Tag: Global Breastfeeding Collective

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Happy World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month!

It’s World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) and National Breastfeeding Month (NBM)! This time of year, we come together to celebrate our successes, reflect on the challenges we’ve overcome and those that are still ahead, to continue our momentum and reignite passion and purpose.

The 2024 World Breastfeeding Week campaign’s focus is on survival, health and wellbeing. It showcases the need to improve breastfeeding support to reduce inequalities that exist in our society with a special focus on breastfeeding in times of emergencies and crises. There are so many ways to engage. Check out this interactive map here. 

And this year’s NBM theme, Nourish, Sustain, Thrive, shines a light on why protecting, promoting, and supporting lactation is so important for the human life cycle. This summer, we honor the incredible work that organizations are doing to make the world a little more friendly for new parents and families, and highlight how individuals, funders, and policymakers can contribute to a strong and sustainable lactation field. 

We are excited to kick off NBM sharing a short Q&A with U.S. Breastfeeding Committee’s Senior Collective Impact Coordinator  Erin Fortuna, IBCLC. Among her many amazing achievements, Fortuna designed the beautiful NBM logo.

Fortuna’s personal, adverse experiences with birth and breastfeeding in 2017 led her down the path of wanting to make a difference for people in her community, particularly in service to LGBTQIA+ families. As a queer parent, she became a peer-to-peer lactation counselor because she says she wanted to better support those who wished to feed their babies human milk. This ultimately led her to her journey toward becoming an IBCLC.  In 2022, when she came to the USBC, she was newly postpartum with her second child and “knee-deep in the throes of [on-cue] nursing a 3-month-old, constant diaper changes, and all the challenges that come along with new parenthood…at the same time navigating a career change.”

“The USBC was so incredibly accommodating, which enabled me to nurse on demand for an additional two-and-a-half years,” Fortuna continues. “I knew that my ‘luck’ in having this flexibility shouldn’t be luck at all – this should be the standard! From paid leave to equitable lactation support compensation, this journey is a long and winding road toward change, and I am grateful to be a part of such a hardworking team dedicated to a vision for thriving families and communities.” 

Q: What else makes you proud to be a part of USBC?

A: Honestly, so much work happens behind the scenes at the USBC, and this is exciting for me! I get to see organizations come together to collaboratively work on a common goal and knock down barriers that previously separated them. I get to learn from those in the field who are breaking barriers to get the work done and carving their own path to progress. I get to be there to support and celebrate legislative wins and learn how to navigate the disappointment when efforts become derailed or stalled. It’s pretty incredible to watch these building blocks get stacked at the USBC and built as a collective! 

Q: What are you most looking forward to this NBM?

A: I love seeing how many organizations and community-led initiatives create events and celebrations for National Breastfeeding Month. From cultural weekly celebrations to milk banks to hospitals to lactation support programs, every year, I look forward to seeing photos of celebrations and achievements shared with the USBC! It’s a really exciting time, and the momentum from all the awareness generated and the actions taken in support and celebration of NBM-related activities can continue to have an impact year-round.

 Q: You created the NBM logo to reflect “a special harmony and peace that aligns when a nursing dyad’s needs are met.”  Can you please describe your approach to creating the design? 

A: I have been exploring the possibilities of AI generation as it relates to people and faces. We have such limited access to stock images that it becomes challenging to not use the same parent-and-baby or breastfeeding-baby photo that the rest of the field is using. The USBC does have a photo gallery that organizations can use for non-commercial, educational purposes, but I was looking for a new face!  With the help of AI tools, I was able to generate a generic likeness of a dyad that harnessed feelings of harmony and togetherness. From that image, I creatively styled it to reflect a more illustrated and colorful feel. I really wanted it to feel vibrant and lively but also “close to home” for those partners and organizations that would ultimately use it. My hope is that even if the likeness of the dyad doesn’t resonate with folks, the warm embrace between the parent and baby will.

One of my favorite things about NBM is seeing the creativity behind each weekly observance logo and how each organization makes its celebration(s) unique. I like to collect things that support the efforts of these observances like stickers and t-shirts. I have a whole drawer full of them at home!

Q: What’s the best way for folks to get involved with USBC’s important work during NBM? 

