Breastfeeding Month Giveaway from The Marshmallow Baby Online Shop

Lawyers are jacks of all trades! In fact, a lot of my lawyer friends are now veering away from traditional lawfirm practice.  Most are in alternative lawyering, business, photography, government, environment, surfing, blogging, etc.  I'm one example - from focusing on pleadings, opinions, my time is now on my business, family and promoting, supporting and protecting breastfeeding, particularly the implementation of the Milk Code.

I recently met another lawyer who has a successful second career.  Tina de Guzman, a development professional and lawyer, works in an NGO implementing judicial reform, human rights and anti-trafficking programs.  Together with her husband Reindl, they set up "Fluffy Pwets," the first ever hybrid fitted diapers in the country.

GCDC Philippines' Guinness attempt

Hooray! We qualified for the 2014 Great Cloth Diaper Change Guinness attempt.   This year's event was held at the Blue Leaf Events Pavilion and would not have been successful if not for our partnership with 2 mommy groups - N@W and MCNP.

Thanks to Benz of N@W, we were able to secure a wonderful venue - Blue Leaf's Jade Pavilion!  Incidentally, this Sunday, the Blue Leaf will be hosting "The Big Banquet" - a food-tasting event by the top caterers of Metro Manila.  Click here for tickets.

Photo by Nikz Dizon

Will you join us at the Great Cloth Diaper Change 2014?

I first became involved in Real Diaper Week in 2012 through several small pocket activities.  Last year, we tried to join the Guinness attempt to break the record for the most cloth diapers change.  However, we were not able to register on time and did a commemorative event instead.   This year, we had a longer time to plan and organise.

Together with Next9, TickledMoms and parenting communities N@W and MCNP, we will be joining the Great Cloth Diaper Change on 26 April 2014 and attempt to break the Guinness world record of most cloth diapers changed!

Tea Talks and Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  Today, 22 April 2013 the world celebrates Earth Day and for this year, the theme is Face of Climate Change - effects of which have been becoming more and more evident in the Philippines in the past couple of years - from Ondoy to Sendong to Pablo. 

This is the the perfect day to share the learnings I gained during "Tea Talks". If you are a regular reader of this blog, you would know that I am concerned about the environment and the impact that my family has on it.  When I received an invitation for "Tea Talks" from Dappy, WWF-Philippines and Holy Carabao, I immediately saved the date and said yes.  

Back to Back Saturday! - Cloth diapering and breastfeeding events

Saturday will be a very busy day as I will be joining 2 activities to promote practices close to my heart - cloth diapering and breastfeeding. 

I had wanted to organize a local activity to support The Great Cloth Diaper Change last year.  However, one of the requirements of last year's event was that it had to be a simultaneous activity - which meant hosting the event at 11pm to coincide with the EST time zone.  Not really feasible with babies so I scrapped that out and instead organized a series of activities to celebrate Real Diaper Week - from a blog carnival, to seminars on cloth diapers and cloth diaper drive.  

MCNP Blog Carnival: What's in our diaper bag?

This post is written for the MCNP EB/Expo Blog Carnival with the theme "The Modern Cloth Nappy: The Practical Choice for Moms Today"  We aim to share and spread the knowledge and encourage moms to switch to cloth diapers.  Please scroll below to read the other carnival posts about switching to cloth, cloth diaper styles or preferred diaper for specific times. 

With my N, cloth diapering was a part-time endeavour.  We switched to cloth when she was about 6-7 months and only during the day time and at home.  Back in 2008, there were few moms who were into cloth diapers and there was no support or information group like the MCNP yet.  I remember using Next9's first generation diapers - the velcro and sized Tushy Wushy diapers.   At that time, we were afraid of leaks and chose to go disposables at night and whenever we had to go out.

The Modern Cloth Nappy: The Practical Choice for Moms Today

I'm happy to be part of this wonderful community of mothers who are addicted to cloth diapers - Modern Cloth Nappying Pinays.  This group is a local online community aimed to promote the use of reusable cloth diapers in the Philippines.  A little over 1 year old, the group now has more than 2,500 members.  Unlike the cloth diapers used by our parents, the modern cloth nappies are anything but primitive or plain.  There are now a lot of choices and for some moms, this can be overwhelming!

The community aims to share the knowledge culled by the members from use, application, trial and error.  The community has grown and now has a spin-off group called MCNP GB (Group Buys) composed of more than one thousand members which exists solely to organize coop / group buys of various mommy and baby products.

Earthbaby - pockets and AI2s plus a giveaway!

I am a cloth diaper addict. If you look at our cloth diaper closet, you will notice that we don't have more than 5 pieces of 1 brand/kind.  This is because I really enjoy trying out new diapers and diaper systems.  This makes cloth diapering fun (and expensive!!).  When I started cloth diapering N, there were only a couple of local brands available.  When it was E's turn, I noticed that more and more local brands have been developed and are now readily available in the market.

I am excited to introduce cloth diapering moms to a new local brand - Earth Baby Cloth Diapering System.  What makes this brand unique is that it carries two types of diapering systems - a pocket and all-in-two (AI2)!  Pocket diapers are fairly common so let me focus on the AI2 diaper.

