Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Health Promoters

The Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Health Promoters certainly get around! A couple of weeks ago we were at the Ara Institute of Canterbury (formally Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology) for the Māori and Pacific Health Day, then we were at Tuahiwi Marae for Healthy Day at the Pa talking about the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Initiative, last week it was the Under 5 Expo at the McFaddens Centre run by the Refugee Resettlement Services, and the weekend of the 11^th and 12^th June it’s the Baby Expo at Pioneer Stadium. The best part of all these events is the connections made with mothers, the stories we hear, and the questions we are asked. At Tuahiwi Marae we had a wonderful time listening to stories from kaumātua about their breastfeeding experiences, and their commitment to supporting the young wahine now having babies – breastfeeding as a tikanga. At the Under 5 Expo each group walking round the display tables had translators, and we were amazed to find that so many mothers, and fathers, had questions about breastfeeding. We were able to give away some of the resources we had collected in different languages – Chinese, French, Korean, Spanish, Tamil and Somali. One language we didn’t have resources for (which we found we needed!) was Farsi. We’ve found a new resource in Farsi now so we’re all set for future events! Next big event is during World Breastfeeding Week from 1^st to the 7^th of August and the health promoters will be organising a Big Latch On event at the McFaddens Centre on Friday 5^th August. We’re hoping lots of breastfeeding mothers and their supporters will join us for morning tea and the big celebration of breastfeeding.  See you there – Carol and Rachel