The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Formula company influence over breastfeeding campaign back in the news - with a new twist.

Some of you may remember seeing the breastfeeding public awareness campaign from a few years back.  Many of you probably don't because it was so mired in controversy that virtually no one saw them. 

The campaign's TV spots featured images of pregnant women riding mechanical bulls and log rolling.  There were also some posters, billboards, and radio spots.  I'm showing a few of the posters here.  Part of the controversy had to do with the ads themselves, since they were the first to talk about the risks of not breastfeeding, versus the benefits of breastfeeding.

But the larger controversy had to do with the formula industry's intervention in the campaign.  This was pretty big news in 2004, and I remember seeing a very pointed piece about it on 20/20.  Thanks to Dr. Jay Gordon, who is interviewed in the story, you can see the 20/20 story here. I hope you'll watch it all the way through.

This issue is back in the news now because of the oversight that Congress is doing in response to accusations, made by former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, that the Bush administration stymied his efforts to promote public health when that agenda ran afoul of the administration's political friends. 

Last week the Washington Post ran a story retelling the ad campaign debacle.  It goes beyond the 20/20 story in identifying the political connections of the lobbyists hired to water down the campaign.  It also points out that during the years when the ads ran the formula industry increased its advertising budget from $30 million to $50 million.  Advertising is very effective for the industry; the CDC reported this year that the percentage of women who say that formula is just as good as breastmilk nearly doubled from 1999 to 2003.

But here's the part of the story that caught my eye:  the Post alleges that the administration has sought to quash the distribution of a recent report which quantifies the reduction in risk of certain diseases and conditions for mothers who breastfeed.  Or, put another way, the increase in risk for these conditions for mothers who don't breastfeed.  The report states, for example, that breastfeeding is associated with a 36% reduction in the risk of SIDS.  It's a really good report, and I've mentioned it here, and here.

I had heard that there was some pressure on the department not to publicize this report, but was shocked to read what the Post had dug up:

In April, according to officials and documents, the department chose not to promote a comprehensive analysis by its own Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of multiple studies on breast-feeding, which generally found it was associated with fewer ear and gastrointestinal infections, as well as lower rates of diabetes, leukemia, obesity, asthma and sudden infant death syndrome.

A top HHS official said that at the time, Suzanne Haynes, an epidemiologist and senior science adviser for the department's Office on Women's Health, argued strongly in favor of promoting the new conclusions in the media and among medical professionals. But her office, which commissioned the report, was specifically instructed by political appointees not to disseminate a news release.

Wanda K. Jones, director of the women's health office, said agency media officials have "all been hammering me" about getting Haynes to stop trying to draw attention to the AHRQ report. HHS press officer Rebecca Ayer emphatically told Haynes and others in mid-July that there should be "no media outreach to anyone" on that topic, current and former officials said.

Both HHS and AHRQ ultimately sent out a few e-mail notices, but the report was generally ignored. Requests to speak with Haynes were turned down by other HHS officials.  [my emphasis added]

I probably shouldn't be surprised, but I was.  This is a David and Goliath (or Godiva vs. oatmeal cookie) fight, and you don't have to know much to know that money talks.  It just still amazes me that anyone could justify keeping information like this from the public, for the sole purpose of making more money. 

It would be nice to win one for mothers and babies one of these days.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Click here.

Congratulations to Motherwear's poetry contest winner, and an extension of the semi-annual bra sale.

Congratulations to Gina Jones, winner of Motherwear's Fall 2007 poetry contest.  Gina is a Motherwear customer and the nursing mom of two.  Her poem appears in Motherwear's Fall catalog, and she's won a gift certificate.  You can read other great entries here.

                       a promise was made from the start

                                   to give my child only the best

                    i wanted to form a special bond

                             that could never be broken by anyone

                        i nursed my child from day one

                  with confidence, with comfort, and style

                              all with the help of Motherwear.

