Media Release: Breastfeeding: Nature's Way to be Theme for World Breastfeeding Week (1997)

SCHAUMBURG, IL (August 1, 1997) - The sixth annual World Breastfeeding Week will be celebrated from August 1-7, 1997 with the theme Breastfeeding: Nature's Way, by La Leche League International (LLLI) and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA).

World Breastfeeding Week is part of WABA's ongoing campaign to increase public awareness of the importance of breastfeeding. La Leche League is a founding member of WABA's global alliance of health care providers, non-governmental organizations and mother support groups. This year's goals include spreading the message that breastmilk is the most ecologically sound food available to humans. Breastmilk is produced and delivered to the consumer without any pollution and is a natural resource of enormous value.

August 1 marks the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding which was adopted in 1990 by 32 governments and 10 United Nations Agencies. The Innocenti Declaration recognizes the importance of breastfeeding to infant and maternal health, as well as the social, economic and ecological benefits it provides to the family and society. The Declaration states:

As a global goal for optimal maternal and child health and nutrition, all women should be enabled to practice exclusive breastfeeding and all infants should be fed exclusively on breast milk from birth to four to six months of age. Thereafter, children should continue to breastfeed while receiving appropriate and adequate complementary foods for up to two years of age or beyond. This child feeding ideal is to be achieved by creating an appropriate environment of awareness