Archive | World Breastfeeding Week

Access FREE Articles from Journal of Human Lactation #WBW2018

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is an annual celebration of the role of breastfeeding in our homes, our communities, and the world.  As a part of our 2018 theme, Breastfeeding: Foundation for Life, we are proud to announce that Journal of Human Lactation (JHL) is making available 10 essential articles to everyone – FREE* through 31 August 2018.

The Journal of Human Lactation is essential for building our knowledge as IBCLCs. We believe knowledge guides our practice, strengthens our value, and supports our role in transforming world health.

Read the following JHL articles—free through 31 August 2018!*

  1. Interventions to Improve Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy and Resultant Breastfeeding Rates: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Meredith Brockway, Karen Benzies, and K. Alix Hayden
  2. Efficacy of an Osteopathic Treatment Coupled With Lactation Consultations for Infants’ Biomechanical Sucking Difficulties: A Randomized Controlled Trial by Juliette Herzhaft-Le Roy, Marianne Xhignesse, and Isabelle Gaboury
  3. The Atlantic Divide: Contrasting U.K. and U.S. Recommendations on Cosleeping and Bed-Sharing by Helen L. Ball
  4. The Impact of a Prenatal Education Video on Rates of Breastfeeding Initiation and Exclusivity during the Newborn Hospital Stay in a Low-income Population by Kathleen A. Marinelli, Sara L. Gill, Ann L. Kellams, Kelly K. Gurka, Paige P. Hornsby, Emily Drake, Mark Riffon, Daphne Gellerson, Gauri Gulati, and Valerie Coleman
  5. Randomized Controlled Trial on Effect of Intermittent Early Versus Late Kangaroo Mother Care on Human Milk Feeding in Low-Birth-Weight Neonates by Dhaarani Jayaraman, Kanya Mukhopadhyay, Anil Kumar Bhalla, and Lakhbir Kaur Dhaliwal
  6. Advising Mothers on the Use of Medications during Breastfeeding: A Need for a Positive Attitude by Kathleen A. Marinelli, Sara L. Gill, Riccardo Davanzo, Jenny Bua, Angela De Cunto, Maria Luisa Farina, Fabrizio De Ponti, Antonio Clavenna, Stefania Mandrella, Antonella Sagone, and Maurizio Clementi
  7. Enforcing the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes for Better Promotion of Exclusive Breastfeeding: Can Lessons Be Learned? by Kathleen A. Marinelli, Sara L. Gill, Hubert Barennes, Guenther Slesak, Sophie Goyet, Percy Aaron, and Leila M. Srour
  8. Public Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding in Public Places in Ottawa, Canada by Katherine Russell and Amira Ali
  9. Gestalt Breastfeeding: Helping Mothers and Infants Optimize Positional Stability and Intraoral Breast Tissue Volume for Effective, Pain-Free Milk Transfer by Pamela Douglas and Renee Keogh
  10. Obesity as a Predictor of Delayed Lactogenesis II by Irma Preusting, Jessica Brumley, Linda Odibo, Diane L. Spatz, and Judette M. Louis

Journal of Human Lactation is the official journal of ILCA. It is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal publishing original research, insights in practice and policy, commentaries, and case reports relating to research and practice in human lactation and breastfeeding. JHL is relevant to lactation professionals in clinical practice, public health, research, and a broad range of fields related to the trans-disciplinary field of human lactation.

*You may already have access to these articles through a library or other subscription.

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Take the World Breastfeeding Week Pledge

Please join us in celebrating World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) 2018, coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), 1-7 August 2018!

The theme this year is Breastfeeding: Foundation of Life. Breastfeeding helps to prevent malnutrition in all its forms, ensures food security for infants and young children, and thus, helps to bring people and nations out of the hunger and poverty cycle. It is because of these life-supporting and life-altering qualities that we refer to it as a foundation of life.

