Baby Café Is Preparing for World Breastfeeding Week 2017!
Did you know that World Breastfeeding Week begins this Tuesday, August 1? We've been getting ready for months!
“Baby Café Bakersfield works every day to ensure that Kern County families have access to the breastfeeding support and clinical lactation care they need to meet their own breastfeeding goals.”
What does this mean for the community? Well, World Breastfeeding Week happens every year during the first week of August. It means you'll see an increased amount of communication around breastfeeding. You'll notice that there will be events to celebrate and promote breastfeeding. You'll find articles in the newspaper, posts on social media, and a general sense that a lot of people are talking about breastfeeding!
Why does the breastfeeding community do this? Like many other public health issues, advocacy efforts for breastfeeding are highlighted during this period of increased awareness. This helps to increase the amount of people hearing the messages about the importance of breastfeeding, the key points to consider regarding how best to support it on a cultural or community level, and the calls to action to continue and amplify efforts to ensure that families get what they need to make it work for them.
Baby Café Bakersfield is a licensed location of Baby Café USA, a national organization
Because we are working every day to make sure that local families have access to the care they need, we'll be even busier this week. We have been planning events like the Mothers' Milk Drive on August 11, special celebrations at all Baby Café drop-ins this week, and media contact about breastfeeding.
This year's theme, Sustaining Breastfeeding Together, is a really important way to think about breastfeeding. The sub-theme is "Nobody Breastfeeds Alone." That speaks so clearly to the way we see it at Baby Café Bakersfield. We facilitate group support of nursing and pumping moms so they can help each other feel more capable AND less isolated. We facilitate clinical lactation care by IBCLCs in cases where it is needed. We do outreach within the community to connect the people and organizations who provide care with the families who need it. We represent the interests of the breastfeeding family at all times.
What can you do to help "pump up the volume about breastfeeding?" You can share supportive social media posts, follow our pages and accounts for encouraging messages, and you can talk about breastfeeding with people you know. Whenever you hear a conversation about breastfeeding, wherever you are, please remember that your voice matters in that conversation. Don't let people talk about it without hearing from the people who are doing it and the people who have done it. Raise your voice, raise your concerns, raise your hand to say "I did it and here's why it matters to me!" Join the conversation and help us Sustain Breastfeeding Together!
“Breastfeeding is important. It matters to the health of a mother and her baby. Don’t be confused: there aren’t any benefits to breastfeeding. It’s just the way mammals were made, and the better our society supports breastfeeding families, the more optimal health we will see as a population. ”