The Global Big Latch On is part of World Breastfeeding Week (August 1st-7th). It is a highly successful, targeted community development initiative that raises awareness of breastfeeding, encourages the formation of support networks between breastfeeding women, and aims to normalize breastfeeding as a part of daily life.
The Big Latch On aims to protect, promote & support breastfeeding families by:
- Providing support for communities to identify and grow opportunities to provide on-going breastfeeding support and promotion in local communities.
- Raising awareness of breastfeeding support and knowledge available locally and globally.
- Helping communities positively support breastfeeding in public places.
- Making breastfeeding a normal part of day-to-day life at a local community level.
- Increasing support for women who breastfeed – women are supported by their partners, family and their communities.
- Ensuring communities have the resources to advocate for coordinated, appropriate and accessible breastfeeding support services.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “breastfeeding is an unequaled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development, and health. Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond. Exclusive breastfeeding from birth is possible except for a few medical conditions, and unrestricted exclusive breastfeeding results in ample milk production.”
Our local Big Latch On will take place in two venues on Saturday, August 6th: Bay&Bee and Sugar Water Boutique. The event involves groups of breastfeeding women coming together at registered locations around the world to record the number of children who ‘latch on’ (breastfeed) simultaneously for one minute. All latches are counted and added to the world total in attempt to beat previous year’s record. The Big Latch On began in New Zealand and was started by Women’s Health Action in 2005. Joanne Edwards of Small Beginnings Group introduced the Big Latch On to Portland, Oregon in 2010. In 2010 only 2 countries participated with 2,045 children latched on for the count. In 2015, 28 countries participated with 14,889 children latched on and 36,502 people in attendance!
Jax Beach Breastfeeding Support is a local support group to help breastfeeding moms on their journey. We have 2-3 meetings every month for moms and their children to get together for socialization and support/encouragement. We also have occasional guest speakers presenting various breastfeeding and parenting topics. We will be hosting the Big Latch On at Bay&Bee this year with many local vendors providing great raffle prizes and swag bags offered to the first 50 participants on the day of the event.
Bay & Bee is a locally owned small business inspired by Montessori and Waldorf educational principles to create a stimulating eco-friendly play environment. Bay & Bee also has an eco-friendly store adjacent to the play space that offers unique products from pregnancy and parenting to infant and toddler toys that inspire the imagination and focus on sustainability. Many of the vendors are local and small businesses as well. Bay & Bee is a breastfeeding friendly environment and hosts one of the monthly meetings for Jax Beach Breastfeeding Support. Some of the breastfeeding products they carry include Milk Makers lactation cookies, Earth Mama lactation tea, nipple butter, and silicone teething necklaces.
Sugar Water Boutique is an organic and natural parenting boutique specializing in cloth diapers and maternity and nursing apparel. They carry nursing tops and dresses, cloth nursing pads, creams, breastfeeding teas and tinctures. This is the first year this event is being hosted at Sugar Water Boutique. Having multiple venues is exciting and helpful for moms that aren’t in the Beaches area.
You can pre-register for the event here by searching for a location near you. Click on your preferred location, “participate,” and follow the directions. This makes the check-in process on the day of the event much quicker!
About the Author
Jennifer Moore gets to be a stay at home mom and play with her kids because of her awesome husband who works so hard to provide for their family. They have two amazing children: a 6-year-old daughter with the most compassionate heart and a 3-year-old son that makes her laugh and keeps her on my toes. Jennifer is passionate about Jesus and breastfeeding! She attends The Church of Eleven22 and she organizes Jax Beach Breastfeeding Support. Between the two, Jennifer gets to meet some pretty incredible people!