Even though it is still months away, we encourage everyone to start planning how you can participate in WBW this year. Tailor your event to best meet your local needs and interests: host a lecture, show a movie, plan a support group, have a picnic, organize a panel, write your legislators, or develop a unique event for your community. Once you plan your event, be sure to sign the WBW 2018 Event Pledge Form. This pledge will track your commitment to celebrate by hosting a WBW event.

For every pledge that is received, the WBW 2018 logo will appear on a world map on their website, with celebrants names and the locations of events. See what others are doing the world over to mark the occasion by viewing the events so far. Do not forget to hashtag your event with #WBW2018!

Need inspiration or resources? Here are some other ways you can get ready for WBW!

Visit the WBW 2018 website for general information and downloadable promotional materials, including the WBW 2018 Action Folder. The action folder information on the theme, and includes useful facts and figures, infographics, case studies, and suggested ways to take action.

Share your commitment to breastfeeding advocacy and education. The links between breastfeeding and nutrition, food security, and poverty reduction may be obvious to breastfeeding advocates, but there is still work to be done to make these connections clear to others. We know what needs to be done to support and enable mothers to breastfeed optimally, but we need to be more proactive and engage more people to make this a reality.

Look for information and action steps throughout WBW at Lactation Matters, where you’ll find articles, images, action steps, and more to help with your successful WBW 2018 observance.

For the most up-to-date information about WBW 2018 and to download promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking here.

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World Breastfeeding Week: Access FREE Articles from Journal of Human Lactation

World Breastfeeding Week: FREE Articles in the Journal of Human Lactation

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is an annual celebration of the role of breastfeeding in our homes, our communities, and the world.  As a part of our 2016 theme, Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development, we are proud to announce that Journal of Human Lactation (JHL) is making available 10 essential articles to everyone – FREE through 1 September 2016.

 

The Journal of Human Lactation is essential for building our knowledge as IBCLCs. We believe knowledge guides our practice, strengthens our value, and supports our role in transforming world health.

 

Read the following JHL articles—free through 1 September 2016!*

  1. Suck-Swallow-Breathe Dynamics in Breastfed Infants
  2. Weighing the Facts: A Systematic Review of Expected Patterns of Weight Loss in Full-Term, Breastfed Infants
  3. Therapeutic Breast Massage in Lactation for the Management of Engorgement, Plugged Ducts, and Mastitis
  4. Behavior of the Newborn during Skin-to-Skin
  5. Breastfeeding Duration and Primary Reasons for Breastfeeding Cessation among Women with Postpartum Depressive Symptoms
  6. Breastfeeding Self-efficacy: A Critical Review of Available Instruments
  7. Transfer of Methamphetamine (MA) into Breast Milk and Urine of Postpartum Women who Smoked MA Tablets during Pregnancy: Implications for Initiation of Breastfeeding
  8. Cultural Determinants of Optimal Breastfeeding Practices among Indigenous Mam-Mayan Women in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
  9. Effect of Cup Feeding and Bottle Feeding on Breastfeeding in Late Preterm Infants: A Randomized Controlled Study
  10. Self-Reported Reasons for Breastfeeding Cessation among Low-Income Women Enrolled in a Peer Counseling Breastfeeding Support Program

 

Journal of Human Lactation is the official journal of ILCA. It is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal publishing original research, insights in practice and policy, commentaries, and case reports relating to research and practice in human lactation and breastfeeding. JHL is relevant to lactation professionals in clinical practice, public health, research, and a broad range of fields related to the trans-disciplinary field of human lactation.

*You may already have access to these articles through a library or other subscription.

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World Breastfeeding Week: Supporting Breastfeeding for Women’s Productivity and Employment

WBW Blog Images (4)

 

The 2016 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme is Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development. Join International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in observing WBW 1-7 August 2016. To find out more about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and available #WBW2016 resources, read this Lactation Matters post.

At the World Breastfeeding Week website, WABA explains how breastfeeding is linked to each of the SDGs along four thematic areas. Throughout the week, ILCA will highlight each of these themes to help you better understand the SDGs and learn how to connect your critical local efforts to these larger international goals.

