What’s Happening with the La Leche League?
With what we know about its health benefits today, it may be hard to imagine that back in the 1950’s breastfeeding an infant was discouraged by the medical community. It was not uncommon for a mother to be informed that her breastmilk was “too thin” and for the hospital to promote the use of baby formula, even to the extent of providing new mothers with recipes for making their own formula. Nursing mothers were usually thought of as only those who were of lower economic means, and more sophisticated and busy women used formula. Those women who did want to breastfeed their infants found little support, information, or guidance.
In response to this lack of guidance and information, in 1954 Marian Tompson, one of those rare breastfeeding mothers, became a co-founder of the La Leche League, a breastfeeding support organization, which has continued to grow to the present day.
Today we recognize the healthy advantages of breast milk for infants. Entire medical journals have been written devoted to breastfeeding and breastmilk. It has been promoted as the optimal nutrition for infants by several surgeons general of the United States. The practice is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as other professional organizations, which recommend exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months. UNICEF and the World Health Organization support breastfeeding.
The modern La Leche League International (LLLI) is a global organization and its co-founder Marian Tompson, now a 94-year-old widow living in Illinois, remained actively involved with the organization until this past November, when Tompson publicly resigned her position on the Board of Directors, saying that she is no longer able to be associated with the organization.
Her letter of resignation illuminates her reasoning: “On November 6, 2024, I resigned from the LLLI Board of Directors and from LLL itself, an organization that has become a travesty of my original intent. From an organization with the specific Mission of supporting biological women who want to give their babies the best start in life by breastfeeding them, LLL’s focus has subtly shifted to include men who, for whatever reason, want to have the experience of breastfeeding despite no careful long-term research on male lactation and how that may affect the baby.”
Tompson further explained that “There is no justification for experimentation on newborn babies. No one knows the effects of the multiple drugs and hormones used by these males on the health of babies; there are no long-term studies at all. Indeed, one of the drugs almost always used to induce lactation — Domperidone — is actually banned in the United States. How can we justify experimenting on babies who cannot give any type of consent? How is this ethical?”
In July 2023, the federal CDC endorsed men “chestfeeding” infants. Following the release of this endorsement, Senator Roger Marshall, MD, R-KS, an OB/GYN, issued a press statement condemning the CDC’s “irresponsible” recommendation of the drug Domperidone as a means to produce lactation in men, saying that the drug “was originally used to treat nausea, but because of the harmful side effects causing heart arrhythmias, it was taken off the market by the FDA in 2004.”
Marshall added that “this dangerous medication has serious side effects that could pose life-threatening complications for adults and more so the infant. None of this has been thoroughly studied, but we know that when you start mixing drugs, the risk of the drugs impacting the newborn baby increases exponentially. How can this possibly be considered a good idea, let alone safe for the baby?”
Additionally, Marshall explained the forced liquid produced by drugs and hormones to induce “chestfeeding” lacks colostrum, which is “Mother Nature’s nutrient dense, real mother’s milk loaded with antibodies and antioxidants that gives a moms’ protection to the vulnerable newborn.” He noted that the liquid produced artificially by biological males “will not provide all the nutrition or calories healthy, growing newborn babies need.”
Beyond the health risks to the infant, Marian Tompson also objected to the elimination of single-sex breastfeeding support group meetings, and the La Leche League’s erasure of words such as “mother” and “breast.” She raised the issue of women who, because of religious beliefs or trauma from previous sex-based violence, could not breastfeed with men present in the support group. Another board member informed her that these “sensitive” women could sit in a different room with the door cracked open so they could hear the discussion.
Since Tompson’s announcement, a number of other La Leche League leaders have also turned in their resignations, refusing to sign the Statement of Commitment obligating them to support male lactation and to accept the presence of males in breastfeeding support meetings. Donations to the organization appear to be diminishing over the issue and there is even talk among those leaving of forming a new organization that cleaves to the original vision of breastfeeding support held by the founding mothers.
“Breastfeeding is in the news again — that’s good!” said Tompson. “There is a reason for this happening. When things get so upside down, that means a change is coming.” The more Americans learn about these issues, the less they support them.
94-year-old Marian Tompson could have said nothing and quietly retired from this organization she helped found. But instead, she stood up and said, “this is wrong”, wrong for the mothers and wrong for the babies. Her courage shines brightly for us all.