`     I wrote to `` Tina Kimmel `` < Tina @T Motherlove . Org > who referred me to `` Amber Craig `` < Ambercraig @T Nc . Rr . Com > who referred me to `` Norm Cohen `` < NormCohen @T NOCIRCofMI . org > who sent me this:     October 2004   Suffering at the Breast is Not Best   La Leche League Censors While Mothers and Sons Suffer   To La Leche League Board of Directors, Staff, Leaders, Members, and Alumnae:   In a shocking display of mixing with religious causes, La Leche League’s Board of Directors has let a small group of women defeat the free exchange of information on circumcision’s negative impact on breastfeeding success.   In April of 2003, NOCIRC signed a contract with La Leche League International as an exhibitor and paid for exhibit space for their international conference held in July 2003.  Shortly before the event, the board of directors vetoed our admission as exhibitors.  Word of our attendance had spread to a minority of Jewish women in the organization who objected to our very presence.   NOCIRC has exhibited successfully at literally hundreds of conferences locally, regionally, and nationally.  We are asked back year after year.  Without religious prejudice, we provide information about the traumatic effects of circumcision.  We hand out our information pamphlets in a non-confrontational manner to those who approach our table because they are interested in learning about the issue.  Each year, we have a well-received exhibit booth for physicians attending the American Academy of Pediatrics national conference.   NOCIRC already counts among its supporters hundreds of LLL members and former members.  The silent majority of leaders within League are already on our side.    Attendees who were interested would have  appreciated our information; those who were not interested would have just walked on by.   The vast majority of boys who are circumcised in the United States are not sons of Jewish or Muslim parents.  Preventing these non-religious circumcisions has always been the primary focus for NOCIRC.  This painful surgery, the most common procedure that baby boys are forced to experience, puts breastfeeding success at risk.  Good chest-to-chest positioning requires mom to press her son’s wounded penis up against her body, and the pain makes him unable or unwilling to nurse.   La Leche League reported problems with breastfeeding by circumcised infants in their 1981 edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.  In 1996, LLL ratified the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, along with 25 other organizations.  The organization accepted ten basic principles for mother-friendly care,  including the requirement that service providers must “discourage non-religious circumcision of the newborn.” (on-line at ).   The breastfeeding relationship does not begin in a vacuum.  In 2002, NOCIRC issued its position statement, “The Effects of Circumcision on Breastfeeding,” available at .  Researchers have found that some male babies are unable to suckle the mother’s breast after circumcision.  The circumcised infant is in pain and is in an exhausted, weakened, and debilitated condition.  The circumcision procedure frequently causes the newborn to withdraw from his environment, interfering with his process of bonding and breastfeeding.   La Leche League claims it is a non-sectarian organization.  However, when it comes to circumcision, it is a religious organization.  A few powerful members are keeping clinical data regarding breastfeeding obstacles out of the hands of all members in order to further their personal religious viewpoint.  For six years now they have systematically excluded NOCIRC from simply having a table at their area and national conferences.   The Board of Directors has placed a higher priority on protecting religious circumcision than on breastfeeding success for the 94% of non-Jewish, non-Muslim  moms.  Jewish boys have seven days to establish breastfeeding before undergoing surgery; non-Jewish boys do not because they are circumcised at birth, and thus they are at a greater risk.   The Board’s action is hypocritical in light of LLL’s own struggle with those who block the promotion of breastfeeding benefits for fear of upsetting parents.  LLL has itself been accused of producing guilt when they describe the advantages of breastfeeding in much the same way that NOCIRC is now being accused by LLL.   LLL has an obligation to its members to make available information on how circumcision affects breastfeeding.  New and expectant moms need this information ASAP in order to nurture a successful breastfeeding relationship with their sons.  NOCIRC can help to insure that this happens.  T