WBW Theme #4: Women’s Productivity and Employment

Breastfeeding plays an important role in reducing poverty (SDG 1); ensuring quality education and lifelong learning (SDG 4); increasing gender equality (SDG 5); promoting inclusive work opportunities (SDG 8); building industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9);  and eliminating disparities in and among countries (SDG 10).

Around the world, governments are emphasizing women’s participation in the labor force as a solution for economic growth, gender equality, and poverty reduction. Women are often forced to accept poorly paid, low-quality jobs. About 830 million women, mainly in developing countries, lack social protection in their job situation that might enable them to continue caring for their families as they had before.

Without protections for paid maternity leave, flexible scheduling, and breaks to pump or breastfeed, breastfeeding rates for working women decrease. This reduction in breastfeeding may come with an increase in childhood illnesses, resulting in time away from school for children and employment for their parents. Maternity leave policies are effective in increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates. Only 53% of countries meet the International Labor Organization’s 14 week minimum standard for maternity leave. In fact, every additional month of paid maternity leave decreases infant mortality rates by 13%. Incorporating lactation rooms and paid breastfeeding breaks can increase breastfeeding at six months.

Women’s unpaid caring activities in the household are important to the health, development, and well-being of all family members and must be recognized in economic and social development strategies. To narrow the gender gap at work, women need support to combine their productive and reproductive roles, and this support must incorporate the time and structures necessary for continued breastfeeding.

What support do women receive for breastfeeding when they return to work in YOUR community?

  • Promote paid parental protection policies that are gender equitable and which support co-parenting and breastfeeding.
  • Talk to some local employers about how they could make their workplaces supportive for breastfeeding.
  • Find out your country’s laws surrounding maternity protection, including the type of leave and workplace facilities most local employers are providing.
  • Advocate at all levels and between sectors for the needs and rights of maternity protection of workers in both the formal and informal employment sectors.
  • Encourage politicians and officials in your country to assess the status of their current maternity and parental protection entitlements using existing tools such as the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi).

For the most up-to-date information about WBW 2016 and to download and purchase promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking here.

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World Breastfeeding Week: Environment and Climate Change

WBW Blog Images (6)

 

The 2016 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme is Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development. Join International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in observing WBW 1-7 August 2016. To find out more about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and available #WBW2016 resources, read this Lactation Matters post.

At the World Breastfeeding Week website, WABA explains how breastfeeding is linked to each of the SDGs along four thematic areas. Throughout the week, ILCA will highlight each of these themes to help you better understand the SDGs and learn how to connect your critical local efforts to these larger international goals.

WBW Theme #3: Environment and Climate Change

Breastfeeding plays an important role in clean water and sanitation (SDG 6); the use of affordable, clean energy (SDG 7); developing safe, sustainable communities (SDG 11); encouraging responsible consumption and production (SDG 12); taking action on climate change (SDG 13); and caring for seas and marine life (SDG 14), as well as our terrestrial environment and its inhabitants (SDG 15).

Breastfeeding is the first practical step we can take to protect not only the health of babies and mothers, but also the health of our planet. It is the most vulnerable populations that are most affected by more-violent and less-predictable natural disasters resulting from climate change.  Finding ways to encourage continued breastfeeding and (when necessary) relactation can help safeguard children’s health and the health of the environment, while comforting traumatized families.

Although not yet quantifiable in monetary terms, there are clear environmental costs associated with not breastfeeding babies. Artificial feeding is a contributing factor to global warming, which is causing climate change. Breastmilk is a “natural, renewable food” that is environmentally safe and produced and delivered to the consumer “without pollution, packaging, or waste.”

Formula production and use generate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which accelerate global warming and produce pollution and toxic emissions upon disposal. 720,450 tons of milk formula sold annually in six Asian countries generated almost 2.9 million tons of GHG. This is equivalent to nearly 7000 million miles driven by an average passenger vehicle or 1.03 million tons of waste sent to landfill sites.

