This week is National Breastfeeding Awareness Week (May 10-16), which aims to raise awareness of the health benefits of breastfeeding and promote support for breastfeeding, in the UK. I was just about to ask, ‘What about the US?’ when I researched further and saw that the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe.
photo via guardian.co.uk
I’m guessing the US falls under the World Breastfeeding Week and Awareness Month (in August), among over 120 countries around the world. Research of the benefits of breastfeeding show that it ‘decreases risk factors for postmenopausal cardiovascular disease,’ and ‘breast-fed babies tend to gain weight at a healthier pace and are less likely to become obese later in life,’ to name a few.
National Breastfeeding Awareness also aims to increase social acceptance of breastfeeding, which some see as a social embarrassment or obscene, such as Facebook, recently in the news for deleting photos of women breastfeeding from their profiles. This prompted the creation of the Facebook group, ‘Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is Not Obscene,’ started by Kelli Roman, whose photos were deleted. Props to Roman and other women who are standing up for awareness in the US. –Regina
photo via guardian.co.uk/info sources: parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/thinkbaby.co.uk /breastfeeding.nhs.uk/medwirenews/24dash.com/Facebook/ breastfeedingtaskforla.org/Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is Not Obscene
