Quick Guide to Breastfeeding Challenges

Sorry, sorry... life has caught up with me! I really haven't been blogging much as I've been focusing on my day job, kids, Mama.Baby.Love and replying to email/text questions of breastfeeding/babywearing/cloth diapering moms.  I'm cleaning out my draft posts (yes, I have numerous!!)  and I found this post which I initially wrote as a comment to another page.  I can't remember if this comment was published -- yes it has been that long!  So I decided to edit it a publish it in my blog.

Milk Mama Diaries: Experiencing the One Asia Breastfeeding Forum

Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (August). For this month, we write about the World Breastfeeding Week 2014 - Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life and share how breastfeeding can help the Philippines achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals developed by the government and the United Nations. Participants will share their thoughts, experiences, hopes and suggestions on the topic. 

Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries. 

This is a much delayed post! I've been writing it for several months now but was not able to finish.  I finally found the drive to complete it in time for Milk Mama Diaries Carnival.  I feel that this post will help me explain the relationship of breastfeeding with the 8th Millennium Development Goal - Global Partnership.

Activities for August Breastfeeding Month

Breastfeeding Awareness Month is happening next week!  As always, it is packed with activities to promote, support and protect breastfeeding and further the breastfeeding advocacy.  Let me start with L.A.T.C.H.'s big event this August -- Breastfeeding Uncovered 2014: Mission Possible.  LATCH has expanded to Cebu and Davao cities and we decided to bring back Dr. Jack Newman to visit 3 major cities in the Philippines.

His first visit last year was well-attended and with the release of his new book, we hope that more healthcare workers, breastfeeding supporters and breastfeeding mothers can hear him speak.   

The Second Night

I was able to sign-up for ilactation's Heart-to-Heart Online conference earlier this year.  Learning about breastfeeding is never-ending.  There are regular researches and updates and I am pretty happy that there are providers which allow advocates like myself to listen and learn online, in the comfort of my own home or while commuting.

Breastfeeding Uncovered 2014: Mission Possible

He's back!  I'm happy to share that due to public demand, L.A.T.C.H. will be bringing Dr. Jack Newman back to the Philippines.  Read my post last year for details on who Dr. Newman is.  

A Mother's Day Raffle with Elin

Mother's Day is coming up and I want to do a raffle for readers of this blog to celebrate.  I've had my Elin affiliate link up for about two months now and I am very thankful to my readers for clicking on it whenever they shop at Elin.

As I shared in my previous post, Elin has been my go to brand for chic casual pieces even when they were not yet carrying maternity clothes.  I was really pleased that they included nursing wear in their catalogue, providing classic and affordable pieces for their clients.

Join the Nurture Run for Breastfeeding + Giveaway

Last week, I attended the Bloggers for Breastfeeding event at Recess by Chef Chris.  The event was to promote the upcoming run for breastfeeding - Nurture Run 2014 spearheaded by Beauty Brains and Breastfeeding.   More details in the poster below:

Pregnant: How to prepare for breastfeeding

Last month, I received this message on my Facebook page:

I am pregnant with my second baby and really want to successfully breastfeed him coz I failed the first time. Im still on my 17th week though but if I can do something as early as now to prepare myself for that, I'd gladly do so. What can you suggest?

I've been receiving similar concerns via email and private message so I decided to compile some tips which I hope will be useful not only to new moms, but also to moms new to breastfeeding.

LATCH at NNC-NCR's Breastfeeding Forum

In mid-February, I was fortunate to be invited to the National Nutrition Council - NCR's Breastfeeding Forum and Photo Exhibit held at the Kaban ng Hiyas in Mandaluyong City.  I met the NCR's Nutrition Officer Meren Francia through breastfriend Kate Demetrio - also a Nutrition Officer of the NNC.  Meren and I worked closely on the Nanay Bayanihan project so when she asked me to share about the Milk Code, I readily agreed.

