Neonatal Latch On

World Breastfeeding Week is a global campaign that runs from 1 – 7 August every year to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding. This year is focused on the links between breastfeeding and planetary health. As part of this, the Big Latch On events take place at registered locations around the world, where people gather together to breastfeed and offer peer support to each other.

Their friends, family and community join this celebration to promote and support breastfeeding. Volunteers from within the community host each location, hosting a Global Big Latch On event creates a lasting support network for the community.

The Little Miracles Trust aims to raise awareness for the special situation mothers of preterm and hospitalized newborns find themselves in when it comes to breastfeeding. Their approach to breastfeeding might be different and they might face different challenges when it comes to breastfeeding their baby than mothers of term-born children might do. Breastfeeding is a journey and every mother should be encouraged to find the best way for her and her baby.

We know from experience that some NICU and SCBU Mums don’t feel comfortable to join in with the Big Latch On as they’re either not yet breastfeeding or may never breastfeed. So this year, we came up with ‘The Neonatal Latch On’ for neonatal parents to join in the celebrations and encouraged them to show us their feeding journey – be it breastfeeding, expressing for months on end, using an NG or GT, bottle feeding your breastmilk or skin-to-skin to promote breastmilk.

The Waikato Neonatal Intensive Care Unit got right into the spirit of things and we’d like to say a special thank you to the following supporters/organisations who helped create a memorable occasion for so many parents during the day: