Senator Pia Cayetano’s advocacy group, Team Pinay In Action (PIA), has initiated two breastfeeding seminars in Quezon City.
The activities aimed to increase public knowledge of the value of encouraging nursing mothers and emphasizing the benefits of breastfeeding in giving infants the finest nourishment and natural defense.
The lectures took place at the Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH) on Friday with groups of lactating moms, expectant women, barangay health workers, and hospital staff in attendance.
The seminars are a cornerstone of Senator Cayetano’s year-round effort to advance mother and child health in both urban and rural settings. The Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2010 (Republic Act No. 10028) was primarily sponsored by the senator.
QCGH medical director Dr. Josephine Sabando said the seminars complement the hospital’s own efforts to raise breastfeeding awareness among its maternity patients, especially since the event includes mothers and health workers from the surrounding barangays.
Sabando shared that QCGH has been operating its own human milk bank, established in 2015, where mothers donate their milk for infants staying at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. Thus, breastfeeding awareness is also important in sustaining the milk bank.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ma. Victoria B. Bigornia, who chairs QCGH’s breastfeeding committee, said that the reception of QC mothers to breastfeeding has been positive overall.
The most common issue they encounter, according to Bigornia, is when mothers think that they cannot generate any or enough milk.
“That’s why seminars are important to constantly educate mothers on how to produce milk and practice exclusive breastfeeding,” she said.