A:  Be sure to subscribe to USBC communications! In each edition of our Weekly Wire newsletter, starting in mid-July and ending in mid-September, there is a special section related to National Breastfeeding Month activities. We have a searchable archive of past editions, a form to submit news and information for future issues, and an open call to the field asking for NBM-related activities that the USBC can amplify. Our team sends emails throughout NBM: offering opportunities to celebrate, learn, connect, and take action to help create a landscape of breastfeeding support for families across the U.S. We hope your readership will join us in making a difference this National Breastfeeding Month!

 

A few more suggestions from OMW on how to participate in WBW, NBM and beyond

Raise awareness by purchasing your NBM gear here. 

Healthy Children Project has released a new round of Accessing the Milky Way scholarships in celebration of WBW. Apply here.

Coffee and tea chats hosted by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine will be available throughout WBW.  

Watch the Global Breastfeeding Collective’s replay of Are we there yet? and register for Strength in Numbers. 

Acquaint yourself with corporate wrongdoing, the forces that seek to destroy the power of the mother baby dyad.  



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Happy World Breastfeeding Week 2023: Making a difference for working parents

Logo by WABA

We’re abuzz with excitement for World Breastfeeding Week: Making a difference for working parents! This year’s theme is especially relevant in the U.S. with the recent passing of the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Yet, we remain one of the only countries with no paid family leave.

In celebration of the triumphs and in hopes of a better future paved by the hard work and passion of countless advocates, we’re looking back on Our Milky Way stories in the workplace.

  • The 2015 World Breastfeeding Week theme, Breastfeeding and Work Let’s Make it Work!, inspired Alyssa Sheedlo’s, RD LDN, CLC sharing of her story about providing milk for her triplets. Her story was originally published by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). Read it here.
  • In a male dominated field, Alameda County Sergeant Misty Carausu blazed  trails for mothers working in law enforcement. Carausu was granted an initial three thousand dollar budget to renovate an existing lactation closet at the county jail. Read that story here.
  • Laura Westover PA-C, CLC, a provider at Castle Rock Pediatrics, dove into helping transform her office into a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer and ultimate Breastfeeding- Friendly Medical Office.Westover worked alongside a  breastfeeding policy specialist to create their policies and lactation spaces through a six-point plan which includes policy, staff and provider training, patient education, environment, evaluation and sustainability, and continuity of care. Read the whole story here.
  • Learn about Zambian Investment Management and Banking Professional Musa Imakando-Mzumara’s perspective on breastfeeding and how it fits into the solution of national challenges here.
  • Look back on efforts by Scott Behson, PhD, creator of the Fathers, Work and Family (FWF) blog, to shape work policies here.
  • Passionate about breastfeeding support from both a personal and social standpoint, clinical researcher at the University of Colorado Dr. Bridget Young, PhD, CLC volunteered her time redesigning three lactation rooms and adding four newly designated lactation rooms at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Read about her efforts here.

 

We’d be honored to share your story about balancing employment and breastfeeding on Our Milky Way! Please email us at info@ourmilkyway.org with interest.

Cheers to a Happy World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month! Follow the WBW social media channels to stay up to date on all of the festivities @waba.wbw, @wabasecretariat, @waba_global and @wabasecr!

 

Helpful resources from A Better Balance and WorkLife Law:

Talking to your boss about your pump (Spanish)

Talking to your boss about your “bump”

 

#WBW2023​
#WABA ​
#breastfeeding​​
#SDGs​
#worldbreastfeedingweek2023 ​
#WarmChain ​
#buildingbackbetter ​
#EmpoweringParentsCampaign
#EnablingBreastfeeding
#MakingADifference
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Breastfeeding is collaborative.

–This post is part of our 10-year anniversary series “Breastfeeding is…”—

Breastfeeding is collaborative.

A breastfeeding dyad is a beautiful, fascinating, complex organism. Mother and bab(ies) attend and respond to one another facilitating nourishment, the flow of hormones, immunity, learning and bonding, comfort, fun, an all-encompassing sensory experience that has generational impacts on social, emotional and physical health.

Photo by Luiza Braun

In this intimate depiction of a breastfeeding dyad, a world of collaborative intricacies occur: the undulation of baby’s tongue to help with milk removal, the contraction of myoepithelial cells thanks to oxytocin elicited by baby, the removal of milk to signal mother’s body to produce more, to name a few.

It’s clear that breastfeeding is so much more than “the healthiest feeding choice” nutritionally speaking. Take the following anecdotes for example.

