Money Matters for Kids

As a working mom, one of the top traits I want my daughter to learn is frugality and knowing the value of money. We have started her on a piggy bank account - actually a teddy bear bank - where Stan or I give her a coin every day and she saves it up in the teddy bear bank. Whenever she tells me she wants to buy something, I ask her do you have enough saved in your teddy bear bank? And then she stops and thinks about it and says, Okay mommy, I will save up some more. I hope this will help her understand that money does not grow on trees.

Join LATCH's Peer Counselor Training

The much awaited Batch 3 Training is now pushing through!

LATCH is holding its Peer Counselor Training and limited slots are available.  Participants must attend all the sessions from 8am – 1230pm on the following dates to complete the training:

Wednesday, September 21

Monday, September 26

Wednesday, October 5 

Wednesday, October 12

The training will be conducted at 4th Floor Conference Room, The Medical City, Meralco Ave. Pasig City.  There is a fee of P1,500 to cover 4 days of snacks and lunch plus materials. 

All participants must :

1) have breastfed a child for at least a year

2)  be passionate about breastfeeding

3)  committed to volunteering at least 3 Saturday mornings in 2012 to teach in TMC

4)  must commit time and talent in August 2012 Breastfeeding Month projects

5)  willing to teach others about breastfeeding and speak publicly

Hatch & Latch

I just want to welcome my newest blog sponsor - Hatch & Latch.

Hatch & Latch was started by Helen See, a breastfeeding mom who was frustrated with the limited products available locally for nursing moms. She decided to bring in the brands and products that she used and found helpful.

Just some of the ways you can wear the convertible dress

Her brands include Maternalove, a nursing wear brand from Singapore with a fabulous convertible dress - allowing moms to wear the dress in 10 different ways from maternity to nursing. I already purchased one in blue! Helen also brought in Motherlove, an organic herbal company specializing in breastfeeding supplements that help increase breastmilk. Prices are reasonable. I previously had a blog giveaway for the nipple cream where I shared that I bought the More Milk Special Blend in Hong Kong for HKD$390. The same product is locally available for Php1,950. Other products include the NiNi Toy Bungee and MilkBands Nursing Bracelet. Their newest product is the Bellybuds which allows mom to share the benefits of prenatal music with the baby.
Do check out the Hatch & Latch website and Facebook page today!

Excess Lipase in Breastmilk

Every breastfeeding mom's nightmare is throwing out her breastmilk.  These past few months I've received several emails and texts from moms complaining about how their babies don't like to drink their expressed milk.  The culprit? Excess Lipase.

What is lipase?  Kellymom has a comprehensive explanation on what it is:

A few mothers find that their refrigerated or frozen milk begins to smell or taste soapy, sour, or even rancid soon after it's stored, even though all storage guidelines have been followed closely. Per Lawrence & Lawrence (p. 781), the speculation is that these mothers have an excess of the enzyme lipase in their milk, which begins to break down the milk fat soon after the milk is expressed. Most babies do not mind a mild change in taste, and the milk is not harmful, but the stronger the taste the more likely that baby will reject it.

Lipase is an enzyme that is normally present in human milk and has several known beneficial functions:

• Lipases help keep milk fat well-mixed (emulsified) with the "whey" portion of the milk, and also keep the fat globules small so that they are easily digestible (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 156).

• Lipases also help to break down fats in the milk, so that fat soluble nutrients (vitamins A & D, for example) and free fatty acids (which help to protect baby from illness) are easily available to baby (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 156).

• The primary lipase in human milk, bile salt-stimulated lipase (BSSL), "has been found to be the major factor inactivating protozoans" (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 203).

Per Lawrence & Lawrence (p. 158), the amount of BSSL in a particular mother's milk does not vary during a feed, and is not different at different times of day or different stages of lactation. There is evidence that there may be a decrease in lipase activity over time in mothers who are malnourished.

My own breastmilk was also high in the lipase enzyme.  We noticed that when stored in the refrigerator, N didn't have any problems taking it.  But when the milk was frozen then thawed, the milk smelled soapy.  Luckily, I had enough refrigerated milk to last N the week and all of my frozen milk got donated and pasteurized.

Effective Communication Bucket List

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (August). For this month, we join the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action in it's "Talk to Me!" theme where participants will share personal experiences, insights or recommendations in communicating breastfeeding intentions and goals to their support system. Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants."

Here's my bucket list of how you can be able to effectively communicate your breastfeeding intentions and goals to your support system.