And in case you're in the market for nursing bras, Motherwear's semi-annual bra sale has been extended through today (August 31, 2007) Monday, September 3, 2007.  Check it out!

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Click here.

Breastfeeding news from the past few weeks.

Here are some breastfeeding news items from the last few weeks:

New York has a new law requiring employers to accomodate mothers who pump at work.  New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed a bill which requires employers to provide break time for mothers to pump, and make reasonable efforts to provide a private place for pumping. New York joins California, Oregon, New Mexico, and other states which have similar laws.

U.K. may adopt breastfed-norm growth charts.  The U.K. reportedly is close to adopting the new WHO growth charts which use the pattern of breastfed babies as the model of infant growth.  The hope is that these charts will provide a fair evaluation of babies' growth, which for years has been measured against the growth pattern of fomula fed babies - a practice which often led to supplementation of breastfed babies and poor identification of formula fed babies at risk for overweight and obesity. 

Applebee's restaurant learns about Kentucky's NIP law.  The mother of a seven month old baby was told that she would need to cover up if she wanted to feed her baby in a Kentucky Applebee's restaurant.  The mother had with her a copy of Kentucky's law protecting her right to nurse in public.  A spokesperson for the restaurant says that they have no policy against nursing in their restaurants, but stated that it should be done "modestly."  He also accused her of having "an agenda."  The mother is planning a nurse out protest at the restaurant.

Moms Rising targets National Board of Medical Examiners and Congress with petition.  Moms Rising has started a petition aimed at getting the National Board of Medical Examiners to provide break time for pumping for its candidates (a problem brought to public attention by one Boston Ph.D/MD candidate), and in support of the federal Breastfeeding Promotion Act.

Only one in five mothers experience breastfeeding-friendly hospital policies.  A new study estimates that only one in five mothers experience five simple hospital practices to proven to increase breastfeeding duration.  They include providing information on where to get breastfeeding help after discharge, "rooming in," not feeding babies supplements, prohibiting pacifier use, and initiating breastfeeding within an hour of delivery.

University of New Mexico launches its Breastfeeding Support Program.  UNM launched its Breastfeeding Support Program, which includes multiple pumping locations on campus, some with hospital grade pumps, and a website with great resources for university families.  The New Mexico legislature and Governor recently passed a law requiring employers to accomodate mothers who pump at work.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Click here.

Sesame Street had it going on.

Be sure to watch until the end!

Book review: Sleeping with Your Baby - and a copy to give away.

I have a copy of this book to give away.  See the bottom of this post to learn how to enter to win it.

Dr. James McKenna's new book, Sleeping with Your Baby (Platypus Media, 2007) begins with a quote from D.H. Winnicott: "There is no such thing as a baby.  There is always a baby and someone."

This value runs deep in Dr. McKenna's book and his research.  He is the director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, and the nation's expert on what happens when mothers and babies sleep together and apart.  His website has some fascinating clips of how his research works. 

The inspiration for this book was the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2005 policy on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  This revised set of recommendations on preventing SIDS contained good news and bad news for those who advocate safe co-sleeping.  The AAP, for the first time, recommended that babies sleep in the same room as their parents, proximate to their beds.  But the AAP also stated that sleeping in a parent's bed was hazardous.  That recommendation prompted Dr. McKenna to write Sleeping with Your Baby.

Dr. McKenna's book is one part passionate defense of co-sleeping, replete with research but still highly readable, and one part guide to safe co-sleeping.  He devotes a chapter to the benefits of co-sleeping to the breastfeeding mother and baby, and also addresses issues of intimacy between co-sleeping couples.  One of my favorite sections is on how other mammals sleep. 

Two central arguments that Dr. McKenna makes are that co-sleeping is normal, and that under the right conditions it is better for babies than solitary sleep.

Normal?  Around the world and historically, of course.  But normal now in the U.S.?  Before you say no, consider a fact I learned from a presentation by the CDC at the ILCA conference last week:  44% percent of babies from 2-9 months old are cosleeping in an adult bed at any given time.  So while you may not hear your friends and family admit it, the data say that it is indeed a normal practice here and now.

