News & Events
The Breastfeeding Community of Practice regularly shares information about ongoing activities, upcoming education and training opportunities, media coverage, local events and gatherings relating to breastfeeding.
Lesley Magee Speaker Event - June 2019
Halifax Breastmilk shipped to Calgary Milk Bank to be used at IWK Health Centre
Martha Paynter is a Halifax Mom of two and is also one of our Breastfeeding Community of Practice members who knows just how important human breastmilk is for babies, especially babies who are medically fragile and whose own mother's milk is unavailable. Martha is one of four N.S. Moms who donate their breastmilk to the Calgary Mothers' Milk Bank as there is no milk bank in Nova Scotia. Once processed and pasteurized, some of this milk comes back to the IWK Health Centre to be used in their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the sickest of babies. The IWK has created a Milk Room, where they can receive donor milk to be stored, labeled and dispensed to babies by prescription, who fit certain criteria and whose parents have given consent. Providing these fragile infants with pasteurized human donor milk provides them with passive immunity and gives them a stronger hold on life.
Martha would like other moms to know how easy it was to donate to Calgary Mothers' Milk Bank, and has created a 3 minute Youtube video on how to ship your breastmilk to Calgary. She is hoping to raise awareness on the importance of donating breastmilk to improve access to this lifesaving substance, when a child's own mother's milk is unavailable.
Breastfeeding Community of Practice Campaign for a Human Milk Bank
Kathryn Hayward, co-lead for our Milk Bank Working group was interviewed live on Global TV. Kathryn explains what a milk bank is, and why Nova Scotia needs one.
View video
Capital District Health Authority Supports Breastfeeding Staff at Work
Capital District Health Authority has taken progressive steps to become breastfeeding friendly. They have announced their new Staff Breastfeeding Policy which would support staff returning to work following a maternity leave who are continuing to breastfeed as well as new hires who are currently breastfeeding. Our own Laura Smith, was interviewed by Elizabeth Chiu, CBC.
View video
View video
Breastfeeding Mom kicked out of Claire's store at MicMac Mall
A Cole Harbour mother says she was told to leave a store in Mic Mac Mall because she was breastfeeding her infant daughter. Breastfeeding Advocates upset and plan to stage a nurse-in to create awareness.
View video
Claire's has since contacted the Mom to apologize and to state this was by no means a policy, but no public apology has been made as of yet.
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The Department of Agriculture has apologized for the way it handled complaints about a restaurant owner breastfeeding while at work, CBC news has learned.
"Babies in restaurants in and of themselves don't represent a food safety risk," read the statement. Hannah Gibson, who owns Rocco's Ristorante Italiano in Dartmouth, told CBC News customers complained about her breastfeeding, which sparked a food safety investigation. Read more |
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Don't breastfeed son on job, N.S. mom warned
'Separate yourself so that the patrons can't see you,' restaurateur warned
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A Nova Scotia restaurant owner says customers complained about her breastfeeding, sparking a food safety investigation.
Hannah Gibson, who owns Rocco's Ristorante Italiano in Dartmouth, said when things get busy at the restaurant she'll pitch in even if her son Carson, who is just eight months old, is hungry. Read more |
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The Coast's "Best Of" Awards Night
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The Breastfeeding Community of Practice has just won Silver in The Coast's "Best
Of" Readers' Choice Awards for BEST TWITTERER! Photo taken from the Red Carpet at the Awards Night, Nov 1, 2012. Congrats!! 
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CTV Atlantic: Mom calls for protest over breastfeeding backlashA mother who was recently told to cover up while breastfeeding is so outraged that she is organizing a ‘nurse-in' to draw attention to the issue Jacqueline Foster sits down to talk with Keely Fraser, Public Health Nutritionist at Capital Health to learn more about what the Breastfeeding Community of Practice is doing to promote, support and protect breastfeeding in Halifax Regional Municipality. To read more click here |
Keely Fraser, Public Health Nutritionist with Capital Health in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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CBC News: Sharing the milk of human kindness
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A group of women who share breast milk are hoping to see a more official arrangement at the children's hospital in Halifax.
The IWK Health Centre had such a milk bank, but it was shut down along with every other one in the country after the tainted blood scare in the 1980s. Kathryn Hayward, a nursing professor at Dalhousie University, is chair of the milk bank working group. She envisions something like a blood bank for milk. To see the full story click here. |
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Youth Engagement Project
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Recently we teamed up with a group of students in the Applied Media and Communication Arts Program at Nova Scotia Community College, Waterfront Campus. As part of a term project students were tasked with creating a short video about breastfeeding. The students had total creative freedom and came up with this video that presents breastfeeding from a youth perspective. |
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BFI Grand Rounds at the IWK Health Centre
Grand Rounds feature a variety of interdisciplinary topics related to breastfeeding, including information on evidence-based research, best practice guidelines and supportive methodologies. Health care professionals at the IWK and in the community, as well as anyone who works to support mothers and babies, are welcome to attend.
No registration is required. These typically run the 3rd Tuesday of the month, in the afternoon
For more information, please email Cynthia Mann
No registration is required. These typically run the 3rd Tuesday of the month, in the afternoon
For more information, please email Cynthia Mann
