La Leche League

I have not had any problems. My LLL leaders are great, they respond quickly... If you are located in the Cities, try contacting Nyla at the Plymouth/Wayzata chapter. She is great.

I also had very bad results from them. I couldn't get a hold of anyone and when I finally did it took them a week to call back and then they said they couldn't come for another week. I was very, very dissapointed in them. I ended up just using the lactation department at the hospital that I gave birth at.

I never tried the La Leche League but wanted to say I had my daughter at Abott Northwestern (Childrens) and nobody wanted to help me either and so I pumped for awhile but gave it up. If I would have had adequate help I would have been a awesome breastfeeding mother. It's like extra work for them to do or something so they don't want to help. They were very pushy for me to pump but that was it. Overall I didn't like my experiance at that hospital.

Just be pushy and persistant and maybe somone will help you. Or write or email the who ever's at the top of the ladder and voice your complaints.

I was very involved with our local LLL but found similar contact problems trying to talk to them via their website and/or email. I would strongly recommend attending a LLL meeting.

Not only is the local representative on-hand, but you get to meet a lot of other breastfeeding moms, and they're all willing to give advice and tips.

Feel free to email me if you need help finding your local meeting. I went to the Eden Prairie meetings, and I belive after I was finished they split into two groups so they could cover more area.

I also had a great experience with the people at United Hospital. Give them a call. They give great advice over the phone and are more than happy to schedule an appointment. They will sit with you and help you with positioning and anything else for as long as you need.

Good Luck

I would also recommend the Breastfeeding Resource Center at United Hospital. I didn't deliver there and they were able to see me anyway. The lactation consultant I saw was SO helpful and friendly. She went out of her way to get me in at the last minute on a Saturday morning a few days after I came home from the hospital. It made all of the difference and I'm still breastfeeding 5 months later thanks to her. My insurance did cover the consultation; yours might, too.

In my personal experience it depends on the chapter. I loved Columbia Heights and Anoka but had a hard time at Golden Valley.

What exactly do you need help with? I was fortunate enough to have a past le leache league leader as my mom, so what I couldn't get from the league my mom was great help with.

Email me if you you'd rather keep it private ____@____.com

I have contacted the local person once with each child and have never had a response. I'm trying to get involved with them because I want to get certified as a lactation consultant and need to get some experience helping moms. So it's not just you... If you want, you can send me a message and I can try and help you out. I work as an RN on a L&D unit and a huge part of my job is helping moms with breastfeeding.

Have you tried a lactation consultant? You can talk to the LC at United Hospital over the phone for free. ###-###-####. You can also schedule an appointment. I found them very helpful.

As has been said, it's volunteer-run and hit-or-miss. I've also had no luck with the Golden Valley chapter, but just attended the Eden Prarie chapter on Tuesday after getting email responses from BOTH leaders within 24 hours of my questions. The EP chapter was well-attended, lots of youngish moms and babies, and really helpful. A bit of a hike, but worth it.

I would try again with LLL. They are 100% volunteer run and operated so it can be hit and miss with the advice but there are a lot dedicated moms that are out there that want to help. I would really encourage you to go to a LLL meeting, it is a nice way to meet other breast feeding moms too. They helped my through 2 years of breast feeding issues with my girls. I say kept at it and try again because the moms on-call rotate, so you will probably get someone different next time. But they really are there to support breast feeding moms, and I am sorry you had a bad experience. Good luck!

I had similar experiences with them. I would pose a question and they would tell me that they'd call me back but never did. I found it more helpful to contact a lactation specialist at the hospital I delivered. They don't charge for phone consultations. They can also set up a personal consultation and will help file the paperwork for insurance as well.

I found that asking other nursing moms helped me huge the most.

I was lucky and had a mother of 3 cousin who considered becoming a lactation specialist so she seemed like she knew everything, even things that the lactation specialists didn't know.

