Key West The Newspaper

International World Breastfeeding Week will be celebrated with two local events; at 10:00am on Friday, August 5 at Founder’s Park in Islamorada and at 10:00am on Saturday, August 6 at Peace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Key West. Any breast-feeding families and supporters are invited to the Big Latch On, a synchronized breastfeeding event.

Celebrated in 120 countries, World Breastfeeding Week raises awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and the need for global support. To mark this occasion, on Friday August 5 and Saturday August 6, women in the Keys will join thousands of breastfeeding women and their babies/children across the world to take part in the Big Latch On.

This event encourages community development to make breastfeeding a normal part of day-to-day life and identify opportunities to provide on-going support for local families. During the event, all of the women “latch on” (breastfeed) their child or children at a set time. The children are latched on for one minute and are counted by witnesses.

The first Big Latch On took place in New Zealand in 2005 and has now taken off globally. This year the goal is to once again break the current Global Big Latch On record of simultaneous breastfeeding mothers and babies. Locally, the events are hosted by the Florida Health of Monroe County’s Woman, Infant and Children (WIC) Program in partnership with the Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition.

“We are thrilled to take part in this global initiative,” said Arianna Nesbitt, Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition CEO. “By hosting a Big Latch On, our community is saying that we support breastfeeding. It’s a great way to show local moms and their families that we want them to succeed and also bring attention to this important practice within our own community.”

Breastfeeding contributes to the normal growth and development of babies. Children who are not breastfed are at increased 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.

The beach pavilion at Founder’s Park is located at 87000 Overseas Highway in Islamorada and Peace Covenant Church is at 2610 Flagler Avenue in Key West. For more details about the Big Latch On event, call (305) 809-5684 or (305) 293-8424.

The Florida Department of Health in Monroe County’s Woman, Infants and Children Program (WIC) is a nutrition program providing healthy foods, nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding support, and referrals for health care and community services at no cost.

The Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition is the only organization in Monroe County that specifically helps families before, during and after pregnancy. For more information, visit KeysHealthyStart.org or call (305) 293-8424.