Breastfeeding mothers and mothers-to-be considering breastfeeding will be able to meet with lactation experts, get their questions answered and pick up literature at the Akron Zoo on Aug. 2.
The event is being planned by the Region 6 Perinatal Nurses Network in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week.
“We hope to focus attention on breastfeeding and the many health benefits it offers to women and their children,” said Elizabeth Maseth, R.N., IBCLC, an international board-certified lactation consultant in Akron Children’s Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine. “Breastfeeding is associated with lower risks for obesity, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), ear and respiratory infections, and juvenile and type 2 diabetes.
The health benefits for mothers include a lower risk for developing breast cancer, osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes. In addition, breastfeeding is convenient and saves the average family about $800 per year in infant formula and lower health care costs in general.”
In addition to Maseth and Carol Frient, a lactation consultant from Akron Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, nurses and lactation consultants from Summa Health System, Akron General Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center, St. Elizabeth Health Center, Aultman Hospital and Women Infants and Children (WIC) program will also be in the Prairie Picnic shelter from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“As families walk through the zoo that day, they will notice photos of a variety of mammals nursing their young on display,” said Maseth. “We will also have refreshments, raffles, give-aways, and a rock-and-rest rocking chair station for nursing mothers. We want to celebrate breastfeeding and encourage more women to think about it.”
Admission to the zoo that day is $9 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $5.50 for children 2 to 14.
Ohio ranks 44th in breastfeeding initiation rates at 59.6 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Breastfeeding Report Card issued in April 2008.
