International Breastfeeding Week begins

Today marks the start of International Breastfeeding Week 1 – 7 August.

World Breastfeeding Week was first held in 1992 and it is now observed in over 120 countries with support from UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, organisations and individuals.

The event is organised by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) formed in 1991 to act on the Innocenti Declarations (1990 and 2005) and the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding.

WABA aims to “foster a strong and cohesive breastfeeding movement, which will act on the various international instruments to create an enabling environment for mothers, thus contributing to increasing optimal breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding practices.”

This year’s theme is ‘Breastfeeding support: close to mothers’ and highlights breastfeeding peer counselling.

In the UK the NHS Information Centre carries out an Infant Feeding Survey every five years. The last survey took place in 2010. The results were published in 2012.

The survey found that 81 per cent of UK babies are breastfed at birth but that the number of women exclusively breastfeeding tailed off to just 1 per cent by 6 months.

However, the figures do show that 34 per cent of mothers were still breastfeeding to some degree at that point.

So, a large portion of mothers clearly wanted to breastfeed, but many find it becomes untenable.

The WABA notes this sharp decline in breastfeeding a few weeks or months after birth and believes that this is the time when community support is essential.

Gone are the days when we had a large, extended family around us to offer support and encouragement when, 6 weeks into their newborn’s life, mothers were just simply exhausted.

Many women, especially those with their first baby, can feel isolated or anxious and, once the initial adrenalin and excitement of a new baby has drifted away, the realities of breastfeeding can begin to feel oppressive.

It is at this point that support from a wide range of sources – health workers, lactation consultants, community leaders, other mothers, fathers and partners – can help.

The peer counselling program, the WABA argues  “is a cost effective and highly productive way to reach a larger number of mothers more frequently”.

By actively encouraging support from the community the hope is that they will enable more women to breastfeed for longer.

With this focus in mind, Women’s Views on News is looking at breastfeeding throughout the week.

We hope to offer you a number of viewpoints and provide you with a little background and understanding into, what is for many mothers, a hugely emotional, significant and contentious issue.