Breastfeeding Calendars for 2011

It's that time for the year again - for the hunt for new calendars! I was hoping that L.A.T.C.H. would be able to have its own breastfeeding calendar but events last year (Ondoy flood) cancelled those plans and this year, well, we were busy with other things. But - my husband has taken breastfeeding photos of several L.A.T.C.H.ers and I hope this calendar does become a reality soon!

Meanwhile, here are some of the breastfeeding calendars you can choose from for 2011.

Velvet & Vo'Gel

Top of the list would be Baby Milk Action's IBFAN 2011 Breastfeeding Calendar. Pinay breastfeeding advocate Velvet is featured in April 2011, with her then 1-year old daughter Vo'Gel. Each calendar is available for GBP9 (about 630pesos) for delivery outside the UK.

Another lovely calendar is The Beauty of Mothering calendar which is a collection of images of breastfeeding mothers and babies, paired with breastfeeding quotations and lunar cycles. The calendar costs USD$14.99 plus shipping of $4.99 within the US. I'm not quite sure if they ship internationally.

Over at Cafe Press, I found 2 interesting calendars. The first is a vertical wall calendar costing AUD26 made by Birth, Breastfeeding & Babywearing is more of a motherhood calendar of abstract images of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.

The second calendar is from Cafe LaLeche's Breastfeeding & Advocacy Shop. This calendar costs AUD23.50 and is filled with pastel paintings of nursing mothers and their babies.

Another Australian calendar is from the Australian Breastfeeding Association costing AUD16.95. What I love about this calendar is that it includes images of fathers (not breastfeeding of course :D) and families which were chosen from shots submitted to the Association.

Like the Australian Breastfeeding Association's calendar, the Sonoma County of California's 2011 Breastfeeding Calendar also comprises of submitted images from the Sonoma County 12th Annual Photography Contest for Positive Images of Breastfeeding. However, I don't think the calendar is available for online purchase although if you are from Sonoma County, you can get the calendar in 2011 at local community clinics, health provider offices and the Sonoma County's Public Health Office. There is also the breastfeeding calendar from the Prairie Village (Kansas) La Leche League Association which is their fund raiser for the fall. The calendar costs USD$18 and documents a "beautiful year of breastfeeding all age children, pumping and babywearing." Finally, Bosom Buddies of Mid-Essex has a 16-month calendar (July 2010 - December 2011) called The Breast of Essex to support the launch of East England Breastfeeding Framework. The calendar costs GBP5 and can be purchased through Paypal.

With all the variety of calendars available, you can certainly have 1 new calendar for almost each month of 2011! I would most likely buy IBFAN's calendar. Which one would you choose?

Ameda Elite Review and Blog Contest!

Congratulations to our winners!

Katherine Sicat

Cheng Duran

Laura Merwin

Thank you everyone for joining the giveaway!

I will email the winners for details on how to claim their certificates.

===========================

My first experience with the Ameda Elite was because of Naima's jaundice/hospital stay. In Naima's hospital, moms could use the hospital-grade Ameda Elite pump to express milk for their sick babies. The Ameda Elite is attached to a stand that is wheeled over to the mom and is parked inside the baby's room for the duration of the hospital stay. The hospital also gave me two sets of flanges to use during the stay (and bring home).

Let me go over the features of the Ameda Elite pump and why I love this pump.

Long-Term Use

I bought my Elite off Ebay for about $275 back in October 2008. I had been back to work for about 3 months and got tired of lugging my portable Lansinoh (*see note below) to and from the office. According to Ameda's website, the Elite has "perfect engineering for long-term use, including establishing and maintaining milk product". The Elite is generally for hospital use but moms with preemies or multiples also usually purchase the Elite for home use.

In my case, my Elite was used from December 2008 - December 2009 - daily pumping (except weekends) for about 4 times, gradually winding down to once a day. My Elite is now with my sister who started using it in January 2010 and still uses it until now. I have to emphasize that since I purchased the from Ebay, it is a used item (previously owned by a hospital) so I'm not sure how long ago the Elite was purchased. However, according to my sister, it still works great until now. Compared to my Lansinoh portable pump, I will definitely say that the Elite is more durable and better for exclusively pumping moms wishing to establish and maintain milk supply.

*Note: If you are wondering why I bought Lansinoh pump when I used Ameda Elite in the hospital, it was because Lansinoh Double Electric Pump and Ameda Purely Yours (the portable pump of Ameda) used to be both manufactured by Hollisters. Lansinoh costs $125 (even $105) at Amazon while PY costs $150. Babymama carries both Lansinoh and Ameda PY pumps.

