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More than a dozen local nursing mothers took part in the event called “The Big Latch On”, joining another 14,000 women all over the world to celebrate the World Breastfeeding Week on Saturday, August 1st.
The 14 women who took part in the event gathered at Corwin Road Park in Apple Valley and tried to set a new world record of simultaneous breastfeeding and beat the one set in 2013, at 14,536.
The Big Latch On is a non-profit organization which now keeps posting updates on Twitter, reporting that the number of participants in the event had reached 13.994 at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Amy Almanza, 29, was the coordinator of the event spoke about her decision to organize it:
“I decided to bring one to the High Desert since we’ve never had one here. I am not personally affiliated with any breastfeeding team. I’m just a regular mom who encourages and supports breastfeeding,” she said.
She had also attended the event in Riverside before deciding to coordinate one. According to her, the main aim of it is to have mothers encourage each other to send a message to the whole community and let go of the taboo that sometimes governs breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is something natural that all mammals do all over the world and it should not be different for humans. Thus, it is not normal to be ashamed by it.
To prove to this theory to the whole world, at 10.30 in the morning, all the attendees “latched on” for 60 seconds to breastfeed young children all over the world.
Many women spoke about the frustration they feel when strangers judge them for breastfeeding their children in public, while they have no problem with bottle-feeding.
In spite of the public stigma that nursing mothers are exposed to, it is a known fact that breastfeeding has incredible benefits for the child. Not only does it provide the ideal nutrition, with its mix of protein, fat and vitamins, but it also contains important antibodies that help the baby fight any viruses and bacteria that might affect it.
It was proved that people who had been breastfed as babies have lower risk of developing asthma and allergies. Moreover, breastfeeding has been associated with higher IQ scores and fewer chances of having diabetes or being obese later in life.
The women who attended this year’s the Big Latch On celebrated with lactation cookies and made a promise to attend next year’s event as well.
Image Source: kellywels
