MARYVILLE/FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS - Parents have the opportunity to receive free breastfeeding support.
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St. Louis Metro East La Leche League offers free support groups for prospective parents and nursing families. They meet in various locations across the Metro East and also have an online Facebook group. Dee, a breastfeeding counselor and La Leche League volunteer, explained that the group’s goal is to help parents feel more comfortable feeding and caring for their children.
“When I had my first, I’d read about breastfeeding and I knew it was something that I wanted to do, but I was totally clueless about how. They brought me that screaming baby a couple hours after his birth and laid him in my arms, and I was just petrified because he was still screaming. He didn’t calm down just because he ended up in my arms,” Dee remembered. “I just didn’t know a thing. I just assumed this was natural and the baby would know what to do. Well, it doesn't work that way.”
Six weeks later, Dee was overwhelmed and her baby had been “screaming” the entire time. A friend of hers decided it was time to go to a La Leche meeting.
For the first time, Dee realized other nursing parents could advise her, and she received information that made a big difference. She left that meeting feeling hopeful.
“I went home thinking, ‘Maybe I can be this baby’s mother,’” she said. “When they picked me up to go to that first meeting, I was seriously thinking I would have to give him up for adoption because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and I thought I wasn’t going to get any smarter and this kid needs better. But I kept him. They gave me enough information that I felt like, okay, we can try this. And some of it didn't work, because nothing works with every mom and baby. But enough of it worked that we calmed him and me down, and he grew up into a real nice person.”
Her son is now 45, and Dee is happy to help other parents who are in the same position she once was in. She encourages anyone who wants to breastfeed to attend a meeting or reach out over Facebook.
La Leche League meetings are open to pregnant and nursing mothers. The St. Louis Metro East chapter also welcomes fathers to a few meetings every month, as long as they come with their child’s mother.
As a La Leche League leader, Dee and her fellow group members make it a point to always address a parent’s main concern. They encourage people to never leave a meeting with unanswered questions. They might also suggest other tips if the parent seems open to it, but their top priority is making sure the parent knows what they came in wanting to know.
There are also a few online support groups, and the St. Louis Metro East chapter leaders are happy to share their phone numbers with parents. Ultimately, they just want to help parents feel less alone and more empowered in their breastfeeding journey. Just like La Leche League helped Dee, she believes it can go a long way in helping others.
“I’d never had a baby before. I thought, ‘Oh, you read about it, and it all sounds real easy.’ But then, that baby didn’t read those books,” Dee said. “It was hugely important for me.”
For more information about St. Louis Metro East La Leche League, visit the official Facebook group.
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