The Delaware Division of Public Health’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program will celebrate the benefits of breastfeeding at an open house at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, located at 800 South Madison Street in Wilmington. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7. Attendance is free and includes lunch.
Guest speakers will include Amy Spangler of Amy’s Babies Inc. and Sandy Queen of Program Resources. Spangler will discuss the health risks of not breastfeeding, focusing on what parents and professionals ought to know. Queen will present a look at the humorous side of breastfeeding.
Community partners, such as Medela, Bayhealth Foundation, Westside Health and the Latin American Community Center, will sponsor informational displays and provide free literature on breastfeeding.
Peer counselors will be on hand to provide a link in the continued breastfeeding experience for nursing mothers. According to the WIC program, women who receive breastfeeding peer counseling before and after giving birth are more likely to breastfeed for at least six weeks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service provides special funding for the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Partners Program. The project enhances WIC’s efforts by promoting the issue, as well as providing support, research and best practices.
To RSVP or for more information contact Ida Lawson or Laura Peppelman of the WIC Program at 1-800-222-2189.