Not your typical nursing photo! Sleeping Mama and Amelia Rose (18 months old.)
I'm Beth, just one of the many local leaders dedicated to help more mothers reach their breastfeeding goals.
I am fortunate to have birthed three wonderful babies, Amelia
Rose (5), Julian Buchanan…aka Buck (2), and Truitt (2 months).
I started coming to La Leche League meetings in the fall
of 2007 when my daughter was about 3 months old. Nursing started going well for us, thanks to
my mother being knowledgeable and having a sister and friends who had
successfully breastfed. I could also
thank my good start to Lin Cook, an IBCLC who gave me private instruction and demonstrations
just days before I delivered my baby girl.
Luckily she also gave me a flyer for LLL! I went to the meeting because most people I
knew at the time started supplementing between 3-6 months and many did not
breastfeed an entire year. I knew that method
was not going to work for us and went to seek help in meeting my goal. I found that help in La Leche League. I was hooked and wanted to come back for more!
It is hard to pick my favorite LLL philosophy, I think very
important is “in the early years baby has an intense need to be with his mother,
which, is as basic as his need for food.” To me the word ‘intense’ is perfect and I
believe this to be 100% true. I also
appreciate that the philosophy demonstrates just how important closeness is
between mother and baby…the need for food is obvious, so should be love in
proximity.
A main motivation for me in becoming a Leader at LLL was
because of my experience with juggling work, pumping, and breast-milk bottle
feeding. It was necessary for me to
return to work soon after the birth of my first two children…at six weeks with
Amelia Rose and only 3 weeks with Julian. Fortunately, I only worked part time
and not on consecutive days. This
helped me in sustaining my ability to breastfeed. At the same time, neither of my jobs were
conducive to pumping. I fought for the right and stood up for myself
because I knew it was the best thing for my babies. I hope I am able to help or inspire other
mothers who must work outside home to continue their breastfeeding relationship
and fight for their babies too!
Like my co-leader Hillary, my favorite meeting topic is
Bringing Home Baby. It reminds me of
those sweet, sweet new baby days when your only job in the world is to bond,
snuggle, and nurse your fresh little wonder. It can also be challenging and frustrating finding
time for your own needs and baby’s…especially when factoring in any latching
difficulties or other nursing issues. It
is my wish that ALL expectant mothers attend a meeting and hear ideas about the
first moments, hours and days that can really set the tone for the whole
breastfeeding experience.
My favorite thing about being a Leader is helping moms
reach their goal. My least favorite is
the feeling that I could help more if they would only give us the opportunity. I wish more would mothers would reach out
earlier and call more often.
Even today I still love attending the LLL meetings…mainly
because I meet so many new friends! Personal
friendships were not something I realized would change so much with having
children. However, as I developed my
ideas about child rearing and family, it became obvious that my family’s
philosophy was different from many people we knew and spent time with pre-kids.
Our old friends are still in our lives but there are issues we agree to
disagree on. It sure is nice to be
around people that just agree!
Before family and babies, my life was a quite different I
worked as an Administrative Assistant full time and trained for Triathlons,
completing two Half Ironman races and many sprint and Olympic distance races. I still hope to get back into racing and have
already started jogging again after my newest baby’s birth.
For now, my interests are spending time as a family doing
as many enriching activities with the kids as possible. My days and weeks consist of aquarium visits,
trips to the beach, play-dates, nature walks, family bike rides, berry picking, lots of
playground time, La Leche League meetings,
preparing fresh real food at home, attending Church and Sunday School,
going to farmer’s markets, ballet lessons for my daughter, swim lessons and
more sports to come for all the kids! Oh, and baby-wearing to tote the little ones wherever we roam! I
feel so blessed to be raising a family in such a wonderful place and I am so
grateful to La Leche League for bringing a truly awesome group of women into my
life that have helped me to learn so much about raising my kids in a loving,
gentle, and natural way!
Come to our next meeting for your own inspiration! See you there!
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