Nikki Lee offers her commentary to this case report on infant botulism in an exclusively breastfed baby explaining how interactive feeding can save a baby’s life.

https://unsplash.com/@luizabraun

“One doesn’t have to ingest honey to contract botulism. Exclusively breastfed babies can get botulism. Some parts of the continental US have c.botulinum in the soil; construction stirs up the soil, and the germ floats in the air. The breastfeeding mother is the one to notice that the baby’s suck isn’t as strong. This is a reason that breastfed babies survive botulism, because they get diagnosed and treated sooner than bottle-fed babies.”

In this case, breastfeeding offered early detection of breast cancer in the mother because of her baby’s refusal to nurse from one side. This phenomenon is known as Goldsmith’s Sign.

To demonstrate the importance of  the relationship that breastfeeding affords, we might consider the implications of separation. Lee again offers insight on the implications of mother baby separation in this piece.

Zooming out to view breastfeeding less individualistically and instead as a global food security system, we must recognize the collaboration necessary to support the breastfeeding dyad and abandon the idea that breastfeeding is a solitary act, a “one-woman job”.

https://unsplash.com/@luizabraun

In Breastfeeding as a ‘Resilient’ Food Security System: Celebrating…. And Problematizing Women’s Resilience in the face of chronic deprivation as well as emergencies, Dr. Vandana Prasad, MBBS, MRCP (Ped) UK, MPH describes breastfeeding as “wholly community-based”. Dr. Prasad continues that breastfeeding is potentially universally accessible and sustainable because it  “depends wholly upon the status of time, energy, health, nutrition and general availability of women”. This achievement, breastfeeding as definitely universally accessible and sustainable,  would require collaborative efforts by “governments, decision-makers, development partners, professional bodies, academia, media, advocates, and other stakeholders” working together, as Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus writes.

In the U.S., WIC has created an interactive resource “to help reinforce the important role that family and friends play in supporting breastfeeding moms.” The resource invites WIC staff to “click through the prompts with parents, grandparents, and others discussing when and how to offer helpful support so that mom and baby continue to thrive.”

At an organizational level, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) uses a collective impact approach to manage multi-sectoral collaborations, working to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding and human milk feeding.

Source: United States Breastfeeding Committee.

Internationally, the Global Breastfeeding Collective calls on donors, policy makers and civil society to increase investment in breastfeeding worldwide.

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As part of our celebration, we are giving away an online learning module with contact hours each week. Here’s how to enter into the drawings:

Email info@ourmilkyway.org with your name and “OMW is 10” in the subject line.

This week, in the body of the email, tell us: Who is your s/hero in the field of maternal child health?

Subsequent weeks will have a different prompt in the blog post.

We will conduct a new drawing each week over the 10-week period.  Please email separately each week to be entered in the drawing. You may only win once. If your name is drawn, we will email a link with access to the learning module. The winner of the final week will score a grand finale swag bag.

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Happy National Midwifery Week!

October 2 to 8 marks National Midwifery Week. National Midwifery Week was created by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) to celebrate and recognize midwives and midwife-led care.

Two of my three births were attended by midwives. My first birth in a hospital attended by an obstetrician might best be described using words like chaos, fear, coercion, and out of my control. Juxtapose that next to my subsequent home births with professional midwives which conjure words like calm, empowerment, grounded, respect and safety.

Midwives aren’t only attending births though, providing personalized, ethical care, but as this year’s Midwifery Week theme embodies– Midwives for Justice– midwives strive for justice on many fronts. You can find out about the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) national advocacy efforts here.

Midwives also play an integral role in establishing healthy infant feeding practices. Read the Global Breastfeeding Collective’s advocacy brief The Role of Midwives and Nurses in Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding here.

I am proud of and inspired by the work that my midwife Erin does beyond helping catch babies. You can read about her efforts as an ally here.

ACNM has created a beautiful toolkit to help us celebrate the midwives around us and the midwifery model of care this week and beyond. You can access that PDF here. It includes sample social media posts and ways to engage online, suggestions for community gatherings, and ways to celebrate accomplishments like parties, team building events and award ceremonies.  

Check out past celebrations of the midwife for still relevant resources like WHO’s declaration of 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife and the International Day of the Midwives.