Custom Control

The Elite has two dials - one for vacuum and cycle. Vacuum refers to the strength of the sucking while cycle refers to the speed. There is no automatic setting as you start the pump by turning on the dials. According to Ameda, the purpose of the separate dials is to let "mothers 'follow their flow' to find their own most effective pump settings every time, and like a breastfeeding baby, achieve a "multi-phase" experience. Indeed, some days, I find myself putting the cycle on high while the vacuum stays low while some days, both are on high speed. Customized controls allow the moms to have complete control of her pumping experience simply through a slight turn of the dial. The Elite also allows you to single or double pump - which is quite helpful, especially if my daughter just nursed on 1 boob.

Powerful but Silent

I have pumped with a sleeping baby, sleeping siblings and husband, sleeping brother in law - all in the room - with the pump not raising any peep! Very quiet - a huge difference from my Lansinoh pump. The airconditioner and electric fan are noisier! You can hear the piston moving back and forth but that's about it - no motor sound at all. And despite being whisper quiet, it is one powerful pump with vacuum strength from 30-250mmHg and cycle speed of 30-60 cpm! When using my Lansinoh, I usually set the cycle/vacuum dials to full speed. But with the Elite, cycle is around 3/4 while the vacuum is midway. At my peak, I used to get a total of 4-6oz from both breasts with regular pumping intervals. I also love that the suction is not painful since I am able to adjust the strength to a tolerable level.

Power and Weight

Since my Elite was bought in the US, it needs to plugged on 110volts - so make sure that you tape the plug to a transformer - lest it be mistakenly plugged into our standard 220volts outlet. It also comes with a car adapter - which you plug into the lighter receptacle if you need to pump in your car. One disadvantage I can think of is the size and weight of this pump. The pump weighs about 6 pounds and with the carrying case, it is the size of a document box - about 5x9x12 - definitely not something you want to be lugging to and from work every day! If that is an issue, then you would be better off purchasing Ameda's Purely Yours pump - which is more portable.

Maintenance and Other Features

The Elite itself is very easy to clean. I just wipe it down with baby wipes at regular intervals. Meanwhile, since my pump was purchased 2nd hand, I had to purchase the flanges and milk collection kit. However, the purchase of a brand new Elite includes 1 set of HygieniKit Milk collection system. This is also another great thing about the Elite - moms can safely share 1 Elite pump, as long as each mom has her own HygieniKit.

In laymen's terms - the HygieniKit consists of 2 25mm breast flanges, 2 silicone diaphgrams, 2 120ml bottles, 4 white valves, 2 adapter caps, 2 silicone tubings, 2 lock-tight bottle caps plus instructions! Whew! That looks like a long list of equipment for this pump - but it is there for a reason! Ameda touts its HygieniKits as being "the world's first milk collection system with a Proven Airlock Protection barrier" - which means that the diaphragm keeps the air from your pump from coming in contact with the milk! Indeed - I've never had to clean the tubing of my Ameda (and Lansinoh pumps) as neither milk nor moisture has ever gotten into the tubing.

Also, don't be overwhelmed by the number of parts to clean! Check out my tips on how I cleaned pump parts while expressing milk at work.

What moms need to be concerned of when using the HygieniKit though would be those white valves. Just a little tear on those valves results in a drastic change in suction and resulting milk output! This is why there are 4 valves included in the kit, although you only use 2 at a time. I highly suggest that moms keep extra valves on hand. Some valves last me 3 months only while the longest I have used valves without changing would be 8 months.

