Guidelines on How to be Exempted from Setting Up Lactation Stations

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has issued guidelines on how companies can escape be exempted from setting up workplace lactation stations.   You can read Department Order 143-15, series of 2015 HERE.  You can also read the Guidelines below.   Thanks to Claire Mogol for tagging me.

BPOs and lactation periods

Hello World! It's been a while. I have a lot of things I want to write about but reality got in the way.  I've taken on a more challenging role at my day job and the blog suffered.  However, the desire to write about breastfeeding and help fellow breastfeeding mothers is still there and is calling out.  So here I am trying to blog again.  Anyway, if you have specific questions you want to be answered, shoot me an email - latch[dot]jenny[at]gmail[dot]com and I will do my best to answer.  Please note also that I may choose to publish the query and reply in my blog - anonymously unless the writer prefers to be identified.

Quick Guide to Breastfeeding Challenges

Sorry, sorry... life has caught up with me! I really haven't been blogging much as I've been focusing on my day job, kids, Mama.Baby.Love and replying to email/text questions of breastfeeding/babywearing/cloth diapering moms.  I'm cleaning out my draft posts (yes, I have numerous!!)  and I found this post which I initially wrote as a comment to another page.  I can't remember if this comment was published -- yes it has been that long!  So I decided to edit it a publish it in my blog.

GCDC Philippines' Guinness attempt

Hooray! We qualified for the 2014 Great Cloth Diaper Change Guinness attempt.   This year's event was held at the Blue Leaf Events Pavilion and would not have been successful if not for our partnership with 2 mommy groups - N@W and MCNP.

Thanks to Benz of N@W, we were able to secure a wonderful venue - Blue Leaf's Jade Pavilion!  Incidentally, this Sunday, the Blue Leaf will be hosting "The Big Banquet" - a food-tasting event by the top caterers of Metro Manila.  Click here for tickets.

Photo by Nikz Dizon

Will you join us at the Great Cloth Diaper Change 2014?

I first became involved in Real Diaper Week in 2012 through several small pocket activities.  Last year, we tried to join the Guinness attempt to break the record for the most cloth diapers change.  However, we were not able to register on time and did a commemorative event instead.   This year, we had a longer time to plan and organise.

Together with Next9, TickledMoms and parenting communities N@W and MCNP, we will be joining the Great Cloth Diaper Change on 26 April 2014 and attempt to break the Guinness world record of most cloth diapers changed!

Help the Arugaan mission for Haiyan victims this April

Posting this for Arugaan:

Last Dec 2013 and Jan 2014, Arugaan with 29 BESTeam (Breastfeeding Experts Support Team) went to 10 municipalities/city in Leyte/Samar areas badly devastated by typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan. We have covered more than 6,000 mothers-babies/young children in more than 200 barangays. We did breastfeeding counseling, breastfeeding empowerment, mother-baby friendly tents, hot meals for the mothers and young children, etc etc.

What if your company/employer does not want to follow RA10028?

My employer does not want to provide lactation periods/lactation stations.  What is our recourse as breastfeeding and working mothers?

I have several posts on the rights of breastfeeding mothers who work, how to ask for a lactation policy, what an ideal lactation room looks like, etc. etc.  To read my various posts about breastfeeding, rights and work, click HERE.

My office is currently working on getting the Mother-Baby Friendly Certification - more on that in a separate post.  I'm lucky to have a supportive employer who supported our efforts resulting in the establishment of a lactation policy and lactation room.

Painting Her Destiny

I first learned about Nice So when fellow SoMom Tiffany of Breakfast with Tiffany posted pictures of her artwork in our group page.  Tiff also shared that Nice had been diagnosed with lupus.  But instead of feeling sorry for herself, she paints to support her medical treatments.

Marketing of Growing Up Milk

Earlier this week, I shared this article on my social media channels - Breastfeeding is winning! So companies are pushing “toddler milk” to neurotic parents.  I find this article very important to merit its own blog post. One paragraph in the article struck me most:

Often, these drinks contain much higher levels of protein than breast milk or cow’s milk, health advocates say, which undercuts demand for healthy food. “When you drink a lot of formula milk, your appetite is not so good,” Ip said. That makes parents think their kids are picky eaters, she said, which then leads them to feed them more toddlers milk. These companies “are trying to solve problems they are creating,” she said.

