World Breastfeeding Week 2013 Blog Carnival – Call for Submissions

The theme for this year’s WBW is Close to Mothers, which highlights community support. We are looking for posts on a variety of different topics that touch on the breastfeeding community and support of breastfeeding pairs. Please keep reading for details.

How to Participate in the World Breastfeeding Week 2013 Blog Carnival

There are two different ways you can participate in our Carnival: Craft an Original Post: Submit an original post on one of our topics (see below for ideas) to be posted on your blog during the week of the Carnival (August 1-7, 2013).

This should be a well-written, unpublished piece submitted by July 25th using the original post submission webform. You will receive instructions by email on when to post, as well as html carnival code to include in your post.

You may submit multiple posts – one for each day of the carnival. We’ll be featuring summaries of all original posts on our sites throughout the week, and we will also be selecting a few of our favorites to feature in full on NursingFreedom.org and the San Diego Breastfeeding Center.

Link Up with a Previously Published Post: If you have previously published posts on any of our topics you can add them to the linky lists that will be available each day. Deadline: Thursday, July 25. Fill out the webform (see details below) by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time July 25.

Carnival dates: August 1-7. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. We will also let you know what day (between August 1-7) to publish your post. Because you can publish on more than one day, you are welcome to submit more than one original post.

Daily Topics for the WBW Carnival

August 1 – Community Support:

The theme for this year’s WBW highlights the importance of helping each mother throughout her breastfeeding journey. Today we are featuring posts that discuss the need for and benefits of a community of breastfeeding supporters.

Share your thoughts on and stories about your own breastfeeding journey – was there someone who made your nursing relationship a success? What is access to Lactation Counselors like in your area – did you know where to find them? Were they accessible to you? Did you ever attend a La Leche League meeting or other breastfeeding support group?

August 2 – Normalizing Breastfeeding:

In a culture where breastfeeding is not often seen in the media, let’s chat today about normalizing breastfeeding. The topics are wide open. Here are a few ideas: How was breastfeeding made normal for you? How do you help normalize breastfeeding for others? What do you see as obstacles or challenges in our continuing quest to normalize breastfeeding? What do you see as successes? What is the problem with the term “discretion” in reference to nursing in public?

August 3 – Celebrating Each Mother’s Journey:

Not every breastfeeding relationship looks the same. There are mothers who exclusively breastfed, exclusively pumped, breastfed with supplementation, breastfed for three hours or three years, never breastfed but wanted to, or did some combination of these. The important thing is that each mother is supported and given accurate information. Today let’s discuss how we can celebrate every breastfeeding relationship.

August 4 – Online Breastfeeding Support:

More mothers are finding their breastfeeding villages online. Through social media, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos, mothers are connecting, having conversations, and supporting one another both far and near. How has online support helped you to meet your breastfeeding goals? Where have you found your online support and how have those connections made support more accessible and time-sensitive?

August 5 – Creating a Community of Milksharing Mamas:

Milksharing has been in practice since the beginning of time, allowing mothers to provide nutrition for each other’s babies during critical times of need. Have you donated milk to another mother or to a milk bank or have you been a recipient of donor milk? How has milk sharing and milk donation positively impacted your breastfeeding relationship

August 6 – Breastfeeding Tips and Tricks:

Did you overcome any breastfeeding challenges? Do you have tips for new moms (or new partners)? Do you have gentle advice for getting through breastfeeding aversion or toddler gymnastic nursing? Share your wisdom with our readers!

August 7 – From Near to Far, From Here to There, We Can Breastfeed Everywhere!:

It’s Wordless Wednesday across much of the blogosphere – let’s share pictures of the many places we have breastfed. Include as many pictures as you can, and let’s see how many of the (U.S.) states and countries we can get! We’re also going to host a pinnable map that you can add your locations to – be sure to see NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center’s pages to add your locations to our map.

Please do:

Write well. Write on topic. Write in a positive way. This Carnival is not to criticize mothers who choose to use formula or to nurse with a cover, it is to educate others about the importance of supporting breastfeeding mothers as well as the beauty and benefits of breastfeeding. Feel free to be creative within the gentle confines of the Carnival structure. If you’re feeling so inspired, you could paint a picture, organize a photo essay, or write a poem, a scholarly article, or a book review instead of a regular blog post.

Please don’t:

Please don’t use profanity of the sort that might be offensive to more sensitive readers or their children. Please don’t submit irrelevant or argumentative pieces, we want this Carnival to be positive.

Editors’ rights:

We reserve the right to suggest edits to you. We reserve the right to courteously reject any submissions that are inappropriate for the Carnival. If your blog is selected to be featured in full on one of our sites, we reserve the right to edit the piece for grammar and clarity.

If you don’t have a blog:

Contact us about potentially finding you a host blog to guest post. Please write your piece well in advance of the deadline in that case, so we can match you up with someone suitable. But if you really have something amazing to write, why not start your own blog? If you want advice, we find Scribbit’s free Blogging in Pink ebook to be a very helpful and down-to-earth guide, for beginners on up.

If you have questions:

Please leave a comment or contact us: Dionna {at} CodeNameMama {dot} com, PaigeStannard {at} gmail {dot} com and RobinKaplan {at} SDBFC {dot} com

Share the WBW love and let everyone know you will be writing with us.