Breastfeeding helps the transition to a low-carbon economy from one based on fossil fuels. No electricity is needed to produce breastmilk, and it requires no fuel for transport. This reduces overall emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, and enables greater economic autonomy for individuals and communities.

Many places already suffer from a lack of consistent, clean water sources. Amidst the devastation caused by this increase in the amount and nature of natural disasters, artificial feeding is even more risky, as an increased lack of clean water and infrastructure make it difficult to ensure the safe preparation of baby food. And this is no small concern. It is estimated that more than 4000 liters of water are needed to produce 1 kg of breastmilk substitute powder.

What can you say to people in YOUR community about breastfeeding and the environment?

  • Encourage your government to include improvement of breastfeeding practices as part of their work for achieving the SDGs.
  • Encourage researchers to quantify the carbon footprint of formula feeding in your country.
  • Use this data to lobby your governments to allocate a budget for policies and programs to increase breastfeeding alongside those allocated to reduce pollution.
  • Demand the inclusion of breastfeeding in any list of actions to reduce our carbon and water footprint and in discussions about climate change.

For the most up-to-date information about WBW 2016 and to download and purchase promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking here.

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World Breastfeeding Week: Survival, Health, and Well-Being

WBW Blog Images (5)

 

The 2016 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme is Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development. Join International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in observing WBW 1-7 August 2016. To find out more about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and available #WBW2016 resources, read this Lactation Matters post.

At the World Breastfeeding Week website, WABA explains how breastfeeding is linked to each of the SDGs along four thematic areas. Throughout the week, ILCA will highlight each of these themes to help you better understand the SDGs and learn how to connect your critical local efforts to these larger international goals.

WBW Theme #2: Survival, Health, and Well-Being

Breastfeeding plays an important role in reducing poverty (SDG 1); promoting the general health and well-being of families (SDG 3); ensuring quality education and lifelong learning (SDG 4); eliminating disparities in and among countries (SDG 10); and developing safe, sustainable communities (SDG 11).

Envision a child born in a poor urban area. Her family considers breastfeeding a natural and integral part of her care. Their healthcare provider is trained to provide breastfeeding support. With a healthy baby at home, her mother is able to work. The child is successful in school, in part, because breastmilk has helped her develop well, grow, and remain healthy. The contribution of breastfeeding to the health of both mother and child can help this family rise out of poverty and into a better future.

Breastfeeding provides the foundation for lifelong health and well-being. Children and mothers who do not breastfeed are at greater risk for many conditions including acute and chronic illness for children, and breast and ovarian cancer for mothers. 823,000 children die annually due to sub-optimal infant feeding practices. 20,000 deaths due to breast cancer could be averted if  mothers breastfed optimally.

The financial cost of a program to implement the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF’s Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding in 214 countries is estimated at $130 per live birth. This investment in breastfeeding support is likely to pay off financially in as little as one or two years, and pay off academically immediately. (On average, babies who are breastfed have a 2.6 point higher intelligence quotient than non-breastfed babies.)

What does breastfeeding look like in YOUR community? How many facilities are Baby-Friendly?

  • Talk to politicians and other leaders about the value of improving breastfeeding rates to achieve the SDGs.
  • Work to ensure that everyone in the community have access to skilled breastfeeding care.
  • Advocate for national health regulations which ensure that the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are integrated into maternity care at all birthing facilities.
  • Advocate for breastfeeding to be fully included in the curriculum for pre-service training of all physicians and nurses.

For the most up-to-date information about WBW 2016 and to download and purchase promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking here.

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World Breastfeeding Week: Supporting Breastfeeding for Nutrition, Food Security, and Poverty Reduction

WBW Blog Images (3)

 

The 2016 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme is Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development. Join International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in observing WBW 1-7 August 2016. To find out more about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and available #WBW2016 resources, read this Lactation Matters post.

