Our Breastfeeding Advocacy (Hi)story: Long and still Growing Strong

Take the title of this post as a forewarning. This will be a long post and I can't help it. To share my story of how I became a breastfeeding advocate is like telling the story of my life. I consider my advocacy for breastfeeding to be the seed of my work and life:) Hope you'll find this interesting somehow...14 years ago, I became a mother for the first time. Though totally inexperienced, I was ready to apply everything I read in the books. How to swaddle, how to bathe him, how to change his nappies, how to put him to sleep, how to breastfeed. It wasn't an easy first weeks in my new role, it was tiring physically but amidst all the bustle of these days with my newborn, i found our breastfeeding moments to be the peaceful bonding moments between me and my son.Amidst these moments, specially in the beginning, I experienced challenges- nipple confusion, being unsure of my milk supply, engorgement, pumping and storing of my breastmilk, etc etc etc. During that time, there was very little support available to new mothers, i had to rely on an exchange of emails between me and the La Leche League counselor in the US. My LLLI counselor would patiently answer all my questions and assuage my insecurities. Albeit it was very helpful and comforting to have someone to "talk to" about my nursing challenges, it wasn't ideal to be relying on someone long distance and in a different time zone. These personal challenges and knowing what services and breastfeeding products were available abroad was the inspiration behind our first business venture between me and my cousin Candice. We took the big leap into mompreneurship (a term that was unheard of at that time!) and set up our own line of breastfeeding apparel called Mommy Matters. We wanted to provide moms here with breastfeeding-friendly apparel, and through our research and touching base with moms at that time, we realized that I wasn't alone in my need for support and information. So we decided to make it our mission to include advocacy work amidst our entrepreneurial endeavors.Soon after we set up Mommy Matters, we were drawn to other like-minded moms and some of the most active mompreneurs at that time, Joanna Ongpin-Duarte and Vicky Powell-Jalandoni of The Big & Small Co, Tesa & Rico Geronimo of Mommy Academy and none other than now-honorable Senator Pia Cayetano, who owned a chain of developmental toy stores then, Maxibear and Maxitoylab.Together, we formed the MOMS T.E.A.M. (Moms Towards Educated and Active Motherhood) and we started doing pocket talks for breastfeeding which eventually grew bigger and more active because of the demands and requests of our mom-attendees themselves.Our first event together was entitled "Moms in the new Millennium", year 2000 (11 years ago!) held at the Discovery Suites in Pasig. The Moms T.E.A.M. eventually started doing mall events, parenting talks, and so many other events, together and individually, and this created an active community of moms and families as far back as 10 years ago.Mommy Matters would also partner with breastfeeding support group Best Friends in Breastfeeding composed of Cris Rosenthal, who was also a doula back then, Dr. Patricia Kho, and Jane Cacacho, Abbie Yabot (now of the Breastfeeding Club), and Marnie Matta.Also part of our group was the Philippine Association for Childbirth Education, Rome Kanapi and Lin Fernando, who were pre-natal educators.  Together we would organize an event called "Celebrating Motherhood through Breastfeeding" every August, which was World Breastfeeding Month, where we would invite celebrity moms to give their personal testimonials about breastfeeding and parenting.With the 5 years that we had this event, we were able to guest moms like Daphne Osena, Christine Jacob, Suzi Abrera (with husband Paolo giving his testimonial as a Dad giving support to his nursing wife), Dyan Castillejo, Panjee Gonzales, Regine Tolentino, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Daphne Osena, Regine Tolentino, Ces Drilon.We were even able to organize a Breastfeeding Photo Exhibit with Pilar Tuason (now an in demand wedding photographer, and also the publisher of Junior Magazine, Lonely Planet etc.). Pilar, being a breastfeeding advocate herself, gave so much of her time and resources to our project.The exhibit made the rounds of Shangrila Mall, hospitals, even reaching the Senate as Senator Pia continued to push for the breastfeeding advocacy now as a legislator.Then we decided to organize the first Mommy Milkshake Marathon in 2007 with Barbizon as the producer of the event. We were blessed to find a private company take on the advocacy of breastfeeding.  More info on the first ever Mommy Milkshake in the Barbizon website here. Since then, we have organized Mommy Milkshake Run every August. The last one had 400 participants already, that's four times the number of the very first Milkshake:)Seeing the breastfeeding community growing and increasing in reach is something that really warms our hearts. Knowing that somehow we were a part of the awareness among moms on the importance and benefits of breastfeeding is truly fulfilling.  We also are ecstatic that now,  the breastfeeding advocacy is so alive and active thanks to numerous passionate groups and individuals. Now, compared to 14 years ago, there are more strong advocate groups pushing for our cause, such as Arugaan (one of the pioneer NGOs), The Breastfeeding Club (formed by Abbie Yabot of Best friends in Breastfeeding), LATCH, Children for Breastfeeding, MommySense (in Davao), including prenatal educators, Chiqui Brosas Hahn and Rome Kanapi and of course, Unicef and the Department of Health. Each group, whether individually or in joint projects, actively promotes its own projects, reaching more and more moms and spreading the word on breastfeeding.Even private companies have given much needed attention to giving support to nursing moms. Companies like Aegis People Support built a breastfeeding station in their offices launched July last year.It is rare for all of us to get together, but this event held during World Breastfeeding Month last year, was organized by SM Supermalls, through the hard work of Abbey Tomas of Protege (extreme rt in photo below) made that possible. Now I see more moms nursing in public without apprehension. I hear more expectant moms expressing their commitment to nurse once they give birth. I see more private companies adopting the breastfeeding advocacy. Even if Unicef statistics show, we have a long way to go, seeing the breastfeeding community so alive and dynamic, all for the passion to help other moms and help babies and children, is truly emotionally rewarding:)To my fellow advocate moms, I pray for continued passion and blessings for all so we may continue our work and mission:)To expectant moms and new moms out there, are you thinking about whether or not to breastfeed?