Young Child Survival and Development

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is more than just milk

We can all act as lobbyists and activists on the exclusivity of maternal breastfeeding and its important benefits. Sharing knowledge and experiences will permit for more people to become aware on the necessity that signifies breastfeeding.

It is not only about milk. Breastfeeding is an affectionate bond between mother and child, which promotes the development of children, as well as the empowering and wellbeing of women.

“It has been revised, throughout the years, all technical information on breastfeeding, today the focus needs to be to communicate that information to a broader public, such as youth, more especially the segment that has not been involved with the issue of supporting breastfeeding” that is the objective for this year’s commemoration for World Breastfeeding Week.

It is not just about distributing informative material, it is also about previous experiences and knowledge, to both men and women, regardless if they have children or not.

It is an affectionate bond between mother and child, which impacts in the development of children, as well as in the empowering and wellbeing of women.

In the Dominican Republic it has been estimated that only a 7.8% of newborns are breastfed-only (Endesa 2007). For this, breastfeeding must be promoted in a sustainable tenor. Communication is an essential element to protect breastfeeding and support nursing mothers.

World Breastfeeding Week has been celebrated since 1992. From August 1st-7th, over 120 countries worldwide will unite their voice towards the protection, promotion and support to this right.

The initiative is coordinated by the WABA (World Alliance of Breastfeeding Action), an international network of persons and organisms that work in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)

This year’s theme is “¡Communicate! Breastfeeding: a 3D experience”, and the goal is to raise awareness that by sharing experience and perceptions in support to breastfeeding there is “a true tridimensional experience lived: an opportunity to reach out to the community, a future investment towards health and an unified visión via which we can perceive the world”.
In 2010 the message was aimed to the promotion of early nursing and exclusive breastfeeding-only nursing methods during the first 6 months of life, which had as its first goal the worldwide mobilization around the potential salvaging of one million newborns with the simple action of allowing them breastfeeding during their first hour of life.

In the Dominican Republic the activities for World Breastfeeding Week focused the attention of the media in an event featuring the participation of 77 mothers, all of them whom, for one minute’s time, simultaneous nursed their babies, thus joining the world chain of synchronized breastfeeding, which took place worldwide on August 8th.

July 2011
María Eugenia del Pozo

The first hour saves a million babies!

World Breastfeeding Week 2010

Español Français

Something so natural and beneficial – in more ways than one (Available in Spanish)

Breastfeeding and HIV

The Right to Breastfeed

The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises that every girl and boy has the inherent right to life, and aims to guarantee his/her survival and development. Breastfeeding during the first hour after birth helps ensure the newborn baby’s survival. Women have the right to this knowledge and to receive the support they need to start breastfeeding correctly.

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