BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Breast Feeding => Topic started by: Samuel's mum on April 07, 2006, 11:12:14 am
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This link takes you to sign a national petition - there's an explanation underneath.
http://www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk/petition.asp
Dear Friend,
Despite the Government recommendation that all babies should be
exclusively breastfed until they are 6 months old, in the United
Kingdom only 10% of four month old babies are still being
exclusively breastfed.
Women are being let down - it doesn't need to be like this
The last national survey revealed that 9 out of 10 women who had
stopped breastfeeding by 6 weeks wanted to have breastfed their
babies for longer. That means that every year 10,000's of women
across the United Kingdom are being failed by the system, many of
them having been left feeling angry, guilty, sad and let down. If
these women had been given up-to-date and consistent information
from healthcare professionals along with good support in the
community the VAST majority of them could have continued to
breastfeed their babies.
We are Petitioning Tony Blair to find the money and infrastructure
so that England * acts in accordance with the International
Declarations it has signed up to and to ask him to put in place:
i) A National Breastfeeding Strategy
ii) A National Infant Feeding Coordinator with appropriate budget,
power and team to initiate and sustain change.
(* Ireland and Wales already have National Coordinators and National
Breastfeeding Strategies, Scotland currently doesn't but they will
shortly be appointing someone)
By adding your name to the petition below and by forwarding the link
to this page to all your friends, family and work colleagues, you
can really make a difference – it is incredibly empowering to
realise that we all can play a part to help ensure that in the
future women will get the support they need to give their babies the
very best start in life.
In Norway, in less than 25 years the percentage of four month old
babies being breastfed went from less than 30% to more than 80%(1).
Together we can be the catalyst to help the same kind of change
happen here in the United Kingdom.
Thank you for your support.
Alison, Carly and Sharon
The Express Yourself Mums Team
(1) Acta Paediatr. 1995 Jul: 84(7):719-24
This Petition is being organised by Express Yourself Mums in close
collaboration with the National Childbirth Trust. Express Yourself
Mums is a social enterprise which aims to support breastfeeding
mums, work with healthcare professionals and to help increase
breastfeeding rates in the UK.
Full wording of the Petition as it will be sent to Tony Blair
We are aiming for at least 10,000 signatures, so far we have 1093.
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Done, great idea, thanks. I was person 1169 ;)
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I've done it too!! i was 1173 ;D
Also emailed it to other peoples ;D
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1188, I've emailed it to all my friends too! :)
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Thanks for posting this. I'm all signed up. More support and breastfeeding knowledge (by professionals) would have made a major difference to me so I'm really happy to support this.
love