Sleeping with Your Baby is full of examples of how co-sleeping under the right conditions is good for babies (better body temperature, less apnea-associated types of sleep) and better for mothers (better sleep, ease of breastfeeding).  He addresses some of the typical objections to co-sleeping and in each case makes a point of separating fact from opinion.

Dr. McKenna is careful to point out that co-sleeping should not be done under some conditions.  Parents under the influence of alcohol or drugs, for example, should not sleep with their babies.  Waterbeds, obese parents, smoking, and heavy bedding are among a number of other factors which should not be present when bedsharing.  Interestingly, he does not recommend sleeping with preterm babies.

To me, one of the most intruiging things about this book is that it points out how far we strayed from traditional methods of infant care in the last century.  In the post-WWII era parents were instructed to 1) put their babies on their stomachs to sleep, 2) formula feed, 3) put their babies in separate rooms for sleep.  Smoking during and after pregnancy was common.

Today it's clear that these practices increase the risk of SIDS.  As I've noted before, breasteeding alone, according to a recent federal study, is estimated to reduce the risk of SIDS by 36%.  Dr. McKenna quotes a study showing that the risk of SIDS doubles when a baby is put to sleep in a separate room.  In fact, as Dr. McKenna points out, SIDS is virtually unknown in countries where these "modern" methods of childrearing were never adopted. 

Sleep in separate rooms and formula feeding runs directly counter to the way babies have been raised for thousands of years - a system I think we can safely assume evolved for the protection of the species.  So, where did these recommendations come from?  Dr. McKenna describes his process of uncovering the answer to that question:

We learned that infant care recommendations were not based on empirical laboratory or field studies of human infants at all, nor on cross-cultural insights as to how human babies actually lived.  Rather, they were based on 70 or 80 year old cultural ideas, uniquely Western and historically novel, mostly reflecting the social values of male physicians who not only had never changed a diaper, but had never - in any substantial way - associated with, or taken care of, their own infants.  These were essentially middle-aged men who preferred to define babies in terms of who they wanted the infants to become, rather than in terms of who they actually were - little creatures who are very much dependent physiologically, socially, and psychologically on the presence of the caregiver...

The more we delved into these areas, the more we discovered that the prevailing wisdom had no basis in science whatsoever.  This discovery changed my career.

It seems to me that, as parents, our responsibility is to try to make informed decisions about how to raise our children.  Isn't that all we can really do?  So if you're trying to decide where your baby will sleep, read the AAP policy, talk your friends who have co-slept, chat with your doctor, and also read this book.  Whatever you decide, you'll hear an important and underrepresented perspective from a man who truly knows what happens when we sleep.

I have a copy of this book to give away.  Send me an email by 8 pm EST on Tuesday, August 28th, and I'll do a drawing and notify the winner by email.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Click here.

I'm back!

I’m back from a great trip to California, my fomer home state. 

My first stop was in San Diego, where I attended the annual ILCA conference (the International Lactation Consultants Association).  From there I headed to the Bay Area to visit my parents.

At the conference I got to meet Cate Colburn-Smith (picture to right), co-author of the book The Milk Memos, chat with my instructor Gini Baker, and even was lucky enough to sit at breakfast with Dr. Jack Newman (picture below left with my friend Joanna)!  I got to meet and hear Nils Bergman who pioneered the concept and practice of ‘kangaroo care’ for premature babies.  And to the lower right is a picture of Jerrell, who works at the ILCA headquarters, wearing a t-shirt given to the handful of men attending the conference.  It says, “REAL men go to breastfeeding conferences.” 

 

One of my favorite presentations were one on hormonal causes of low milk supply, given by Lisa Marasco.  Without getting too geeky on you, I’ll just say that the talk made it clear that there are many, many unanswered questions about how things like environmental hormonal disruptors (pesticides, chemicals leaching from plastics, other toxins) affect breast development and the process of lactation.  We also still know far too little about how common conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome and hyperthyroid affect milk production.  It was a fascinating, frustrating discussion. 

