The Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Service and the Canterbury Breastfeeding Network ran a Big Latch On Event at the McFaddens Centre in St Albans on Friday, August 3, 2018.
The event was very well attended with 55 latched mothers and babies/toddlers recorded.
We were fortunate to be able to offer more space this year allowing us to spread out and offer a bigger play area with tunnels and a slide. The fabulous children’s entertainment duo Natural Magic attended and kept many babies and toddlers (and their parents) enchanted during their performance.
Feedback from attendees was incredibly positive with many suggesting more events throughout the year, more advertising and more venues. The vast majority of attendees indicated that they would attend again and recommend the event to others.
We were very fortunate to have a professional photographer who is very passionate about breastfeeding volunteer to photograph the event and kindly share these photos with us. Liane Helena Photography also has her own breastfeeding photography project that can be viewed at www.lianehelena.com.
The event allowed us to say a heartfelt thank you and farewell to Carol Bartle who has organised the main Christchurch Big Latch On for the last 9 years. The day of the Big Latch on was her last day in her role on the Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Service at Te Puawaitanga, however, she assured us that she wouldn’t be going far and would be very involved in breastfeeding, locally, nationally and internationally. Thank you, Carol, for your amazing input during your time in this role. We look forward to hosting you as a special guest in years to come.
This event was made successful by the input of many helpers. A big thank you to all of you who got stuck in with the set-up and the clean-up. And of course, a massive thanks to all of the mums and babies who attended to share in the wonders of breastfeeding and to help increase the profile and the normalcy of breastfeeding outside the home. Let’s do it all again next year (if not before).