Research
I have found that having done my own research ahead of time helps me become more confident in letting people know that I intend to breastfeed without supplements. Other breastfeeding moms have also shared to me that being knowledgeable about the benefits, problem resolutions, issues surrounding breastfeeding have made them steadfast in their beliefs and allow them to properly address the concerns raised by people around them who are encouraging the use of breastmilk substitutes.
But it is important that you get information from the correct resources. I previously shared the top books in my breastfeeding library and would like to add one more to this list - Bestfeeding by Mary Renfrew. It is currently on my nightstand and I like the way it explains and encourages breastfeeding. Review coming soon. If you don't want to buy books, go for online resources such as Kellymom, Dr. Jack Newman, La Leche League International. Again, let me reiterate - better informed = better armed!

Breastfeeding Welcome Here!

Check out these 2 excellent programs which just launched in August!  Promoting breastfeeding anywhere, the DOH Breastfeeding Check and Breastfeeding Philippines launched their respective "Breastfeeding Welcome Here" signs!

Taken from Nanay Nona's Facebook Page
Breastfeeding Philippines' Nanay Nona, Dr. Elvira Henares and Ms. Chiqui Mabanta at Corner Tree Cafe

Taken from DOH Breastfeeding TSEK Facebook Page

Establishments can choose to get the signs either from Breastfeeding Philippines or the Breastfeeding Welcome Here Secretariat.

PSA: Run for Sofia Ysabel

I received an email from Kit Cayetano about 2 weeks ako. Kit is a nursing mom of a 10-month old and wanted to share the story of her friend's baby, Sofia Ysabel, who passed away due to coronary heart disease on July 23. You can read about her story here. Sofia's mom had been expressing milk for her ever since she was born.


Before Sofia passed on, the family's runner friends organized a run for Sofia on August 27, 2011. The family has decided that the run will push through even if Sofia has passed on.

You can read about the details of the run HERE and sign up HERE. Registration is P500 and the run will be held at Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill. According to Kit, they are still identifying a beneficiary for the run. I was just reminded of so many other children with heart conditions that can be considered, namely: Anya, Chip, Lysander and Chino.
With about 2 weeks left before the event, I am not sure if they've met the 1000 runners mark. So do sign up! It's for a good cause :D

*Update - Chip passed away on August 11, 2011 and his family have decided to stop all collection efforts. Let us pray for him and his family.

LATCH Celebrates Breastfeeding Month!

It is a very busy month for LATCH as we celebrate Breastfeeding Month!!

First up is our campaign for August: Give Life, Live Life, Breastfeed!

Among the booby traps to breastfeeding is that new moms think that if they breastfeeding, they'll be stuck to their babies, at home and their partners have no way of helping them.  This campaign seeks to disprove this trap and in fact, breastfeeding not only gives life to your nurslings but allow the moms to live life to the fullest!
How? Well, check out LATCH's spread in The Working Mom Magazine's August issue!

Photos by Karen Ilagan for LATCH and Working Mom Magazine

Breastfeeding allows mom to have a "portable baby," ready for shopping, church, travel, dinner or lunch out with friends without mom having to worry about where to get clean water, where to wash bottles, did she pack enough formula for the day, etc. etc.?  Again, breastfeeding not only lets moms give life to their babies but also allows them to live their life!

Join the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival for August

Since August is Breastfeeding Month, we decided to have a special Milk Mama Diaries Carnival and adopt the theme of World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA):  Talk to me! Breastfeeding - a 3D Experience" on a more personal level.

Locally, our own Department of Health's National Center for Health Promotion has the theme "Breastfeeding: Talk and TSEK" which will be launched tomorrow, 8 August 2011.  So for this month's carnival,  we will focus on communication, as the third dimension in breastfeeding support. We are asking participants to share about how they communicated their desire to breastfeed and/or breastfeeding goals to their support system.

A Happily Ever After Story

*This is not a parenting or breastfeeding related post! :D

Last Wednesday, I coerced Stan to drive me and we braved Juaning to attend the book launch of Samantha Sotto-Yambao's Before Ever After.  Thanks to OCMominManila, we were lucky to be able to meet her at Cibo, Glorietta 4 before the crazy launch in National Bookstore in Glorietta 5.

photo from Manilamommy

Talk about 6 degrees of separation.  Turns out that Sam was married to The Painter's Wife's college friend who was the brother of my college coursemate!  Anyway, being the good students that we were, Manilamommy and I had finished the book before the coffee meet-up AND had a list of questions we wanted to ask Sam.

August is Breastfeeding Month!

It's August once again and it's time for Breastfeeding Month and there are a variety of activities scheduled to suit everyone.

First, let's talk about shopping!

L.A.T.C.H. will be a co-sponsor of this event and if you attended this event last year, you'd be sure to remember our Singing Bee-nefits Game, hosted by Buding!  And of course, since this is an "open" bazaar, you can be sure to see all your favorite nursing brands and stores - such as Mama.Baby.Love (my online store :D), Mamaway, Eden, Mothers En Vogue, Mommy Matters, Mama Au Lait and Maternalove.