Happy Holidays from Chronicles of a Nursing Mom

I'd like to share this painting entitled "Savings in a Bao" by Norma Belleza from my employer's painting collection.

This was used by Claire's group for their Christmas card this year. As Claire shared, "the culture of breastfeeding and culture of saving are both depicted in this wonderful work of art." Thank you for posting this Claire! As Dr. Mianne says, truly the art of breastfeeding!

Happy Holidays everyone!

HMO and breastfeeding friendly pedias

image from http://user.pa.net/~nrwing/hmo/

The search of a breastfeeding-friendly pediatrician is a challenge to every nursing mom. No pediatrician will say that they are not breastfeeding friendly. Instead, it is up to the mom to find out if their pediatrician is REALLY an advocate or a "poser". This is why I highly recommend that moms (and dads!) interview prospective pediatricians for their children as early as the second semester of pregnancy. Instead of being limited to the partner of your ob-gyne, why don't you take time to determine if Dr. xxx will be match for your family. You can check tips in my previous post on finding a breastfeeding-friendly pediatrician.

If finding a breastfeeding-friendly pediatrician is already a challenge, much more so is finding one that is accredited with a health care or health plan. One of my office perks is a health plan for my beneficiaries (e.g. Naima and Stan). However, I was limited with my choice of doctors, as my preferred pediatricians for Naima were not included in the plan. I asked a doctor-friend why it was so difficult to look for a good doctor who was accredited with a health plan. According to her, health plans do NOT treat the health providers well, which is why a lot of preferred doctors are not included in the "accredited doctors" list of your health plan. Doctors get paid merely P150-P200 pesos per consult! After four years of medical school plus another 2-4 years of specialization, what doctor will agree to P150-P200 pesos per hour?! Perhaps new doctors who have yet to build a "patient base" would do so?!

So what do I do? I still go to my preferred doctors and pay out of pocket. But I also maintain a "health card accredited" pediatrician so in case Naima needs to go through a procedure, I can get a referral from the accredited pediatrician so the procedure is covered.

That said, my sister was quite lucky to have found a health care card accredited pediatrician who was breastfeeding friendly. However, one disadvantage here is the queue and the waiting time - which is anywhere from 1.5-3 hours! Luckily, they live near the doctor's clinic and are able to go home after getting a "waiting number".

Anyway, if you are still in search for a breastfeeding friendly pediatrician, L.A.T.C.H. has compiled a list. Please don't ask for xxx health plan or health card accredited pediatricians though as L.A.T.C.H. does not have that. Instead, just be resourceful, call the doctor's clinic and ask them directly if they are accredited.

Kindly note that list is not being published as it is constantly being updated, after receiving reports or feedback from moms who have been referred to these listed doctors. You can email L.A.T.C.H. though and ask for a list of breastfeeding friendly doctors in your preferred hospital/clinic to be emailed to you. L.A.T.C.H. however asks that you do not publicize the list emailed to you for reasons stated above. Instead, if your friends or relatives ask you for referrals, you can just refer them back to L.A.T.C.H. so an updated list can be emailed to them.

Milk Banks, Milk on Motorbikes and BPA-free bottles

Benz' milk stash for Laya

Remember the FB milk sharing group Eats on Feets (we have a Philippine chapter!)? Well, it has gotten both praises and criticisms. But the good thing about this is that it has made the US FDA sit up and take notice of the dearth of milk banks in the USA. Locally, the main milk bank we have is that of UP-PGH while other milk banks available are the PCMC and Fabella (where you can buy breastmilk for P200 per 200ml. Check out my post about milk banks in the Philippines here.

Dr. Jessa Sareno of the UP-PGH milk bank has raised that sometimes they have mothers who are willing to donate but are unable to bring their milk to UP-PGH. I'm sure she'd be interested in this news about volunteer bikers transporting milk for the National Health Service in the U.K. Wonder if any of our local biker groups are willing to take on this advocacy?

Finally, Massachusetts is the newest addition to the list of US states to ban BPA in bottles. Canada was the first country to ban BPA, followed by the European Union. Are you using bottles to feed your baby? Have you checked if they are BPA-free?

Ideal Workplace Lactation Room

My office already has 2 lactation rooms. Although they are not our ideal rooms, we're happy that management took time and resources to outfit our office with 2 rooms. We are working towards the

establishment of a third room in another building. Sometime in June, a reader, Bing emailed me and shared that her office will be moving to a new location with a lactation room and she was being given to opportunity to "outfit" the room on behalf of nursing moms! Lucky her!

In one of my email groups, the moms came up with a wish list of items they want in their lactation rooms. I chose my own wish list and split it into needs and wants

Naima's Triple Treats!

My online store is having a promotion for Naima's 3rd birthday. Last 2 days remaining. Please read promotion details HERE. Just a reminder - we will closed from Monday, 20 December 2010 until Monday, 3 January 2011. Orders must be completed by Sunday, 19 December 2010 for shipping on Monday, 20 December 2010. We will re-open on Tuesday, 4 January 2010. Happy holidays everyone!