The first week of August is World Breastfeeding Week and is sponsored by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). WABA's goal is 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.

According to the WABA website, the 823,000 child deaths, 20,000 maternal deaths, and $302 billion in economic losses each year are stark reminders of the current reality. All of these, and more, could be prevented by scaling up breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding not only saves lives and money, it is the Foundation Of Life. World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) focuses on how breastfeeding helps prevent malnutrition in all its forms, ensures food security even in times of crisis and breaks the cycle of poverty.

In 2015, the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an agenda to transform our world through sustainable development by 2030. Some progress has been made in relation to the 17 SDGs, however, it has been slow. We must step up our efforts to reach the targets of the 2030 Agenda, and ensure that no one, and no issue is left behind. World Breastfeeding Week can help do just that.

WABA took on this challenge through our WBW-SDGs campaign, making links between breastfeeding and each of the SDGs. Our annual World Breastfeeding Week campaign highlights these links to ensure that the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding is key to sustainable development.

Malnutrition, food insecurity and poverty affect millions and stand in the way of sustainable development. The 2018 Sustainable Development Goals Report highlights the importance of focusing on these problems. World hunger is rising again, in part due to food insecurity and other crises such as conflict, drought and disasters associated with climate change. Obesity and chronic diseases are rampant. Pockets of the worst forms of poverty still persist and the gap between rich and poor is increasing.

WABA was established in 1991 and is a global network of organizations and individuals who believe breastfeeding is the right of all children and mothers and who dedicated themselves to protect, promote, and support this right. For more information about WBW and WABA, visit worldbreastfeedingweek.org.

​TlC's community nurse Karen Jameson, R.N., M.Ed recently wrote about breastfeeding and overcoming the sense of failure. You can read her blog post here.

Watch this video for more information about WBW:

By Karen Jameson, R.N., M.Ed 

When my husband and I became parents 23 years ago, we quickly learned that parenting is no simple matter and many choices had to be made on how we were planning to raise our baby. Disposable or cloth diapers? Stay at home or daycare? Enforce a sleep schedule or not? Breast feeding or formula feeding? We also quickly learned that no matter what decision we made someone would weigh in that we were wrong!

I’m not sure how we made it, maybe because we were on the same page when it came to all the major decisions, and we were able to present a unified front when faced with criticism, but somehow we managed to raise not one but three children!

We chose to breastfeed, and my first was an easy baby to nurse. He was always hungry and latched well. He gained weight like a champ. But I had been told in the hospital to feed on one side for 15 minutes and then switch sides and feed another 15 minutes. My baby wouldn’t do that, he would latch on and feed the entire time on one side, no switching for him.

Despite his fantastic weight gain, I felt like a failure. I remember the midwife calling me at 6 months to check in and asked if I was still breastfeeding. I told her I was but then guiltily blurted out “but I’m doing it all wrong!”

She asked me to elaborate and I told her how I was feeding. She laughed and said, “You’ve just discovered the way the rest of the world breastfeeds, only the U.S. suggests feeding both side each feeding.”

I can clearly remember my sense of relief that I wasn’t a “failure.” In addition to gaining experience as a parent, I also work at TLC as a nurse educator. I attended training to become a certified lactation counselor 14 years ago, after which I began offering lactation support to any women in Sullivan County through TLC.

Armed with my own personal experiences, I am determined to do my best to reassure and soothe new parents as they seek breastfeeding help. Perhaps a family wants to pump and feed in a bottle? Maybe they want to do a combination of breastmilk and formula, or they are clear from the start that they have no interest in breastfeeding and choose formula.

I see infant feeding as a very personal choice and even when asked the question, “What is best?” I will turn it back and say, “What is best for YOU?” I am happy to answer questions about the benefits of breastmilk, and tell families that if they want to breastfeed I will do everything I can to support them, but I will never make anyone feel like they are not a good parent because they are unwilling or able to breastfeed.