Today is day August 1 and this means that, like every year, World Breastfeeding Week kicks off, promoted by WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Alliance) and celebrated in many countries of the world.
The motto for this year is "Breastfeeding and working: let's make it possible!" and intends to inform and help women and society that work is not an impediment for babies to continue to be breastfed when the mother returns to work.
To achieve this, clear objectives have been set that should be the motive of struggle on the part of the mothers, on the part of the parents, on the part of the health professionals, on the part of the companies for which the nursing women work, for on the part of governments, which should ensure that maternal casualties were sufficient, and in fact on the part of the whole society, support nursing mothers at all times, for the sake of babies, who are the next generation.
The objectives of the World Breastfeeding Week 2015
- Link multi-dimensional efforts of all sectors to facilitate women being able to work and breastfeed everywhere.
- Develop actions by employers who are Friendly with Families / Babies / and Mothers, and who actively support working mothers to continue breastfeeding.
- Report on the latest advances in the protection and protection of Maternity Rights throughout the world and raise awareness of the need to strengthen national laws and their application.
- Share, facilitate and strengthen practices that help breastfeeding women working in informal sectors.
- Compromise and work with specific groups, such as the Rights of Workers, Women, Youth and Trade Unions to protect the breastfeeding rights of women in their workplaces.
Looking at the objectives and thinking about this year's theme, it is clear that much remains to be done both at the level of normalization of breastfeeding and at the level of rights of women who breastfeed and babies who are breastfed.
Maternal casualties remain very low in many countries and the reality that a mother finds is that of a baby who is still very small, who remains totally dependent and who feeds only on breast milk. Anxiety, anguish and stress for both is evident, and many babies start drinking artificial milk or other foods ahead of time, because for many mothers it is difficult to comply with the recommendations of exclusively breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life.
The fight then goes in every way: to expand maternal casualties, increase support for nursing mothers in the meantime and offer them information and support so that they can, if they wish, pump milk and keep it. Also, keep boosting breast milk as ideal baby feeding so that a mother who fights for her baby at work is not seen with bad eyes, as if she were trying to work less or prove that she is a better mother than anyone, because the thing does not go there.
If you want more information about what is intended and how it is intended, in this World Breastfeeding Week, don't miss the WABA document that promotes it.
