Annual “Latch On” Event on September 29 to Kick Off World Breastfeeding Week
Written by Communications, September 20, 2018
All Breastfeeding Families Invited to Set a New World Record!
This year in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week from September 29-October 6, the Peterborough Breastfeeding Coalition is hosting the annual “Latch On” event starting at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, September 29 in the Display Room at Millennium Park at 130 King St. (beside the Silver Bean Café).
This event rallies nursing women to “latch on” at 11:00 a.m. local time as part of a global challenge to have the most mother/baby pairs latched at the same time in the same location. This simultaneous “Latch On” is part of the 2018 Global Breastfeeding Challenge, an annual international event led by the Quintessence Foundation who will post the results on their website www.babyfriendly.ca .
“It’s important that nursing mothers and their families gather together and celebrate the importance of breastfeeding,” said Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, Medical Officer of Health. “The longer a baby breastfeeds, the better it is for mom and the child. Events like this are important so families know the community supports them and that breastfeeding in public is a normal part of life.”
Dr. Salvaterra noted that breastfeeding provides children with nutritional, emotional, immunological, anti-allergenic, and developmental benefits for as long as a child is breastfed; and has lasting effects even into adulthood.
Breastfed babies have lower rates of ear infections, respiratory infections, and gastrointestinal infections (diarrhea). An analysis of 33 studies examining healthy infants in developed nations showed that formula-fed infants experience three times more severe respiratory illnesses compared with infants who had been exclusively breastfed for four months. Babies who do not receive breastmilk have an increased likelihood of being hospitalized in the first year of life. For very premature babies breastmilk is considered medicine and if a mother is unable to breastfeed, donor milk is prescribed as a means of protecting the baby from potentially deadly infections. Over the long term, children who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight and have lower rates of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Breastfeeding isn’t just good for babies, it also supports maternal health. Women who breastfeed experience lower rates of breast and ovarian cancers. In fact, the longer a women breastfeeds, the greater her protection is from ovarian cancer.
For more information about the health benefits of breastfeeding and local breastfeeding supports, visit www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca and under “Your Health”, click on “Parenting”, and then “Breastfeeding”. For a comprehensive list of local breastfeeding support services, click on “Breastfeeding Help” on the above webpage.
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For further information, please contact:
Kara Koteles, RN
Public Health Nurse
705-743-1000, ext. 333