding information. We wanted CNML to be true to our faith, and we wanted to be able to pray with moms. We also wanted to share the beauty of ecological breastfeeding.

One reason I wanted to share this story with you is because one of the Founders of La Leche League, Marian Tompson, just resigned. There have been a lot of changes in the lactation field and in LLL these last 10+ years. Many wonderful LLL Leaders and Directors (including founder Marian Tompson) who have stayed on to try to shift the organization back to its original purpose and mission. However, it has been a difficult battle. I, myself, actually retired from LLL about ten years ago. I had originally planned to be an LLL Leader for my entire life and help run CNML, in addition. It was a very difficult decision for me because LLL has been such a gift! I see the relationship between a mother and her baby as so beautiful and part of God’s natural design. I left LLL because I could not imagine helping a transgender man breastfeed. Although I sadly left LLL, the fruit has been continued and increased dedication to CNML which is a good thing!

Written by Gina Peterson