Book Launch, Friday October 3 2014
Latching On: 50 years of breastfeeding support – La Leche League in New Zealand 1964-2014
During the 1960s, as breastfeeding rates plunged, a group of others began a quiet revolution that was to change the way
New Zealand babies were fed.
Following the lead of an American voluntary organisation, the women set up a remarkable mother-to-mother support group,
which met for the first time on 25 April 1964 in the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert. La Leche League had officially
arrived in New Zealand.
Latching On is a fascinating account of what followed over the next 50 years as La Leche League groups sprang up across the country.
The impact of the organisation’s work was far reaching; not only did New Zealand’s breastfeeding rates soar but, in
making breastfeeding a more public and, at times, controversial issue, the organisation drew attention to the need to
support and protect a woman’s right to breastfeed.
Written by freelance public historian Louise Shaw, this is much more than a ‘who said what, where and when’ account of
the country’s leading breastfeeding support organisation; it is a valuable insight into the history of breastfeeding in
New Zealand and the societal context La Leche League grew up in.
Latching On will be launched at approximately 1.45pm on Friday October 3rd during the opening of La Leche League’s 50thAnniversary
Conference in Auckland.
Breastfeeding Support: Our Foundation, Our Future – Te Tautoko Whakangote: To matou tuapapa, haere ake nei – takes place at the Waipuna Conference Centre in Mt Wellington October 3-5. Best-selling international authors and
lactation consultants Diana West and Pinky McKay will be our special guests over three days.
ENDS