Join LATCH! Batch 5 Recruitment

I can't believe that it has been 2 and a half years since the last LATCH recruitment in Metro Manila!   2013 was particularly a busy year because we organized a symposium with an international speaker - Dr. Jack Newman, no less.  We also published the very first breastfeeding book for kids in the Philippines - Snuggle Wuggle Wee!

Snuggle Wuggle Wee is launching this weekend!

"It's here, it's here, I squeal with glee!"

I stole that line from a project that I had been working on for LATCH since March 2013.  It has always been my dream to have more breastfeeding books for children.  Because breastfeeding brought such joy to our family, I look for this theme whenever I buy children's books for N and E.  I listed some of our breastfeeding books in my post back in 2011.  We have amassed more books since then.

An Infographic about the Milk Code

Thank you UP Pagsama: Pangkalusugang Samahan ng Mag-aaral for this Milk Code infographic.  It has been my wish that there will be something like this and you have granted it!!  You can see it on Facebook here.  But I decided to dedicate a whole blog post because the Facebook photo is so small :D  Please be informed!

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Safe Formula Feeding

During the OABPF9 Forum in Luang Prabang, I was happy to have the chance to meet Patti Rundall, one of the founders of Baby Milk Action and primemovers in IBFAN.  Her talk focused on the new marketing strategies being used by formula milk companies to promote their products.  My main takeaway from her talk however was how breastfeeding advocates are concerned not only with breastfed infants but also with formula fed infants as well. Most especially with formula fed infants - breastfeeding advocates are focused that these babies' consumer rights to a safe product is at all times met.

LATCH Breastfeeding Support Sessions

As a LATCH peer counselor, I have to be honest that I haven't been doing as much one-on-one counseling as I would like.  Counseling takes time and because I am a working mom, I have decided to limit my counseling activities to emails or phones or SMS as I can be with my kids while counseling others.
Becoming a good counselor takes practice and experience though and this is something that I am sorely lacking in.  Hence, one of the projects I wanted was to have actual breastfeeding support counseling sessions.

Did you get carried away? The F.A.B. Babywearing Fair

What a Saturday!  The tropical storm Santi was within the Philippine jurisdiction and we had 2 events happening that day!  The first activity was LATCH's Save the Best for LATCH which I will post about separately.  This was followed by the F.A.B. Babywearing Fair - Get Carried Away!  Friday night, I was really worried about having to cancel especially since we had paid a non-refundable fee to the venue and supplies.

Fortunately, Santi decided to leave the Philippines earlier.  Weather significantly improved and by Saturday afternoon, it was just drizzling.  Since everything was booked and set-up, we decided to push through with the event.

The Symbol of Breastfeeding: Golden Bow

When Stan and I were brainstorming about the poster for his photo exhibit, he asked me what the symbol of breastfeeding was.  I was stumped.  The "pink ribbon" was the widely known symbol for breast cancer however, I couldn't remember what was the symbol of breastfeeding.

A quick internet search brought me to this UNICEF page on the golden bow, which I immediately shared on Facebook.

see the golden bow?

Effects of Advertising Preschool Milk

Think that the marketing of toddler formula is harmless?  Think again.

I received this message and photo from a fellow breastfeeding mother:

My son is in preschool and they're studying the letter "M" so one of the words they're learning is "milk". I'm really disappointed that the graphic they use for the kids to associate with milk is the one shown in the attached picture. My son wasn't breastfed, but his little brother was and he knows the concept of mommy milk. I feel bad because they could just have easily used a picture of a glass of milk instead of a formula can.

Hakab Na! 2013

Last Saturday, the Philippines held its very first Hakab Na! 2013 breastfeeding awareness campaign.  I was one of the organizers of this event and you can read the background of how we planned and prepared for this event in Rappler.

Milk Code Violation: Gifts of Any Sort

The Milk Code has been in existence since 1986.  Admittedly, it is not an easy law to read and understand.  Further, despite being in force for almost 20 years, violations are still quite rampant.  I previously posted about how marketing of feeding bottles and teats can be considered a violation.  For this post, I will focus on samples and giveaways - how they violate the Milk Code.

Let me again emphasize - the law EXISTS.  What I am attempting to do is provide examples of violations to make the law understandable and more palatable to the general public.

Formula Milk Advertisements for 1-3 years old

For the past weeks, I have received several emails about campaigns by Nestle and Wyeth promoting their products.  Let me share my thoughts about them.

These campaigns refer to advertisements for follow-on milk for 12-36 month old children.




I called the Milk Code Secretariat and confirmed that it was approved by the Inter-Agency Committee created under the Milk Code.  Next question?  Was this legally approved?