The Breastfeeding Photo Exhibit was the showcase of the various projects of 16 cities and 1 municipality covered by NNC-NCR to protect and promote breastfeeding.  Did you know that each of these cities (and municipality have breastfeeding support groups?  The members of the community-based BFSGs now number more than 3,000, resulting in the gradual increase in breastfeeding initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates in the NCR.

showcase of LGU's breastfeeding activities

A Nursing Mom's Shopping Guide: ELIN Maternity and Nursing Wear

I am excited to see more and more brands that offer breastfeeding friendly clothing to Filipina mothers.  I had been a fan of Elin when they were still focused on mainstream clothing.  When I found out that one of their partners was going to have a baby, I become more excited because I hoped that a breastfeeding friendly line would follow.  And apparently, I wasn't far off!  They had already expanded into the maternity line because they found out that a lot of their customers were using their clothes as maternity wear because of the comfort and fit.  Naturally, because Martina is breastfeeding (yay!), the nursing line followed.

My favorite Elin top during the launch of
LATCH's Snuggle Wuggle Wee

LATCH Breastfeeding Support Sessions

As a LATCH peer counselor, I have to be honest that I haven't been doing as much one-on-one counseling as I would like.  Counseling takes time and because I am a working mom, I have decided to limit my counseling activities to emails or phones or SMS as I can be with my kids while counseling others.
Becoming a good counselor takes practice and experience though and this is something that I am sorely lacking in.  Hence, one of the projects I wanted was to have actual breastfeeding support counseling sessions.

Did you get carried away? The F.A.B. Babywearing Fair

What a Saturday!  The tropical storm Santi was within the Philippine jurisdiction and we had 2 events happening that day!  The first activity was LATCH's Save the Best for LATCH which I will post about separately.  This was followed by the F.A.B. Babywearing Fair - Get Carried Away!  Friday night, I was really worried about having to cancel especially since we had paid a non-refundable fee to the venue and supplies.

Fortunately, Santi decided to leave the Philippines earlier.  Weather significantly improved and by Saturday afternoon, it was just drizzling.  Since everything was booked and set-up, we decided to push through with the event.

A low cost lactation clinic in the Philippines?

This merits a special post.  I am writing this post to support Kalusugan ng Mag-ina, Inc. and help them obtain funding from Grand Challenges Canada to establish a low cost lactation clinic in the Philippines.  One of the criteria is vote-garnering using a 2-minute video.

The video voting period is from 12 September 2013 until 15 November 2013.  We need your help!  Here is the write-up of Dr. Lei Alfonso, project proponent:

We need your help to be heard Breastfeeding saves lives. While it is free, our mothers and babies need a supportive environment to receive its full benefit. Our proposed solution - A LACTATION CLINIC that will provide a low-cost, evidence-based, and community-based breastfeeding support for mothers. Increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding impacts newborn and infant survival. 

You can vote by visiting this link:
http://applications.grandchallenges.ca/en/viewVideo/28735E6AA3EC3CB5D1B5B03A

short link - http://bit.ly/votebreastfeeding

Then click "LIKE".

I cannot overemphasize the need for trained counselors who are easily accessible by mothers.  With this project, I hope that dream will become a reality.  I have seen Dr. Lei in action and I know that she has the capacity and capability to make this happen.

Will you help?  Please vote, share the link and spread the word!

Edit:  Please note "LIKE" is not enough.  There must be public interaction so please register and comment.  Thank you!!

Do you need to eat healthy to produce quality breastmilk?

One top question that breastfeeding mothers always ask is what do they eat to successfully breastfeed.  I have previously written about the non-necessity for breastfeeding mothers to drink milk.  There are also foods e.g. galactagogues that moms can take to increase milk production and I posted about that here.

For moms with unhealthy diet e.g. loves carbonated drinks, chips, etc., the top question in their minds is whether they should just give their babies formula instead of breastmilk considering that what they eat gets into their breastmilk.  Short Answer:  Breastmilk from an unhealthy mom is still FAR MORE superior than formula milk which comes from cows.

Guest Post: Essentials for a Successful Relactation

All of the relactation stories I have previously shared refer to anecdotal experiences of the moms, wet nurses or the lactation counselor.  For this guest post, I will be sharing the story of Lan Perez.  As with Donna, Lan successfully transitioned from pure formula feeding to pure breastfeeding.

