THE bonds between Bermuda mothers and their children are highlighted by photographer Sacha Blackburne in a new exhibit organised by La Leche League at Rock Island Coffee in honour of World Breastfeeding Week.

The exhibit will be up for the month of August and is helping to promote Bermudian mothers to breastfeed their children.

Currently, only 27 per cent of mothers in Bermuda breastfeed for the first six months. After that the number drops to a staggering less than one per cent.

It is a medical fact that breastfeeding is far superior to anything else you can give your baby and the health benefits are numerous. Breastfed babies have lower rates of hospital admissions, ear infections, diarrhoea, diabetes, rashes, allergies, multiple sclerosis, respiratory illness, cancer under the age of 15, fewer cavities, and other medical problems than bottlefed babies.

Arguably, the most important benefit of breast milk is nutritional. Human milk contains the perfect amount of fatty acids, lactose, water, and amino acids for human digestion, brain development, and growth. Breastfed babies are protected from a number of illnesses, including pneumonia, botulism, bronchitis, staphylococcal infections, influenza, ear infections, and measles.

Ms Blackburne (pictured) , a professional photographer and mother of two children, said: "I was on a La Leche League e-mail list when I was a new mother and they would send out encouraging e-mails saying if I needed help with breastfeeding to call them.

"I proceeded to get involved with them because I believe in breastfeeding. There is a bond established as well as the very positive health benefits from breastfeeding.

"I received an e-mail from Melony Kendell (one of three La Leche League leaders in Bermuda) asking people if they wanted to have their photo taken while nursing to help get the message out about the importance of breastfeeding.

"I wrote back saying I'd be in the pictures but that I'd really like to take them. She agreed and we set up photo shoots at my studio with some of the mothers and their children. It was lovely because I got to meet with women who I hadn't met before but we all had the same thing in common in that we believe in breastfeeding your children for at least the first year of their lives because of all its positive health benefits that last the child's whole life well into adulthood and beyond."

One of the most common excuses for not breastfeeding is that some mothe's say they don't want to "ruin their bodies" but research proves breastfeeding has no effect on a woman's body and that it is the pregnancy.

Another reason some mothers say they don't breastfeed is that they don't have the time.

Ms Blackburne said one can make time and told us how "a friend of mine has a full-time job and organises her work schedule so that she can go home for two hours in the middle of the day to nurse her child who is eight months old.

"You can make time.

"And I know women who don't work and don't breastfeed so it has nothing to do with finding time or having a full-time job.

"It's about making the commitment to give your child the best life they can get, and the health benefits from breastfeeding can't be stated enough."

The La Leche League is an international non-profit organisation that provides support and information to women who want to breastfeed.

The Bermuda chapter of La Leche League was started in 1987 and offers mother to mother support, monthly meetings, telephone help and a lending library that has books on childbirth, breastfeeding, and other related subjects.

The monthly meetings are held on the second Saturday of every month at 10.30 a.m. at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in the first-floor conference room.