BALLARAT mums will gather in a synchronised breastfeeding event next month when our city signs up to its first Big Latch On.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The global event aims to raise awareness of community breastfeeding support.
In Ballarat, where the breastfeeding rate remains lower than the Victorian average, it’s an issue that mums, families and local government are getting behind.
The first Big Latch On took place in New Zealand in 2005 and has now taken off globally.
In 2011, 5687 women participated in a Global Big Latch On.
The Big Latch On Ballarat organiser Caitlyn Burke said by staging the event, mums were responding to a need in the community to further normalise breastfeeding — particularly when it came to older children.
She said the stigma attached was, in some cases, causing women to give up breastfeeding before they wanted, or needed, to.
“At six months and 12 months they give up,” she said.
“They can technically breastfeed until they’re seven to give them the benefits.”
With more than 95 per cent of mums in Australia initiating breastfeeding, the desire is there, according to Australian Breastfeeding Association spokesperson Renee Kam.
She praised the Big Latch On for helping to promote breast feeding as a normal way to feed babies.
“It comes down to obtaining accurate information,” she said.
“There is no upper limit, as long as the mum and baby are happy to breastfeed, that’s great.
“There are numerous health benefits and emotional benefits.”
The staging of the The Big Latch On will coincide with the opening of a new breastfeeding space in Ballarat’s Bridge Mall.
City of Ballarat manager of family and children’s services Rosemarie Calvert said The Parent Place was an initiative funded by the council that would double as an information service and drop-in centre.
“It’ll be a drop-in centre that’ll be available to all parents to change your baby, feed your baby and it’ll also have a consultant on site daily,” she said.
Ms Calvert said The Parent Place was being established in response to a gap in services.
“We’ve identified there aren’t really enough places available in the CBD and we want to make it more family available,” she said.
Ms Calvert said it was an important step towards closing the gap between Ballarat’s breastfeeding rate and the state average.
The Big Latch On will be staged at The Parent Place, opening soon in the Bridge Mall on August 4. To register or for more information visit www.moomenursingwear.com.au or email ccburke_88@hotmail.com