For further reading on midwifery care, especially indigenous midwifery care, check out Knowledge Keepers: Why We Need Indigenous Midwives and Giving Birth Where the Family Is,  CommonSense Childbirth and Changing Woman Initiative’s  Power of One Indigenous Midwifery Fellowship program at http://www.changingwomaninitiative.com/power-of-one-indigenous-midwifery-fellowship.html.

Past Our Milky Way coverage on midwives

Honoring midwives during Women’s History Month

Alabama birth worker facilitates holistic, sustainable care for families

Taking ‘if’ out of the equation

Skin-to-skin in the operating room after cesarean birth

High schoolers explore human placenta, learn about physiological birth

Happy Birth Day, a new project by Dr. Kajsa Brimdyr

An opportunity for normal birth

Renaissance Woman

Dr. Soo Downe: International Breastfeeding Conference presenter Sneak Peak

#MidwiferyWeek2022 #MidwivesforJustice

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Prioritizing infant and young child feeding in emergencies during National Preparedness Month and beyond

September is National Preparedness Month. We’ve spent a lot of bandwidth covering our country’s deficiencies in handling healthy infant feeding in emergency situations. There was National Preparedness Month: the U.S.’s deficit in Infant and Young Child Feeding preparedness during emergencies, Guiding resources for infant and young child feeding during emergencies, Spotlight on Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies during National Breastfeeding Month, Toxic Stress, Resilience Building, COVID-19 and Breastfeeding, and Underdeveloped plans for infant and young child feeding during emergencies.

In preparation for Hurricane Katrina– which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) called “the single most catastrophic natural disaster in US history”– the government organized an alternate site for the Super Bowl but failed to employ an infant feeding in emergencies (IFE) plan. In the aftermath of the catastrophe, pets and exotic animals were accounted for, but mothers and infants were separated from one another as hospitals were evacuated. If you haven’t the time to sift through our coverage on emergency preparedness and response, those accounts pretty much sum up where our priorities lie.

Photo by João Henrique do Carmo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/child-breastfeeds-from-her-mother-5839104/

With the deficit clearly illuminated, we’re glad to report solutions and resources for infant and young child feeding in emergencies (IYCF-E) that have begun to emerge as emergent situations increase in frequency and severity.

During World Breastfeeding Week, we shared work being done in Timor Leste as reported by Dr. Magdalena Whoolery in Strategies for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Climate-Related Emergencies.

We covered Doula and Program Coordinator at Birthmark Doula Collective & New Orleans Breastfeeding Center Malaika Ludman’s, MPH, CLC work in Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies in Louisiana: Lessons Learned from a Post-Hurricane Laura Response During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Julia-Lorraine Mercedez Moore, a WIC peer counselor in Pickens County, S.C., talks about supporting breastfeeding through the pandemic in South Carolina WIC peer counselors help families through COVID and beyond.  

In New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force’s efforts to support human milk feeding in alternative housing environments, task force members describe how to best support families in crisis.

Beyond Our Milky Way coverage, there’s fantastic work and opportunities for action to amplify.

CHEERing is an ISO certified, Greek-registered NGO dedicated to improving maternal child health and promoting preventive health in refugee populations. They provide direct support in refugee camps and shelters; training for agencies, including medical professionals and volunteers who work daily with refugee populations, and evaluation and monitoring.

The Global Breastfeeding Collective created an advocacy brief, Breastfeeding in Emergency Situations, which details a call to action that focuses on establishing proactive versus reactive feeding systems.

Photo by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz : https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-breastfeeding-her-child-11779231/

The IFE Core Group by the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has compiled a repository that provides peer-reviewed journal articles that cover emerging evidence in emergency settings such as natural disasters, conflicts, displacement including refugee settings. Access the repository here.

This summer, the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) released a toolkit with information and resources for emergency preparedness and response personnel, families, and the public to ensure that children are fed safely when disaster strikes. You can access the toolkit here.

Image credit: United States Breastfeeding Committee

The United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) is a leader in helping pass legislation that would better protect young families in emergencies. USBC’s Take Action Center offers an easy way to engage in formalizing legislation. You can contact your legislators about the DEMAND Act (S. 3601/H.R. 6555) here.

Read other USBC coverage on IYCF-E in Disasters Don’t Wait: We Must Make Babies a Priority in Emergencies and The Four Pillars of Infant Nutrition Security in the United States.

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