World Breastfeeding Week is a global campaign to raise awareness and inspire action to support breastfeeding. It launched in 1992 and is celebrated August 1-7 every year. This year’s theme is Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All and will focus on the need to ensure everyone has meaningful access to breastfeeding support and opportunities.
World Breastfeeding Week also kicks off National Breastfeeding Month, which includes a series of breastfeeding education and awareness campaigns from August 1 through September 9, 2024.
The 2024 National Breastfeeding Month theme, Nourish, Sustain, Thrive, celebrates breastfeeding parents, honors the incredible contributions of all who work to protect, promote, and support lactation, and highlights actions we can take to make breastfeeding easier for families.
Throughout the month, specific weeks are observed to emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusivity so all families can feel supported on their breastfeeding journey
- Week 1 (August 1-7): World Breastfeeding Week & National WIC Breastfeeding Week
- Theme: Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All
- Week 2 (August 8-14): Indigenous Milk Medicine Week
- Theme: Mind. Body. Milk Medicine.
- Week 3 (August 15-21): Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Breastfeeding Week
- Theme: To Be Announced
- Week 4 (August 25-31): Black Breastfeeding Week
- Theme: Listen Up! Reclaiming Our Narrative & Centering Our Stories for Breastfeeding Justice
- Week 5 (September 1-7): Workplace Lactation Week
- Theme: Policy to Practice: Making Lactation Support a Reality
- Week 6 (September 3-9): Semana de La Lactancia Latina
- Theme: Reclaiming Culture Through Lactation (Reclamando Nuestra Cultura Por Medio de la Lactancia)
Help Promote WIC’s Breastfeeding Education and Support
WIC is committed to supporting a parent’s infant feeding goals. As part of its mission to safeguard the health of families, WIC promotes breastfeeding and supports families along the way. WIC offers access to educational resources, lactation specialists, peer counselors, free breast pumps, and other supplies based on needs. Breastfeeding participants also receive a larger and more varied food package.
The most recent WIC Breastfeeding Data Local Agency Report underscores the impact of WIC’s commitment to breastfeeding. The report shows the percentage of breastfed infants enrolled in WIC has increased every year since 2013, reflecting the quality of support and services that WIC state and local agencies provide. In New York State, 51 percent of WIC’s infants were fully or partially breastfed in 2022, compared to the national average of 37 percent!
Please join us in celebrating World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month. Visit Hunger Solutions New York’s WIC Resource Center for videos, social media content, and other outreach resources that you can use to promote WIC’s breastfeeding support. WIC local agencies in New York are also celebrating with outreach events, ranging from fairs to trivia nights, that will be free and open to the public throughout the month.
USDA’s WIC Breastfeeding Campaign and Formative Research Findings
WIC Breastfeeding Support – Learn Together. Grow Together is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s breastfeeding promotion and support campaign for WIC. Formative research findings for this campaign outline several key insights on topics related to breastfeeding and WIC’s breastfeeding support services, including barriers, program delivery, connecting with WIC participants, and more. For example, the findings show that while WIC participants understand the advantages of breastfeeding, they benefit greatly from WIC’s support to boost skills and confidence. Additionally, some breastfeeding individuals find it to be harder than expected, underscoring the importance of caring and knowledgeable support. Read more about these findings and how you can use them to shape your breastfeeding education and outreach efforts.
