PGH-NICU Will Go To Cainta

PGH-NICU is going to Cainta on Friday for cupfeeding breastmilk to flood babies. As of 5 PM today, there were 42 liters of breastmilk donated. More donations are welcome. Volunteers are needed to help cupfeed the babies (and for wet nursing). Please contact Thess, Tina or Grace at 5548400 local 3409 for more info and to register for the breastfeeding drive.

There's a Manila Chapter that will meet at PGH at 6 AM Friday and a QC chapter to go to Cainta directly.

Please help spread the word WE NEED MORE BREASTMILK. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS SUPPORTIVE OF BREASTFEEDING.

Please repost!!!

Get Volunteering

Since school is out anyway, and cable is erratic, and your kids may be bored out of their minds, go and do volunteer work with them.

You can go to PGH, Red Cross, Caritas Manila, Ateneo... in fact, any big school or Church in your area. The internet is also replete with information on where to go and where you may be needed. This is a perfect opportunity to teach them about involvement and nationalism, about environmental and health issues, about breastfeeding and why it's most important.

You don't need to memorize the Encyclopedia Brittanica, have millions to give away, know the best acne treatment or have the ability to conjure up food... you just have to care and give of your time and energy.

Breastfeeding Moms: Help Please

Calling all breastfeeding mommies out there... your life-saving breastmilk is needed! The Medela House is open till 3pm today for milk donations. You can pump here and store in our bags. These donations will be given to PGH and will be made available to children at the different evacuation centers. While you are at the Medela House, you can also drop off any relief item you may have (food, clothes, towels, blankets, shoes, slippers, etc.) as we will be donating these at 3pm to the Xavier School to assist them in their relief efforts. Finally, MedelaMoms is looking for partners as they subsidize the cost of their disposable cups. If you want to donate cups (that will be used by volunteers to cupfeed babies in the different evac centers), contact us at 0917-5614366 or 7386272. We accept bank deposits. A cup will be P30 each only for this worthy cause. We will be accepting donations till 3 pm only. Dr. Silvestre (head of Milk Bank unit in PGH) will be collecting all donations after 3pm. Thank you!


ADDED:

Those who can't make it today, you may deliver your milk to:

1. Dr Zeka Tatad-To, 38 San Miguel Court, Celery Drive, VV5. (contact: tatadto@gmail.com, 0917 8886288)

2. Dr Mi-Anne Silvestre, 17F Greengrove Villa, Lantana Road, New Manila

3. PGH Lactation Unit, 4F Central Block (contact: 5548400 local 3409, look for Thess, Tina, Grace)

If you need the milk picked up, please coordinate with Dr Zeka.

Thanks so much, Bfg Mommies!!!


*~*

It saddens me that I never regularly pumped so I really cannot donate breastmilk, especially now that my Yakee is only nursing for sleep once or twice during the day.

And as much as I want to be a wet nurse, my hubby is against it (he is fearful i'd bring Yakee diseases) and I have to respect his fears and feelings because he has been nothing but supportive of me.

A Mommy's Power

I know, it's not really something to be abused and be proud of... but sometimes, it really makes me smile that I am the most important person for my son. That just being slightly threatened that i'm coming up without him sends him into a flurry of action, jumping off his Pappie's lap and flinging his arms wide open, saying "carry, carry" (well, more, "ke-yi" really).

But with great power comes great responsibility (hello Spiderman). So it's also my task to be the first to applaud and acknowledge and smile. It's my task to calm him down, explain him things and pretend to understand his babble. It's my task to care for him and nurse him back to health and allay his fears. My arms always has to be open when he needs a hug. And I should be the last to reject him or deny him affection. I should be the last person unavailable to him.

Breastfeeding and Disasters

Eventhough my son is not an infant anymore, part of my relief during the trying weekeend was the fact that he is a breastfed baby. When he slipped in the floodwater and I was scared that he drank some and would get sick soon, part of me consoled myself with the fact that offering my breast will give him some sort of protection because of the antibodies and probiotics in it.

And whenever I hear on the news a plea for help because people with an infant were trapped on a roof somewhere, I pray silently... "Please God, let the baby be breastfed."

And now, there are 300,000 displaced, people who may not have a home to return to anymore to receive their holiday cards in. How many of these are babies? How many of them are breastfed? What if they are given formula without clean bottles and sterile water? Would the poor know how to properly make one? Would a scared refugee follow the specifications in the can if she's not sure where and when to get the next one? And when you're stuck somewhere and didn't breastfeed, you've just ensured that your baby will suffer possibly dire consequences.

I worry.

Maybe it's not yet too late to call some radio station later to voice this out.

*~*

Studies show that in disaster situations non-breastfed infants can be 50 times more likely to need hospital treatment than breastfed infants, and they are much more likely to die. Breastfeeding a vital disaster response: Are you ready?

*~*

The Importance of Breastfeeding During Natural Disasters

Breastfeeding saves lives in emergencies

Breastfeeding and Calamities

Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency REsponse

Breastfeeding and Emergency Situations

Breastfeeding: A crucial priority for child survival in emergencies

Rebecca Gayheart: Pregnant and Smoking

After the video leak of her and hubby McSteamy plus that Miss America, all naked and all high, I can't say am surprised that Rebecca gayheart is pregnant AND smoking. But of course, it's one annoying thing to have somebody popular doing this in public because campaigns being made against such a thing get invalidated somehow.

See Rebecca in all her pregnancy glory. I hope her child burns her for this.

Read up on Pregnancy and Smoking.

A Mommy Thing

Do you guys notice one of the quotes in my sidebar that goes something along like, "Jacket: Something a child is made to wear when his mother is feeling chilly." I love that quote because it's so true.

Every night, we sleep in an air-conditioned room. And every night, I wrap my body in my malong because I feel cold. And I struggle with my son all night, every night, because he goes around the bed, sleeping in different positions. I can't stop myself, I have to put a blanket on him, usually sharing mine (because he's slept on top of his). But that would cause him to stir in his sleep and start kicking the blanket off. The minute he feels the blanket on his feet (which I wanted to keep warm in the first place), he'd wake and protest.

But I simply cannot bear the thought that his feet will get cold (even if they're not).

And though I have been looking for those sleeper suits that come with sock-like portions, I also really don't want to use any for him because he tends to play some first before bedtime. That would just result in many slips and tumbles for my over-active child.

So every night, we have this blanket struggle dance.

Good thing we don't need an electric blanket in this tropical climate, huh? Then again, maybe if it's that cold, he'd let Mommy do the blanket thing.

Oh, and it's not that he doesn't like being warm because he absolutely forces his father to the wall sometimes, because he likes snuggling close to his Pappie.