Yorkton is baby friendly and you can expect to see more evidence of that fact throughout the city.
The Baby Friendly Initiative Working Group consists of health workers in Sunrise Health Region and the Yorkton Tribal Council.
The purpose of the group is to create projects that will increase awareness about breastfeeding and its many benefits for babies, mothers, families and communities.
More and more evidence based research comes out every year highlighting the benefits, with the most recent evidence showing how breastfeeding can minimize chronic health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
The Baby Friendly Initiative has created life-sized cut-outs of mothers and their babies' breastfeeding; these cut-outs will be displayed in highly visible public areas in Yorkton and towns throughout the Sunrise Health Region and First Nation communities to encourage and promote acceptance of breastfeeding.
"Research has shown that one of the reasons moms will wean early is because they don't feel comfortable breastfeeding in public," says Carolee Zorn, Chair of the Baby Friendly Initiative. "We hope through this project we can support breastfeeding mothers to feel more comfortable and supported to breastfeed their children wherever and whenever they need to."
In Canada, World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated the first week in October. This year's theme is "Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers", highlighting support as a key factor for mothers breastfeeding. Along with other activities to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, the Baby Friendly Initiative Working Group will launch their cut-out project on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. at the Gallagher Center.
The public is welcome to attend to show their support.
