Indy, LLL latch-on events sprouting up across Canada and the US

What's a latch-on?

It's a celebration of breastfeeding! Women gather in the same place and latch on their babies all at once. The idea started in Australia in 1999 when 536 children were latched on and was picked up the following year by Quintessence Foundation. Every year Quintessence hosts the annual Breastfeeding Challenge in October during Canada's national breastfeeding week. By 2003 the celebrations had expanded to sites around the globe.


The world record?

In 2002 a group of moms in Berkeley, California, challenged the Australian record and set a new world record of 1,130 children breastfeeding simultaneously. In 2006 a group of moms in the Philippines set a new world record of 3,738 children breastfeeding at one site and the following year registered 590 sites with over 22,500 women breastfeeding their children. According to Quintessence,

"The organizers of this massive 2007 event, the Children for Breastfeeding and the Nurturers of the Earth in partnership with WABA, explained that "these events were organized because at the time, US lobbyists and businesses were trying were trying to get the Department of Health to water down breastfeeding advocates efforts to strengthen the laws that protect breastfeeding. The battle with the companies reached the Supreme Court and the halls of the Philippine Senate and Congress in public hearings."  This was certainly an impressive effort!" (From History of the Quintessence Challenge)

Big Latch On 

New Zealand has been hosting a latch-on since 2002 and has had over 1,000 moms and children breastfeeding at one site. In 2005 the Big Latch On initiative was started by the Women's Health Action Trust in New Zealand to coincide with World Breastfeeding Week in August. There are now almost 100 sites in New Zealand. In 2011 the movement was brought to the USA by the company Small Beginnings Group and according to their website the The Big Latch On grew with the support of La Leche League to include sites across the US.



LLLUSA and Indy latch-on events
Concern over private ownership and inappropriate corporate sponsorship has led to an pause in the partnership between The Big Latch On and some non-profit organizations. La Leche League USA is hosting latch-on events under its own umbrella "Live, Love Latch" site and there are also independent latch-on events being held:

Latch On Events:
Aug 1
Arkansas
Live, Love, Latch Potluck, Little Rock, Arkansas
La Leche League of Central Arkansas

Aug 2
Alabama
Live Love Latch, Mobile, Alabama
La Leche League of Mobile and Baldwin Counties

Alberta
Greater Edmonton Latch On, Edmonton, Alberta

Arizona
Live Love Latch Family Picnic, Sierra Vista, Arizona
La Leche League of Sierra Vista

California

World Breastfeeding Week 2014 - Ms. Wright's Way, Granada Hills, California
Ashley Wright

Latch and Link Long Beach, Long Beach, California

3rd Annual Breastfeeding Celebration, Stockton, California
La Leche League of Lodi

Live Love Latch, Ventura, California
Breastfeeding Coalition of Ventura County and La Leche League Ventura

Colorado
Live, Love, Latch, Fort Collins, Colorado
La Leche League Fort Collins

Florida
Live, Love, Latch, Boynton Beath, Florida
La Leche League of Lake Worth/Boynton Beach

MiLLLk and Cookies: A toast to World Breastfeeding Week
La Leche League of Marion County

Georgia
Live, Love, Latch, World Breastfeeding Rally and Info Fair, St. Mary's, Georgia
South Georgia World Breastfeeding Week Committee

Idaho
Live Love Latch Family Picnic, Treasure Valley, Idaho
La Leche League of Treasure Valley

Indiana
Live Love Latch Family Festival, New Albany, Indiana
La Leche League of Southern Indiana

Live Love Latch Family Picnic, West Lafayette, Indiana
La Leche League of Greater Lafayette

Minnesota
Live, Love, Latch, Mankato, Minnesota
La Leche League of Mankato/St. Peter

Missouri
World Breastfeeding Week Family Picnic, Springfield, Missouri
La Leche League of Springfield

Live Love Latch Kickoff Picnic, St. Louis, Missouri
La Leche League of St. Louis

Mamafest, Rolla, Missouri
Rolla Birth Network

New Mexico
Live Love Latch Ice Cream Social, Farmington, New Mexico
La Leche League

New York State
Live Love Latch Celebration, Twin Tiers, New York
La Leche League of Twin Tiers

Ohio
World Breastfeeding Week and Live Love Latch Family Picnic, Mason, Ohio
La Leche League Cincinnati

Columbus Latch and Splash, Columbus, Ohio
Clintonville Breastfeeding Support Group

Oklahoma
Community Breastfeeding Celebration, Duncan, Oklahoma
La Leche League of Duncan & the Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank

Live, Love Latch in the Heartland!, Norman, Oklahoma

Oregon
Live Love Latch Breastfeeding Family Faire, Rogue River, Oregon
Breastfeeding Coalition of Josephine County/La Leche League of Grant's Pass

The Breastfeed'in, Eugeine-Springfield, Oregon
Daisy C.H.A.I.N. Creating Healthy Alliances

Pennsylvania
Lancaster Celebration, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
La Leche League Groups of Lancaster County

Live, Love, Latch Picnic, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
La Leche League of Greencastle/Waynesboro,

South Carolina
Live, Love Latch in the Low Country, Charleston, South Carolina

Texas
Latch On Texas, Austin, Texas

Latch On Texas, Dallas, Texas

Latch On Texas, Fort Worth, Texas
Tarrant County Breastfeeding Coalition

Tennessee
Celebration, Lewisburg, Tennessee

Virginia
RVA Latches On!, Richmond, Virginia
Richmond Health Action Alliance



Washington
Skagit Family Jubilee, Burlington, Washington



Contact the editor to add an event.

