August Means It’s Time to Celebrate Breastfeeding!
Another August is upon us, and that means it is time to celebrate breastfeeding/human milk feeding! We have come a long way since the first World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) that was initially created by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in 1992. According to WABA, “WBW is a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanize action on themes related to breastfeeding.” WBW is celebrated every 1-7 August in commemoration of the 1990 Innocenti Declaration. In 2018, a World Health Assembly resolution endorsed WBW as an important breastfeeding promotion strategy. This year’s WBW theme is: Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works.
Globally, protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding is a clear path to optimum nutrition, food security and poverty reduction. Breastfeeding saves both the infant and maternal lives. It also supports nutrition, development and lifelong health. Breastmilk is a low-cost, locally available nutrition for all, hence promoting equity with economic returns to families and nations.
According to WABA, are continuing to move forward with the global target of an exclusive breastfeeding rate of 50% – the last data being reported at 48% in 2024. All of the work that we have been doing is making a difference! As an ICEA Birth Professional, we are all in the unique position to be able to continue to reach families before, during and after they give birth. We are making a difference by offering guidance to help them make educated decisions about how they will feed their newborns.
Here in the USA, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), of which ICEA is a member organization, first declared that all of August would be known as “National Breastfeeding Month” back in 2011, and has expanded by several weeks and different themes over the years. You can read their original Proclamation here. This year’s theme is RISE – Resilience – Interdependence- Self-Determination – Empowerment. Following is more information about each of the upcoming celebrations.
- National WIC (Women, Infant and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program in the USA) Breastfeeding Week is also celebrated during the first week of August. This observance recognizes the 50 years that WIC has been promoting and supporting breastfeeding.
- Indigenous Milk Medicine Week will be celebrated the second week of August, and the theme for this year is We Keep the Fires Lit: Rising Through Milk Medicine.
- The Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Breastfeeding Week theme is “Better Data, Better Care for AANHPI Families” and is celebrated the week of August 15 – 21.
- Black Breastfeeding Week is August 25 – 31, and the theme is “We All We Got: 15 Years of Community, Care and Collective Power.”
- Workplace Lactation Week, September 1 – 7. This year’s theme is “ Pump. Advance. Empowering the modern parent.”
- Semana de la Lactancia Latina during the week of September 8 -14, celebrated to bring awareness to the unique barriers faced by these communities and advocates for language justice.
- Deaf & Hard of Hearing Breastfeeding Week will be celebrated the week of September 16- 22 for its second year of observation. The purpose of this initiative is to provide the nation’s marginalized and underrepresented Deaf community with accessible breastfeeding education, support, and community, because language and breastfeeding access matters from birth!
Why not reach out to the local breastfeeding coalition in your area to see if you can be part of their celebration? If there is no local coalition or network, check out the listing of statewide breastfeeding coalitions on the USBC website. If you are participating in an event, consider sharing the information on our Facebook page.
Besides celebrating breastfeeding, be on the lookout for some great new education from ICEA – we have an amazing team of educators who are creating the perfect blend of lactation education for you. Our goal is to provide ICEA members with accurate, evidence-based human milk feeding to enhance your roles as birth professionals.
And if you haven’t registered for our October conference in Salt Lake City, there is still time! So many amazing presenters — come join us for inspiration, comradery and some fun!
As I finish out my term as your Director of Lactation on the ICEA Board and my 31st year as an ICCE, please know that you have all made the right decision is choosing ICEA as your certifying organization! I hope that you will consider volunteering for the Board in whatever capacity suits you – so that our organization will continue to flourish and grow.
Stephanie Sosnowski, IBCLC, ICCE
