La Leche League was founded by seven mothers to support friends who wanted to breastfeed their babies in 1956. They began a grass roots organisation that continues to offer breastfeeding information, encouragement and support to mothers worldwide through a network of thousands of Leaders and Groups. Diane Wiessinger, a La Leche League Leader since the 1980s and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), is the mother of two and grandmother of four. Along with Diana West and Teresa Pitman, she co-authored the eighth edition of La Leche League International's The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. Diane has contributed to breastfeeding textbooks and written numerous articles and handouts on breastfeeding. She lectures across the United States and elsewhere on breastfeeding, birth, and sleep issues. Linda Smith's 40-year career in women's health advocacy and support began as a physical education teacher and extends into her practice as childbirth educator, doula, and lactation consultant. She holds a Masters in Public Health, is an Adjunct Instructor in the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Dayton OH, and is the author of 4 textbooks on birth and breastfeeding. She has lectured in at least 15 countries; her presentations have been translated into 10 languages including Inuktitut. Regarding the Sleep book: she has bedshared with her spouse of 45 years; 3 children; 1 grandchild; assorted La Leche League Leaders and other adult women at breastfeeding conferences; four dogs and two cats. The humans are still very much alive. She says "If I had $1.00 for every breastfeeding relationship that was compromised by pacifiers or cribs, I'd be a rich woman." She was invited to present her key research areas (Impact of birth practices on breastfeeding outcomes; safe mother-infant bedsharing that supports breastfeeding) to international health experts at the World Health Organization. Diana West is an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) in private practice, co-author with Teresa Pitman and Diane Wiessinger of the 8th edition of La Leche League International's The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. She is also co-author with Lisa Marasco of The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk and Dr. Elliot Hirsch of Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures. She is the author of the Clinician's Breastfeeding Triage Tool and Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After Breast Reduction Surgery. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology, is a La Leche League Leader, a website developer, and administrator of the popular BFAR.org, LowMilkSupply.org, and LactSpeak.com websites. Diana has been a member of the Board of Directors for the International Lactation Consultant Association. She lives with her three sons and one husband in the picturesque mountains of western New Jersey.
