[By Stephanie Avienu, BS, IBCLC, Breastfeeding Specialist, St. Peter’s Health Partners Community Health Programs.]
Every year, from August 1 through 7, we celebrate World Breastfeeding Week. World Breastfeeding Week began in 1992 as a global advocacy campaign to raise awareness of breastfeeding’s role in relationship to public health, the economy, evidence-based science, and human rights.
Each year has a different focus. This year’s theme is “Prioritize Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems.” In these uncertain times, with the future of many public health initiatives unclear, it is more important than ever to work together to provide long-lasting and sustainable resources that give parents the best chance to reach their infant feeding goals in both the short and long term.
Breastfeeding has well-documented benefits for both infants and breastfeeding parents. Breast-feeding infants have a reduced risk of diabetes, childhood and adult obesity, asthma, gastrointestinal illnesses, and certain childhood cancers. For breastfeeding parents, there is a reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer. These benefits are often “dose-related,” meaning the longer you breastfeed, the greater the benefits.
St. Peter’s Health Partners’ Community Health Programs, through the Breastfeeding, Chestfeeding and Lactation Friendly New York grant, provides community breastfeeding support groups throughout the Capital Region. These “Baby Cafés” offer opportunities for parents to access free, professional lactation care while building relationships with other parents in a relaxed and informal environment.
We offer weekly groups in Troy at Samaritan Hospital – St. Mary’s Campus on Wednesdays from 12 to 2 p.m., and in Albany at The Collaboratory, inside the Albany Housing Authority Resource Center at 200 South Pearl Street, on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. We have two Baby Café locations in Schenectady at the Mont Pleasant and Phyllis Bornt library branches and there is also a “pop-up” location in Stephentown that meets the 4th Tuesday of every month from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Families do not need to pre-register for any of the Baby Cafés, and we welcome those at every stage of their breastfeeding journey, including prenatal parents looking to make connections as they prepare for their baby’s arrival. To learn more about the hours and locations of all of our Baby Cafés, visit https://healthprograms.org/breastfeeding-support/baby-cafes/.
To kick off World Breastfeeding Week, we will be hosting our third annual World Breastfeeding Week Celebration on Friday, August 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Mercy Auditorium on the St. Peter’s Hospital campus (310 South Manning Blvd., Albany).
The event is FREE and will feature infant CPR demonstrations, car seat safety checks, and a pop-up Baby Café. Parents will also have a chance to learn about other resources available in the area by visiting with community partners in attendance. Lunch will be provided. We ask that parents RSVP for this event here: https://forms.office.com/r/dSn0jyFdHz
We encourage you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at CapitalRegionBabyCafes for the latest updates on our programming throughout the year. Happy World Breastfeeding Week!
