The Health Unit joins the rest of Canada in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week from October 1-7, 2017.
This year’s theme is Sustaining Breastfeeding Together – which encourages working together as a community in creating a safe and supportive environment for mothers to breastfeed their babies.
“Whether or not a mother feels supported by her community can have a negative effect on her breastfeeding success,” says Heather Lawson, Public Health Nurse. “We want nursing mothers to know what services are available to them throughout our districts; but more than that, we encourage the community as a whole to demonstrate their support for mothers to breastfeed anytime, anywhere.”
What can the community do to support nursing mothers?
- Provide a welcoming atmosphere for families.
- Support women who continue to breastfeed once they return to work. This can be done by
- providing a comfortable place to pump milk or nurse a child, a safe place to store pumped milk, as well as flexible breaks when possible.
- Business owners can hang a cling on their door meaning their environment is a safe place to breastfeed.
- Connect families to services and support when needed.
We know breastfeeding has a positive impact on children and their health. We also know that when mothers feel anxious or stressed about feeding in public they are less like to do so. For these reasons, it is greatly beneficial when the community as a whole supports breastfeeding families.
The Health Unit provides breastfeeding support with daily clinics, prenatal classes, peer support programs, an intake line, and much more. If you are interested in information about how to create a breastfeeding policy for your workplace, or if you would like a cling for your door, please do not hesitate to contact the Health Unit.
For more information please call 705-474-1400 or 1-800-563-2808, or go to myhealthunit.ca
