Thursday, 4:30 PM
At a breastfeeding demonstration, 29 happy babies
(Photo courtesy of Kim Walsh)
Kim Walsh and other mothers at today's event in Marion
By Globe Staff
The parking lot of a health food store in Marion was the site of an unusual event from 10 a.m. to 10:01 a.m. today. Twenty-nine mothers breastfed their babies as part of a worldwide demonstration organized to underline the importance of breastfeeding.
Kim Walsh, 35, of Rochester, was one of the event organizers and participated herself, breastfeeding her 5-month-old son.
"I was very pleased with the turnout. Twenty-nine people is fantastic on a rainy, misty, hot and steamy morning," she said. "The goal is obviously breastfeeding awareness, to bring breastfeeding and the normalcy of that into the public eye."
Similar events were slated to be held around the world in an attempt to beat the Guinness Book of World Records mark for simultaneous breastfeeding, said Walsh, who is a local leader in the La Leche League,.
"Just seeing how the mothers were with their babies, it just sent chills up your spine," said JoAnne Bryant, a lactation consultant and nurse at the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center who served as one of the official "counters."
The event was held under a tent in the parking lot at the Earth’s Partner store. Bryant said the babies were from three weeks old to about three years old -- and all of them took advantage of the moment.
Asked if any of them didn’t want to be fed at that particular time, Bryant exclaimed, "Babies want to breastfeed! ... They’re not going to pass up breast milk!"
She said the scene in the parking lot was "the definition of what’s right in the world."
