Slideshow: Breast-feeding, a public health essential

Margot Suttis, while cradling a three-month old baby in her arms at last weekend’s Breastfeeding Challenge inside the Iqaluit Public Health Centre, says it’s simple.

“Breast milk is made from humans, not from cows,” Suttis said.

Suttis, a public health nurse who sits on the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada, serves as a “lactation consultant” for the Government of Nunavut’s health department — which means she’s devoted to the cause of urging all new mothers to breast-feeding.

“Our role is to promote breast-feeding and we do it all-year-round,” Suttis said.

To that end, Nunavut participates each year in a national breast-feeding challenge, held in numerous communities across the country.

It’s usually timed to coincide with National Breastfeeding Week, which runs this year between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7.

In Iqaluit, mothers, with their babies, gathered Oct. 2 at the public health clinic to show off their breast-feeding prowess and to help spread the breast-feeding message.

For public health officials, the promotion of breast-feeding is a public health essential.

That’s because research shows that breast-fed children show stronger brain development, stronger immune systems and are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes and other ailments later in life.

Iqaluit Breastfeeding Challenge, Oct. 2, 2010 on PhotoPeach