At the World Breastfeeding Week website, WABA explains how breastfeeding is linked to each of the SDGs along four thematic areas. Throughout the week, ILCA will highlight each of these themes to help you better understand the SDGs and learn how to connect your critical local efforts to these larger international goals.

WBW Theme #1: Nutrition, Food Security, and Poverty Reduction

Breastfeeding plays an important role in reducing poverty (SDG 1); addressing food safety, nutrition, and insecurity (SDG 2); promoting the general health and well-being of families (SDG 3); and creating sustainable consumption patterns (SDG 12).

Envision an isolated land where famine is common, where mothers are known to breastfeed their children until they become toddlers. These mothers know that breastfeeding is sustenance and food security for their young children. In low-income areas particularly, mothers commonly stop breastfeeding only when they feel that their child is big and strong enough to no longer need that  protection.

Undernutrition, including sub-optimal breastfeeding, underlies 45% of all deaths of children under 5 annually. The  most prevalent form of malnutrition, nutritional stunting (low height for age), is already prevalent at birth and continues to increase sharply until 24 months of age. The window of opportunity for reducing stunting is 1000 days from conception until two years of age. Early investments in prevention of low birth weight and stunting, and early initiation of and exclusive breastfeeding, contribute to reducing the risk of later obesity and chronic diseases.

In addition to the benefits to overall health and sustainability, breastfeeding can contribute to financial independence and sustainability. Not breastfeeding is associated with economic losses of about $302 billion annually or .49% of world gross national income. Families worldwide spend an estimated $54 billion annually purchasing milk formula. Also, adults who were breastfed as children were found to have higher incomes than those who were not breastfed.

What role can breastfeeding have in promoting good nutrition and food security in YOUR community?

  • Talk to mothers and local health services. Plan actions based on what you learn about the situation in your community.
  • Engage entire families to discuss the importance of infant feeding and how they can support breastfeeding women in their homes and their communities.
  • Help people in your community to see breastfeeding, timely complementary feeding, and continued breastfeeding up to two years or beyond as normal.
  • Ensure that local health facilities, pharmacies, and grocery stores adhere to the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.
  • Work with agricultural extension programs to extend breastfeeding support to rural communities.

For the most up-to-date information about WBW 2016 and to download and purchase promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking here.

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One Month Until World Breastfeeding Week 2016!

wbw2016-logo-word

In just one month, please join us in celebrating World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) 2016, 1-7 August 2016!

Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development is this year’s theme, developed by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA).

At ILCA, we believe that world health can be transformed through breastfeeding and skilled lactation care. We also know the many impacts breastfeeding has on individuals, communities, and national health. As a part of our global advocacy strategy, we are working hard to ensure that breastfeeding is on the worldwide agenda.

In September 2015, world leaders committed to 17 goals aimed at ending poverty, protecting the planet, and ensuring prosperity. These goals are known as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

One way to ensure the world’s leaders know what we know – the lifelong outcomes of breastfeeding for mothers and their children – is to show the connections between these outcomes and the 17 SDGs.

As one of WABA’s core partners, ILCA is committed to spreading the word. We need your help! Here’s how you can support breastfeeding in your community, your country, and the world:

  • Learn about the SDGs.
  • Educate others in your community and your country about how the SDGs relate to breastfeeding and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF).
  • Engage and collaborate with others to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding.

How can you participate in World Breastfeeding Week this year?

Visit the WBW 2016 website for general information and downloadable promotional materials, including the WBW 2016 Action Folder. The action folder explains how breastfeeding is linked to each of the SDGs individually and along four thematic areas. It includes useful facts and figures, examples of actions for various levels of participation, and a section on ways of working to achieve the SDGs through sustainable partnerships and the rule of law.

Sign the WBW 2016 Event Pledge Form. By submitting a form, you or your organization pledge to celebrate WBW 2016 by hosting a WBW event. For every pledge that is received, the WBW 2016 logo will appear on a world map on their website, with celebrants names and the locations of events.