 

Another very good talk was on the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, given by Marta Trejos from Costa Rica.  She talked about Costa Rica’s efforts to prevent the marketing of formula, and how, when a mother chooses formula over breastfeeding, it can mean that a family spends as much as 75% of their income on formula.  When this happens, she says, the other children in the family often eat just one meal a day.  She talked about the tragic consequences of the distribution of formula after natural disasters like floods, when clean water is often unavailable for safely preparing formula.  Finally, one mind blowing comment suggested that as the U.S. negotiates free trade agreements with Latin American countries, laws preventing aggressive marketing of formula may be headed for extinction.

 

Here’s something for you guys to noodle on:  One of the presenters pointed out that when the lactation consultant exam was first given in 1985, the vast majority of the candidates were “community-based,” primarily La Leche League leaders.  This is probably because the lactation consultant profession grew out of La Leche League.  In the last few administrations of the test, the ratio has flipped; now the vast majority come from other health care professions, predominantly nursing, and only 5% came from the community.  This likely has to do with the number of clinical hours required to be eligible to sit for the exam, and also the fact that most jobs in lactation are in hospitals.  What does this mean?  I’m not sure.  It could mean that more hospitals are recognizing the value of specialized breastfeeding support.  It could also mean, as I've heard, that breastfeeding is becoming increasingly "medicalized."  Your thoughts?

 

After the conference I headed up to the Bay Area to visit my parents for a few days.  It was a relaxing end to the trip.  I spent an afternoon at Fort Funston (picture at top left) with a very good friend, did some shopping (I always have really good luck at the thrift stores there), and visited the very impressive Filoli estate with my mom (picture to the left).

 

It was a great trip, but I'm happy to be home!

 

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed?  Click here.

Guest post: Amanda on when to wean.

Today I'm happy to share a post from Amanda, who writes about her struggle to decide if it's time to wean - after a long battle to make breastfeeding work.

 

I've been breastfeeding my firstborn for 351 days, and among other milestones just around the corner (first pair of shoes, first haircut, first birthday cake sugar binge), I'm faced with the question of when to wean.

 

I never dreamed I would be in this position.  Hell, I never dreamed I'd be pregnant.  I have to say, life has gone along really wonderfully for me, so even though I've wanted children since I was a child, I always worry that the next lifelong dream I've held will somehow not happen for me (luck has to run out at some point, right?). 

 

So my husband and I found a Caribbean island we loved and I came home with a souvenir.  During the 9 months we waited for him, I didn't think much about breastfeeding.  I thought I'd try and if it were too challenging, I'd just formula feed - no big whoop.  I knew there was the idea that it could be hard, but had no idea why.  No one ever spoke about bad latches and infected areola cracks that would take 9 weeks to close (ow).  No one ever spoke about nipples that turned white and burned so badly that you wouldn't be able to sleep (vasospasms).  No one ever spoke about shared infections that would make your baby not want to eat and cause searing pain in your entire breast (thrush).  No one ever spoke about a mother whose ample body supply (read:  fat hips and thighs) didn't make enough milk to nurture their own baby.  No one ever spoke about the ineptitudes of the medical community in having any information, help, or expertise about breastfeeding or basic breast health (the 10+ professionals I tried).

 

Crazily, I persevered.  I became one of those "breastfeeding at all costs!" zealots I mocked in the past (and, now that the drama is over, mock a little bit again).  The first 6 months sucked.  They really did.  But as soon as we started solids and things like oatmeal slowed down my son's metabolism enough for him to absorb the nutrients from my milk, he began to thrive.  The emotional impact, though, of those bad months leaves me nursing in month 11 with nagging doubts still.  Am I making enough milk?  Will it last?  If he sleeps through a feeding, will my supply go away?  (Note:  He weighed 23 lbs at his 11.5 month appointment last week - I need to get over it).  I work full time - from home, mainly so I can nurse - and the impact it's all had on my life is both overwhelming (the good way) and heartbreaking (both).

