World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is this week, from August 1-7, with this year’s theme centered on informing the public on how infant and young child feeding (IYCF) impacts sustainable development goals (SDG). World Breastfeeding Week, founded 22 years ago by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), aims to engage and collaborate with influencers to support, promote, and protect breastfeeding. WBW is recognized in 175 countries worldwide and is endorsed by UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO), and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The Global Big Latch On event was first held in 2005, local to New Zealand, and didn’t globalize until 2010 when it was introducted in Portland, Oregon. The worldwide breastfeeding event is entirely hosted by volunteers and aims to bring together breastfeeding mothers, family, friends, and supporters together for support and awareness.

The Global Big Latch On provides support to local communities for providing awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and promoting it in local communities. They help communities spread positive support for public breastfeeding, and emphasize how breastfeeding is a normal part of every day living at a community level.

Last year, twenty eight countries participated in The Global Big Latch On with over fifteen thousand breastfeeding participants!

This year, you can also participate in Beijing on Friday, August 6 at 10:00 am at:

Beijing United Family Rehabilitation Hospital, 1 Yaojiayuan Bei’er Road, Chaoyang District. 和睦家康复医院蒙古包. (appleme@163.com, 或微信applelovekids)

To read this information in Chinese (published by the La Leche League), click here.

Oasis International Hospital is hosting a similar event, OASIS Breastfeeding Awareness Event, over two days, Friday August 5 and Saturday August 6 from 10am-4pm:

Participants will receive a breastfeeding certificate, a free pelvic and abdominal examination, and a breastfeeding gift bag. In addition, if you allow the photographers from Face Memo to photograph your intimate breastfeeding moment to share at Oasis, you’ll receive five free digital copies of the photos.

Free to attend. RSVP required. To register, email Ashley.Gaul@oasishealth.cn.

Oasis International Hospital, NO.9 Jiuxianqiao North Road, Chaoyang District. 朝阳区酒仙桥北路9号.

Photos: WBW, The Global Big Latch On

22 years ago, the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), which is from August 1-7 was established and now has over 120 participating countries. This year’s theme is "BREASTFEEDING: A Winning Goal For Life!" that stresses the importance of increasing and maintaining the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding. The inception of this week was around the same time member governments in United Nations pledged to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). WBW is coordinated by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA).  

Recently, our sister publication, The Beijinger ran a blog about a lactating moms sex ring that arranged for adults to meet lactating mothers for the purpose of consuming milk straight from the breast – and some offered other services as well. The story was first written in The Beijing News. This is one of those stories that fits in the weird category and with this week about the bonding between mothers and children, it’s a shame that such rings do exist. Read on to find out the objectives, how breastfeeding ties to MDGs and what moms can do for the Big Latch On.

There are currently four main objectives of this year’s WBW, which are as follows:

There are direct and indirect links between breastfeeding and MDGs and which are explained below.

The WABA Coordinated WBW is part of the Global Breastfeeding Initiative for Child Survival (gBICS) Programme entitled: "Enhancing Breastfeeding Rates Contributes to Women’s Rights, Health, and a Sustainable Environment". The gBICS Programme aims to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development – beyond the Millennium Development Goals – by scaling up breastfeeding and infant and young child interventions and transforming Policies into Practice which contributes to efforts aimed at addressing climate change and gender inequality in the framework of human rights.

The WBW’s Big Latch On where a group of moms get together and breastfeed at the same time will not be held anywhere special this time round in town but moms can meet up and do the following things: 

THE COUNT
For your count you will need to report three number this year –

•   Number of children latching during the one minute from 10:30 to 10:31am (so tandem counts as two),

•   Number of breastfeeding women attending (regardless of how the breastmilk gets into their child),

•   The total attendance (everyone who came to your event and celebrated with you including yourself volunteers etc)

 EXCLUSIVELY EXPRESSING WOMEN

•  During the one minute if an exclusively expressing mum hand expresses or pumps then that counts as a latch.

•  Bottlefeeding does not count as a latch. 

•  A woman whose baby unlatches or does not want to latch (but normally does) can not be counted by expressing.

•  We are continuing to work with Exclusively Expressing Women to make the Big Latch On an inclusive event.

Express Yourself will be happening at the end of World Breastfeeding Week, watch here for more details or see newsletters

Photos: The Beijinger, WBW.org

This study adds to the recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups for exclusive breastfeeding up to six months followed mixing solid and breastfeeding for at least one year.