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Ministry of Health

Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding

The Healthy Women, Children and Youth Secretariat (HWCYS) endorses the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation that breastfeeding be promoted and supported as the cultural norm for infant feeding. The Province of British Columbia has issued a Proclamation (PDF 1.0M) declaring that October 1 to 7, 2011 shall be known as “Breastfeeding Week.”

Breastfeeding provides health benefits to both the baby and the mother. Breast milk provides infants with unique nutritional and health benefits, such as antibodies and reduced risk for developing asthma, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and becoming obese in later life. For the mother, breastfeeding helps the body recover from the stresses of pregnancy, labour and delivery. The risk of developing breast cancer is also reduced.

The HWCYS supports and promotes breastfeeding through policies and programs which ensure that:

  • mothers are supported to exclusively feed their infant(s) breast milk for the first six months;
  • at 6 months of age, breastfeeding should be complemented by the introduction of solid foods;
  • breastfeeding for two years and beyond is encouraged; and
  • breastfeeding is promoted as an important chronic disease prevention strategy.

The Ministry of Health has launched the breastfeeding promotional video Talk to me about breastfeeding.  The video portrays local BC families sharing their breastfeeding stories, challenges, successes, and advice for families.

The HWCYS works to promote and support breastfeeding to service providers in partnership with Perinatal Services BC, including:

  • Development of on-line education for breastfeeding to support the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) guidelines for breastfeeding education.
  • Implementation of the WHO definitions for recording infant feeding methods at discharge in the BCPHP's Provincial Perinatal Database providing a more accurate measurement of exclusive breastfeeding initiation rates in the Province.

The HWCYS also partners with the BC Baby-Friendly Network to provides consultation, support and assessments to hospitals and health units, to achieve Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI) designation, as defined by the WHO and UNICEF. Currently two hospitals in BC have achieved the Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI) designation. This includes: the GR Baker Memorial Hospital in Quesnel (designated in February 2008), and the BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre (BCWHHC - designated in November 2008). The BCWHHC is the largest maternity hospital in Canada to receive BFI designation.