NORFOLK — The city’s Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) will be hosting a Breastfeeding Week Celebration in conjunction with National Breastfeeding Awareness Month on Friday.
The event is scheduled from 1:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. at the Workforce Development Center, 201 East Little Creek Road. This event is open to all pregnant women and new moms, it aims to increase awareness for community mothers on the breastfeeding support services available to them throughout the community.
Information will be available about pregnancy, post-partum and breastfeeding support services throughout the community, Virginia breastfeeding laws, breastfeeding-friendly businesses, employers and daycares and what mothers need to know about successfully breastfeeding while working outside of the home, according to a news release from the city.
Free samples and raffles will be offered. Children are welcome to attend; crafts and active play activities will be available.
The WIC breastfeeding team is comprised of Ricaya McCray, breastfeeding coordinator and breastfeeding peer counselors, Jamie McGee and Kim Griffin-Brown.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the most highly effective preventive measures a mother can take to protect the health of her infant is to breastfeed.
However, in the United States, although most mothers hope to breastfeed, and 81 percent of babies start out being breastfed, only 22 percent are exclusively breastfed six months later.
For information about the Friday event, call 757-451-7501.
For information about the Norfolk WIC program, click here.
