Media Release:
2008 World Breastfeeding Week: Mother Support
Going for the Gold
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: LOCAL LEADER’S NAME AND NUMBER or
PRManager@llli.org; or RMagalhaes@llli.org; 847-519-7730, Extensions 271 and 260
As the world celebrates the Summer Olympics in China, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and La Leche League International (LLLI), celebrate World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) from August 1–7, 2008. The theme for the 17th Annual WBW celebration, celebrated by more than 120 countries worldwide, is Mother Support: Going for the Gold.
WBW 2008 calls for increased support for mothers in achieving the gold standard of infant feeding—breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months, and continue breastfeeding together with feeding other appropriate complementary foods for up to two years and beyond. A mother’s need for support is similar to the needs of an Olympic athlete. Athletes combine determination and commitment with support from family, friends, trainers, community and government to compete successfully. In a similar way, a breastfeeding mother needs support to breastfeed.
Both an athlete and a breastfeeding mother face challenges. For breastfeeding mothers, these challenges include overcoming misinformation, breastfeeding while working outside the home, coping in emergency situations and, most importantly overcoming doubts about her ability to breastfeed her baby.
The WABA Global Initiative for Mother Support for Breastfeeding (GIMS) defines mother support as “any support provided to mothers for the purpose of improving breastfeeding practices for both mother and infant and young child.”
“Support for breastfeeding is a necessary element for any woman, irrespective of her circumstance, to succeed in her breastfeeding experience. Together we need to strengthen the global development of and the networking among groups and organizations to work towards the improvement of Mother Support worldwide” says Paulina Smith, Coordinator of the WABA Mother Support Task Force and a former executive at La Leche League International.
The support a mother receives can be as formal as a visit to a health care professional or as informal as a reassuring smile for another mother. Support comes from professional and lay sources—health professionals, hospital and maternity facility, staff and policies, doulas and midwives, lactation consultants, trained peer counselors, mother support groups, friends and family.
When support is provided to a breastfeeding mother, she will be encouraged to provide a golden start for her child by breastfeeding. And by doing so, everyone wins! Infants are meant to be breastfed. Breastfeeding provides the best possible start in life in all areas of development. Even in developed countries, lack of breastfeeding is associated with an increase risk to the survival and health of babies. Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding can save more than one million babies. Exclusive breastfeeding leads to decreased economic cost for families, communities, the health system, and the environment. LLLI, a Core Partner of WABA, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1956 by seven women who wanted to help other mothers learn about breastfeeding. Today LLLI is an internationally recognized authority on breastfeeding with a mother-to-mother network in nearly seventy countries. For breastfeeding information, or to find an LLLI group in your area, visit www.llli.org or call 847-519-7730.