The Elite also comes with 2 bottle holders which are perfectly sized for the Ameda collection bottles but are too big for my Snappies. When using the Ameda bottles, you won't have to worry that your bottles will topple over, resulting in spilled breast milk (wah)!

~~~~~~~~~

I am excited to announce that the Ameda Elite is now locally available at an introductory price of P50,000 through Babymama! As the authorized dealer, the Ameda Purely Yours pumps come with a 1 year warranty while the Ameda Elite has 3 years warranty. Plus, Babymama carries not only the Ameda pumps but accessories as well!! To celebrate the launch of Ameda in the Philippines, Babymama is sponsoring this blog contest with three winners! Each winner will get a Php1,000 gift certificate which they can use for their Ameda purchase over at Babymama.

How to join this contest?

To enter, fill out the form below. You can also get extra entries (total of 4 entries) by:

1. Becoming a fan of Chronicles of a Nursing Mom and Babymama on Facebook.
2. Tweeting this giveaway (copy and tweet this: @crazydigger Win a Babymama P1000 Gift Certificate http://bit.ly/9DzFZx)
3. Blogging about the giveaway (please leave a link to your blog entry)

You only need to fill up the form once, as long as you filled up the relevant boxes. For example, if you like the pages, become a fan and blog, you need to fill up all the boxes in the form for your entries to count. I know that this is a bit tedious but it helps me validate the entries correctly.

This contest is open to readers within the Philippines and the certificates will be shipped to you using local courier. Contest will end on 4 December 2010 at 11:59PM. Names of winners will be posted in this entry and will be contacted by email. Please respond within 48 hours – otherwise, I will choose another winner. Three winners will be chosen using Naima tambiolo.

Now, go enter the contest!!

Operation Foster Milk and Eats on Feets Philippines

When Naima was younger and my milk was plentiful, I used to donate milk to various persons/organizations, foremost of which is the UP-PGH's Milk Bank. I recently received an email from Dr. Jessa Sareno asking for milk donations for their NICU babies.

Dr. Jessa is one of the fellows at the PGH Neonatology Unit. I asked her why they had so many patients needing milk and I was wondering where the mothers were. She shared that usually, the mothers are discharged before the babies and go home - often to the South, e.g. Cavite. These moms are asked to express milk at home then visit their babies daily so they can leave the expressed milk and directly nurse their babies.

Sadly, however, the moms are unable to scrape up enough money for even just the jeepney fare to PGH. Thus, it often takes a week or so before the mom can come back to visit her baby. I would also imagine that even if moms are asked to express milk at home, most of them are not able to do so because of lack of storage facilities or the need to go back to work (with no milk expression time/facilities) to provide for the needs of their other children. Thus, the never-ending request by the UP-PGH to ask lactating moms with excess milk to donate to their milk bank.

Meanwhile, for moms needing breastmilk, I was able to get some information about Fabella Milk Bank. You can purchase milk from their milk bank at the cost of P400 per 200ml. However, breastmilk is not always available as this depends whether they have ward mothers donating breastmilk. The milk is pasteurized and tested. Before you can buy however, you need to bring a medical abstract of your baby. The ward mothers are eager to donate breastmilk because donors receive a huge discount off their hospital bills. Sometimes, they only pay P50! To get in touch with the Fabella Milk Bank, call 734-5561 local 156.

Finally, because of this blog, I have been receiving numerous requests for milk and offers of excess milk. I had previously toyed with the idea of having a milk share page, where moms can meet up to discuss milk requirements - but never found the time to do so. I stumbled upon the Eats on Feets Global Network and with the help of the global founder, Emma Kwasnica, I was able to set up Eats on Feets Philippines - a facebook page. The Eats on Feets GLOBAL network chapter pages provide an online space to facilitate woman-to-woman milk sharing. Through this page, moms can post their requests and offers for milk and hook up with one another. I'm still looking for an administrator and if you're interested in becoming an administrator of this page, please do contact me. Check out the press release sent out by Emma early this morning:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :


CONTACT :
Emma Kwasnica
Eats On Feets GLOBAL
(514) 656 1560
Montreal, CANADA
http://www.facebook.com/emma.kwasnica
emma.kwasnica@gmail.com



World's Largest Breast Milk Sharing Network Spreads Across Facebook: "Eats On Feets" Goes Global

Within a matter of days, women around the world have mobilized on the social networking site Facebook to organize an international, woman-to-woman milk sharing network. Human milk is for human babies, and formula-feeding is associated with risks to both the mother and infant. Women today are aware of this fact and are taking their life-sustaining power back into their own hands --they are now converging on Facebook to freely share their breastmilk with one another.

Montreal, Canada, November 7, 2010 - The announcement last month from internet health guru, Dr. Joseph Mercola, of his plans to launch his own brand of powdered infant formula onto the US market, has spawned the Eats On Feets GLOBAL breastmilk sharing network. In retaliation against yet another needless and harmful artificial breastmilk substitute to hit the market, mothers on Facebook from around the world have come together to take a stand for infant health. They have now established the world's largest human milk sharing network, an initiative spearheaded by Canadian lactating mother and passionate breastfeeding activist, Emma Kwasnica.

