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Inside Bay Area - Oakland Tribune - Local News

Moms see no use crying over unbroken milk record
Breat-feeding effort raises awareness despite falling shy of Aussies' Guinness entry
By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER
Patricia Luna, left, of Oakland, breastfeeds her two-month-old girl Ashley Giselle Rodriguez as Mandi Bozarth, second from left in front row, with 8-month-old Finn Griteman, of Albany and other 40 mothers breastfeed during the massive breastfeeding event at Cedar-Rose park in Berkeley Thursday afternoon. The mothers gather at the park as one of the seven venues in Alameda County to attempt to break Australia's world record for the most mothers breastfeeding simultaneously. (Ray Chavez - STAFF) BERKELEY — It was hardly a world record, but nearly 300 women from Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda and other East Bay cities turned out with their wee ones Thursday to let the planet know breast milk does a baby good.

Organizers at four Alameda County Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children centers and the Alameda County Breastfeeding Coalition were attempting to bust Australia's world record of 1,664 mothers breast-feeding in multiple locations at one time.

They fell significantly short of a record-breaking feat Thursday with just 287 women and their babies taking part in the marathon.

In Berkeley, there were 45 mothers in the event. A site in Oakland's Fruitvale district had the most, with 95 participants. Fifty-two moms took part in the contest at the Eastmont Town Center WIC center, organizers said.

"I really like the idea of getting the word out about breast-feeding and supporting others," said Cammie Lin, who was breast-feeding her 5-monthold, Kai, at Berkeley's Cedar Rose Park on Thursday.

Lin was visiting from New York and does not use local WIC programs. But organizers said they held the events to encourage more low-income women using WIC's formula giveaway program also to breast-feed because of the health benefits and the cost savings.

"WIC is still very important to get to the population that is overlooked," said Laura Monin, a breast-feeding proponent who trained CAMMIE LIN breast-feeds 5-month-old Kai Lin on Thursday in Berkeley. Lin, 30, was visiting from New York but heard about the attempt to break the world record for breastfeeding and joined in. (RAY CHAVEZ - STAFF) the first group of WIC peer counselors 15 years ago.

Not swiping the record from Australia didn't seem to matter to some breast-feeding moms, who said they came out to spread the word about the health and other benefits of breast-feeding.

"I really like the idea of celebrating breast-feeding and breast-feeding awareness," said Lin, who said she had some difficulty finding a support group when her baby had trouble latching on.

"In New York, you don't really see too many women breast-feeding," she said. "I feel like the breast-feeding community is underground, which I think is really sad. There is definitely still a stigma attached to breast-feeding, and that makes it much easier to give up."

  Thirty-seven states — including California, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Oregon — have laws related to breat-feeding that excuse breast-feeding mothers from jury duty. Maryland exempts breast-feeding moms from paying sales tax on tangible personal property that is used for breast-feeding.

California and other states have a law that requires employers to provide a clean, private place and adequate break time for breast-feeding mothers to use a pump.

"Any public event that you hold is good because the more people who know about it, the better," said Geetha Tamaroon, a 34-year-old Berkeley mom who had trouble breast-feeding but took medication and used a breast pump to increase her Ibeth Garcia, 9 months, gets breastfeeding from her mom Belinda Huerta Garcia of Berkeley during the massive breastfeeding event at Cedar-Rose park in Berkeley Thursday afternoon. About 40 mothers gather at the park as one of the seven venues in Alameda County to attempt to break Australia's world record for the most mothers breastfeeding simultaneously. (Ray Chavez - STAFF) milk supply.

Breast milk is the most complete form of nutrition for infants and contains the right amount of fat, sugar, water and protein needed, according to the National Women's Health Information Center.

It can help protect babies against bacteria and viruses, making them better able to fight off infection and disease, center staff members say.

This isn't the first time the East Bay tried for a breast-feeding world record. Three years ago, Berkeley stole from Australia the Guinness record for the most women breast-feeding in a single location when 1,130 women came together at the Berkeley Community Theater. In that feat, Berkeley outnumbered Australia, which previously held the record with 536 babies.

Berkeley still holds that record, which pleases WIC coordinator Ellen Sirbu.

"You weren't in the auditorium when we had 1,130 mothers together," she said Thursday. "That was the highlight of my life. That and the Democratic National Convention."