National Breastfeeding Month 2019

On August 6, 2011, the USBC officially declared that August is National Breastfeeding Month. Read the Proclamation.

In recognition of National Breastfeeding Month (NBM), each year the USBC hosts a social media advocacy and/or outreach campaign inviting breastfeeding coalitions, member/partner organizations, and individual supporters to join online actions and conversations to build support for the policy and practice changes needed to build a "landscape of breastfeeding support." Read on for resources, tools, and weekly themes from 2019.

NBM 2019: Support Changes Everything

The theme of National Breastfeeding Month 2019 was "Support Changes Everything."

Week 1: Empowered Parents & Partners             

Learning Opportunities:

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Webinar Recording: "Creating Non-Traditional Partners to Support Breastfeeding Families"
  • NBCC Highlight: "Inclusive Breastfeeding Support of Partners, Spouses and Families"
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
• Webpage: "Breastfeeding Strategies and Resources"
• Webpage: "Traveling Recommendations for Nursing Families"
• Webpage: "Frequently Asked Questions"
• Webpage: "What to Expect While Breastfeeding"
• Webpage: "Recommendations and Benefits"
• Webpage: "Proper Storage and Preparation of Breast Milk

Tools & Resources:

• National WIC Association:
  • Fact Sheet: "Breastfeeding Peer Counselors: A Successful Program That Should Be Expanded"
• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Webpage: "National Arab American Heritage Month" featuring a compilation of resources in Arabic
  • Webpage: "Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month" featuring a compilation of resources in languages including Hmong, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean
  • Webpage: "Native American Heritage Month" featuring a compilation of resources for Native American families and those who support them
  • Webpage: "LGBTQIA+ Resources and Pride Month" featuring a compilation of resources on breastfeeding/chestfeeding for LGBTQIA+ families and those who support them
• U.S. Department of Agriculture:
• Webpage: "WIC Breastfeeding Support – Learn Together. Grow Together"
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Services:
• Announcement: "August is National Breastfeeding Month"
• World Health Organization:
  • Breastfeeding Infographics:
    • "Support mums to breastfeed anytime, anywhere: At a shopping centre"
    • "Support mums to breastfeed anytime, anywhere: At the restaurant"
    • "Support mums to breastfeed anytime, anywhere: On the bus"
    • "Support mums to breastfeed anytime, anywhere: At the town hall"
    • "Support mums to breastfeed anytime, anywhere: At a picnic"
• First Droplets:
• Video: "Breastfeeding in the first hour, it’s in your hands"

Week 2: Investing in our future            

Learning Opportunities

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Webinar Recording: "Advocating for Reduced Breastfeeding Disparities in LA"
  • Webinar Recording: "The First 1000 Days: Nourishing Healthier Futures"
  • Webinar Recording: "Community-Based Doula Programs: Innovative Program Model that Supports Families"
• NBCC Highlight: "The Breastfeeding Family Friendly Communities Initiative"
• NBCC Highlight: "Better Together: Leveraging Our Collective Strength and Diversity to Support Equitable Infant Feeding"
• NBCC Highlight: "RISE: Lactation Model, A Lactation Consultant Equity Initiative"
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
• Webpage: "Breastfeeding Among U.S. Children Born 2009–2016, CDC National Immunization Survey"
• Webpage: "Maternal, Infant & Toddler Nutrition, Physical Activity & Healthy Growth"
• MMWR: "Receipt of Breast Milk by Gestational Age — United States, 2017

Tools & Resources

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Tool: Breastfeeding Savings Calculator
  • Fact Sheet: "Help Families Get Off To A Strong Start: Support CDC Funding for Breastfeeding Support Programs"
• Fact Sheet: "Structural Inequities Burden Mothers/Parents, Infants and Families of Color: Support Policies that Reduce Disparities in Health Outcomes"
• World Health Organization:
  • Breastfeeding Infographic: Breastfeeding: Global targets 2025
  • Fact Sheet: "Infant and young child feeding"
• FHI 360:
• Tool: "The Cost of Not Breastfeeding"