See also: Who own's breastfeeding, or why I'm troubled by the Big Latch On this year

25 years of milkbanking in Mumbai

Lokmanya Tilak Hospital NICU

This is a wonderful article on India's oldest milk bank at the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Mumbai. It was originally funded by a private company and when that ran out its founder, Dr. Armida Fernandez, had to convince the local hospital to pick up the funding: 

"Dr. Fernandez had to get creative in her argument. She cited the popular Hindu myth of the god Lord Krishna, who was separated  from his biological mother at birth and nursed by another woman. The example, at once familiar and reverent, struck home, and eventually, the breast milk bank was allocated money from the hospital’s budget."

Read the whole article below:

After 25 Years, Modest Gains at Mumbai Breast Milk Bank

By MALAVIKA VYAWAHARE

 JUNE 27, 2014 9:23 AMJune 27, 2014 9:23 am

Photo

A woman breastfeeding her child on the outskirts of Siliguri, West Bengal. Only about 30 percent of newborns in India are breastfed in the first hour of birth.Credit Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

MUMBAI — On a recent afternoon, 27-year-old Ashwini Agarwal adjusted her sari as she emerged from the crowded outpatient department at the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, a public facility that houses the oldest of India’s roughly 14 breast milk banks, established a quarter of a century ago.... (more) 

Prolacta now paying $1/ounce for breast milk

And, here it is.

Prolacta is now paying $1 directly to moms for every ounce of breastmilk they provide to the company. Prolacta has long provided a breast pump purchase credit to moms, offering $200-300 cash in exchange for a commitment to provide several hundred ounces of milk. (See: Prolacta/IBMP offer $300 credit instead of breast pump to donors, Dec 2011)

And the company has also been paying $1/ounce to several charities as a way of encouraging moms to provide the milk needed to make their $180/ounce fortifier product. (See: US company Prolacta milks charity partners, donors - Aug 2012.)

Prolacta has been talking about moving to a direct-to-mom cash payment model for a while, and now that competitor Medolac has entered the market, it makes sense for Prolacta to formalize its milk compensation program. (See: Significant corporate developments in the human milk marketplace, Oct 2013)

In a way it's more honest and direct than past compensation models. A clear choice is forming now for moms:

• Get paid $1/ounce from Prolacta and know your milk is eventually going towards the only human-derived human milk fortifier for sick babies in the NICU - 100 per cent human milk saves lives. At a very high price.

• Get paid $1/ounce and upstart Medolac promises it will process your milk and turn it into a shelf-stable, sterile product. "Promises" being the key word; they don't appear to be selling milk yet, so presumably it is in some sort of storage facility as they sort out their processing and delivery systems, and negotiate contracts with hospitals.

• Donate to a HMBANA milk bank belonging to the growing network of non-profit milk banks, which serve just under half the NICUS in Canada and the US. You'll receive no money, but you will know your milk will be pasteurized, retaining many of its critical immune properties, and will be used to help sick babies.

• Give your extra milk to a close friend, relative, or someone in your community, or connect to a recipient in need via peer-to-peer milk sharing networks.

• Sell your extra milk in a private arrangement.

Moms with extra milk are clearly in demand! How will this new Prolacta pay model impact the supply of milk to our non-profit milk banks? Will it reduce the amount of milk shared through peer-to-peer networks?

Montreal's milk bank increases donor human milk options for babies

The Montreal Gazette has an excellent article exploring the new Hema-Quebec milk bank as one more option for families who can already access human milk through milksharing networks. The milk bank will provide milk for premature infants born before 33 weeks gestation. Goldfarb clinic's Carole Dobrich is quoted noting the lack of support and guidelines for milksharing from Health Canada. Mika Puterman of Montreal Milkshare and Emma Kwasnica, who founded HM4HB while living in Montreal, are also quoted. Kwasnica also discusses cross-nursing, which she says is still taboo:

“It seems somehow the idea of expressing your milk, putting it in the freezer, and giving it to another woman — that’s okay. We can talk about and show that, take pictures of that,” she said. “But nursing another woman’s baby ... it’s an intimate act that you feel like you’re sharing with someone else. And it’s a lot more personal than just expressing your milk and handing a frozen cartridge of it off to another family.”

Read the whole story here:

Alternative routes to breast milk for Quebec babiesA new milk bank for premature babies complements long-standing traditions for mothers in search of options

BY JOANNE PENHALE, SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE JUNE 6, 2014


Valérie Laramée, whose surgery left her unable to produce enough milk but nonetheless wants it for her baby, found a network of donor mothers online.
Photograph by: Marie-France Coallier , The Gazette
MONTREAL — The benefits of breastfeeding are trumpeted far and wide these days, after falling out of favour in Quebec and elsewhere mid-20th century. For mothers who want breast milk for their babies but can’t provide enough themselves, options for obtaining it are increasing.
With Héma-Québec’s recent opening of the province’s first milk bank in decades, premature babies in Quebec who have a doctor’s prescription now have access to pasteurized human milk. ... link to full story