I feel for you - breast feeding was really rough for us for about 6 weeks or so. We had some one on one help with a lactation consultant who was fantastic and I don't think I ended up paying anything for it after our insurance kicked in. The lactation consultant was through United Hospital in St. Paul and I can't recommend them highly enough. It made all the difference to me during a really really difficult time. All the best and I hope you find someone you can connect with.

I've been in touch with the Bloomington, MN group and always found the leaders fairly prompt and incredibly helpful. You may want to try a different group in a neighboring town. Many of the leaders (who are also lactation consultants) can be reached by email via the La Leche League website (in the section with info. about group locations and leaders).
Hope this helps. Best of luck!
:) M.

P.S. Another option may be contacting a lactation consultant that is affiliated with a hospital's Maternity and Birth Ward. My insurance has always covered visits with them.

I had a great experience with LLL. The mom I talked to was able to pinpoint the problem I was having and give me help. I know that it is a network of volunteer moms, so maybe if one person you talk to isn't much help, you can contact someone else.

I also had no help from the la leche league, in Seattle, or in Appleton. I found the best help was from other moms, and also The Appleton Health Department, called after my son was born, and I expressed my issues, to which they sent a lactation consultant out same day!!! For free, and she was very helpful. It was a tough birth and he was premee, so I checked the box at the hospital for a city health nurse to call me, if you can call the city health department and just ask them, it was very helpful to me. What about your son's pediatrician? Did you call them, they maight be able to help over the phone, or when you have his visit, they can help youwith nursing problems, after all your nursing for HIS help and benifit. If you want to e-mail me, I've had all sorts of issues, and have been sucessful with nursing, so feel free to e-mail me any questions, ____@____.com. I'm glad to help in any way, I know it can be very tough at times!! Godd Luck.

I contacted my local LL with problems with my last ds and was also disappointed with their help and I have heard that from a few other moms although all the literature and websites say how awesome they are, not my experience. Anyways, try contacting the lactation consultant from the hospital where your son was born and they are a lot of help. I know you can get a consultant come in and get paid on an hourly basis (I think like $60 for an hour which sounds steep but is a small price to pay in the long run if you end up nursing longer and needing less formula:) and I have heard a couple people rave about that service. Ask the lactation consultant about it. Also you can contact a lay midwife (someone who does homebirth) or a certified nurse midwife or a postpartum doula; they are a world of help in that area and can put you in contact with the right people to help you, you'll have to search the web for those, although there may be a few that have been recommended right here on mamasource so search this website also.
Good luck..
K. H

I didn't have any luck with LLL either. They were slow to respond and when they did respond, they didn't offer any helpful advice. I looked into the meetings thinking they might be more useful, but they were scheduled relatively infrequently. When I was on the verge of giving up on breastfeeding (several times), there was no way I could wait a couple of weeks for a meeting. I did, however, have an EXCELLENT experience with the lactation consultants at United Hospital. (Someone below gave you the phone number.) I saw two different consultants and I was very impressed with both. They offer free advice over the phone. Every time I called, they returned my call within 30 minutes. And I was able to get appointments for either the same day or next day when I needed them. My insurance covered the appointments, so you might want to check into your coverage. My daughter is 10 mos. old now and I am still nursing. There is no way I would have made it without the 1 to 1 time I spent with the consultants at United.

I had a problem with them with my first pregnancy and decided not to go back. The ladies were helpful about nursing, but they made me feel uncomfortable. There were only 3 in the group and all in their 30's-40's (I had just turned 20). Only one was still nursing....and the kid was 3!

Not to say it is bad, but it was very wierd to see a 3 year old running around and playing then going to nurse.....Plus they didn't like the fact that I was working and going to school and pumping at the time. Talked a lot about nipple confusion and how it would hurt my son (I nursed and pumped for all 3 of my boys and they never had problems). I finally stopped going. I did learn a few techniques, but they were upset that I wouldn't nurse in public.....and even after my third son, I still was never comfortable with it.