Week 3: Workplace & Work life (or School)            

Learning Opportunities:

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Webinar Recording: "Breastfeeding Support for Active Military Personnel and Families"
• Webinar Recording: "Exposed: Discrimination Against Breastfeeding Workers"
• NBCC Highlight: "Military Families and Breastfeeding"
• NBCC Highlight: "Paid parental leave: An opportunity to advance equity in breastfeeding, health outcomes, and economic security"
• Workplace Support Constellation Webinar Recordings:
• "Breastfeeding Works How To Support Nursing Employees and Students"
• "Stories Shine a Light on the Challenges Breastfeeding Families Face"

Tools & Resources:

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Online Guide: "What You Need to Know About the 'Break Time for Nursing Mothers' Law"
  • Fact Sheet: "Congress Should Pass the PUMP (Providing Urgent Maternal Protections) for Nursing Mothers Act"
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention NIOSH Science Blog:
• "Promoting Worker Well-Being through Maternal and Child Health: Breastfeeding Accommodations in the Workplace" in English and Spanish
• Native Breastfeeding Week
• Facebook Page
• Office on Women's Health:
  • Online Resource: "Supporting Nursing Moms at Work"
• Center for WorkLife Law:
• "Pumping at Work: How Medical Professionals Can Support Breastfeeding Patients"
• "State Workplace Lactation Laws"
• The Pregnant Scholar:
• Online Resource: "Know Your Rights: Breastfeeding"
• Online Resource: "Model Student Breastfeeding Policy"
•  MomsRising
  • Fact sheet: "The Case for Paid Family & Medical Leave"
• Mom2Mom Global:
  • Fact Sheet: "DODI 1327.06 Military Parental Leave Program 2018"
• A Better Balance:
  • Fact Sheet: "Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)"
  • Fact Sheet: "Why the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is Good for Business"
  • Webpage: "State Laws for Nursing Mothers at Work: How To Talk to Your Boss About Your Pump"
• National Perinatal Association
• Graphics: Breastfeeding Diversity Library
• World Health Organization:
  • Breastfeeding Infographics:
    • "Let's Make it Work: What law makers can do"
    • "Let's Make it Work: What employers can do"
    • "Let's Make it Work: What trade unions can do"
    • "Let's Make it Work: What co-workers can do"
      

Week 4: Black Breastfeeding Week: The World is Yours: Imagine. Innovate. Liberate.          

Learning Opportunities:

• Black Breastfeeding Week:
  • Blog: "Top Five Reasons We Need A Black Breastfeeding Week"
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: "Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration Among U.S. Infants Born in 2015"
• Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE):
• Download: "Saving Tomorrow Today: An African American Breastfeeding Blueprint"

• U.S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • NBCC Highlight: "Voices of Urban Mothers: Peer Counselors and Telephone & Text Support for Breastfeeding in the Early Months"
  • NBCC Highlight: "Native American and African-American communities build 'Communities Supporting Breastfeeding' in Kansas"
• USBC Webpage: "Black History Month Tools & Resources"
• USBC Community Workspace: Racial Equity Learning Community

Tools & Resources:

• Black Breastfeeding Week:
  
  • Toolkit: "How to Run Your Own 'Hackathon' or Innovation Event"

• U. S. Breastfeeding Committee:
  • Fact Sheet: "Structural Inequities Burden Mothers/Parents, Infants and Families of Color: Support Policies that Reduce Disparities in Health Outcomes"
  • Office On Women's Health:
  • Website: "It's Only Natural"
  • Organizations Listed in USBC’s Directory:
    • Black Mothers' Breastfeeding Association
    • Black Women's Health Imperative
    • Breastfeeding Sisters That Are Receiving Support (BSTARS) 
    • National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC)
    • National Black Nurses Association
    • Reaching Our Brothers Everywhere (ROBE)
    • Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE)