Covenant Hosts Local Breastfeeding Awareness Event As Part of “Global Big Latch On”

To raise awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and the need for global support, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action organizes World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7 every year. World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in 120 countries and marks the signing of the WHO/UNICEF document Innocenti Declaration, which lists the benefits of breastfeeding, plus global and governmental goals.

To mark this occasion, Friday and Saturday August 4th and 5th at 10:30 am thousands of breastfeeding women and their babies/children across the world will gather in their own communities to take part in the Global Big Latch On, a synchronized breastfeeding event in multiple locations.

The Big Latch On will take place in Saginaw:

Friday, August 4, 2017
Registration begins at 10:00 a.m.
The Andersen Enrichment Center
120 Ezra Rust Drive Saginaw, MI. 48601

The first “Big Latch On” took place in Aotearoa, New Zealand in 2005, it was introduced to Portland, Oregon in 2010 by Small Beginnings Group LLC and has since taken off globally.

This year the goal is to break the current “Global Big Latch On” records of:

  • 17,992 Children breastfeeding during the count time period
  • 17,852 Breastfeeding women attending
  • 48,628 Total Attendance

The long-term vision is for a Global Big Latch On event to be held within walking distance of every family in the world.

The Global Big Latch On is informed by the principles of community development, providing the opportunity for breastfeeding women to get together in their local communities, host their own events, and identify opportunities for on-going support.

Breastfeeding contributes to the normal growth and development of babies/children, and helps reduce the risk of infant morbidity and mortality, adult obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and premenopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer (both mom and baby.) The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of a baby's life to optimize these benefits, continuing to breastfeed for 2 years and as long thereafter as is mutually desired by a woman and her child.

Covenant HealthCare offers lactation consultation services and breastfeeding support groups.

For more information contact:

Heidi Churchfield, RN, BSN
Childbirth Education Coordinator and Community Liaison
Covenant HealthCare
(989) 583-4503 or hchurchfield@chs-mi.com

For additional locations in Michigan, visit www.biglatchon.org.