World Breastfeeding Week

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!!!

to everyone except those of us in Canada who celebrate WBW in the first week of October, because the first week of August is all about the long weekend, camping, ferry line-ups, cottages, and the big B's in our lives now are b&bs, bbq's, and beer. Not boobs & babies. So this will be coming at you again in October but for the rest of the world - -

The theme this year is "Breastfeeding: The First Hour - Save a Million Lives!"

Important new public health studies indicate that initiating breastfeeding during the first hour of life can save a million children's lives worldwide.

Just think about that.

One little intervention, one message. Initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth. Delay is deadly. Initiation breastfeeding after Day 3 is associated with a six times greater risk of death.

Neonatal mortality could be reduced by 24% if 99% of infants initiated breastfeeding on day 1 of life and by 31% if 99% of initiation was within the first hour.
Numbers of lives saved were estimated to be 867,000 and 1,117,000 in these two cases.

(Dr. Arun Gupta, Gold '07 conference)

And the best part? Babies know how to do it. All by themselves.

One of the things I do IRL, is sit on the BC Baby Friendly Network where I'm the webfrau of the website.

Check out my 'baby' (newly revamped this spring!) and if you click over the World Breastfeeding Week resources page, you can see the amazing Breast Crawl video & see how clever babies are.

Reducing neonatal and U5 (that's "under 5 years of age) mortality rates is part of the millenium goals - here's one small intervention that packs a punch.

Remember that you in the industrialized world have a role to play.

- set a good example and breastfeed your babies. Some women in the developing countries feel bottle feeding is 'Western' and 'modern'. Let women around the world know the importance of breastfeeding by demonstrating your commitment to it.

- if you support charitable organizations or missions in the developing world, make sure everyone is aware of the importance of promoting breastfeeding to those populations. Make sure the organizations are aware of the ethical issues surrounding donations of baby formula. Ideally, there should be a policy on breastfeeding promotion and all ground workers and volunteers should be made aware of the public health importance of promoting breastfeeding.

- become aware of corporations who engage in agressive and misleading advertising campaigns in the developing world, luring women to use breast milk subsitutes which compromise their children's health. Check out IBFAN, especially the documents under Codewatch. Also read about the Nestle boycott at Baby Milk Action. (Now you'll know why there's never Haagen Daz at my house.)

- if you're currently lactating, or will be on September 29, join the Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge & be part of a large group of women, all 'latching on' at the same time to bring attention to the importance of breastfeeding. You can register on your own, invite a few friends over for a small event, get a large group together with your local hospital or public health unit, or join an event already planned in your area. Every breastfeeding baby counts.