The "Eats On Feets" name is the brainchild of Phoenix, AZ midwife, Shell Walker. A mother to young children in the '90s, Walker and her friends had this thought: "Hey, why don't we just become wet-nurses? Instead of 'Meals on Wheels', we can call our business 'Eats On Feets'." Walker took this idea and made it a reality in July, 2010, when she created a Facebook profile page under the same name, and began a free, community-based breastmilk sharing network for mothers in Phoenix. She has since been successful at matching up local women who have an excess, or are in need of, human breastmilk.

Meanwhile, Kwasnica has also been using her personal profile page and her large network of international birth and breastfeeding activists on Facebook, in order to match up human milk donors and recipients around the world. One such story involves a fellow Canadian friend, living in Bandung, Indonesia; the school teacher and single father to a newborn son wondered if he could source human milk for his baby instead of feeding his son a powdered breastmilk substitute. Aware of his situation, Kwasnica put the call out to her vast network via a simple status update on Facebook, and a breastfeeding peer counselor in a neighbouring city in Indonesia responded. A string of lactating women on the ground was assembled to provide human milk locally for the infant boy. Now three months old, this baby has never tasted anything other than human milk.

The announcement of Dr. Mercola's plans to market formula was the final catalyst that spurred Emma Kwasnica on to convene with Shell Walker and launch Eats On Feets GLOBAL. Regarding the inception of this initiative, she states: "Shell Walker is a friend and the midwife in Phoenix, AZ who came up with the name 'Eats On Feets'. She graciously allowed me to use her catchy name in order to launch the global initiative: a woman-to-woman, grassroots milk sharing network here on Facebook. As for Dr. Mercola, he should be injecting his burgeoning wealth into breastfeeding support, not trying to make more money off a product that is harmful to infants and their lifelong health."

With the help of nearly 200 women online from the global mothering Facebook community, the initiative has taken off. Donor and recipient milk matches are being made right now all over the world on the pages of Facebook. There are now 87 Eats On Feets chapter pages spanning 18 countries (a quick Facebook search for "Eats On Feets" yields dozens of results). This movement is proof that Facebook can, indeed, be used for the good of humanity. By encouraging the biologically normal way of feeding babies, and reviving an age-old practice of human milk sharing, it is clear that social networking has the power to revolutionize infant health.



ABOUT Eats On Feets GLOBAL - The Eats On Feets GLOBAL network chapter pages on Facebook provide an online space to facilitate woman-to-woman milk sharing. We assert that women are capable of making informed choices and of sharing human milk with one another in a safe and ethical manner. Eats On Feets GLOBAL does NOT support the selling or corporatism of human breastmilk.

For a current list of all of the Eats On Feets chapter locations in operation around the globe, or to find your local Eats On Feets Facebook chapter page, please see this document at the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/EatsOnFeetsGLOBAL

To listen to the radio show podcast (from October 30) where Emma Kwasnica discusses the events that lead to the launch of Eats On Feets GLOBAL, and how the ethics of Dr. Mercola were the catalyst for this initiative, visit: http://kopn.org/archive and click on "Momma Rap".

-###-

Update: 3/24/2011

Eats on Feets Philippines is now Human Milk for Human Babies - The Philippines. Check out the Facebook page for milk offers/requests. To read why there was a name change, click this LINK.

Anyone in the same boat?

Baby Blues - 5 November 2010

Images of Breastfeeding

Two weeks ago, I got into a discussion with a colleague about the Philippine Daily Inquirer headline below showing breastfeeding moms at Fabella hospital with the caption "Too Many Mouths to Feed".

She was quite bothered by how the images of breastfeeding in the Philippines was always linked with poverty. It was ironic how that banner photo was matched with a headline on the controversial RH bill. I typed "breastfeeding" and "philippines" in the image search of Google and check out the photos I got. Most were actually photos of mothers at Fabella Children's Memorial Hospital, such as the photo below of a nursing mom taken on 24 September 2008.

L.A.T.C.H. is currently working on a project to change the image of breastfeeding. Meanwhile, I came across this project by the United States Breastfeeding Committee. They have been contracted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "to create a library of images of how communities across the U.S. support breastfeeding mothers and babies." Once completed, I think this will be an excellent resource for images for breastfeeding promotion.

I've never thought about the images of breastfeeding in the Philippines. I have always encouraged my husband (who takes maternity/newborn/children's photographs) to always ask his breastfeeding clients if they'd like a breastfeeding shots. I feel that getting this shot is a excellent memento of each mom's breastfeeding relationship with her child. But most of these photos are private - although L.A.T.C.H. has used some photos in our projects (with permission of course).

How do you think breastfeeding has been portrayed in the Philippines? Would you or do you have a breastfeeding photo of you and your nursling?