About Our La Leche League Group

All breastfeeding mothers and mothers-to-be who are interested in breastfeeding are welcome to come to our meetings or call one of the leaders for breastfeeding help and/or meeting information. Babies are always welcome at our meetings.

La Leche League leaders are experienced mothers who have breastfed their own babies and who have been trained and accredited by La Leche League International to help mothers and mothers-to-be with all aspects of breastfeeding. We are available by phone or email whenever you have breastfeeding questions or concerns.

Taking medications while nursing

Taking medications while nursing is quite the touchy subject. Some doctors and medical staff are very conservative with their advice while a select few stay up to date with the current research on medication interactions with breast milk. When in doubt–or rather whenever you’re told to cease breastfeeding while taking a medication–please do double check that your care provider is providing you with the accurate information.

One online resource of AAP approved medications is available here at the ever-resourceful Kellymom:
http://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/meds/aap-approved-meds/

Another excellent resource is Infant Risk Center out of Texas Tech University. They are available by phone Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM CST – (806)-352-2519.

And finally, we, your local LLL leaders, are also always available by phone, email, or at a monthly meeting to bring your questions regarding medications and breastfeeding. We all own a copy of Dr. Thomas Hale’s ‘Medications and Mothers’ Milk,’ the comprehensive guide with recommendations about the use of medications while breastfeeding.

While in an ideal world all of our doctors would have accurate information for breastfeeding patients, it seems that they most often reference the package inserts for the medications they prescribe–almost all of which exclusively advise not to take while breastfeeding. This warning is to protect the manufacturer from lawsuits and rarely if ever is backed by scientific research. Resources such as the (limited) AAP list or (comprehensive) Infant Risk Center/Hale’s book should be utilized when ultimately making the decision to nurse while medicated. And remember, we are happy to help as well!

Entertaining Children on Cold Weather Days!

Our most recent LLL Toddler meeting quickly turned into a “we know each other and really just need some mom time while the kids make a huge mess” meeting and boy, did we all really need that! Between family events, holidays coming up, concerns about our kiddos etc. It was a great time to sit and chat/get advice. The topic of ‘entertaining kids during winter months’ however, was quickly over looked.

I promised the mamas at my house (as well as a few unable to attend) I’d share some of my favorites, some blogs as well as some strictly related to December for those interested. Grab a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate…something), pull up a comfy chair and see if any of these might make your winter a little easier with active kids stuck indoors.

Out and about (localish to Schaumburg/Roselle/Bartlett):
- Free or very little cost:
-  Libraries. Schaumburg, Elk Grove Villiage, Bartlett and others in the area have fantastisc kids areas for them to play. Also, most of their story time/art project times you don’t need to register for (and are free!)
- Park Districts: Most have an open gym of some sort weekly. Pay a few dollars and let them loose
- Mall play places: might be busy but they are free ;) The ones at Woodfield, Stratford, St. Charles, and York Town are our favorites.
- Bounce/Play places that cost $$$:
- Funflatables
- Yu’s Kids
- Kids Club (newish off Golf Rd in Schaumburg)
- LegoLand
- Kids Town
- Jump Zone
- Monkey Business (Wheaton)
- DuPage Children’s Museum (Naperville)
- Nibbles Play Cafe (Wheeling)
- Cafe & Play (Aurora/Naperville?)
(It’s worth mentioning that Groupon often has deals for these places. Also, the “Nearby” or “NOW!” deals usually have discounted admission. We’ve gotten 1/2 off at Yu’s 3 days in a row before.)

Staying Home:
- Forts and glowsticks or flashlights. Hours of entertainment :)
- Indoor picnic or tea party
- Make and then play with homemade playdough (if you’re adventurous enough there are even edible playdough recipes out there!)
- TP rolls and rolled up socks to ‘bowl’ in the house
- Make a card/write a letter and mail it to somone (we had a Cailou book about this which started Lils obsession about mailing letters)
- Host a playdate (just let them make a huge mess and worry about it later!)
- Cardboard box fun. We let Lil decorate it however she wants and it becomes so many things.
- Treasure hunts around the house. We’ve even made “maps” for her to follow
- Cook/bake/decorate something
- Chores. Believe it or not, our almost 3yr old ASKS to help and we give her coins for her piggy bank for helping out! They are always old enough to do SOMETHING. Just figure out what :)
- Make homemade bath paints (not the ones that will stain everything that you buy in stores) and let them get messy…all that is necessary to clean up is some water! ;)
- Popsicle stick puzzles, make ‘em and have fun
- Craft, paint, get messy!
- Sensory bins (see the link below for ideas on this one)
- Make rock candy
- “Library Trip” to their bookshelf
- Draw on windows with dry erase markers…haven’t personally tried this but told they wipe off easily
- Play hopscotch or make a huge race track on your carpeting with masking tape!
- Recycle old/broken crayons into new ones! :)

