Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week 2012

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is August 1st – 7th and celebrates the signing of the Innocenti Declaration, produced and adopted in 1990 by participants at the WHO/UNICEF meeting on ”Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A Global Initiative on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding.” The document lists the benefits of breastfeeding, plus global and governmental goals. World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in 120 countries on various dates.

To learn more about the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) visit
WorldBreastfeedingWeek.org or the WABA home page.

WABA’s 2012 WBW theme is:
Understanding the Past – Planning the Future

Download WABA’s 2012 WBW calendar (PDF)

OBJECTIVES OF WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK CELEBRATIONS 2012…

1. To recall what has happened in the past 20 years on infant and young child feeding (IYCF).
2. To celebrate successes and achievements nationally, regionally, and globally, and showcase national work at global level.
3. To assess the status of implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (GS).
4. To call for action to bridge the remaining gaps in policy and programs on breastfeeding and IYCF.
5. To draw public attention on the state of policy and programs on breastfeeding and IYCF.

What YOU can do to celebrate and make a difference…

Request A Google Doodle!

Join the initiative to get Google to make a “Google-Doodle” on World Breastfeeding Weeks’ 20th Anniversary this year! This would give the 20th World Breastfeeding Week global visibility on a massive scale, and would help mobilize more people to join the campaign to Protect, Promote and Support Breastfeeding, and WBW!

Google states that the doodle team is always excited to hear ideas from users and invite people to send their proposals to their email - proposals@google.com - with ideas for the next Google doodle.

Sample letter:

Dear Google Doodle people,

We – the breastfeeding support and promotion community – would be delighted to have a Doodle for World Breastfeeding Week, 1-7 August 2012. World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is celebrated every year in over 176 countries around the world.

This year marks the 20th year of WBW celebrations. As such we really hope that you will give this request serious consideration. For more information see: http://www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org/ andhttp://www.worldbreastfeedingweek.net/

Thanks in advance for considering this proposal.

Best regards,

Xxxx

Submit your Pledge for World Breastfeeding Week 2012! 

For every pledge that is received, the WBW 2012 Logo will appear on the world map – listing the names of celebrants! To participate, just complete this pledge form and send it back to WABA as an attachment by emailing to wbw@waba.org.my.

Attend A “Big Latch On” Event 

The Big Latch-On is a simultaneous breastfeeding event, when groups of nursing mothers come together at specific venues around the world. The event lasts for one minute and the total number of participants is added up by witnesses to see whether a new record can be broken.

To find a Big Latch On location near you click here!

 Follow World Breastfeeding Week !

Follow World Breastfeeding Week on Facebook & Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest WBW 2012 news & connect with other supporters!

Get a FREE online kit full of breastfeeding resources!

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, August 1 – 7, 2012, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health and the General Services Administration’s Federal Citizen Information Center have created the free Breastfeeding Resources Action Kit. With it, you can:

• Learn the physical and psychological benefits of breastfeeding for both babies and moms
• Discover the financial benefits of breastfeeding for families, employers and communities
• Find out how to support breastfeeding in your own community
• Get breastfeeding tips and much more

To get your free kit click here!

Get a FREE pair of Bambooies reusable nursing pads!

Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week with Bamboobies Freebies!

1 pair of pale pink regular Bamboobies

Available August 1 – 7… or while supplies last!

(Well, almost free: 1 cent plus $3.95 S&H)

**FREE SHIPPING for orders over $49**

Click here for more details!

 Free access to The Journal Of Human Lactation

Enjoy FREE Access to the Journal of Human Lactation during August in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week!

The Journal of Human Lactation (JHL) is the premier quarterly, peer-reviewed journal publishing original research, commentaries relating to human lactation and breastfeeding behavior, case reports relevant to the practicing lactation consultant and other health professionals who assist lactating mothers or their breastfeeding infants, debate on research methods for breastfeeding and lactation studies, and discussions of the business aspects of lactation consulting.

Click here!

Participate in the Breastfeeding Blog Hop 

The Breastfeeding Blog Hop was started by Jen at Life with Levi to bring support, encouragement and information about breastfeeding to moms through a once a week linky on various breastfeeding topics. You can find all kinds of wonderful posts linked up in the archives there! The  Breastfeeding Blog Hop was also hosted by Erin at The Slacker Mom, and you can find several months of Hop topics and posts linked up in her archives.

The hard work of the women who hosted and co-hosted the Breastfeeding Blog Hop has resulted in a group of bloggers with all kinds of backgrounds and life experiences who have supported each other and their readers in their breastfeeding journey each week, and it has been beautiful seeing it develop. You can read more about why we are excited to be hosting the Breastfeeding Blog Hop in this post.

We hope you will join us as we continue to help each other along the way! Each week we will feature a different topic, and the linky will be open Thursday and Friday. We hope you will link up, read, and comment! Linking back to us in your posts is greatly appreciated.

The official Twitter hashtag is #bfbloghop, and you can use this when sharing your own post or searching for others. You can join us on facebook at the official Breastfeeding Blog Hop page, too. You may also want to check out our Breastfeeding board on Pinterest, which features great breastfeeding images, quotes, and of course, great breastfeeding tips and encouragement from the Breastfeeding Blog Hop bloggers!

We know you are all busy mommas, and that some bloggers prefer to write ahead, so you can find the topics for each month here at the beginning of the month. We will also share reminders for each week’s topic on Facebook and Twitter. Old posts that are on topic are welcome as well.

August Topics:

1. August 2nd – World Breastfeeding Week (any breastfeeding related post, or something specific to WBW)
2. August 9th – Do you know the laws that protect you as a breastfeeding mother?
3. August 16th – Would you ever participate in a Nurse-in?
4. August 23rd – Mastitis (symptoms or experience)
5. August 30th – Tandem Nursing/ Nursing Multiples

These are just a few of the many different things you can do to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week 2012, the possibilities are endless! Take a moment to think about what YOU can do, even if it is as simple as talking to a pregnant friend about the benefits of breastfeeding, or sharing the WBW website with your friends on Facebook.

So that leaves just one question…

What will you do to celebrate? Please leave a comment & share!

Terri
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