Aug 01 - Big Latch On Event This Saturday In Casemates
The Gibraltar Breastfeeding Association (GBA) and the Mummy and Me breastfeeding support group will host the Big Latch On Gibraltar event this coming Saturday 6th August in Casemates as from 10am. The groups have hosted this global event, which aims to promote breastfeeding, for several years. Café Solo has sponsored the event since it started.
The GBA says that breastfeeding takes time and effort and although 70% of mums start off breastfeeding by the time they are discharged into the community the figure has dropped to 40%. In hosting such events and promoting awareness of breastfeeding in the community the GBA says it hopes that new families will see that peer support is available and that breastfeeding is “natural and beautiful.”
If new mums are unsure of feeding in public seeing mums feeding their babies comfortably, the GBA says it will encourage and support them to do the same.
Timeline of events
10-10.20 am: Registration at Café Solo Casemates
10.30: One minute latch On and count joining the rest of the world for this record attempt.
10.31-11 am: Photos and breakfast at Café Solo.
The GBA can be contacted on Facebook for further information.
Information on World Breastfeeding Week
On the 1-7th August every year to raise awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and the need for global support, the Alliance for Breastfeeding Action organises World Breastfeeding Week. World Breastfeeding week is celebrated in 120 countries and marks the signing of the WHO/UNICEF document Innocenti Declaration, which lists the benefits of breastfeeding, plus global and governmental goals. To mark this occasion on Saturday 6th August at 10.30am thousands of breastfeeding women and their babies/children across the world will gather in their own communities to take part in the Global Big Latch On, a synchronized breastfeeding event in multiple locations.
The first Big Latch On took place Aotearo New Zealand in 2005, it was introduced to Portland Oregon in 2010 by Small Beginnings Group LLC and has since taken off globally.
This year the goal is to break the current Global Big Latch On records of:
- 14,889 Children breastfeeding during the count time period
- 15,336 Breastfeeding women attending
- 36,502 Total Attendance
The long-term vision is that one day a Global Big Latch On event will be held within walking distance of every family in the world.
The Global Big Latch On is informed by the principles of community development providing the opportunity for breastfeeding women to get together in their local communities, host their own events and identify opportunities for on going support.
Breastfeeding contributes to the normal growth and development of babies/children and babies/children who are not breastfed are at increased risk of infant morbidity and mortality, adult obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and premenopausal breast cancer (both mum and baby.)
The World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of a baby’s life to optimize these benefits, continuing to breastfeed for two years and as long thereafter as is mutually desired by a woman and her child.
{fcomment}
