Editorials
October 02, 2008 12:56 AM
This week, Oct. 1 to 7, is World Breastfeeding Week. Advocates say it is clear breastfeeding is the gold standard in infant feeding, providing both nutritional and health advantages that last far beyond infancy.
Nearly all women are able to breastfeed when they receive consistent and accurate information, and are supported by their healthcare providers, family and community. Advocates are calling on health professionals, employers, families and communities to provide a breastfeeding-friendly environment that helps new mothers reach their breastfeeding goals.
Nearly all medical and professional organizations worldwide emphasize the importance of breastfeeding and the role of support for new mothers.
The World Health Organization reports that the gold standard in breastfeeding means that women breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of life and continue breastfeeding for at least two years while babies begin eating appropriate complementary foods.
Meanwhile, the Breastfeeding Coalition of York Region is hosting the breastfeeding challenge Saturday. Their breastfeeding sit-in is at the Discover Court in Vaughan Mills Mall. Organizers hope to attract moms en masse to nurse their babies in a very public place in order to promote breastfeeding as a normal and natural thing to do.
(Markham moms-to-be and new moms who also want to learn more about breastfeeding can contact Markham Stouffville Hospital. Its breastfeeding clinic runs Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Its lactation consultants, who are international board certified, see new mothers after delivery and offer classes to pregnant women in the last weeks of pregnancy.)
It’s hard to imagine women breastfeeding in public could still be an issue but incidents where women are asked to cover up still occur in Canada.
Ontario’s Human Rights Code specifically details the rights of mothers to breastfeed their babies in the workplace and in public. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms also gives some protection, but a legal precedent has not yet been set to include breastfeeding.
Bravo to the Breastfeeding Coalition of York Region for hosting the breastfeeding challenge Saturday. Nursing mothers should not be made to feel they are doing something wrong and consequently need to hide away in a bathroom stall or a “feeding room” to nourish their little one.
The coalition is also on the right track to help educate our bottle-feeding culture on the many health and economic benefits of breastfeeding, for mother and baby. They plan to take their message to the schools, where they say feeding choices are made long before the stork arrives.