The Chautauqua County Health Department is celebrating National Breastfeeding Month in August and World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7, 2024.
This year’s World Breastfeeding Week theme is Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All. It aims to celebrate breastfeeding moms in all their diversity, throughout their breastfeeding journeys, while showcasing the ways families, societies, communities and health workers support breastfeeding moms.
Through their Welcome Home Baby Program, the County Health Department provides every new parent in Chautauqua County a one-time visit with a Public Health Nurse. During the visit, new parents receive lactation support along with free supplies to help them continue to successfully breastfeed. Additional visits from a lactation consultant can take place if needed and moms are encouraged to contact the breastfeeding hotline at 844-423-2229.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for your baby’s first six months of life, and breastfeeding supplemented with solid foods from six months to two years and beyond.
Figure 1: Percentage of babies receiving any and exclusive breast milk during the first 12 months, among children born in 2019
Babies who are breastfed:
– Experience less respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses, as well as less ear infections, allergies and skin rashes.
– Face less risk from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Leukemia.
Moms who breastfeed:
– Are less likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes, Breast and Ovarian Cancers, or Postpartum Depression.
– Heal from birthing quicker and in many cases, lose baby weight faster
Some tips for making it work include:
– Feed early and often! Breastfeed as soon as possible after birth. In the first few days after birth, your baby will likely need to breastfeed every hour or two in the daytime and a couple of times at night.
-Learn your baby’s hunger signs. When babies are hungry, they become more alert and active. They may put their hands or fists in their mouth, make sucking motions or turn their head looking for the breast.
-Follow your baby’s lead. Make sure you are comfortable and follow your baby’s lead after he or she is latched on well. Some babies take both breasts at each feeding and others take only one.
-Keep your baby close to you. Remember that baby is not used to this new world and needs to be held very close to his or her mother. Avoid nipple confusion. Avoid using pacifiers, bottles and supplements of formula in the first few weeks unless medically indicated.
-Sleep safely and close by. Have your baby sleep in a crib or bassinet in your room so that you can breastfeed more easily at night.
-Know when to wake the baby. In the early weeks after birth, you should wake your baby to feed if 4 hours have passed since the beginning of the last feeding.
For more information about the Chautauqua County Welcome Home Baby Program and breastfeeding support, visit HealthyCHQ.com/BABY
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