JILL Virgil Smith recently became the island's first Bermudian La Leche League (LLL) leader, accredited as a font of information on a subject important to all new mothers – breast feeding.
This week, she spoke with Mid-Ocean News reporter HEATHER WOOD and photographer DAVID SKINNER about her organisation's aims and the role it plays here and abroad.
Q: What is the La Leche League organisation all about? How did it start?
A: (It's) an international, not-for-profit organisation that's based out of the United States. It was formed almost 50 years ago, by a group of women who realised that there was no breast-feeding information, education or support out there.
One of them was married to a doctor and he suggested she start something, that maybe she and all her friends who were breast feeding, could help other women. And that's how it started. So it's an organisation that's based on mother-to-mother support. Mothers supporting each other.
Q: How important a role does La Leche League International (LLLI) play in terms of promoting the virtues of breast feeding?
A: It's the foremost authority on breast feeding in the world. It has adviser status with the World Health Organisation (WHO). It also works with UNICEF, helping to advise on the global policy on breast feeding.
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