 

So when do I wean?  My original goal was a year.  For the first 6 months, I thought about quitting at EVERY nursing session (approx 1,500 times by my count).  In 13 days, we're at goal.  We currently nurse 5 times a day.  I have a horrible toenail fungus that I can't treat and am overdue for a colonoscopy.  It's not socially acceptable to nurse much longer.  Do I listen to the mainstream forces and start the aggressive process now, or do I listen to the zealots and plan on breaking into his 3rd grade classroom to nurse him after lunch?

 

It's interesting that the most private of relationships become fodder for everyone's judgement.  Why should my relatives care what Sam and I do privately?  Is it because none of them have had this experience that they fear it?  Do they apply unrelated sexual feelings to our nursing?  And on the other side of that coin, why should my breastfeeding friends and acquaintences judge me for initiating weaning rather than letting Sam self-wean?  I'm all for the attachment parenting way of life, but this is a relationship I've fought tooth and nipple to achieve - can't I also decide that it's time for some Mommy time (and a few medical procedures)?

 

I know what the answer is.  I have to learn that I'm a mom and the choices I make have to be what's best for my son.  I did that at the beginning, when everyone's "supportive" comments through the thrush and Raynaud's and low supply were "Oh, just give him some formula."  I realized then that this is just about Sam and me and no one else will understand our relationship.  Honestly?  I don't want them to.  Part of what makes this relationship beautiful is that it's OURS.  I'm finally enjoying nursing my son and I'm not sure that I'm ready to let that go.  I'm also still feeling anxiety about nursing my son and would love to alleviate that.  Is there an answer?  Sure.  We'll figure it out.  But we'll do it ourselves - whether I lead or he does.  Cher once defended judgement of her character by saying (I paraprhase) that the only people she answers to are herself and God.  My boobs answer to me and Sam. 

 

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed?  Click here.

The ninth Carnival of Breastfeeding: Learning to Let Go.

Welcome to our ninth carnival of breastfeeding!   This month's theme is 'learning to let go.'  Be sure to check out the links to other bloggers participating, shown at the bottom of this post.

When I returned to work at the end of my maternity leave, one of my colleagues, a mother of three boys, handed me a copy of a Cathy cartoon. 

It showed Cathy talking to an exasperated looking woman at work.  The woman is listing off all of her anxieties about returning to work and leaving her children.  She’s worried that she’s a bad mother, that her kids are being poorly cared for in day care, about her ability to perform at work.  In the last picture Cathy says something like, “That really puts the ‘which color lip gloss’ question in perspective.”

My colleague said that someone gave that cartoon to her on her first day back at work, and she’s given it to every mother she knows on their first day back. 

The funny thing is that, on that first day back, I didn’t feel that conflicted at all.  When I left that morning I kissed both my son and husband goodbye.  My husband had elected to take a leave from teaching after our son was born and stayed home with him for a year and a half while I worked.

So I had none of the fears of mothers who leave their children with caretakers outside their families.  Of course I missed my son, and felt some guilt about not being home, but I also knew that this was the right arrangement for us, for a number of reasons:

My husband is an incredible father, and I knew that this time would forge a bond between them.  I liked my job, and feared that I would sink into a depression if I were to stay home.  My husband relished the challenge, and I loved the idea of our son having a model for a male caregiver.  It made financial sense.  My employer was remarkably flexible, allowing me to take time off in the down time, and giving me no grief at all about pumping at work.

My husband and son were regulars at all the town mommy groups.  He called up moms so regularly to set up playdates that one of them called him a "park slut."  He could talk milk storage, cloth diapers, and homemade babyfood with the best of them.  It was a challenging, joyful, frustrating, wonderful time for the two of them, and I know that we wouldn't have done it any differently.

