Health Departments Ready for World Breastfeeding Week

Corresponding with World Breastfeeding Week and WIC, a federal nutrition program for women, infants, and children, the Walker County Health Department is now offering free breastfeeding assistance to WIC participants through the breastfeeding peer counselor program.Leigh Ann Colvin, RD, LD, a senior nutritionist at the health department, encourages women participating in the WIC program to breastfeed and to seek assistance from peer counselors Amy Hicks and Kayla Cummings.The American Academy of Pediatrics “recommends that babies have the exclusive nourishment of breast milk for the first six months of life.” Further, benefits of breast milk include reducing the risks of:· Obesity· Type II Diabetes· Ear infections· SIDS· Leukemia· Asthma· GI disordersIn Alabama, 67 percent of infants who were born in 2014 were breastfed, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study. This is below the national average. Colvin hopes that those numbers will soon increase.World Breastfeeding Week is August 1-7, and for more information, please contact the Walker County Health Department at (205) 221-9775. 78Main Pic: Leigh Ann Colvin and Katy Ferguson, a Samford student interning at WCHDAlso pictured: Peer counselors Amy Hicks (L) and Kayla Cummings (R)