Looking to top a world record, a group of local women gathered in Vista for a synchronized nursing event-taking place across the world on Saturday.
The Big Latch On was a one-minute feeding that took place from all over the world, and women at local store, Babies in Bloom, participated in order to help raise awareness about the sometime stigmatized act of breast-feeding, said owner Rochelle McLean.
“We’re doing this to bring attention to it,” McLean said, “A lot people know that it’s a good food for babies, but unfortunately that doesn’t make it the social norm.”
The location had over 100 moms registered for the event, with more showing up just as it kicked off at 10:30 a.m.
The year's event, which has been held in many forms in the past, was put on cooperation with La Leche League and happened in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week.
In October of last year, 9,826 nursing mothers were recorded at 325 sites in 16 countries.
But just because there were thousands of women didn’t mean it was necessarily to do Mclean commented, “I think a lot of people think it’s going to be easy, and then on the flip side they think it’s its going to be hard and find out it’s not always the case…I think people are surprised wither way.”
Local
McLean, a Lactation Consultant, got involved after last year’s event, “There was this underground movement by La Leche to get this happening all over the U.S..”
Underground or not, many women jumped on the chance to take part in this year's event.
“We’ve had moms, babies and toddlers lined up around the corner,” said McLean, “I think everyone was just excited and looking forward to it.”
While thousands of women breast-feeding at once may seem outlandish, it’s not the priority of the event, McLean said, whose shop offers free classes for mothers, “Many new mothers quit breast-feeding everyday thinking that there’s no help out there for them. There is support.”
The record for the most women breast-feeding in one location happened in Berkeley in 2002 with 1,130 participants.
