La Leche League

La Leche League is an internationally recognized breastfeeding support organization founded in 1956 by a group of seven Catholic women from Chicago: Mary Ann Cahill, Betty Wagner, Mary Ann Kerwin, Mary White, Marian Tompson, Edwina Froelich, and Viola Lennon. Central to the organization's philosophy is the motto of good mothering through breastfeeding, a goal the organization promotes not only through monthly gatherings and other events, but also through its signature publication, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

The organization boasts chapters in over 60 countries, and its publications are now available in numerous languages. Mother-to-mother transmission of knowledge is key to understanding the League's philosophy and approach, though the organization has become increasingly integrated with established medical bodies such as the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization. The League strives to adhere to this idea through the cultivation of communities of breastfeeding mothers. Experienced breastfeeding women act as leaders, guiding the group members through a series of meetings designed to support women in their breastfeeding efforts.

La Leche League was born out of informal conversations held during a summer picnic hosted in July 1956 by the Christian Family Movement. Just a few months later, in October 1956, the new organization held its first meeting, led by its seven founders. The organization was named La Leche League in order to demonstrate a commitment to Marian worship and devotion. Together with their mentor, Dr. Leonard Ratner, the founding women of La Leche League developed a philosophy of breastfeeding that transcended the mechanics of infant feeding to encompass a broader ideology of mothering.

Following in the footsteps of the 18th-century political philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who posited the mother/child relationship as the heart of his political reform ideals, the founding members espoused a moral philosophy that linked the breastfeeding relationship between mother and child to broader understandings of family and societal health and well-being. Active during an era when over 70 percent of infants were fed with evaporated milk or infant formula, these women sought to support and promote a philosophy of infant feeding and maternal care that, they felt, would not only challenge the increasing influence of technology on society, but would also contribute to strengthening American society's moral core.

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The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

La Leche League promotes its philosophy through its signature publication, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, which was introduced as a mail-order package in 1958; the first bound edition appeared in 1963. The publication outlined the benefits of breastfeeding to mother and child and emphasized a philosophy of mothering based on intense attachment between mother and child through nursing. The Womanly Art has proven phenomenally successful. The 1963 edition sold over 1 million copies and the book has since appeared in numerous, ever-expanding editions and translations. The most recent edition, dating from 2004, has tripled in size, growing to 480 pages from an initial 166.

Mothers' milk cannot be duplicated; milk composition varies from day to day, and no two mothers produce identical milk.