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July 15, 2005
Little Rock --
World Breastfeeding Week will be celebrated on August 1-7, 2005 according to Sandra Jones, Arkansas Department of Health Women, Infants and Children Nutrition (WIC) Breastfeeding Consultant. Jones said, “World Breastfeeding Week is the greatest outreach vehicle for the breastfeeding movement. It is being celebrated in over 120 countries. World Breastfeeding Week helps draw attention to the value of continuing to breastfeed children to 2 years or beyond, raise awareness of the risks and costs of introducing other foods and drinks to breastfed babies before 6 months, update information and ideas about other food and drink needed by older breastfed babies and young children after 6 months and sharing ideas for making complementary feeding easier, healthier and a time for learning and love.
According to the CDC’s 2004 Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance Survey report, “babies who receive breast milk have been shown to have fewer episodes of diarrhea, fewer ear and respiratory infections and allergies. They also need fewer doctor visits due to illness. The majority of babies in the U.S. are not exclusively breastfed. Many receive feeds of other milk, cereal, juice or tea within a few weeks after birth. In Arkansas, 44.6% of babies began breastfeeding, but only 9.8% were breastfeeding at six months of age and 5.2% at 12 months.”
Mothers can exclusively breastfeed if they know how important it is for their baby and themselves. Arkansas’ breastfeeding mothers can get help to ensure success with breastfeeding from a number of community resources: your county health office, community hospital and private practice lactation consultants, physicians’s offices, other mothers and La Leche League leaders.
For more information, call the Arkansas Department of Health – WIC Breastfeeding Help-line at
1-800-445-6175. Also visit the breastfeeding website at www.healthyarkansas.com/breastfeeding.
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