Thank you Estee Lauder for this Sibling Date

My sister and I are one-year apart and are very close.  In our home in Davao, although we had separate bedrooms, we never slept apart.  Both of us slept in my bedroom until we moved to Manila for college.  We only started using our separate bedrooms now that we each have our respective families.  

Learn this October - breastfeeding and babywearing!

Just like that, the last quarter of the year is here!  Because I had an office seminar for 3 weeks in September, I felt that the month slipped by.  

October is equally busy!  There are several learning events that you can attend this month.  We will be celebrating October 5-13 as International Babywearing Week and the Filipino Association of Babywearers have organized a babywearing fair! 

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: Breastmilk to Fight the Big C!

This is a post that is too good not to share.  Often, talk about breastfeeding benefits is focused around the mother or the nursing baby.  However, there are other family members who can also benefit from the goodness of breastmilk.  This guest post is written by a new mom, Elizabeth Yang Medenilla, who has been breastfeeding her child for just about 2 months.   What makes her story unique is how Beth utilizes her excess expressed milk.  Read her story below:

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My breastfeeding conviction started even before I met my husband. A couple of years ago, a friend gave birth and she shared to me the costs of milk formula weekly. I remember telling myself, I will never buy a can of that expensive cow's milk when I can make human milk.

When I got pregnant, I armed myself with all the information I can get my hands on. I also attended seminars about breastfeeding and a friend added me to the Breastfeeding Pinays forum. Then came the day of my baby's birth.

We planned on delivery NSD (natural spontaneous delivery) and without anaesthetics since I was allergic to so many medicines. But our baby had other plans - he had double cord coil and our ob-gyne decided to call for an emergency CS. The ENC protocol was implemented as per my birth plan, 1st latch : baby was too sleepy, attempt failed.