After that year we both began working part time, and continue to share the care of our son when he's not in school.  The schedule keeps changing as our lives change, but it all seems to work out.

I think about that Cathy cartoon a lot.  Not because it resonated with me, but because I know that it does for many other women.  I think that at the heart of the "Mommy Wars" is a simple lack of understanding - and compassion - for the fact that what works for some doesn't work for others.  We all struggle with the same questions, and the solutions we find are naturally different.  Perhaps more importantly, these conflicts distract our attention from the larger societal problems that constrain all of us - like our abysmally short and unpaid maternity leave, and the undervaluing of the work of caring for children.  Like the mom in the Cathy cartoon, we all struggle with how to be mothers, and each of us has to find our own way.

So, for some other great perspectives on what it's like to leave your baby in the care of another (or at least try to!), check out these posts from our contributors this month:

• Jessica at Hepatitis Epi writes about "Letting Go."
• Rebekah at Momma's Angel writes about "Letting Others Love Her."
• Amy at Musings of a Crunchy Domestic Goddess writes about "Leaving Ava for the First Time."
• Sinead at Breastfeeding Mums contribues "Can't, Shan't, Won't...but Must!"
• Laura at The Joyful Mom writes about weaning in her entry "Help my Heart."
• Angela at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 writes about "Alternatives to Babysitters for the Breastfeeding Family."
• Colleen at My Baby and More shares a poem about trusting your instincts as a mother.
• Andi at Mama Knows Breast writes about learning her work and parenthood limits.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed?  Click here.

Guest post: Kat on when a nursing problem isn't a nursing problem.

Today I'm sharing a contribution by Kat, who writes about another mother and her struggle to make breastfeeding work in the face of poor weight gain and lack of support from her pediatrician.  I'm curious what you think about the conclusion to the story. 

 

Mrs. Smith gave birth to her sixth child in May.  Having never successfully breastfed she vowed this time would be different. Baby Abby was a natural, nursing eagerly from the delivery room.

 

It soon became apparent that things weren't going to be so easy. Abby wasn't gaining weight.  Her pediatrician scolded Mrs. Smith at every weigh in and refused any help she requested.

 

Mrs. Smith knew in her gut that something was terribly wrong.  The doctor insisted that the only thing wrong with Abby was that she was being denied adequate nutrition - nutrition readily available on the supermarket shelf.

 

At 2.5 months old, Abby was a mere pound above her birth weight and her mother was again scolded by her doctor. He insisted that she give the child formula, and told her that if Abby didn't gain a certain amount he would diagnose her as failing to thrive.  "I'm your doctor," he said, "and I'm putting my foot down."

 

Obviously upset, she went home and gave her daughter her first bottle of formula. She had no choice.  Failure to thrive surely meant she was a bad mother.  Bottle after bottle, she shrugged off her instincts and mourned the loss of the one thing, she felt, that made her Abby's mother. She was overcome by guilt and sadness.

 

Two weeks later she returned to the doctor and placed the baby on the scale with anticipation.  The scale's digital readout read 7 lbs 1 oz.  The baby had lost one ounce.

 

Certainly there was a mistake! She tearfully waited in the exam room for the doctor to come in. "Did you give her formula?" he asked. Mrs. Smith nodded yes.  The doctor, angry at her apparent refusal to follow his directions, checked the baby over.  When he listened to her heart a puzzled look grew on his face.  A heart murmur!

 

As it turns out, the doctor had always been so certain that Mrs. Smith was damaging her child by breastfeeding that he had failed to listen to Mrs. Smith's suspicions that something else was wrong. Abby didn't fail to grow because she was breastfed; she failed to grow because her heart was severely deformed.

 

Abby's mother spent the next few weeks syringe feeding her baby what little breastmilk she had while Abby underwent surgery at the hospital. The hospital staff assured her that breastmilk was "nature's miracle drug" and the best thing she could do for her daughter. They encouraged her to hold Abby skin to skin, to have her suckle and snooze at her mother's breast often. Abby recovered and left the hospital in record time.

