A major new evaluation shows the effectiveness of LLLGB Peer Counsellor Programmes.

La Leche League’s Peer Counsellor Programme was brought to Great Britain in 1990 with the first projects piloted in Nottingham

Early evaluation showed that the programme made a measurable difference to mother’s experiences of breastfeeding. Women were more than twice as likely to breastfeed in areas with an LLLGB PCP than in comparable areas without such a programme

Health professionals are trained by LLLGB’s PCP Team to become administrators of this highly successful programme. They are then enabled to recruit, train and support mothers to become breastfeeding peer counsellors in their local areas

A comprehensive set of materials are provided to support each programme, including a detailed curriculum for training peer counsellors, copies of THE BREASTFEEDING ANSWER BOOK and THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING, a wide range of leaflets and a starter library of breastfeeding books. Additional materials such as videos and reference books are available to buy or borrow

With the help and support of La Leche League PCP Training Co-ordinators, each programme is developed to meet the needs of local women

The PCP Team provides on-going support to each programme for three years, via telephone consultation, support visits, and regional and national enrichment days

Once trained, peer counsellors help change attitudes to breastfeeding in their areas, empowering themselves and those around them

Mothers empowered by the peer counselling course often to move on to employment or study. They become, for example, play workers, health care assistants, midwives … and some decide to train as La Leche League Leaders. They know though, that their greatest achievement, is having improved the lives of their children, through breastfeeding