NCIC’s Health Visitors have been sharing interesting facts on their social media accounts this week to coincide with World Breastfeeding Week.
World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding.
The week, which takes place annually during August, aims to highlight the huge benefits that breastfeeding can bring to both the health and welfare of babies, as well as a wider push for maternal health, focusing on good nutrition, poverty reduction and food security.
The event is organised every year by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), a global network that aims to protect, promote and support breastfeeding around the world. Along the way, it works with the World Health Organization and Unicef to get its aid to the right people in the right communities.
This year’s theme is planetary health focusing on a need to save our planet.
Infant Feeding Coordinators Laura and Beth, from South Lakes and Furness, shared resources from WBW and some interesting facts about epigenetics.
In their post they said: "This new field of research examines the impact of our environment and life experiences in contributing to turn certain genes (our DNA) ‘on’ or ‘off’. These might include genes which control risk of disease development such as obesity and heart disease.
"Scientists have found that a mother’s diet, exercise and stress levels during pregnancy can impact her child’s epigenome - either raising or lowering their risk of developing certain health conditions. But it’s not just down to the mums! Both parents’ lifestyles prior to conception have been found to influence their infant’s epigenome."
Of course there are many different demands on busy mother’s, meaning that women who may want to breastfeed their babies haven’t always got the support to continue this. Busy working schedules, alongside the many other challenges that modern women face can mean that women don’t always feel that breastfeeding their child is something that is an accessible option to them.
Breastfeeding weeks aim to raise awareness of the health and wellbeing outcomes of breastfeeding and the importance of supporting mothers to breastfeed for as long as they wish.
You can find more information at:
https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/COVID-19/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/
https://abm.me.uk/wp-content/…/COVID-19-Free-resources-8.pdf