World Breastfeeding Week 2003

Celebrated in Canada OCTOBER 1^st - 7^th, 2003

This year’s Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge was bigger and better than ever before. More than 2200 breastfeeding pairs participating in the event that took place at 134 sites in 20 provinces, territories and states across North America. Challenge organizer Frances Jones says that she’s delighted with the numbers that show a dramatic increase over last year. She is particularly pleased that eight US states joined the Challenge for the first time. 

“The Challenge fostered more discussion about breastfeeding issues than we've ever had before,” said Jones. “The idea that all these different sites and organizers put their hearts and souls into promoting breastfeeding and supporting women is inspiring.” 

“Some breastfeeding women are still too uncomfortable to nurse in public,” she added. “Women should be welcomed to breastfeeding anywhere and anytime. The Challenge reinforces the need for community support.” 

Plans are already underway for next year’s challenge. Jones hopes to simplify the process by offering online registration and she notes, save a few trees in the process. The goal is to have every province, territory and state participate.

INFACT Canada hosted the downtown Toronto site for the Breastfeeding Challenge. Held at the picturesque Church of the Holy Trinity, 23 mother and baby pairs were joined by a host of fathers, grandparents, siblings and friends for this our first year as host. We were particularly pleased with the amount of media coverage that the event received from CTV, CityTV and Now Magazine that helped to further promote breastfeeding awareness. Thanks to everyone who attended.  

Top honours in the Breastfeeding Challenge were awarded to Whitehorse again this year. Brenda Dedon, Community Health Nurse at the  Whitehorse Health Centre and coordinator of this year’s challenge, credits lots of advertising and building on last year’s success as the keys to the Whitehorse victory. 

“Nothing succeeds like success. Being last year’s winner helped,” said Dedon. “The trick is to have lots of verbal contact with breastfeeding moms through public health centres and clinics.” Dedon reports that they had plenty of repeat customers, with babies ranging in age from 9 days to 27 months. What’s particularly exciting is that the majority of the babies (56%) were more than six months old, and half of those were over a year. Dedon notes that many of the moms who participated last year were inspired to continue to nurse in order to participate in this year’s Challenge. 

“We are seeing a trend toward longer feeding since most moms have a year off now and in our experience this is really having an impact on how long moms are breastfeeding,” said Dedon.  

In total, the Yukon reported 48 mom and baby couples for the Challenge, with 36 being located at the Whitehorse site, making them the winner as region with the most women breastfeeding as a percentage of the birth rate. 

Victoria won the day for having the largest number of breastfeeding moms at one site. In total, 109 moms and 112 children gathered at Victoria’s Moss Street Market, an open-air venue that sells organic produce and crafts. 2003 marked the third Challenge event for Victoria. For the past two years, organizers have rented a local high school auditorium. This year the goal was to get the event out into the open. Challenge organizer Eva Bild says word of mouth was an important factor in their success. The local press also took a keen interest. Two local radio personalities promoted the event beforehand and acted as hosts. They were joined by three city councilors who performed the duty of official witnesses.  

Bild says that having the Vancouver Island Health Authority and Breastfeeding Matters, a local promotion group, provide sponsorship for the event really made a difference and provided an essential budget for advertising. 

“What was so exciting this year was watching the real-time results coming in on the website,” said Bild. 

43 breastfeeding moms and their babies gathered at Peterborough Galaxy movie theatre for the Challenge. Theatre owners donated the theatre and treated moms to a real chick flick, “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days”. The event got a boost from The Wolf - a local radio station. Wolf DJ Jay Sharp was on hand to act as an official witness and he delighted everyone by donning an INFACT Joey T-shirt. During the event, a copy “Breastfeeding Answer Book”, was donated to Rob Devitt, CEO of the Peterborough Regional Health Care Centre. MP Peter Adams made an appearance and gave a brief speech about creating a supportive community for breastfeeding women and a team of local high school students helped countdown the Challenge.  

INFACT Canada member Melisande Neal MC’d the event. She said that the framed appreciation certificates, given to the official witnesses, help carry the message of breastfeeding support into the community.  Peter Adams, who also officiated at last year’s event, has received many comments about last year’s certificate that is proudly displayed in his office.  

Kimberly Hancock, INFACT Canada board member and Co-Chair of the Breastfeeding Action Group, reports that 48 mom and baby pairs from Western Newfoundland participated in this year Challenge. Two of the moms in Corner Brook participated from the obstetrics unit as they had only delivered their babies a few hours before. Another infant at the Challenge was less than 24 hours old.

The event was particularly successful for the very new moms who attended. One mother of a newborn, who was not intending to breastfeed, participated in the event and is continuing to breastfeed. Another new mom who was experiencing difficulties in getting her newborn to latch received help and support from one of the Action Group members in attendance. Thanks Marilyn!

Kim reports that support from local businesses, organizations and the media helped make the event a great success. 

The City of Hamilton’s Public Health and Community Services Department, Breastfeeding Promotion Work Group hosted a “Latch In” on October 2^nd at the Upper James Cineplex Odeon.  In total, 63 nursing mothers and 9 non-nursing mothers attended, with a supporting cast of siblings, fathers, grandparents and friends, bringing the attendance figures to over 200. It is interesting to note that non-nursing women of child-rearing age were invited. Organizers hope that event will encourage these moms to breastfeed any subsequent children.

The event included 11 displays featuring family- friendly community resources that were set-up in the theatre lobby. Dr. Moyez Ladhani, Deputy Chief of Pediatrics from St. Joseph's Healthcare, and Jennifer Mossop, a breastfeeding mom and newly elected member of the Ontario Legislature, both gave brief speeches before the main event. (Coincidentally, the election was held on the same day as the Latch In). In total, organizers collected more than 48 door prizes, including 20 free movie passes and resources from INFACT Canada. 

Cheryl Morrow, one of the event organizers reports, ”Some of the moms asked us if we could do this every week they had such a good time!” 

For more information about the Breastfeeding Challenge,

or to check results in your area, www.babyfriendly.ca