National Breastfeeding Week 2011
According to the calender, today marks the end of National
Breatfeeding week. For the last 7
days, there's been a mobilization across
the country to raise awareness of breastfeeding and the supports available for
breastfeeding mothers in Ireland.
From supermarkets in Galway to an IKEA in Ballymun, women
have gathered together to nurse their children and meet other breastfeeding
mums. From a University in Limerick to a
hotel in Gort they have helped to share information and dispell the myths
surrounding breastfeeding.
On the 1st of October, Irish mothers made history
as they sat down to simultaneously nurse 392 children at 8 sites around the
country as part of the Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge. Two of these sites, Dublin and Cork, are currently leading the pack as the largest
gatherings in the world. Not bad for a
country with the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe!
Today though, marks the end of it all. Down go the posters and the fun Facebook
competitions, away go the raffles and the extra special coffee mornings. Today we pat ourselves on the back for a job
well done and hang up our hats for another year.
But what about tomorrow?
What happens to the babies born next week? And the week after that?
This year in Ireland, approximately 75,000 babies will be
born to mothers around the country.
About 55% of these women will
choose to breastfeed. By 12 weeks post
partum, the number of babies being exclusively breastfed will have dropped to
around 19% and by 6 months of age, only 11% of these babies will be receiving
any form of breast milk at all. Of the
75,000 babies born this year, only 2.4%
of them can expect to be breastfed exclusively for the first six months
of their lives as per the recommendations of just about every health
organization on the planet.
81% of Mothers who give up breastfeeding by 12 weeks of age
will wish they had breastfed for longer.
We want to help these women feed their babies in the way
they want.
So here at Friends of Breastfeeding we've decided to ignore
the Calender. This year our celebrations
for National Breastfeeding Week are only the beginning, the beginning of an
entire year of celebrating
breastfeeding.
Every day.
Every week.
We will do our best to try and be there for every mother who
wants to breastfeed her child. To
provide information about the support services available around the country and
to continue trying to foster a postive breastfeeding culture in Ireland.
Because for us, today does not mark the end. Today, for hundreds of mothers and babies
across Ireland, it's just the beginning.
And we want to be there to support them, every step of the way.
www.mammydiaries.ie
https://www.facebook.com/#!/
2 comments:
Did you really post this at 4.30am. God bless the energy and enthusiasm or just enjoying a quiet moment on your own, amybe? great piece and very well done to everyone involved in all the activities last week. Yes we do owe it to all mothers and their new babies to support and encourage them on the journey to parenthood. Keep em laid back both physically and mentally, regular visits to local support groups and much praise can go a long way towards helping them achieve their goal.
Sue
Ha, no, that's just the American clock we're stuck with.
I do agree, Sue and Maria.
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