JoAnne Scott, 62, Breast Feeding Expert
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JoAnne Scott, a director of the La Leche League who helped re-popularize breast feeding around the world through lactation consultants, died September 18 of breast cancer. She was 62.
Virtually unknown a generation ago, lactation consultants are now on the staffs of hospitals, maternity and pediatric centers and private medical practices in dozens of countries. Largely through the efforts of Scott, the field has become a licensed profession with rigorous requirements for certification.
Scott had long believed that breastfeeding conferred physical and psychological benefits to both mother and child, but when she had problems breastfeeding her children in the early 1970s, she had few places to turn for help.
After volunteering at La Leche League for many years, Scott became head of the organization’s lactation consultant department in 1982, and created an international licensing program..
Today, there are more than 16,000 La Leche-certified lactation consultants in 69 countries.