Christmas/December Ideas:
- Go look at Christmas/tree decorations out and about or at a store (we love Menards for this!)
- Make and decorate Christmas cookies
- Make, bake and paint salt dough ornaments
- Clean out toys in prep for Christmas and donate old toys (better for older kiddos)
- Make presents! Or just let kids help you pick them out and wrap them
- Make popcorn and dried cranberry garland for the tree
- Paper chains!
- Grocery shop for a local food pantry/bank
- Celebrate Winter Solstice
- Make food/buy food to put out for the squirles and/or birds
- Prepare and freeze special breakfast for Christmas morning
- Make snow globes! There are lots of ideas online for this one.
- Celebrate a winter/Christmas tradition from your heritage..
- Make paper snowflakes
- Make pine cone Christmas trees.

The links have even more ideas! Happy winter months and rainy days!!!

http://domesticsimplicity.com/2011/11/14/merry-making-50-things-to-do-with-kids-in-december/

http://www.playcreateexplore.com/p/activites-for-ages-1-3.html (this one has a lot of sensory bin ideas)

http://innerchildfun.com/2012/05/50-inspiring-ideas-for-rainy-day-fun-with-your-kids.html

http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/100-ways-to-avoid-tv/

http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/

Room change for this Friday’s series meeting

FYI, this Friday’s meeting will be in the Adult Classroom at the Schaumburg Library instead of the North Rasmussen Room as normal. It’s still upstairs, but if you show up at the normal room and find Mr. Steve’s Musical Comedy Show, don’t think that LLL has suddenly changed meeting formats :) Hope to see you there!

New Issue of “Breastfeeding Today”

This months issue of “Breastfeeding Today” is out!

There is some great information about keeping relationships with older children positive when the new baby comes, meeting your own needs, fitness, and a few creative recipes! Check it out HERE today!

 

Our garage sale – It’s on!

Find us this Friday and Saturday, July 20th and 21st from 9:00 to 3:00 at 53 Keswick Road in Elk Grove Village. The neighboring garage sale will be benefiting a local Boy Scouts troop while the majority of ours will be fundraising for this LLL group (plus some of my mother-in-law’s things she’s selling personally since she’s so kindly hosting for us!). Come check it out–lots of kid clothes and household items!

Garage sale fundraiser, now accepting donations!

We are setting out to raise funds again this year and can use your help! Do you have any items around your home that you’re looking to get rid of? We will happily take them as donations to sell at our fundraising garage sale! We will accept these donations at any of our leaders’ homes in Schaumburg, Bartlett, or Elk Grove Village. If your items are small you are welcome to donate them at any of our regular series meetings as well.

Come find the garage sale at 1783A Vermont Drive in Elk Grove Village On Friday, July 13th and Saturday, July 14th. Find us on the south side of Vermont Drive just west of University Lane. The neighborhood is northwest of the intersection of Biesterfield and Meacham Roads in Elk Grove Village. Our sale at 1783A Vermont Drive will be one of many in the neighborhood-wide garage sale those days. All sale proceeds at this address will go to support our local La Leche League of Schaumburg and Roselle.

We appreciate your donations to help fund our group’s efforts!

Meeting Update!

Due to Roselle library’s availability this month our evening couples meeting falls on  Memorial Day. In order to have a meeting we’ve moved it to Tuesday, 5/29 at 7pm in Meeting room A. We hope to see you and your little ones there!

Your Baby’s First 24 Hours

Over the last month I’ve had an abundance of phone calls and emails regarding the same topic, “I’m pregnant and want to breastfeed,  how do I get things off to a good start?” Coincidentlly, one of my favorite resources, KellyMom.com, posted an article discussing the 5 best things you can do in the first 24 hours of baby’s life. These tips help establish breastfeeding practices early on, hopefully avoiding major problems after arriving home.

Here is the link: 
http://fullbellysisters.blogspot.com/2011/08/five-things-you-can-do-during-your.html

Now, even if you do all this, sometimes difficulties still occur, even if you have nursed a child before. The bonus tip at the bottom of the article is where LLL comes in, we are here to help any time! Right after baby is born, 2 weeks after, or even a year (or 2!) later.

If you’re free, come by Schaumburg Library this Friday for our monthly series meeting! Look forward to seeing you there :)

New Beginnings Magazine

New Beginnings is an online publication released by LLL USA. It is a bi-monthly magazine filled with inspiring stories and helpful information for expectant parents and breastfeediing moms. There’s plenty to interest mothers at all stages of their parenting journey. By publishing online LLL has reduced their carbon footprint and made the publication easily accessible and easily shared. Enjoy this first issue of 2012!

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/ac43b0b9?page=1&p653=1850#/ac43b0b9/1