Inclusion All Day, Every Day

La Leche League Collective is a new breastfeeding and chestfeeding charity in Great Britain, and was formed in January 2025 expressly to address inequity in breastfeeding support. 

 At LLL Collective, we feel passionate about and commit to: creating a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable environment for all individuals seeking breastfeeding, chestfeeding and human milk feeding support.

Photo by Hayley Fraser Photography

Why does this matter to us?

We know that people from marginalised communities may feel unable to access breastfeeding support for a huge variety of reasons and we’re working to make our support accessible for you and your family, and everyone else who wants to provide their baby with their milk. 

In LLL, we know that Human milk is the natural food for babies, uniquely meeting their changing needs, and the only way for babies to have access to their natural food is for their parents to receive lactation support. If families are unable to access support, then their baby may be unable to access breastmilk. However feeding your baby might look for your family, and whatever your family might look like, we will support you sensitively, with no judgement, and welcome you to our meetings. 

Photo by Hayley Fraser Photography

What does this mean, practically?

We take an expansive view of what inclusion means in lactation. In no particular order, we want to support if you:

• Have an expected (“normal”) breastfeeding journey
• Have challenges – big or small – in your breastfeeding journey
• Use the words breastfeeding, chestfeeding, bodyfeeding, lactation, nursing, etc.
• Want to stop now, tomorrow, next week, next year or some distant time
• Exclusively pump
• Supplement with donor or formula milk, choose to mix feed, use bottles, and/or use a supplementary nursing system
• Adopted, used surrogacy, had a caesarean birth, gave birth at home, and anything in between
• Use the word mother or don’t use the word mother
• Are Black, brown, from a global majority group, or are a member of a minoritised community
• Are in the LGBTQIA+ community
• Find yourself in the UK because you were born here, immigrated here, fled here
• Have religious or cultural rules around breastfeeding and lactation
• Use the term Neurodivergent or don’t
• Are a Disabled person or have access needs
• Are the first person in your family to nurse your baby, or come from a long line of breastfeeding people
• Returned to work early or decided to never return to work
• Don’t feed your baby in public, use a nursing cover, or feed your baby anywhere
• Have no support in your network, have unhelpful support, or have all the support you feel you need
• Need a support person, a translator, an interpreter, a guide dog to bring with you
• Don’t see yourself explicitly on this list but are providing human milk to your baby

 Please reach out. We welcome you regardless of how you identify. We know writing an explicit list runs the risk of leaving someone out. It’s easier to write everyone but we also know not everyone sees themselves in “everyone” in the breastfeeding context. We mean it though, and see this as a starting point for conversation, not the end.

 All our volunteer breastfeeding counsellors (we call them “Leaders”) will support you, provide evidenced-based, judgement-free information, and listen to your story. As is written in the latest edition of The Art of Breastfeeding, “We’re working hard to reach all parents who might benefit from our services, wherever they live, whatever their families look like, and however they prefer to get their breastfeeding support”.

Photo by Hayley Fraser Photography

Do you want to be part of our mission?

To make our support spaces safe for people from all backgrounds, we know one of the most important things is having diversity within our volunteers. Do you see the inequity in breastfeeding support and want to work with us to improve this? Have you wanted to support breastfeeding, but felt that you may not be safe or welcome in breastfeeding support organisations? Maybe no one else looks like you, you feel incorrect assumptions may be made about you, or feel that the needs of your community are not understood? You are welcome here. We will listen, boost your voice and work to make you, and families like yours, feel at home with us. Find out more here.

We are actively seeking partnership with organisations who work with marginalised groups that may need breastfeeding support, and would love to hear from you if you’d like to partner with us. 

Are you a breastfeeding supporter or health professional who wants to learn more about how to make your breastfeeding support equitable? Watch our mini webinar series here to learn more and hear from a variety of professionals and experts with lived experience.

Photo by Hayley Fraser Photography

We want your feedback

Equity and inclusion is central to everything we do and it is actively considered in all aspects of our work. We are all learning, and know we will not get this right all the time. Do you feel something we do needs to be changed to work better for your community? Have we missed your identity in our words here? We want to hear your feedback, and will never dismiss your perspective. Get in touch with us at equity @lllcollective.org.uk.