August Is Breastfeeding Awareness Month!

The month of August every year is usually jam-packed with a ton of breastfeeding awareness campaigns and celebrations. Yay!

Goals of Breastfeeding Awareness Month

Breastfeeding Awareness Month began in 2011, when World Breastfeeding Week was extended to include the whole month of August!

National Breastfeeding month is sponsored by the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), which has many goals for the month, including the promotion of:

• Breastfeeding as the norm for feeding babies and young children

• Breast milk as the preferred source of nutrition for babies and the best source of overall nutrition

• Breastfeeding as protection for babies and children against diseases in childhood and throughout life

• Breastfeeding as the means for parents and children forming a strong emotional bond

• Breastfeeding as a safe, renewable food source in natural disasters and emergencies

National Breastfeeding Month also seeks to encourage workplaces to support lactating parents, and urges medical authorities to recommend that babies be exclusively breastfed for at least six months, and that babies continue to receive breast milk for their first year of life.

How To Get Involved With Breastfeeding Awareness Month

If you want to get involved in any of the events during breastfeeding awareness months, you can search for events near you on the websites for World Breastfeeding Week, National Breastfeeding Month, or Black Breastfeeding Week.

If you can’t attend an in-person event that month, there are many ways for you to get involved to support breastfeeding and to help promote it. Some ideas for getting involved include:

• Donate to a breastfeeding organization

• Share positive posts about breastfeeding on social media

• Meet up with other breastfeeding parents to celebrate and discuss ways of supporting one another

• Thank a breastfeeding parent who has supported you or who you admire

• Thank a lactation consultant or other breastfeeding support person

• Share a breastfeeding selfie on social media if you feel comfortable

• Wear breastfeeding advocacy gear, such as t-shirt, pins, or wristbands

• Read your favorite breastfeeding book, or read up on the newest research on breastfeeding

• Support a woman’s shelter or domestic abuse shelter by donating money for pumps, or donating breastfeeding pillows, nursing bras, or other nursing gear

World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week began in 1992. This week, celebrated from August 1st to 7th by countries around the globe, was put in place to lend support to healthcare providers, governments, and other institutions that uphold the rights of parents to breastfeed.

Hundreds of events are held all over the world during this week, with the aim to educate and support breastfeeding parents.

Black Breastfeeding Week

 Black Breastfeeding Week is celebrated during the last week of August.

Started in 2013, the aim of Black Breastfeeding Week is to raise awareness of the particular challenges facing Black breastfeeding parents.  

The founders of Black Breastfeeding Week have shared 5 reasons why they believe a week like this is important. These include the fact that:

• Black babies face a disproportionately high mortality rate

• Black families experience high amounts of disease related to nutrition

• There aren’t enough people of color in the lactation field to support Black parents

• Black parents face specific cultural barriers to breastfeeding success

• Many black parents live in vulnerable communities and lack community support for breastfeeding

How To Keep Breastfeeding Awareness Alive All Year Round 

Whatever you do, keep in mind that even though we’ve come a long way when it comes to supporting breastfeeding parents, there’s still a lot of work to be done—and it shouldn’t be confined to breastfeeding awareness month only.

Guaranteed maternity leave, protection of breastfeeding in public, and making sure that parents are properly educated about breastfeeding, are causes you can focus on all year round.

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