Share your commitment to breastfeeding advocacy and education as an imperative part of accomplishing the SDGs. The link between breastfeeding and each of the SDGs may be obvious to breastfeeding advocates, but there is still work to be done to make these connections clear to others working on SDGs. We know what needs to be done to support and enable mothers to breastfeed optimally, but we need to be more proactive and engage more people to make this a reality. Linking breastfeeding with the SDGs helps us to do this.

Look for information and action steps throughout the week at Lactation Matters, where you’ll find articles, images, action steps, and more to help with your successful WBW 2016 observance.

For the most up-to-date information about WBW 2016 and to download and purchase promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking here.

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World Breastfeeding Week, 1-7 August 2015

World Breastfeeding Week_We are one month from World Breastfeeding Week, 1-7 August 2015. We hope you will join us in learning about the theme, sharing the World Breastfeeding Week materials, and checking out the ILCA WBW popup store!

This year, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action’s (WABA) World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme is “Let’s Make it Work!” This theme revisits the 1993 WBW theme “Women, Work, and Breastfeeding.” Both campaigns focus on the Mother-Friendly Workplace Initiative and seek to rally global action to support women to combine breastfeeding and work.

Much has been achieved in 22 years, such as the adoption of the revised International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 183 and Recommendation 191 on maternity protection in 2000—enacting stronger maternity entitlements, more country initiatives, and improving national laws and practices. There are also more breastfeeding- and mother-friendly workplaces and accreditation. Despite these advances, further progress to increase support for women working in non-formal sectors to breastfeed is minimal.

2015 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Innocenti Declaration of 1990, where four targets were adopted by the international community. The declaration stated that all governments, by the year 1995, should have:

  1. appointed a national breastfeeding coordinator of appropriate authority, and established a multisectoral national breastfeeding committee composed of representatives from relevant government departments, non-governmental organizations, and health professional associations;
  2. ensured that every facility providing maternity services fully practices all ten of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding set out in the joint WHO/UNICEF statement Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding: the special role of maternity services;
  3. taken action to give effect to the principles and aim of all Articles of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions in their entirety; and
  4. enacted imaginative legislation protecting the breastfeeding rights of working women and established means for its enforcement.

Over 20 years later, all targets need more attention. After over two decades, global monitoring of infant and young child feeding progress shows that this fourth Innocenti Declaration target is still the most difficult to meet. This is a complex and multilevel task, requiring diverse strategies and the engagement of different partners on shared agendas. It is the intent of this year’s theme to help draw the international eye to the ongoing struggle for human rights protections for women in the workplace.

The Goals for WBW 2015 are to:

  • galvanize multidimensional support from all sectors to enable women everywhere to work and breastfeed safely and adequately.
  • promote actions by employers to become Family-, Parent-, Baby-, and Mother-Friendly, and to actively facilitate and support employed women to continue breastfeeding their children.
  • inform people about the latest in global maternity protection entitlements and raise awareness of the need to strengthen related national legislation and implementation.
  • strengthen, facilitate and showcase supportive practices that enable women working in the informal sector to breastfeed.
  • engage with target groups, e.g. trade unions, workers rights organizations, human rights agencies, occupational health organizations, and women’s and youth groups, to protect the breastfeeding rights of women in the workplace.

This year’s theme involves EVERYONE, not just breastfeeding women. Balancing work and family life, including breastfeeding, is increasingly necessary for women’s rights and a strong, healthy, and vibrant workforce—and a better society. Today’s global economic and labor conditions are changing rapidly, with some positive, but many negative implications for women’s health and livelihoods, as well as that of their children and families.

By adequately integrating women’s and men’s productive and reproductive work and lives, all sectors of society will benefit. Benefits include productivity, family income and job security, women’s and children’s health and well-being, employers’ long-term profits, and national socioeconomic health and stability.

It is time to fully recognize, protect and support the unpaid care work and breastfeeding that women all over the world do. Together, WE CAN MAKE IT WORK!

