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Monday, December 27, 2010
Happy Holidays from Chronicles of a Nursing Mom
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010
HMO and breastfeeding friendly pedias
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Friday, December 17, 2010
Milk Banks, Milk on Motorbikes and BPA-free bottles
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Ideal Workplace Lactation Room
Friday, December 10, 2010
Naima's Triple Treats!
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Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Physicians vs. Breastfeeding
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Responsibilities of Physicians:
- Counsel pregnant women on the merits of breastfeeding starting at the first encounter, and reinforced with every subsequent visit;
- Prescribe non-human milk only when there are valid medical reasons and with information on the inherent hazards and risks of non-human milk;
- Strongly advocate for the adoption of essential newborn care, rooming-in and breastfeeding standards as mandated by law.
Prohibitions on Physicians:
- Accepting gifts or any sort of material or financial inducements from manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes and other products covered by the Milk Code;
- Accepting samples of non-human milk or similar products unless approved by the DOH, nor giving out samples or gifts of any sort coming from milk companies to pregnant women, mothers, and members of their families;
- Displaying, promoting or distributing non-human milk and other breastmilk substitutes in their offices or clinics.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Milk Code Violations
The Department of Health has launched an online portal where you can report Milk Code violations! Visit this page: www.milkcodephilippines.org
Last Tuesday, I read about how religious organizations and the UNICEF teamed up in an effort to promote exclusive breastfeeding in the Philippines. I'm glad to read that these organizations recognized that their goal of improving lives and welfare of children can be done "by supporting the national breastfeeding policy as a means to improve child survival and nutritional status."
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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Do we need HB3527?
"Sec. 11. Establishment of Lactation Stations. - It is hereby mandated that all health and non-health facilities, establishments or institutions shall establish lactation stations. The lactation stations shall be adequately provided with the necessary equipment and facilities, such as: lavatory for hand-washing, unless there is an easily-accessible lavatory nearby; refrigeration or appropriate cooling facilities for storing expressed breastmilk; electrical outlets for breast pumps; a small table; comfortable seats; and other items, the standards of which shall be defined by the Department of Health. The lactation station shall not be located in the toilet.
In addition, all health and non-health facilities, establishments or institutions shall take strict measures to prevent any direct or indirect form of promotion, marketing, and/or sales of infant formula and/or breastmilk substitutes within the lactation stations, or in any event or circumstances which may be conducive to the same.
Apart from the said minimum requirements, all health and non-health facilities, establishments or institutions may provide other suitable facilities or services within the lactation station, all of which, upon due substantiation, shall be considered eligible for purposes of Section 14 of this Act."
Section 7. Not indecent exposure – No provision of law or ordinance on indecent exposure shall apply to breastfeeding an infant. A mother may breastfeed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, even if not done discreetly, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breastfeeding.
I know that advocates in other countries would be quite happy with this provision as several of them have encountered complaints/oppositions when they nurse in public. However, as I explained in the previous post, I generally have had good experiences when I nurse in public.
There is an interesting provision about the provision on weaning - Section 16, which states:
"Mothers shall be responsive to the needs of the child and shall allow their child to wean naturally. Weaning, as a personal decision to be made by each mother based on her particular family situation and individual circumstances, is recognized. Young children who nurse past their infancy have their own developmental timetables."
I'm happy that the proposed bill recognizes that weaning need not happen when mother goes back to work and that babies/children CAN nurse past infancy.
Now, let me get to the provisions of HB3527 which I don't like. First would be Section 8(d) on breastfeeding in the workplace. Under the proposed bill, "[e]mployers shall provide mothers with reasonable unpaid break time to express milk or breastfeed" Now, why would you take out a benefit which has been granted to moms in the current law? Under R.A. No. 10028, nursing employees are granted PAID milk expression time"
"Sec. 12. Lactation Periods. - Nursing employees shall granted break intervals in addition to the regular time-off for meals to breastfeed or express milk. These intervals, which shall include the time it takes an employee to get to and from the workplace lactation station, shall be counted as compensable hours worked. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) may adjust the same:Provided, That such intervals shall not be less than a total of forty (40) minutes for every eight (8)-hour working period."
Whenever I talk about breastfeeding and the workplace in L.A.T.C.H. seminars, this is the provision that I emphasize one and what I believe is most applicable and helpful to working and breastfeeding moms. So I don't understand why the proponents of HB3527 seek to remove this benefit.
Another provision that I'm not too happy about is Sec. 28 on advertising - which specifically states that advertising for products intended for infants 0-6 months shall not be allowed BUT advertising for infants 6-12 months shall be allowed upon review and approval of the IAC. This is a dangerous provision - particularly now that milk companies are very careful. In fact, you do not see a lot of advertisements for formula milk for 6-12 month old babies. With this statement that formula ads for 6-12 month old babies are allowed (albeit with prior permission of the IAC). And for sure, the IAC will be inundated by applications for ads!
Finally, I'm a bit if-fy about this provision:
"Section 6. Mother's prerogative - Breastfeeding is the most elemental form of parental care. The decision to breastfeed is the sole prerogative of the mother. The decision to do otherwise must be based on an informed choice. In health care facilities, bottle feeding shall be allowed only after the mother has been informed by the attending health personnel of the advantages of breastfeeding and how to encourage and maintain lactation. The proper techniques of infant formula feeding shall be provided only after the mother has opted to adopt formula feeding for her infant."
I believe moms should be informed that it is their RIGHT to breastfeed and to obtain information how to be successful. It is difficult to protect breastfeeding when there is such as provision saying "the decision not to breastfeed must be based on an informed choice." Determining that a mom choosing to formula feed has made an "informed" choice is difficult. How many local hospital pay lip service to breastfeeding and just tell moms - hey breastfeed without telling them how or why? Recently, I know someone who gave birth to triplets and asked to see a lactation consultant at the hospital only to be told that the hospital had none. Her pediatrician was skeptical when she said that she would be breastfeeding the triplets. If this mother chooses to formula feed, can you then say that she has been given an informed choice?
I don't think that this new bill is necessary for the success of breastfeeding in the country. The Expanded Breastfeeding Act of 2009 has good provisions which just needs to be applied. In fact, almost 9 months after it has been signed, we are still waiting for the implementing rules and regulations to be released. Maybe focus on that and proper implementation is a more worthwhile experience for our politicians.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Breastfeed Anytime, Anywhere!
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
Dental Benefits of Breastfeeding
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Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Breastfeeding Calendars for 2011
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![2011 Beauty of Mothering Calendar Inside Preview](http://www.beautyofmothering.com/calendarPreview2.jpg)
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Saturday, November 13, 2010
Ameda Elite Review and Blog Contest!
![](http://www.pumps4mums.co.uk/images/eliteLGE.jpg)
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- Becoming a fan of Chronicles of a Nursing Mom and Babymama on Facebook.
- Tweeting this giveaway (copy and tweet this: @crazydigger Win a Babymama P1000 Gift Certificate http://bit.ly/9DzFZx)
- Blogging about the giveaway (please leave a link to your blog entry)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Operation Foster Milk and Eats on Feets Philippines
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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".
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Update: 3/24/2011
Friday, November 5, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Images of Breastfeeding
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