Illinois Breast Feeding Task Force

 
Photo Credit: KSEE News

Illinois is out in full force with the creation of the Illinois Breastfeeding Task Force.  Targeting breastfeeding promotion in childcare, healthcare and even faith-based organization. They are bringing a positive message and encouragement to who breastfeed. “Keep Breastfeeding'!” is the message you can see the PDF by clicking the link. What I really like about this brochure is that it debunks some of the myths that may cause moms to stop breastfeeding. WOW. I’m impressed, I must say.
If there is one thing I’m not too keen on, is keeping track of wet diapers. Personally, I think it could create worries when they’re should be none. As long as there is steady weight gain and the baby can eat as much or as little as they please, don’t obsess about wet diapers.

Here are some of the Task Force Projects

Grandmother’s Tea Project

• “The Grandmothers Tea project was designed to help provide knowledgeable support for breastfeeding women.  Recognizing that the "grandmother" population has a huge influence on whether our moms successfully breastfeed, the Grandmothers Tea educates grandmothers in a friendly atmosphere, influencing  their attitudes about breastfeeding and improving Illinois’ breastfeeding rates.”

Hospital Advocacy Program

• “The Hospital Advocacy Project was designed to help moms know their rights and empower them to request these rights when they are in the hospital.
  Ideally, all hospitals should have breastfeeding friendly and evidence based practices.  As a first step, we want to help administration understand how women feel about their birth experience. Consumers play a large part in changing practices.  With the "Breastfeeding Bill of Rights", mothers will know their rights when they enter the hospital to give birth.  The "Hospital Experience - Pleased" Letter and "Hospital Experience - Disappointed" Letter gives moms a quick and easy way to let the hospital know what their birth experience was like -- did it meet their expectations or were they disappointed?”

 Faith Based Initiative

• “The “Milk of Life” campaign is a faith-based initiative designed to promote breastfeeding in faith communities. -  It was developed in association with the Illinois State Breastfeeding Task Force to assist in educating and empowering congregations within communities on ‘how breastfeeding nurtures healthy families’.”

It’s one thing to promote breastfeeding awareness to the general population, but quite another to promote breastfeeding awareness to the two organizations that should automatically promote, or at least, support breastfeeding…healthcare and churches.  With the recent story of a mom who was kicked out of her church for breastfeeding, you know the hostility for breast feeding has reached a whole new level. The one place that is supposed to represent love, turns against you for demonstrating the very natural creation of a Holy God.  As a firm Believer in Jesus Christ of Nazareth and His Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I must speak out. Churches such as these do not represent the God I know and experience.  Don’t be too quick to write off Christ,  not all churches represent Him adequately. Just as true, we shouldn’t be too quick to take a healthcare’s diagnosis for our health.  In all things, we must be diligent and responsible for our own understanding.

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