Mums, babies, and toddlers joined the Minister for Health, Mike Nesbitt MLA, and several MLAs from across political parties today, for the launch of a mother-led #MoreThanMilk photo exhibition at the Long Gallery in Stormont.
Breastival, the award-winning summer family festival, which is supported by the Public Health Agency (PHA), has curated more than 300 images of mothers & babies breastfeeding in its #MoreThanMilk photo exhibition, which aims to celebrate and normalise breastfeeding as part of everyday life in Northern Ireland.
Attending the #MoreThanMilk event, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said,
“The Department is committed to protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding and improving breastfeeding rates in Northern Ireland.
“It is vital that we provide women and families with the information that they need to make the best infant feeding choices for themselves. It’s also important to ensure that the support is in place – particularly during the early stages – to help women overcome any obstacles and establish a pattern of breastfeeding that works for them.”
The exhibition has been displayed across Northern Ireland in regional maternity units, art galleries, arts festivals, shopping centres, the Ulster Museum and now back at the Long Gallery in Parliament Buildings for the second time.
Breastfeeding families come in all shapes and sizes. For some, mum and baby learn this new skill easily and for others, things do not go so smoothly. This exhibition portrays the everyday life of breastfeeding mothers and photographs were submitted by families themselves and feature people from across Northern Ireland.
The Stormont event marks the start of World Breastfeeding week, 1-7 August, and ahead of Breastival’s flagship event which is taking place in Ormeau Park in Belfast on Saturday 3 August.
Dr Jennifer Hanratty, Founder and Chair of Breastival said,
“More and more families are choosing to breastfeed, but women can feel uncomfortable feeding in public. One reason for that is that we don’t often see women breastfeeding because our current breastfeeding rates are so low.
As Marian Wright Edelman, the American civil and children’s rights activist said, ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. #MoreThanMilk gives new and expectant families the chance to see breastfeeding as part of everyday family life.”
The event was sponsored by Liz Kimmins MLA, who is Chair of the Assembly Health Committee. The Sinn Féin MLA said,
“Breastival is a fantastic event that empowers mothers and spreads a positive message about breastfeeding. As a breastfeeding mother of two myself, this is something that I am very passionate about and I will be bringing forward a Private Members Bill to the Assembly during this mandate that seeks to normalise, promote and encourage breastfeeding.
The evidence on breastfeeding is clear that it has enormous benefits in terms of child development and can help to foster a greater bond between mother and child, therefore we should be doing all we can to support mothers in their breastfeeding journey.”
Dr Hannah McCourt, Senior Health, and Social Wellbeing Improvement Officer at Public Health Agency, said:
“The #MoreThanMilk exhibition is a great way to bring mothers, partners, families and communities together in a comfortable environment to learn about the benefits of breastfeeding as well as showcasing the support that is available to breastfeeding mums. We all have a role in supporting breastfeeding mothers and creating a supportive environment makes continuing to breastfeed more likely.
Breastfeeding can be a very rewarding experience. As well as having all the
nutrients your baby needs to grow and develop, human milk has very special
ingredients such as antibodies, hormones, and stem cells to help protect your baby
now and in the future. It can take a few weeks for a mother and baby to get used to
breastfeeding and it is a skill that is learned over time.
We all have a role in supporting breastfeeding mothers and creating a supportive environment makes continuing to breastfeed more likely.”
Nigel Rollins, from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Switzerland, is trained as a paediatrician in Belfast, and is now part of the WHO’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent. He recently told Breastival,
“Breastfeeding is as important for mothers and their children in Northern Ireland as it is in other parts of the world. In high income countries, it strongly protects newborns from some serious infections, improves brain development and helps protect children against non-communicable diseases in later life such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. It also protects mothers against breast and ovarian cancer. As others have said, if someone invented breastfeeding today, they would be awarded a Nobel prize!
If communities and governments really appreciated how remarkable breastfeeding is for the lifelong health of children and mothers, they would be demanding more support, medical and nursing schools would commit more time for training and authorities would be investing proper funding to help mothers and families. Instead, there is a complacency that comes from a sense of familiarity and the effects of marketing of formula milk.”
The festival, Breastival in the Park is organised by Breastival, and supported by the Public Health Agency, takes place from 10:30 am until 3:00pm on Saturday 3 August at the Bandstand at Ormeau Park South Belfast.
Everyone is welcome to attend and you can grab your free tickets on Eventbrite Breastival 2024 Tickets, Sat 3 Aug 2024 at 10:30 | Eventbrite.
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