August is National Breastfeeding Month, and Burlington County will once again host a special fair to help new and expecting parents learn more about the many breastfeeding benefits and supports in the region.
The Burlington County Breastfeeding Celebration and Resource Fair will be held Friday, Aug. 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Burlington County Lyceum of History and Natural Sciences on High Street in Mount Holly. The event will bring together local organizations and community partners.
Attendees will have opportunities to visit vendor and resource tables, speak with breastfeeding and maternal-child health professionals and learn about county services. There will also be prizes, including baby clothing and toys; diapers; and baby-care items, a breast pump and other postpartum recovery essentials.
The event is organized by the county health department and the county’s Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC).
Admission is free but attendees are encouraged to register at https://rb.gy/uqq5sj. Those who don’t register can attend provided space is available.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for their first six months. They also recommend that they continue to be breastfed for at least a year while other foods are introduced.
Research has also found that breastfeeding supports healthy brain and immune system development, and that breastfed babies have decreased risk of many chronic diseases; including childhood asthma and leukemia.
More than 88% of all New Jersey infants born in 2022 were initially breastfed, an increase from 2019. But the rate dropped to 68% after six months and to less than 48% after a year, according to the New Jersey Breastfeeding Coalition.
During the county event, information will be made available about civil protections and the rights of nursing mothers. Under state law, employers are required to provide reasonable break times for mothers to express milk, as well as a suitable location other than a toilet stall for an employee to breastfeed or pump in private.
The law also forbids an employer from firing or discriminating against women who choose to breastfeed or express milk during breaks.
Information will be distributed about the breastfeeding supports and services available through WIC, which provides supplemental food, education, health-care and social-service referrals to income-eligible pregnant women, new mothers and children up to 5.
WIC households come from all parts of the county and include military families at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Last year, nearly 4,400 county households participated in the program each month.
“For more than 50 years, WIC has delivered new and expecting mothers with nutritional support and other resources critical for their health and the health of their children,” said Commissioner Randy Brolo, liaison to the county health department.
“The upcoming Breastfeeding Celebration and Resource Fair is a great example of their work, and how the program helps improve the health of thousands of Burlington County mothers and children.”
