On Sunday, lots of of Filipino moms concurrently nursed their babies in public places, some two at a time, in a government-backed mass breastfeeding drive geared toward combating child deaths.
About 1,500 women, some wearing tiaras and superhero T-shirts, sat on the vast floor of a Manila stadium and let their babies nurse to the beat of dance music.
“Breastfeeding is love. It’s hard, but we do it out of affection,” said Abegirl Limjap, a 38-year-old pregnant property manager in a “Super Mom” superhero costume, as she nursed her two sons, one aged five and the opposite 11 months old.
The aim of the annual event is to drum up public support for a government campaign to get more moms to modify to breast milk as a substitute of infant formula, organizer Rose Padua told AFP.
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund recommend that babies be given breast milk throughout the first hour after birth and exclusively breastfed for the primary six months.
But globally, three in five babies aren’t breastfed early, putting them at greater risk of death and disease, two UN agencies said in a report earlier this yr.
According to WHO data, in 2016 within the Philippines, 27 children per thousand died before the age of 5.
WHO and UNICEF estimate that about half of Filipino children initiated early breastfeeding in 2013, a slight difference from 46% in 2003.
“It’s an uplifting moment,” said mother Joyce Balido, 29, as she hugged her four-month-old daughter during a mass breastfeeding event.
“In the beginning, it was very difficult to secure the milk supply. I am sleep deprived, but I have committed to exclusively breastfeeding my daughter,” added Balido, an engineer.
Sixty-one other mass breastfeeding events were held in other Philippine cities over the weekend, said Padua, the organizer of the event.
She said the country was on target to beat last yr’s tally of 4,775 breastfeeding moms across 25 events.
Source: AFP | Jakarta Post Office | Inquirer
