World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7 celebrates the benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and their mothers

  • By Jennifer Kneuss
  • July 25, 2011
  • 291
World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7 celebrates the benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and their mothers
World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7 celebrates the benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and their mothers
World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7 celebrates the benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and their mothers
                        
Summary: Both mothers and their babies benefit from breastfeeding, regardless of what part of the world they may reside in. Locally, the Breastfeeding Coalition of Tuscarawas County is gearing up in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7. All young mammals, including the human variety, grow and thrive best on their own mother’s milk. That fact is once again being proclaimed during the annual World Breastfeeding Week, which is being celebrated world-wide, as well as throughout Ohio, August 1-7. ‘Breastfeeding Rocks!’ Is the motto for this year, as the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) focuses on ‘Takin’ in to the Streets’, an effort to utilize the media and community support to increase the rate of breastfeeding in an effort to positively impact the health of both babies and their mothers. “The more our society accepts breastfeeding as the normal, natural way to feed a baby the healthier and better off we will be as a nation, state, and community,” said, Margaret Weber, Breastfeeding Coordinator of the Tuscarawas County WIC Program. At one time, breastfeeding was definitely the cultural norm, and it was an accepted fact that all mothers fed their babies in this way. As the industrial revolution took place, so did the advertising onslaught of companies who hoped to make profits from the bi products of dairy product production that were of no other use. They did so by manufacturing baby milks, or ‘formulas’ in cans and promoting them to the medical community and public at large as the ‘modern’ way to feed infants. As a result, millions of mothers abandoned breastfeeding and choose to purchase the alternate product for their baby as an inferior, though popular, substitute for mothers’ milk. According to a recent press release in support of World Breastfeeding Week, “Returning our communities back into a breastfeeding-supportive culture will take efforts by educational institutions, hospitals, businesses, and even legal support.” Local mother Paula Connerton is currently breastfeeding her one year old daughter, Jesseanne, just as she did the other three children she and her husband, John, have brought into the world together. “It never occurred to me to feed her any other way,” she said. “Babies do best when they have their own mama’s milk. It’s best for her and for me health-wise, and there are so many other great benefits! Why spend thousands of dollars a year on an inferior formula product for my daughter? That doesn’t make any sense. Plus, it creates a wonderful bond between us, and it’s so easy.” Solutions to turning the tide back to embracing breastfeeding as the cultural norm are varied. One is to allow mothers to feel comfortable nursing in public, including placement of the ‘Nursing Babies are Welcome Here’ universal sign in store windows. Community hospitals should implement the adoption of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, as promoted by the World Health Organization, including the step that no longer allows formula ‘gifts’ to new mothers, which instills seeds of doubt about their ability to make enough milk for to breastfeed exclusively. Human lactation should be integrated into educational curriculum age-appropriately, presenting it as the norm that it is, and books, TV, and movies can show breastfeeding as a normal part of family life. Currently, websites, Facebook, and even Twitter are being utilized to offer support for nursing mothers. La Leche League International (www.llli.org), which has been helping breastfeeding mothers for over 50 years, is accessed by mothers worldwide, and a local support group is available in Tuscarawas County (330-407-3680). To support breastfeeding mothers and babies, the Breastfeeding Coalition of Tuscarawas County will provide breastfeeding gift bags containing breastfeeding “how-to” information, baby blankets, sample milk storage bags and nursing pads to breastfeeding mothers who deliver at Union Hospital during August. Said Weber, ““In light of the monetary and life saving benefits of breastfeeding, all elements of the community, must cooperate and support breastfeeding. Ultimately, our whole society benefits from having healthier mothers, babies and children when breastfeeding is promoted, protected, and supported.” For more information on World Breastfeeding Week, breastfeeding, or the local coalition to support it, contact Weber at the Tuscarawas County WIC Program, 330-343-5555.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load