Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week
World Breastfeeding Week began on August 1st this year, but this awareness week isn’t just about celebrating the wonders of the human body; it’s also about improving discussions on those who cannot – or choose not – to breastfeed. This is a topic that everyone can get invested in, including ourselves, as our products helped to create self-warming bottles that are improving the lives of parents everywhere.
World Breastfeeding Week
Held every year from August 1st – 7th, this important awareness week is celebrated in no less than 120 countries. It began in 1992 and has achieved several of its original goals, including improving general opinion towards breastfeeding mothers and ensuring that they receive the support they need to thrive as a family.
Whilst WABA has made leaps and bounds; it is important to understand the pressure faced by young families to breastfeed their child and the negative impacts that can have on their mental stability and general happiness. It appears to be true that exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months provides the new-born with important sustenance to prepare it for the future, but what is often left out of this statement is the pressure that this puts on breastfeeding parents.
The desire to provide the new baby with the best start in life may place undue stress on new parents, especially when complications arise – not all babies suckle sweetly, and many parents reach a point where breastfeeding simply becomes too painful for the parent to continue supporting their child with breast milk.
This should not be shamed. Postnatal depression is already a severe issue which could benefit from greater support, and the unintelligent opinion that all families can and should breastfeed exclusively for the first six-months can push young families towards depression unnecessarily. This depression should not be waved off, either, as it has been well noted that postnatal depression can lead to poor treatment of new-born children as exasperated parents struggle to make healthy decisions. This means that better support is needed, and one way that we can provide relief is by alleviating the pressures of breastfeeding.
When You Should Consider Alternatives to Breastfeeding
There are many reasons why you should consider finding an alternative to breastfeeding your baby, whether your family is struggling with postnatal depression or the child simply isn’t latching on – there is never any shame in supplementing or fully changing to an alternative method.
Infant Formula – Infant formula is not a complete substitute for breast milk, but in cases where there is no alternative, this is the next best thing.
Wet Nursing – This practice used to be very popular, but since the rise of blood bourne infections, it has been surrounded by fear. If you are considering allowing your child to receive wet nursing, then you should be careful to choose someone who you can trust to provide good milk for your child.
Receiving milk from another woman may seem a little odd to some families, but so long as the wet nurse is healthy, it could be beneficial for your child to receive milk from an additional source as it will bolster your baby’s immune system beyond that which your milk can offer.
Milk Banks – There are 17 different milk banks across the UK where you can source breast milk for your baby. This means that you can still source important nutrients for your child without putting all that pressure on yourself.
Milk Pumping – Milk banks exist because new parents pump (or express) their milk to send off to banks, but you can do the same. If there are complications in getting your child to suckle on either side, expressing the breast milk to feed to a child via bottle may be a preferable method.
Yoomi Innovation and Baby Bottles
When using an alternative to breastfeeding, you may want to use baby bottles, and one of the best bottles on the market is undoubtedly the Yoomi bottle – a bottle which understands the pressures facing new parents.
Yoomi means that you no longer need to worry about heating the milk to the right temperature because this bottle warms it for you and your baby. Late-night baby routines just got more efficient, and European Springs have been more than happy to be a part of this amazing process.
We designed various prototypes for spring stamping designs to be used in the bottle, which evolved to a final order of 3,500 clicker spring stampings for the first bottles on the market, quickly jumping to 250,000 as those initial orders sold out. This bottle has been revolutionary for families worldwide, and you can read more about it on our case study: Heating Up One of Britain’s Top Inventions.
We are eager to continue challenging ourselves, especially when it leads to the completion of inventions that substantially improve the lives of real people, such as Yoomi. We are spring manufacturers, but we’re also custom spring manufacturers, which means we are capable of making completely bespoke products to meet your precise requirements.