CNML Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week 2017
CNML Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week 2017
by Gena Ortega
by Gena Ortega
Breastfeeding
is a two-way street. That seems to be an obvious statement, perhaps. Mom
provides milk to child; child drinks the milk. Let’s expand our view, though.
Mother sustains the child's life through her very blood, her breastmilk
brimming with unique immunofactors; child's breastfeeding provides mother with
protection against breast cancer, strong uterine contractions to help her
recover more quickly from childbirth, and child spacing through natural suppression
of the mother's fertility. We sustain each other through this beautiful,
Divinely-designed mother-child relationship.
Fitting,
then, that the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) selected a
sustainability theme for this year's World Breastfeeding Week: Sustaining Breastfeeding Together.
The sustainability theme breaks down into four categories: Nutrition/Poverty
Reduction, Survival/Health and Wellbeing, Environment, and Women's Productivity.
Although the WABA has a global focus, we can examine and implement this theme
from our Catholic Nursing Mothers League perspective
and in our own small local communities.
Nutrition/Poverty Reduction
We
provide our children the optimal nutrition, designed precisely for them at each
moment of their young lives. Breastmilk contents change constantly depending on
the time of day, illness, weather conditions, stress. How good our God is to
design our bodies this way! This also allows our families to save money in
formula, doctor sick visits.
Action: In your own community, you can share
this knowledge by offering to hold breastfeeding support groups at your local Crisis
Pregnancy Center or WIC office. Help local mothers who may be
struggling financially to succeed at breastfeeding.
Survival/Health and
Wellbeing
Breastfeeding
is the best way to reduce child mortality, plain
and simple. 823,000 child deaths and 20,000 maternal deaths (from breast
cancer) could be prevented by increased breastfeeding around the world. How can
you help to protect the children in your area?
Action: Leave a
stack of CNML business cards, natural family planning pamphlets, ecological
breastfeeding information at local pediatrician offices. Make it easy for
pediatricians to share this information, which may be new to their patients.
Environment
Have
you seen the baby outfits that say, "Eat Local"? Breastfeeding allows
us to feed our children in a way that doesn't pollute or use unnecessary
packaging. It is positive for God's creation overall!
Action: Do you have a shelf of breastfeeding books whose wisdom
you would love to share? Start a nursing lending library among the mothers in
your CNML group or in your circle of friends to save them from having to buy
books.
Women's Productivity
CNML promotes ecological breastfeeding and mom and baby staying close - especially for those first three years of life - as the ideal. However, there may be circumstances where a woman needs to work outside the house. Women who
must return to work after having a baby may feel pressured to forgo breastfeeding
and resort to formula-feeding. Women who provide breastmilk for their babies
not only feel fulfilled that they can provide for their children even though
they are apart during the day, but pumping and providing breastmilk can often
help the mother from taking additional sick days for a child who is frequently
ill.
Action: Hold evening or weekend CNML meetings so that working mothers
can still participate. Are you able to pump extra milk to donate to a regional milk bank? Donating milk is an act of self-sacrifice and a corporal work of
mercy!
Let's do our
part as Catholic Nursing Mothers League members to help sustain breastfeeding
for the mothers and babies around us!
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