October 4th marks Annual Breastfeeding Challenge

 

NEWMARKET – From October 1st to 7th, Canada celebrates World Breastfeeding Week, an international event highlighting the benefits of breastfeeding.

 

York Region Community and Health Services and the York Region Breastfeeding Coalition, in partnership with the La Leche League Canada and Vaughan Mills, are marking World Breastfeeding Week by hosting the Annual Breastfeeding Challenge (York Region).

 

WHEN: Saturday, October 4th
  10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (Challenge begins at 11 a.m.)

 

WHERE: Vaughan Mills – Discover Court (between Entry 2 and 3)
  1 Bass Pro Mills Drive (Highway 400 and Rutherford Road)
City of Vaughan

 

The Breastfeeding Challenge is a friendly international competition with a goal of having as many babies as possible breastfeeding in one location at the same time.

 

This event includes the challenge, light snacks and door prizes for participants.

 

To coincide with the event, on October 15th Vaughan Mills will also launch their newly renovated nursing area, providing a more comfortable space for moms to breastfeed their children.

 

In 2001, the inaugural Breastfeeding Challenge included 856 babies at 26 sites in the province of British Columbia.  Last year, 5,383 babies at 230 locations across Canada and the United States participated.

 

Breastfeeding has health benefits for both mother and child.  Women who choose to breastfeed decrease their risk of breast and ovarian cancer and increase post-partum weight loss.  Research also indicates children who breastfed have:

 

• Fewer respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses when compared to formula fed children
• Decreased risk of asthma, allergies, type-2 diabetes, certain childhood cancers, Crohns’s disease, ulcerative colitis and obesity
• Enhanced cognitive development resulting in improved school performance and higher IQ scores

 

For more information on this or any other health-related topic, please contact York Region Health Connection at 1-800-361-5653.

 

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Media Contact: Jennifer Mitchell-Emmerson, Community and Health Services, York Region
 Phone:  905 830-4444, ext. 1235 or After-hours Cell: 905 251-5553
 Email: jennifer.mitchellemmerson@york.ca