Thursday 1 August 2013

World Breastfeeding Week



This week is World Breastfeeding Week! and the theme this year is "Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers".  This is a cause that is close to my heart as I have recently qualified as a Breastfeeding Helper for The Breastfeeding Network.
This means that, once I get my badge, I can help mothers, at my local well baby clinic in an official capacity, who want to breastfeed.  I am really excited to get started with helping other mothers because I feel passionately for breastfeeding and really want to help those mothers who are struggling but need extra support. 
I really enjoyed the course run by The Breastfeeding Network and met some really amazing women on it. I would highly recommend it to any mother who has breastfed and would like to help others.
There are several reasons why I wanted to become a Breastfeeding Helper:

  • The first is that I have seem so many women, friends and strangers alike who desperately wanted to breastfeed but have really struggled and have had to give up, I would like to help women like these to continue breastfeeding so that they and their babies can get of to the best possible start in life and motherhood.
  • I read a book called "The Politics of Breastfeeding" by Gabrielle Palmer and it totally changed my view on Breastfeeding.  Before I read it I thought that there were a lot of women who "just couldn't breastfeed" but after reading this book I found out that the number of women who medically can't breastfeed is tiny (about 2% I think)  and one of the reasons many women struggle and give up is because of a lack of support.
  • I strongly dislike formula companies and their insidious advertising techniques and the way that they undermine breastfeeding.  They are not there for mothers and babies they are there to make money.  By helping mothers to breastfeed I would be helping to undermine formula companies.
  • On reflecting on my own experience of breastfeeding I realised that my experiences could help other mothers who want to breastfeed. 
Wow, I could actually write a whole blog post about each of these bullet points!  There is so much more to say.

I feel really strongly that if women received more support they would have more success in breastfeeding.  They shouldn't have to go out looking for it, catching a bus to the next town to attend a clinic, it should be there, ready and available. 



If you feel you can support World Breastfeeding Week, visit the website and follow the link,
Or else you can donate to The Breastfeeding Network.


 What are your thoughts about breastfeeding support or the lack thereof?

2 comments:

  1. I pumped for 5 weeks so my daughter did get some breast milk. She was tube fed and on O2 so she was not able to breast feed and then I just didn't make enough milk for her. She was on preemie formula which was hard to find sometimes so we then had to find a formula that would work for her. Frustrating times.
    Thanks for dropping by my Random Thoughts the other day.

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    1. Wow that's amazing that you pumped for five weeks, what a fantastic start you gave your daughter. It must have been a difficult time though, you did so well.

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