“Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers” Kicks off August 1st

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. The theme for the week is “Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers”, and it highlights the importance of breastfeeding peer counselors in helping breastfeeding families be successful.  

Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, Rachel Snider, also a Certified Breastfeeding Educator has been with the health center since 2009. Rachel works closely with the WIC participants and meets with each mom and family several times during their pregnancy.  In talking with the moms and families, she teaches them about not only the benefits of breastfeeding, but also many of the helpful hints and techniques of the “how” to breastfeed. 

Rachel offers a breastfeeding class at the health center and also at Hedrick Medical Center on a regular monthly basis. We have mini grants available for businesses that want to become a designated breastfeeding friendly worksite, to help them set up a lactation room for their employees.  So far, we have helped three businesses in our community to set up areas for their breastfeeding staff.  They are:  HyVee, Chillicothe Correctional Center, and Morningside Center.

Also this year, Rachel is hosting “The Big Latch ON!” Thousands of breastfeeding women and their babies/children across the world will gather in their own communities to take part in the Big Latch On, a synchronized breastfeeding event in multiple locations. Our local Big Latch On will take place at Chillicothe Farmers Market West side of the Courthouse on Saturday, August 3rd at 10 a.m.  For more information, call Rachel at 660-247-5653.

Livingston County Health Center, a Breastfeeding Friendly WIC Clinic, offers a wide range of services for breastfeeding mom’s and families in our community. We have a private nursing nook that mothers can feed their babies in if they are out and about or after shots. We also offer breast pumps to moms that are on WIC, and with the Maternal Healthy Children Grant we are now also able to rent pumps, for a nominal fee, to breastfeeding mom’s in our community that are not on the WIC program.

We are excited to be a part of our community’s breastfeeding support services. If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to call Anita Perry, RN, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Rachel Snider WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and Certified Breastfeeding Educator.

The Health Center is also doing its annual media awareness campaign featuring local breastfeeding moms and their babies.  This year, photographer Juliane Sykes volunteered to shoot the portraits, which will also be used in breastfeeding education materials and displayed at our location.

Anyone who would like more information about the health center’s Breastfeeding Support Program should call 646-5506 and ask to speak to Anita Perry or Rachel Snider.