The Taguig City government has initiated its first Breastfeeding Olympics held at the Lakeshore Hall in Barangay Lower Bicutan.
The Lakeshore Hall transformed into a hub for mothers during the one-minute milk-letting activity that promotes the importance of breastfeeding last Tuesday.
The Taguig-Pateros District Hospital also organized the event where the barangay with the most breast milk collected emerged as the winner in the competition.
Present during the event were Taguig 2nd Dist. Rep. Laarni Cayetano and the office of Senator Pia Cayetano, which conducted a seminar on breastfeeding and infant nutrition during the event.
Under the “The Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009,” the Taguig City Human Milk Bank was launched last 2015, the third established by a local government in the Philippines.
Its purpose is to screen, collect, process, store and distribute pasteurized breast milk to infants for whom human milk is prescribed.
Last year, the city government launched the Infant Care Project modeled after Finland’s baby box project, which has helped new mothers and babies and lowered infant mortality.
In Finland, the maternity package—a gift from the government—is available to all expectant mothers. It contains bodysuits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby, as well as nappies, bedding, and a small mattress.
With the mattress in the bottom, the box becomes a baby’s first bed. Many children, from all social backgrounds, have their first naps within the safety of the box’s four cardboard walls.
The local version in Taguig is a 3-in-1 foldable baby bag that can transform into a diaper bag, a crib or a changing pad. Several compartments of the baby bag given away free of charge are filled with soap, alcohol, baby oil, wipes, and diapers.
The Buntis Congress is a biannual gathering of soon-to-be mothers and postpartum mommies to give them the proper knowledge on safe motherhood, breastfeeding, immunization and family planning.
On regular days, the item can be claimed after a baby is delivered in a medical facility and the parents get birth registration. Before the delivery, too, the mother must have undergone some steps.