[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 114 (Thursday, August 5, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     LA LECHE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 5, 1999

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize La 
Leche League International (LLLI), the World Alliance for 
Breastfeeding, National Breastfeeding Month, August 1999, and World 
Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, 1999. The theme for World Breastfeeding 
Week this year is Breastfeeding: Education for Life, sponsored by LLLI 
and WABA. World Breastfeeding Week is part of WABA's ongoing campaign 
to increase public awareness of the importance of breastfeeding. LLLI 
is a founding member of WABA's global alliance of health care 
providers, non-governmental organizations, and mother support groups.
  This week, all over the world, people will be participating in the 
World Walk for Breastfeeding, organized by La Leche League 
International, an international nonprofit organization that provides 
breastfeeding information and encouragement through mother-to-mother 
support groups and interactions with parents, physicians, researchers, 
and health care providers. LLLI reaches over 200,000 women monthly in 
66 countries.
  This year's World Walk for Breastfeeding will be the ninth annual 
walk, and my community of the Greater Kansas City area will be 
participating through twelve local La Leche groups. The Walk is a 
fundraiser for LLLI, and a portion of the money raised will stay with 
the local groups to fund their outreach and support activities.
  Breastfeeding has been identified by the U.S. Surgeon General as a 
high priority objective for the year 2000, with the goal of increasing 
to at least 75 percent the proportion of mothers who breastfeed their 
infants in the early postpartum period and to at least 50 percent those 
who breastfeeding until the infant is six months of age. All available 
knowledge indicates that human milk optimally enhances the growth, 
development, and well being of the infant by providing the best 
possible nutrition, protection against specific infection and 
allergies, and the promotion of maternal and infant bonding. Further, 
breastfeeding is economical and promotes healthier mothers, and it 
benefits society through lower health care costs for infants, a 
healthier workforce, stronger family bonds, and less waste.
  August 1 makes the ninth anniversary of the signing of the Innocenti 
Declaration on the Protections, Promotion, and Support of Breastfeeding 
which was adopted in 1990 by 32 governments and 10 United Nations 
Agencies. This Declaration states: AS a global goal for optimal 
maternal and child health and nutrition, all women should be enabled to 
practice exclusive breastfeeding and all infants should be fed 
exclusively on breast milk from birth to four to six months of age. 
Thereafter, children should continue to breastfeed while receiving 
appropriate and adequate complementary foods for up to two years of age 
or beyond. This child feeding ideal is to be achieved by creating an 
appropriate environment of awareness and support so that women can 
benefit in this manner.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in celebrating National Breastfeeding 
Month and World Breastfeeding Week, and let us lend our support to this 
global effort to nurture our infants and provide them with the best 
possible nutrition in the first months of their lives.

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