Breastfeeding: The Bond of Love

Since 2009, my husband Stanley Ong has been personally photographing breastfeeding mothers in support of my advocacy.  He has seen me weather difficulties with N, literally cry over spilled milk and wrestle with my acrobatic breastfeeding babies.  He also also experienced the joy seeing me nourish his children as well as enjoyed sleeping soundly at night without having to prepare bottles for them.

He knows how short a breastfeeding relationship is and how memories of this time will be cherished.  Thus, he has made it his promise to me to immortalize this relationship by offering breastfeeding photographs.  I am very proud of him because even if he is a male photographer, I believe that he is the one who has photographed the most number of breastfeeding mothers in the country!  No matter how a mom looks like - big small, tall short, etc., Stan believes that every breastfeeding woman is beautiful and he aims to capture and share such beauty of breastfeeding.

This year, Stanley teamed up with my good friend Jonie Cheng of Mamaway Philippines to present this photo exhibit:

Jonie and her sister Jaydee started distributing Mamaway in 2009.  I've written about their first store here.  Mamaway Philippines has recently opened their second branch in Shangri-La Plaza.  The grand opening of the Shangri-La Plaza branch will coincide with breastfeeding month and what better way to celebrate the event than with a photo exhibit of lovely breastfeeding moms in Mamaway clothing.

This was a marathon shot because all 18 moms were photographed by Stan in a span of 4 hours.  I am proud of Stan's work! Given limited resources and limited time, I believe each photograph is a masterpiece! :D

The mom on our poster is my breastfriend Kate Demetrio.  She is a Nutrition Officer of the National Nutrition Council, an attached agency of the Department of Health.  We always share notes about breastfeeding issues in the country and I am really happy that she is part of the NNC.  I know that she is a breastfeeding advocate and will really push for the conversion of the Philippines into a breastfeeding nation.

You can see the 18 beautiful breastfeeding moms in the slideshow below.

 

Happy Breastfeeding Promotion Month!  Thank you again dear Stanley for embarking in this project.  Let's plan for 2014! ;)