Latching onLatching on

During the 1960s, as breastfeeding rates plunged, a group of mothers 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 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.