Nutrition
Breastfeeding could save 1.3 million infants each year
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| © UNICEF/HQ93-0269/Roger Lemoyne |
| A breastfeeding woman smiles at her baby at the International Peace Maternity and Child Hospital, Shanghai, China. |
NEW YORK, 28 July 2004 – UNICEF is joining 120 countries around the world to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, which begins on 1 August.
Breastfeeding is the perfect way to provide the best food for a baby’s first six months of life. The milk also protects babies against potential killers such as diarrhoea.
If every baby was exclusively breastfed from birth for six months, an estimated 1.3 million lives could be saved each year.
The goal of World Breastfeeding Week is to support infant and young child feeding, by enabling women:
- To choose and succeed in breastfeeding in the early hours after birth and exclusively for six months;
- To continue breastfeeding with safe, appropriate and adequate complementary food into the second year and beyond.
This is optimal infant and young child feeding, the foundation for a healthy future.
World Breastfeeding Week takes place from 1 to 7 August.
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