Of moms and milk

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AUGUST is National Breastfeeding Month so we take this opportunity to stress once again that “breast milk is still best for babies.” It is good that the Department of Health and non-government organizations such as the Breastfeeding Ilonggas (BFI) based in Iloilo City are actively inculcating this in the minds of women, especially mothers.

But despite the active campaign, many mothers are still feeding their babies with infant formulas. A World Health Organization study showed that in the Philippines, some P2.7 billion a year is spent to infant formula. As a result, 20 percent of infant deaths in the country can be due to inappropriate feeding, including the use of baby formula.

Breastfeeding advocates said powdered infant formula is not a sterile product and the presence of enterobacter sakazakii in powdered milk formula is an emerging health concern. Some infant formula products have been recalled from the market for containing bacteria and microorganisms. Children who did not breastfeed are prone to sickness, the same study said.

Despite this screaming fact, many mothers still prefer to feed their babies with infant formula? Why?

Lawmakers were able to come up with a Breast-Feeding Act of 1992 (Republic Act No. 7600). Under the law, public and private hospitals are required to practice rooming-in – the practice of placing the newborn in the same room as the mother from the time he or she is delivered up to the time he or she is breastfed and eventually discharged.

Unfortunately, this is the only thing the law could offer to lactating mothers. Lawmakers failed to consider that mothers are also working and they only have 60-day maternity leave, not enough time to sustain the baby with breast milk. Medical practitioners recommend that infants have to breastfeed up to two years.

Mothers are very much aware of the advantages of breastfeeding their children. Aside from health reasons, economically they can save up to P2,000 a week if the child is solely dependent on mother’s milk. But even if the lactating mother spends her two-month maternity leave breastfeeding her infant, it will eventually stop when she returns to work.

One of the obstacles to breastfeeding at work is the unavailability of breastfeeding facilities in many offices as claimed by many working mothers in a feasibility survey. There is no doubt the government has been actively campaigning for breastfeeding but it will prove futile if there is no participation of the private sector, especially employers.
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