Get to know your local leader - Hillary

How many children do you have?

Nathan (4 years), Ainsley (22 months), and due in September with #3…Oh, yeah. My husband Andrew and he is 27. LOL

How long have you been involved with LLL and what brought you to your first meeting?

I have been a leader since the Spring of 2012 but have been involved since I can remember. My mom was an LLL leader and so was one of my sisters. I can remember going to meetings as a teenager to ‘help with toddlers,’ and really I was just soaking it all up. I have always wanted to be a mommy and I am loving this season of my life. When I got pregnant with Nathan, I was living in Germany with my husband Andrew. As soon as I got back to Charleston, I began going to LLL meetings. I was less than 30 weeks pregnant but ready to build my support community.

What is your favorite philosophy concept and why?

One of my favorite parts of the LLL Philosophy is: ‘For the healthy, full-term baby, breast milk is the only food necessary until the baby shows signs of needing solids, about the middle of the first year after birth.’ As a first time mommy, I was under the impression from friends, pediatricians, etc. that you were supposed to start feeding your baby solids once he/she hit 6 months. I should’ve listened to my mom (but who does that all of the time, right?). So the day my son was 6 months we began with bananas. We ended up stopping with solids a week or two later because he just wasn’t into it in the least. He happily began on his own at almost 11 months old. It seems so backwards that I would watch his cues to nurse but didn’t watch for his readiness cues for eating solids. Sometimes, I think we can get so wrapped up in the next ‘milestone’ that we don’t stop to enjoy where our little one is.  

What is one thing you have a great deal of experience or familiarity with?

I have dealt with oversupply and dairy intolerances with both of my babies. With my first I didn’t quite realize he had a dairy intolerance until he started eating solids. I thought that everything he was experiencing as a baby was due to my oversupply which eventually worked itself out except for some symptoms (i.e. small amounts of blood in his stool) which still came and went. With my daughter, I had a lot more information under my belt and was able to remedy these issues more quickly. I also have dealt with tongue-tie and lip-tie. My son has tongue-tie but it didn’t affect his ability to nurse. We didn’t notice his tongue-tie until MUCH later and in hindsight realize that my long period of nipple pain during the beginning was probably due to this. My daughter has lip-tie and it has never interfered with nursing.

What is your favorite meeting topic?

My favorite topic is ‘Adjusting to Life with a New Baby.’ This one is always fun! Whether you are pregnant, a new mom, or a mom of older kids you can definitely enjoy this meeting topic. For the pregnant moms, they hear how other moms handle tasks like bathing, cleaning, keep their relationship with their significant other strong, etc. Things they may have never even thought would need to be modified. For new moms, they are in it and it is very fresh on their minds. They may hear or add a new way of doing something. For seasoned moms, it is always nice to remember when your older ones were so tiny and also how doing things changes as infant becomes toddler, etc.  

Favorite thing about being an LLL Leader?

Helping empower new moms! It is great to be able to give a mom the information she needs to successfully achieve her breastfeeding goals. Whether that is providing information to help her work through a breastfeeding issue or reassuring and encouraging her in her decisions as a breastfeeding mother.

Favorite music, book, food, color?

I am pretty much all over the board as far as music goes. As for books, I am more in to research based and ‘self-help/encourgement’ type books. I like to read for information rather than for ‘pleasure’ (yes, I am a bit of a nerd : D). I absolutely love Mexican food and my favorite color is pink.

Past Jobs

Before I started a family, I was a dance teacher. I have a B.A. in Dance Performance/Choreography. I taught pretty much every age and every style except Hip Hop (I’m a total bunhead) and ballroom.