Bonus Material - Interview

The Challenge and Inspiration of Organizing the Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge
An Interview with Julie McCracken
 
This year's Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge is held on October 11 at Silver City. The challenge began in 2001 in Victoria, which was also the year of their greatest turn out with 126 babies being latched on at once. After last year's really cold outside challenge at Centennial Square, the organizers have moved it inside to keep it more comfortable for mama and babe. nouvelle mama spoke with Julie McCracken, mom of 2 1/2 -year-old Zack and about-to-be-mom-of-baby-number-2, to find out about the experience of organizing the 2008 event.
 
Julie says that breastfeeding is important to her because it is the ultimate way to "empower yourself as a mom." She points out that you can do it anytime, it is the best form of nutrition for baby, it fosters a great connection, and it is a "secret weapon for parenting. You can use it for comfort, to calm everyone. Yourself,too!"
 
The Breastfeeding Challenge is important to her because she found her first one to be "such a cool experience to be with 124 other moms who are all doing what you are doing." Not only do you get to bond with your baby but with other moms who have similar sensibilities, too. She also feels it is important that we normalize breastfeeding in public. There are still too many negative beliefs and attitudes about breastfeeding that women have been struggling against since artificial baby formulas became popularized and our culture entrenched in bottle-feeding as the "norm." When I asked her if she thought there has been much progress in acceptance over the years, Julie points out that the increased length of maternity leave helps encourage and allow for longer breastfeeding period and that nursing mothers are now protected by human rights laws, but we still have a long way to go.
 
Julie finds it curious that, anecdotally, it is usually women who are giving moms a hard time and not supporting other women. She told me of a woman flight attendant on a WestJet flight who asked a breastfeeding mother to cover up before any other passengers said anything. I asked her what defense she suggests to women who are confronted in public. She says that education is the key, but firmly states that this treatment is unacceptable and is actually illegal. As a human rights issue, it is illegal to tell a woman to move, to ask her to cover up, or to even interrupt a woman when she is breastfeeding in public. Ontario and BC are the only provinces that have the rights of breastfeeding mothers outlined in their Human Rights Code.
 
Organizing the challenge has given Julie even more proof that we have a long way to go for acceptance. The site of a self-contained movie theatre is hardly ideal for hosting an event that is geared to raise public awareness. But the malls that she approached here in Victoria were not willing to host the event. Why? She was told by several mall managers that they were concerned that it would offend their regular shoppers. One mall said that moms and babies are not their target market (to which I say, "WTF?"). And, my personal favourite, one response was "we do not rent space to political groups."
 
Julie is persevering, though, and will be at the challenge, even if her baby is born on the due date - the day before the challenge! To draw people out, she says again that it is a great experience, lures people with prizes that have been donated by businesses, and asks, "When else in your life can you say that you tried to set a world record for breastfeeding?"

In the spirit of inclusiveness that the challenge promotes, everyone is welcome to the Saturday event - dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles and caregivers. Show your support! To find out more about the challenge and about Breastfeeding Matters, see www.breastfeedingmatters.ca

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