Cloth Diapering 101 on 26 January 2013

Modern cloth diapers are a lot different from the traditional "lampins" that our parents used on us.  Some may raise an eyebrow on why there is a need to hold a seminar just to use cloth diapers.  Well, there are a lot of new parents who are on the fence and unsure on how to use modern cloth diapers because of misinformation and the supposed inconvenience it brings about.

This seminar is directed to those families who are open-minded and interested to learn about modern cloth diapers.  Unlike the nappies of before, there are all sorts of different kinds - all in ones, pockets, all-in-twos, hybrid, etc. etc.  Plus there are all sorts of accessories available to make cloth nappying much easier.  

Giveaway: Baby Leaf Diapers

Today's giveaway is sponsored by Baby Leaf Diapers.

Here is a short blurb about the brand:

Baby Leaf was born out of a working mom’s desire to provide only the best, safest and baby-friendliest for her newborn. Trisha Lim – the mom behind Baby Leaf – began the business with an ideal: to get only the best-quality, all-natural and eco-friendly items for her baby.  She and her husband, Stuart, have three beautiful little girls.
The name “Baby Leaf” stands for the newness and freshness that comes with being a new parent and having a new life to care for. Just as a new leaf signifies the start of a new life, Baby Leafs envision families experiencing the newness and wonder of parenthood, with Baby Leaf providing the freshest, Earth-friendly finds.

Guest Post: Baby Leaf's Sendong Experience

Today's guest post is written by Trisha Lim, the mom behind Baby Leaf Diapers.  Aside from being a cloth diapering mom, Trisha is also a breastfeeding mom.  Trisha is based in Cagayan de Oro City.  At the height of Sendong, despite having her store flooded, Trisha stepped up and donated her breastmilk.

Trisha approached me to host a giveaway for Baby Leaf.  However, I decided to ask her to share her Sendong experience via guest post.  As you know, a very important issue that I am currently focused on is the consolidated House bill which seeks to amend the Milk Code and allow donations of formula milk during disasters or emergency.  I want to use Trisha's post to highlight that it is possible to obtain breastmilk donations during emergencies and disasters.

Meanwhile, come back on Monday to join the Baby Leaf Diapers giveaway.

Cloth Diapering 101

Missed the Cloth Diapering 101 talk last Saturday?  Don't fret! We are organizing another one - scheduled on 7 July 2012, 1-3pm still at Medela House.

This talk is something that pregnant moms and even part-time cloth diapering moms should attend.  Cloth diaper pioneer mom Jen of Next9 plus cloth diaper mom experts from Tickled Moms Clarice and Abie share their tips and insights on how to make it work.

In the meantime, you can also check out this slideshow prepared by Tickled Moms and Next9 Baby.

Going out of town with cloth diapers

This post is written for the Real Diaper Week Carnival with the theme "Real Simple. Real Diapers."  We aim to educate and advocate the use of cloth diapers in the Philippines.  Please scroll below to read the other carnival posts about cloth diaper styles, how to's or must haves. 

Prior to a planned trip to Subic where we would be spending the Holy Week, Baby E had been using cloth diapers and cloth wipes 24/7.  However, the said trip made us debate on whether to keep him in cloth diapers or momentarily switch to disposables.  We also had to consider the fact that we would be living in a friend's guest house.  We eventually decided to continue to cloth diaper him 24/7 -- and we survived!

Join our Real Diaper Week Blog Carnival

The focus for this year's Real Diaper Week is advocacy and education with the overall theme being "Real Simple. Real Diapers."  If you're interested in joining this, then I'm sure you know all about the benefits of cloth diapering and bursting to share them! I also know that there are a lot of Pinay moms who are well-versed and highly experienced in the use of cloth diapers.  Since we aim to educate, promote and inform and I'm not sure if there will be a future local cloth diaper carnival, let's try to cover as much information as we can during this carnival!
You can choose to write about any of the 3 categories below:

• Cloth Diaper How to's - how to make cloth wipes, how to remove stains, how to prep new diapers, how to survive overnights or short trips on cloth diapers, etc. etc.
• Cloth Diapering Must Haves - day-to-day essentials, when going out, when out on a trip, etc.
• Cloth Styles - talk about your cloth diaper stash, post a review of your favorite diaper brand or store, the different types of cloth diapers

If this is your first time to join a blog carnival, you can check my previous carnival posts to have an idea how a blog carnival works.  To join, please fill up this FORM.  Deadline for registration is 14 April 2012.  Posting instructions and carnival rules will be e-mailed to all participants on 15 April 2012.  The carnival will go live on 16 April 2012.  PLEASE POST ON 16 APRIL 2012, beginning 12MN.

Don't forget to email me your link once your post is up so I can include you in the list of carnival participants.

Real Diaper Week 2012

I'm pretty excited about this year's Real Diaper Week! It's actually my first time to participate.  I had previously cloth diapered N during the day but used disposables for her during the night and when we went out.  With E, I researched more, and was more experienced and currently cloth diapering him 24/7 plus we use cloth wipes, to boot!