La Leche League of Bermuda is gearing up to celebrate World Breast Feeding Week and is planning a variety of initiatives to promote breast feeding over the next two weeks.

This year the theme is ?Protecting Breast Feeding? and Bermuda will be joining hundreds of other nations in celebrating the practice of breast feeding.

Both the World Health Organisation and UNICEF have called for a global promotion and protection of the practice.

To open the La Leche events, there will be a picnic tomorrow in Shelly Bay park to celebrate healthy families.

Shopping bags at the Market Place stores, Lindo?s Family Food and Lindo?s Market will all have the World Breast Feeding Week logos on them, along with contact information.

On August 12 there will be a meeting to discuss breast feeding and nutrition at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The La Leche League (LLL) has been promoting breast feeding on the Island for 19 years. It hosts monthly meetings, provides a free lending library with books on breast feeding, pregnancy and childcare.

It also runs a 24-hour help line, distributes information sheets and brochures to health care professionals and takes referrals from clinics, nurses and doctors.

The LLL of Bermuda does not charge for any of its services.

The American Academy of Pediatrics 2005 Policy Statement stated that it recommended breast feeding for at least the first 12 months of a child?s life. Studies have shown that breast milk contains live antibodies and is an arsenal against illness.

There are also advantages for the mother, recent studies have shown that both breast cancer and postpartum stress are reduced among mothers who breast feed.

This is the 16th annual World Breast Feeding Week. LLL leader Jill Virgil said that nurses at the hospital have been vital in informing mothers about the practice.

?We?d like to acknowledge staff at KEMH for helping new moms get off to the right start,? she said.

In order to show their appreciation they will bake nutritious snacks for staff and will distribute information sheets to mothers who have just given birth.

For further information or assistance with breast feeding, please contact 337-3030.