World Breastfeeding Week 2010 -- LLLC fulfills 10th Step of BFI!

The theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2010 (Oct 1-7) is Breastfeeding: Just 10 Steps! The 10 steps referred to in the theme are the World Health Organization/UNICEF Baby-Friendly™ Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. These steps are applicable to all facilities and services that provide maternity services and care for newborn infants. The steps include creating policy and ensuring that staff have training to support and manage breastfeeding initiation and promote duration. Step number 10 directs facilities to:

“Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic”. (Breastfeeding Committee for Canada, www.breastfeedingcanada.ca)

“La Leche League Canada is, and has been for nearly 50 years, the fulfillment of step number 10”, asserts La Leche League Canada Board of Directors Chairperson, Joan Little. “Our volunteers all across Canada hold monthly support and information meetings where pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers can gather in an atmosphere where breastfeeding is the norm.”

La Leche League Canada (LLLC) volunteers are all breastfeeding mothers who have had additional training in providing information and encouragement to breastfeeding families.

“The help that our volunteers provide to breastfeeding mothers makes a difference. Although most mothers in Canada give up breastfeeding long before their babies have been exclusively breastfed for the six months recommended by Health Canada, attending LLLC meetings helps more mothers to reach their breastfeeding goals”, adds Little.

La Leche League Canada volunteers are also accessible by telephone or via the on-line “submit a question” service through the website. The phone and website bring LLLC’s support and information to those mothers who do not have easy access to meetings in their own communities.

In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, Little invites Canadians to be a part of Breastfeeding: Just 10 Steps! by taking one step:

• to a La Leche League Canada meeting
• to the LLLC website
• to contact a volunteer by phone or e-mail, or
• to make a donation to La Leche League Canada and to help ensure that this valuable resource is available for all breastfeeding mothers.