Looking Forward to World Breastfeeding Week 2008

Tomorrow I will reflect back on this past World Breastfeeding Week and offer some ideas for planning a successful World Breastfeeding Week event. For now, I’m pleased to note the new logo and mission statement for the next World Breastfeeding Week which takes place August 1st through the 7th, 2008. The World Breastfeeding Week site, still under construction for 2008, reveals the theme “Mother Support: Going for the Gold” and it explains:

Breastfeeding results from a reproductive health continuum for the mother to the child with no beginning or end, from generation to generation. When a practice is disrupted, it must be restored. However, restoration of the breastfeeding culture demands more resources and mobilization.

In conjunction with the Olympics next August, WBW 2008 calls for greater support for mothers in achieving the gold standard of infant feeding: breastfeeding exclusively for six months, and providing appropriate complementary foods with continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.

As every country sends its best athletes to compete at these global games, it is important to remind ourselves that, in a similar fashion, a healthy young athlete can only emerge from a healthy start on life. There is no question that optimal infant and young child feeding is essential for optimal growth and development.

Supporting Mother = Supporting Her to Provide the Golden Start For Every Child!

How clever to tie World Breastfeeding Week in with the Olympics, and to talk of the gold standard for infant feeding. The theme seems all the more appropriate when I think of the number of times I have heard women refer to breast milk as liquid gold!