For the most up-to-date information about World Breastfeeding Week 2015 and to download and purchase promotional materials, please visit the World Breastfeeding Week website by clicking HERE.

Please note that ILCA is not producing its own WBW kit. We are working with WABA to assist in the development of their materials. We are offering a small number of items in our Zazzle Store, with proceeds going towards the ILCA Conference Scholarship Fund. In addition, logo files are available for download on the WBW website that you may use to create your own promotional items.

photo credit: Sudipto Das, During Work Hours, copyright WABA2015. View all of the photo contest winning images here.

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World Breastfeeding Week: Tell Us About Your MVPs

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World Breastfeeding Week kicks off Friday, August 1st. Please help us celebrate by joining in! Read on to learn about our plans for this year.

“I loved having [my IBCLC’s] support just a phone call away! It took the stress out of breastfeeding. She was always available to problem solve small and large issues. Sometimes I just needed reassurance that I was on the right track. I felt like I was able to avoid any major issues by having her as part of my team.” – Lara L, Mother to Lincoln & Felix

“IBCLCs are an essential part of the infant feeding team — quarterback, goalie, coach, doesn’t matter. A large portion of my practice is infants with feeding problems, and many babies come to me as a result of referrals from IBCLCs, and I refer right back to them for continued support, skills acquisition, help with pumping plans, transitioning away from feeding tools and towards the breast, or towards successful integration of feeding tools. They’re the breastfeeding experts and we are so lucky to have thorough, compassionate IBCLCs in our community supporting our families.” – Dr. Elias Kass, Seattle, Washington, US

Breastfeeding is a ‘team’ process: parents and babies form the core of the team, with family, friends, and others serving as team members, coaches, cheerleaders, and fans. Parents have goals for breastfeeding and need the help and support of the whole team to achieve those goals.

As with a sports game, there can be small successes and setbacks through the course of a family’s breastfeeding experience, though striving all the time to win. The 2014 World Breastfeeding Week theme, “Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal – For Life!” celebrates the team effort needed to make breastfeeding easier.

This year’s theme also recognizes that there can be many teams supporting breastfeeding, including health care clinics, birthing facilities, child care providers, and employers. Uniting the efforts of all of these teams across the local or regional landscape to form Team Breastfeed can help everyone succeed with their goals.

To honor World Breastfeeding Week, we want to highlight the IBCLCs that have earned their MVPs (Most Valuable Players!) by helping families reach their breastfeeding goals. We are asking families and colleagues to recap their victories – big and small – and how their breastfeeding team worked together.

Because we want to make sure the IBCLC members of Team Breastfeed have the tools they need to the best possible players, we’ll pick one story at random to celebrate. The family will receive WBW swag – like a Team Breastfeed water bottle and bib – and the helper will receive a one year membership to ILCA, which includes critical tools for providing evidence-based care, including access to the Journal of Human Lactation, discounted access to webinars on the latest research and care, and a listing in the ILCA Find a Lactation Consultant Tool (for IBCLCs in good standing).

WABA also offers another way you can show your support for breastfeeding: The World Breastfeeding Week comes on the heels of the World Cup held in Brazil, the soccer games that united the world for the love of the “beautiful game”. World Breastfeeding Week is a call to action for breastfeeding as “a winning goal for life”. ILCA’s new vision statement released on July 24th. It now reads, “World Health transformed through breastfeeding and skilled lactation care”. Lactation consultants around the world are transforming world health by helping families build a solid foundation for maternal and child health, gender equality and sustainable health care. Lactation Consultants can take a leadership role in World Breastfeeding Week by initiating public and media events for breastfeeding women in their communities. Connecting with WABA about these events and becoming a WABA endorser are ways that we can unite the world for the love of breastfeeding at the ILCA conference verifies the impact of breastfeeding on health.

 

Share your story in the comments below! The winning entry will be picked on the last day of World Breastfeeding Week, August 7th.

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