World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It is rightly quoted that "Breastfeeding is not only the cornerstone of a child’s healthy development; it is also the foundation of a country’s development."Celebrating the breast feeding week to promote the role that breastfeeding plays in valuing the wellbeing of the new born & infants, the College of Nursing St. Martha’s Hospital took an initiative of conducting an hour long interactive session on the Breast feeding week theme for the year 2016 – “Breast feeding – a key to sustainable development.” Deeming this extended week as an opportunity for mothers, breastfeeding supporters and health professionals to come together and share what works well to support breastfeeding in local communities, an elaborative health education programme was organized by the nursing students for the antenatal and postnatal mothers attending the Obstetrics and Gynaecology OPD of St. Martha’s Hospital, Bangalore on 04.08.2016.
As nurses are the powerful workforce when they work together, speak with a strong voice and participate in activities related to educating the public about issues of importance related to health, this opportunity was used to raise awareness of the health and wellbeing benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and their infants. The programme included a blend of knowledge and creativity using role play, puppet show, presentations, demonstrations and discussions.The highlights of the programme included the theme and objectives of world breast feeding week, advantages of breast feeding to mother and baby, techniques and positions for breast feeding, myths and realities associated with breast feeding, problems encountered during breast feeding and its remedial measures and storage and handling of expressed breast milk among the working mothers.At the end of the programme Dr. Ravi Shankar, Consultant, Dept. of Paediatrics confirmed the importance of breast feeding and its benefits for the healthy and sustainable development of children.