Each year, National Breastfeeding Week (NBW) is celebrated across Canada from October 1-7. This national observance aligns with World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), held globally from August 1-7 and coordinated by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA).
In Canada, NBW takes place during the 40th week of the year, symbolically reflecting the length of a full-term pregnancy. This timing highlights the critical early days of a newborn’s life, when breastfeeding is first established, and underscores the importance of support for families during this period.
While many countries celebrate breastfeeding awareness in August, others mark similar initiatives throughout August and September, creating a global movement that promotes, protects, and supports breastfeeding.
Each year, Canada adopts the official WBW theme set by WABA, ensuring alignment with international priorities and evidence-based advocacy. These themes focus on key issues such as health equity, community support, sustainability, and strengthening systems of care for breastfeeding families.
National Breastfeeding Week is an opportunity to:
- Raise awareness about the health, social, and economic benefits of breastfeeding
- Celebrate the role of families, communities, and healthcare providers in supporting breastfeeding
- Advocate for policies and environments that uphold global standards for breastfeeding success
- Promote equitable access to breastfeeding education and support
2026 Theme:
Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works
The BCC follows the WABA World Breastfeeding Week themes. The following information is from the WABA website:
#WBW2026 will focus on tracking progress and evaluating breastfeeding impact on nutrition, food security and poverty reduction with highlights of successful implementation and lessons learnt. In 2026, the WBW-SDG campaign will enter its third cycle and will focus on tracking progress in Thematic Area 1: Nutrition, food security and poverty reduction. The campaign will measure progress, showcase global and regional statistics with highlights of what works and what needs further improvement.
Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding will ensure optimum nutrition, food security and poverty reduction. Breastfeeding saves both the infant and maternal lives. It also supports nutrition, development and lifelong health. Breastmilk is a low-cost, locally available nutrition for all, hence promoting equity with economic returns to families and nations. We invite all the actors in the Warm Chain of Support for Breastfeeding to join us in understanding what is working in countries that are reporting good breastfeeding progress.
Stay Connected During National Breastfeeding Week
Use the following hashtags in your social media campaigns during NBW so our community can follow all the 2026 themed activities in our communities:
#NationalBreastfeedingWeek
#NBW2026
#WBW2026
#BreastfeedingforaSustainableStartInLife
#StrengthenWhatWorks
#Nutrition
#FoodSecurity
#PovertyReduction
#Breastfeeding
#WarmChain
#WABA
#SDGs
#WhatWorks
Activity Ideas For National Breastfeeding Week
Multiple community activities are available on our 2026 Activities Contest Page.
We also encourage you to look at 2024 and 2025 toolkits pages for additional ideas to celebrate NWB2026!
