Is 7 the lucky number?

My mom has been telling me and everyone else that I plan on breastfeeding Soluna until she is 7. It's kind of her "joke" but she is continually trying to discourage me and Soluna from continuing our nursing relationship. She flat out says to Soluna "Why are you still breastfeeding? You're not a baby anymore!" She tells me that my breasts are going to be down to my knees. Great! I asked my Inang (my mom's mom) how long she breastfed her kids (all 8 of them) and she said around 1-2 years, except my Uncle Alex that breastfed until he was 7. That's where my mom got the number 7. It does not matter that Soluna is still in that 1-2 years stage, my mom insists that it's time to stop. I don't understand why it's such a big deal to her. Actually Ben's grandma also said she breastfed her youngest until an age where she came home from school and breastfed. I think it's our mamas' generation that actually decided to stop earlier and, interestingly, I think it was part of their "Americanization" although I bet neither my mom or Ben's mom would admit it.

With that said, I am posting a link to a blog post that cites some research that concludes that the longer you breastfeed the higher your kids GPA will be and the more likely they will go to college. I think research like this is kind of funny because a) there is no way to prove breastfeeding relates specifically to the two outcomes, and b) you can prove almost anything by the way you set-up your experiment. But, I still like to see this research... because maybe it is true... and that would be nice.

Lolas say the darndest things!

Alright two posts in a row with my mom in it! I can't help it. The other day I was sitting with my Mom while breastfeeding Soluna. I mentioned how Soluna actually bit me for the first time (yes, she has 5 teeth now!). She kinda dozed off while breastfeeding and her teeth kinda closed down on my breast. I was quick to get her off and she stayed asleep.

My mom then says, "Just wait, if you breastfeed until she's 2 she's going to bite your nipple off!"

I smiled and laughed. I was like, "Mom! That doesn't happen!"

She didn't smile or even seem the least bit relenting on the fact that she was making this up. So I asked her, "WHO? Whose nipple got bitten off?"

She says, "People! Really! It happens."

So I ask again, "Who? Tell me."

She mumbles something about, "People in the Philippines..." and "... just wait, you'll see. You'll see what happens if you breastfeed for that long."

End conversation.

So tonight we went out to dinner with the whole family and I can't help but mention it. My sister, who is a family practice doctor, laughed hysterically. My mom continues to insist and says something like, "Fine! Breastfeed until she's 5! You'll see! We'll check your nipples then."

Damn. And it's funny, but it's also not so funny. I don't know where she's coming from... why she's discouraging me from breastfeeding. (Which in subtle ways, she's been doing since the first few weeks Soluna was born.) I mean, does she really believe she's looking out for the well-being of my nipples?? According to her some of my aunts and other women in the Philippines breastfed their babies until they were 4 or 5. They seem fine, although I haven't done a nipple inspection...

decolonize our breasts: breastmilk vs. formula in the Philippines

For my doula class I have to write a final paper on a topic that interests me: "extended" breastfeeding. I'm already trying to figure out a new term for breastfeeding beyond the age of one because the term extended breatfeeding makes people think that you're going beyond a norm when I think it should be the norm.

Part of my research is to look into breastfeeding practices in the Philippines and I found some interesting statistics on the UNICEF website:

* Out of almost 7 million children (below 5 years old), 87% were ever breastfed. This figure however includes infants whose breastfeeding may have lasted for only one hour, one day, or one week only.

* In fact, nearly 3.4 million children (49%) were given liquid or food other than breastmilk within three days after being born.

* For children below 3 years old at the time of the survey, barely 6% were exclusively breastfed. Bottlefeeding was common for almost half of these children.

* Although 80% of children started breastfeeding within 1 day of birth, 54% were also given any liquid other than breast milk.

* Exclusive breastfeeding lasts only for an average of 24 days.

This is totally different from my original assumptions. I actually thought that breastfeeding WAS the norm in the Philippines and became less common for women who immigrated to the United States.

There has been an ongoing campaign in the Philippines to make breastfeeding more popular. In 2006 the City of Manila, Children for Breastfeeding (an organization that promotes family support for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers) and the Department of Health, with support from UNICEF organized an event where almost 4,000 mothers in the Philippines set a new world record for simultaneous breast-feeding.

Beyond the promotional event, there has also been organizing done to limit the advertisements of formula companies. Nestle, Mead Johnson, Abbot and other milk powder companies spend nearly US$90 million per year in the Philippines on advertising and end up with a sales revenue of around US$470 million. While the Philippines has a National Milk Code that limits the advertisement, promotion or marketing for breast milk substitutes intended particularly in medical offices and by health practicioners, formula companies have been working to challenge the code in court and many health offices are out of compliance. (Yes, one more reason to boycott Nestle!)

Check out this documentary "Formula for Disaster" about how misinformation of breastfeeding and agressive advertising has led to a decline in breastfeding, health problems for babies and an unneeded economic burden for families in the Philippines.

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

All I gotta say is: F*ck Capitalism. Decolonize your boobies and give babies milk! I need to figure out a new FilsGlobe Chant for breastmilk. Any thoughts?

Seriously though, breastfeeding gives babies the healthiest start in life. Why give in to the cultural or marketing pressure to give them less AND pay for it??!