Saline County Breastfeeding Coalition

08/01/2026

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Many women do not 🤱🏿 as long as they would like.

🧸 Supportive family & friends
🤱🏿 Solidarity in public life
🤰🏾 Paid maternity leave & rights
🤝 Empathetic, reliable healthcare advice

Here’s how we can ALL step up to support breastfeeding mothers anytime, anywhere.

07/25/2026

🍦🤱 Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week with us! 💕

Join the Saline County Health Department as we celebrate and support breastfeeding families in our community during our World Breastfeeding Week 2026 event!

Bring the whole family for a fun morning featuring:
🌭 Hot dog bar
🍦 Ice cream
🎨 Kid-friendly activities
🌳 Build your own support tree
💙 Community, connection, and encouragement for new and expecting families

📅 Saturday, August 1
⏰ 10:00 AM–1:00 PM
📍 Saline County Health Department
125 W. Elm St., Salina

Admission is free, and everyone is welcome!

07/24/2026

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🩸✨ Breast milk is made from blood, not directly from what you eat until nutrients reaches your blood stream.

Your body uses nutrients from your bloodstream to make milk that's uniquely designed for your baby. Even when your diet isn't perfect, your body can often draw on nutrient stores to support milk production.

This is why, for most breastfeeding families, foods that make you gassy don't make your baby gassy. Gas is produced in your intestines it doesn't pass into your breast milk. Occasionally, you could consume foods with proteins which impact baby's digestion, but this isn't common, and when gas occurs, it is rarely a concern. Uncomfortable, yes, abnormal concern? Rarely.

There are always exceptions. Some babies have conditions such as cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) or milk soy protein intolerance (MSPI), where proteins from certain foods can trigger symptoms. In those cases, dietary changes may be recommended.

But for the average healthy breastfeeding parent and baby, specialty elimination diets aren't necessary. Most newborn gas, fussiness, and frequent feeding are normal parts of infancy, not signs that your diet is causing a problem.

Some women are sensitive to certain herbs, but in culinary levels, it's rarely a problem. But keep an eye if you have concerns.

If your baby has concerning problems you think might be associated with your diet, seek the support of an IBCLC and follow up with baby's pediatrician.

✨️ Evidence matters. So does reassurance.

07/14/2026

🌟 Join us as we celebrate World Breastfeeding Week 2026! 🌟

This year’s theme, “It Takes a Community: Sweet Support Starts Here,” highlights the important role families, friends, healthcare providers, employers, and community members play in supporting breastfeeding families.

📅 Saturday, August 1, 2026
⏰ 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Enjoy ice cream, family-friendly activities, a hot dog bar, and our interactive Support Tree activity as we come together to recognize and support breastfeeding families throughout our community.

We can't wait to celebrate with you!

06/24/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ByxVmbaXy/

🌟 Join us as we celebrate World Breastfeeding Week 2026! 🌟

This year’s theme, “It Takes a Community: Sweet Support Starts Here,” highlights the important role families, friends, healthcare providers, employers, and community members play in supporting breastfeeding families.

📅 Saturday, August 1, 2026
⏰ 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Enjoy ice cream, family-friendly activities, a hot dog bar, and our interactive Support Tree activity as we come together to recognize and support breastfeeding families throughout our community.

We can't wait to celebrate with you!

06/07/2026

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

This Pride Month, we celebrate the many families who nurture, love, and care for their babies.

Families come from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities. They may also use different words to describe feeding their babies, including breastfeeding, nursing, chestfeeding, and other terms that feel right for them.

At La Leche League USA, our focus is supporting families in meeting their feeding goals with accurate information, compassionate peer support, and a welcoming community. Respecting the words people use for themselves helps more families feel seen, heard, and supported.

We are proud to support families from all walks of life during Pride Month and throughout the year!

[Image Description] Rust colored background featuring a the words Breastfeeding, Nursing, Chestfeeding, Expressing, and Pumping in colors of the rainbow.

06/05/2026

🌍 World Environment Day reminds us that small choices can make a big difference. Breastfeeding is a natural, renewable way to nourish babies, with no packaging, transportation, or manufacturing waste. By choosing breastfeeding when possible, families can help reduce carbon emissions and waste while supporting infant health. Every sustainable choice counts—for our children and the planet. 💚

06/04/2026

🎉🎉

Salina Pediatric Care at Salina Regional Health Center has earned a five-star Breastfeeding Friendly Physician Practice Designation by the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition Inc. The entire staff at Salina Pediatric Care has committed to supporting and encouraging the breastfeeding mothers they see each day in reaching their breastfeeding goals.

Breastfeeding is recognized by every major health organization as the standard in infant feeding, with important short- and long-term benefits for both the mother and child. In Kansas, 89% of mothers choose breastfeeding after birth, but only 50% are still breastfeeding exclusively at 3 months. That number drops to just 28% when the baby is 6 months old.

Kansas health providers, like those at Salina Pediatric Care, are working to improve these numbers – one family at a time.
“This designation speaks to our commitment of providing quality pediatric care,” said Mary Winkel, a certified lactation consultant on staff at Salina Pediatric Care. “Our providers and nurses are
well-educated to support mothers and newborns, and we offer in-house lactation consultations. Breastfeeding has been shown to help newborns develop a strong immune systems and provides increased protection from many illnesses and diseases.”

Pointing out that many breastfeeding parents abandon breastfeeding when faced with obstacles because they lack support, Sarah Jolley, chair of the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, said, "We want to acknowledge and celebrate Salina Pediatric Care for creating a culture of support for breastfeeding families to meet their goals and setting an example for other physician practices in Kansas."
To learn more about the Breastfeeding Friendly Physician Practice Designation, visit https://ksbreastfeeding.org/breastfeeding-friendly-physician-practice-designation/.

06/03/2026

🩷

So there are many studies showing the importance of breastmilk, and exclusively feeding breastmilk, yet more than 3/4 of mothers I speak to were told in the first few days that they didn't have enough and to top up with non-human milk. Formula is being offered before giving mothers any proper support, guidance or chance!
If you're planning to breastfeed - prepare now with the right information, learn how breastmilk works and know that there's a gentle and instinctive way to breastfeed your baby right from the moment they're born, reducing the risk of pain.
Excerpt from the study:

Shenhav L, Fehr K, Reyna M ...
Microbial colonization programs are structured by breastfeeding and guide healthy respiratory development
Cell, 187, 5431-5452.e20

"New CHILD research provides compelling evidence that breastfeeding influences the composition and function of an infant’s microbiome, which in turn plays a crucial role in that child’s later respiratory health.
The microbiome is the community of beneficial microbes living in and on our bodies, especially in our digestive system or gut. Research is increasingly revealing the crucial role the microbiome plays in human health.
In this study, published in Cell, the researchers examined the nasal and gut microbiomes, breastfeeding characteristics, and breastmilk composition of 2,227 children participating in CHILD. They then compared this information with the children’s respiratory health at three years of age, focusing on whether they had developed “persistent wheeze,” an early warning sign of asthma.
The researchers found that human milk indirectly protects against asthma by regulating nasal and gut microbiome development during the first year of life.
Specifically, the research showed that feeding an infant nothing but breastmilk—exclusive breastfeeding—for the first three months of life supports a well-paced microbiome development, resulting in low asthma risk, whereas weaning from breastfeeding before three months after birth speeds up microbiome development, leading to a higher asthma risk."

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