APH

The rate of breastfeeding by mothers in Algoma district compares favourably to the province wide average based on numbers released by Algoma Public Health ahead of World Breast Feeding week which began this past weekend.  In Ontario, only 60% of mothers do so when they leave the hospital after giving birth.  In Algoma district, that rate is 80% —by six weeks that percentage drops to 59%.  The latest figures from 2014 also show that while 80% of mothers initiated breastfeeding, 63% exclusively breastfed.  Melinda Bruno is a public health nurse with APH and she says it has come to light in recent months that a number of mothers have been asked to leave public areas in our community because they were breastfeeding their babies.  That’s an area where the community needs to be more accepting and  a program was put in place a recently that has helped to address this…

The 2013-14 campaign involved placing life sized cut-out pictures of local mothers breastfeeding in different areas of the city including at malls, Greyhound games and different ice rinks and city hall as well as community events.