Big Latch On breaks record
Jenna Bowden’s hands are full with her twins at last week’s Big Latch On. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
Nineteen of Golden Bay’s latest mothers and their 20 babies gathered at the Wholemeal Café on the morning of August 5 for another Big Latch On breastfeeding marathon.
As part of the national attempt by the Women’s Health Action Trust to again break the world breastfeeding record and promote awareness of the importance of breastfeeding, simultaneous events were organised at 139 venues around the country.
The record has been broken annually since the first Big Latch On was organised in 2005. Last year 1514 women in New Zealand breastfed simultaneously, but this year the number was 1564. The largest gathering was at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, where 93 mothers turned up with 25 supporters and 110 babies to make a crowd of 230. In Nelson, 41 mothers with their babes came together at the Victory Community Centre. In Motueka, the event was held in the St John Ambulance hall.
The youngest local babies were one-month-old Lucea and Aesha, their mothers being Cath Rogers and Nina Hindmarsh respectively. The oldest breastfeeder was 25-month-old Ashton Dijk, whose mother is Daphne Dijk of Paynes Ford. Jenna Bowden brought her eight-month-old twins Saxon and Quinn. She and partner Rex also have a five-year-old and a three-year-old.
“They keep us busy but it’s all so worth it,” said Jenna.
Helping the midwives Pamela Goffriller and Celia Butler at the Big Latch On was Lea Pouly of Parapara, mother of 14-month-old Nikau, who is still breastfed.
“Breastfeeding is the best gift they can get; it just gives them the best start in life,” said Lea. “The health benefits are so obvious. It’s just amazing there was a time when mothers did otherwise.”
World Breastfeeding Week was held this year in 176 countries and involved half-a-million breastfeeding mothers. Organisers here consider the event a great opportunity to celebrate breastfeeding mums and babies, promote the benefits of breastfeeding for society at large, and send the clear message that breastfeeding in public is acceptable and will be supported.
Commented local Well Child nurse Helen Bracefield: “It’s a great opportunity to get community recognition of the great work these breastfeeding mothers are doing. In Golden Bay we have none of the issues that exist in other places about breastfeeding in public. Here it is entirely accepted. There wouldn’t be a restaurant or café where it would be an issue, and that’s a real credit to the Bay. The message has really gotten through, and that is you just can’t beat breast milk. We got away from it for a while, had this crazy notion that formula was somehow better for baby. Breast milk has got stem cells, growth hormones, antibodies and a whole lot of other stuff that formula can never emulate.”
The Plunket Society provided the refreshments at last Friday’s event, even though they no longer have an operational branch in the Bay. Plunket still keeps a community rep here, Tyler Langford, and its car-seat scheme is administered by Clarissa Gray.
Golden Bay keeps four midwives busy (one full time and three part time - plus a reliever), and Celia Butler as the primary resource person for breastfeeding and lactation.
Helen Bracefield says all in all there’s good postnatal support in the Bay.
“Golden Bay is still a great place to bring up a baby.”
Gerard Hindmarsh