 

Abby and her mother now enjoy a wonderful breastfeeding relationship with the help of supportive and tireless medical staff, who assisted in building and maintaining the milk supply that had so severely dwindled in the weeks of formula. Abby is a happy, thriving one year old who was given a special gift from her mother and her hospital caregivers - the gift of breastmilk.

 

Shortly after returning home, Mrs Smith received a letter in the mail from her pediatrican.  It read: "I just didn't know. I had always blamed breastfeeding first, to think of it as substandard to a substance that I could see and calculate.... Thank you and your daughter for teaching me far more about the needs and rights of a mother and child better than medical school ever could."

 

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed?  Click here.

Guest post: Alexis on her breastfeeding role models.

Today, I'm happy to share a post by Alexis, a mother and employee of UNICEF Philippines.  Alexis' office produced the film "Formula for Disaster."  Here she talks about her breastfeeding role models.

Last week I met the Philipppines' first ever "idol of breastfeeding,” Tessa Prieto-Valdez. Tessa is a fashion designer, columnist and socialite known for her flamboyant outfits. She also comes from the wealthy Prieto clan, who controls one of the largest newspapers in the Philippines, the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I was surprised that Tessa is quite diminutive, even smaller than me, that her first-born is 20 years old, and that she has quite a sense of humor. She said, “I never imagined that my small breasts would ever take center stage!”

It may seem strange that the Philippines would need to have a breastfeeding “idol,” but having breastfed two children and currently breastfeeding my 11-month-old baby, I can see the wisdom in it. Breastfeeding is no longer commonplace, and the media only shows bottle-feeding as the normal way to feed a baby.

I owe some of my breastfeeding success to mothers who have modelled breastfeeding for me. I would like to dedicate this post to them, my very own breastfeeding idols:

Victoria, my sister.  Vicky became a mother when she was only 20 years old and I was 15. Being the last-born child, I thought babies were alien beings, but through Vicky’s motherhood, I first fell in love with babies. Vicky produced copious amounts of breastmilk. She leaked through diapers, towels and anything else that she placed on her chest. I didn’t know it then, but this image was a powerful one for me. You see, Vicky and I are similarly endowed (that is to say, not well-endowed), and her nursing experience planted the idea in my subconscious that I, too, could produce a lot of milk.

Melen, former Executive Director of the Council for the Welfare of Children. Years before I even thought of marriage and motherhood, I attended meetings with Melen. In a few of them, Melen brought her baby and nursed her right then and there, in front of everybody, without apology, without a thought. Melen’s example showed me many things: that working women could breastfeed; that breastfeeding is something to be proud of; and, most importantly, that babies and their Moms should stay together as much as possible.

May and Mian, my UNICEF colleagues. When my fiancé and I were attending our pre-marital seminars at the City Hall, we saw a poster of a breastfeeding mother and child. It was May and her baby. May, who had four babies in four years, always gushed about having babies naturally and breastfeeding them. Mian also had natural childbirths and, in fact, was the one who introduced me to my ob-gyn when I was looking for someone who would let me give birth without drugs. Mian brought her babies to office outings, meetings and official trips even to Southern Philippines. May and Mian taught me that breastfeeding was one of the best things about motherhood, and that we could combine breastfeeding with our work in UNICEF. If there’s a will, there’s a way.

As a breastfeeding Mom, and one who works, I feel a responsibility to show off my breastfeeding. I nurse in public – at the mall, in Church, at work, on the street. I declare a little too loudly to the building security that the big black bag I am carrying is not a laptop but a breast pump. It’s important for other women to see breastfeeding as natural, enjoyable and doable even for a working Mom.

One of the best compliments I’ve ever received was when Yas, a woman I work with in the UNICEF-assisted media advocacy project, said about me, “She’s my breastfeeding model!”

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed?  Click here.