While Donna shared her own experience, Lan has not only written a step by step guide but she has also painstakingly enumerated the characteristics and traits necessary for a mom to successfully relactate.  Let me emphasize - while relactation is possible, it is not easy and the mom must be willing to throw away that bottle, be humble to accept help and milk from other mothers and be open to to change her lifestyle.

Yes, relactation is a miracle but it is not magic that can be done with a snap of your fingers.  Lan shares with us her journey and I hope this will not only inspire fellow moms but will also clarify questions or doubts about relactation.  Click this link to read more about my previous posts on relactation.
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I'm Lan Perez, mother to two wonderful kids. My daughter, Andre, is now 5 years old and was never breastfed. My son, 3-month-old Jaden, was initially mixed-fed then exclusively formula-fed. Now he is exclusively breastfeeding. This is my relactation story.

I was 24 when I gave birth to my eldest. As first time parents, hubby and I were really excited to welcome the first baby in our family (she was, after all, the firstborn and first grandchild). We bought everything we believed she would need when she came out. I thought I was prepared, but I was wrong—I didn’t know a thing about parenting. I was exhausted, and I experienced post-partum depression.

Behind the Scenes: Breastfeeding Uncovered

I can't believe that it has just been one week since Dr. Jack Newman came to Manila.  It feels like a long time ago and I am definitely ready for him to come back.  You can read about how we planned to bring him to Manila here.  For this post, I'm not going to talk about my learnings from his talk.  I'll save that for a future post.  But you can read fellow LATCHer Eliza Ypon's post about that here. 

More than 300 people registered for the Breastfeeding Uncovered symposium.  I have to say that organizing the symposium was truly a labor of love.  LATCH members stepped up and managed to run the event without any professionals or without hiring any events organizers.  I also want to say a special thank you to Benz Co Rana, Nice Print Photo and Bryan Sales for helping us document the event.

Guest Post: From 40oz. of formula milk to none!

I never get tired of hearing relactation stories.  Because we live in a formula feeding culture, I have met moms who "chose" to formula feed their babies but end up regretting this choice after a month or so.   Is that the end of their breastfeeding journey?  Happily, I can confidently answer NO!  If adopted moms and grandmothers can breastfeed babies then moms can successfully undergo relactation.  However, it is not easy and it will take a lot of hard work and determination.

Metro Manila moms are lucky that there is a center - Arugan Creche - where moms can successfully learn how to relactate from experts in the breastfeeding field - Velvet Escario-Roxas with lactation masseuse Rechilda Talle.  The relactating mom also needs support from other moms in the form of donated breastmilk, to ensure that the baby will not go hungry while the mom builds up her supply.
For this guest post, I would like to share the story of Donna Marie Bondoc who painstakingly chronicled her relactation journey in hopes of inspiring other formula feeding moms that breastfeeding is not a lost cause.

Breastfeeding: The Bond of Love

Since 2009, my husband Stanley Ong has been personally photographing breastfeeding mothers in support of my advocacy.  He has seen me weather difficulties with N, literally cry over spilled milk and wrestle with my acrobatic breastfeeding babies.  He also also experienced the joy seeing me nourish his children as well as enjoyed sleeping soundly at night without having to prepare bottles for them.

Busy Breastfeeding Promotion Month 2013

My favorite month of the year is coming up.  August is Breastfeeding Promotion Month and there are several activities lined up for this month!  This will be a long but informative (I hope) post.  I've collated different activities from various groups.  Please contact the organizers directly if you are looking to join one of the listed events.

Guest Post: Relactation is a Journey from the Heart

One of the practices that we are taught during our L.A.T.C.H. peer counselor training is the concept of YIELD. As breastfeeding peer counselors, LATCHers are the first line of breastfeeding support that mothers contact when they get discharged from the hospital. However, we do know that there are other counselors who are more experienced than LATCHers and hence, we are humble to admit our limitations and will yield to the more experienced counselor.