About World Breastfeeding Week
Every year from the 1st of August till the 7th of August, World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated. It was first inaugurated in the year 1991 and the first time it was celebrated was the year following it; that is 1992. As on today, as per the World Breastfeeding Week website, over 120 countries observe the World Breastfeeding Week, and as per the recent data, around 79 countries with approximately 488 organizations alongside 4,06,620 participants have been a part of close to 540 events revolving around the World Breastfeeding Week in the year 2010 and ever since then the numbers have only been on a rise.
The celebratory week is organized by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), alongside the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the UNICEF and its main objective is to promote all the health benefits associated with exclusive breastfeeding babies in the first six months of their lives, how it provides them with the critical nutrients essential for their right development, growth, and health, how it builds their immunity, their social-emotional development, so on and so forth. Alongside the three aforementioned organizations, their partners, governments of various countries, as well as prominent individuals too, promote the World Breastfeeding Week extensively.
The roots of it hail from the year 1991, the date of 14th February to be precise, when the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action was formed, and its motive was only to establish the culture of breastfeeding yet again and at the same time, provide the right support needed for creating more awareness and knowledge about breastfeeding everywhere possible.
As on today, both American Academy of Pediatrics as well as the WHO recommend thorough breastfeeding for the first six months after child’s birth, and emphasize on how it is beneficial not just for the child, but also for the mother, as it helps her regulate any post partum stress, contributes in shedding some post pregnancy pounds, and also gives her the perfect platform to bond with her little newborn.