The Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Service has been set up to work towards creating a mother, baby and breastfeeding friendly Canterbury.
Around 94% of women start breastfeeding in New Zealand but almost half of these women have introduced infant formula to their babies even before six weeks of age. This practice leads to a shortened breastfeeding duration overall too.
Breastfeeding advocacy is about helping to remove the barriers to breastfeeding that women experience. This can involve working to establish appropriate, accessible support groups where women can get advice and talk to other mothers, helping mothers to access breastfeeding friendly child care, working with early childhood education centres to create policies that support breastfeeding, and also helping to create family and breastfeeding friendly paid workplaces.
It is also about working with Canterbury community health services, hospitals, social services, city council facilities, shopping malls and cafes to make sure that everyone in our community recognises the important and valuable work that mothers are doing when they breastfeed their babies.
Breastfeeding helps build strong and healthy communities so everyone needs to join in and support mothers and protect breastfeeding whenever and however they can.
Who is this service for?
Some women have more barriers to breastfeeding than others. New Zealand breastfeeding statistics seem to indicate that Māori women, Pacific Island women and young women have shorter breastfeeding rates for various reasons. Working towards removing the barriers to starting and continuing breastfeeding for these groups of women and other women across the whole Canterbury community is very important.
Contact details
Carol Bartle
Canterbury Breastfeeding Advocacy Service Coordinator
Te Puawaitanga ki Otautahi Trust
153 Gilberthorpes Road, Hornby, Christchurch
Phone: (03) 3445062 or 027 733 1843