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??!

become a doula?

For the past three months I've been taking a weekend doula class. I've talked very very very little about it to anyone other than my husband. I'm not sure why. So now I'm going to officially speak on it, blog-style, because I need to start talking to y'all about this so that I can figure out if it's right for me.

A few months ago, I was in a space where I felt the urgency to re-adjust my career path. While I value the work that I was doing developing the leadership and civic engagement skills of Oakland youth, Soluna's birth really brought to light the need to find my real life purpose. I was also hoping to have a little more employment flexibility so that I could take care of her myself. At the time, I was thinking about going back to grad school to possibly become a nurse-midwife or get an MBA (with hopes of doing work in socially-responsible businesses or to start a business). Okay, totally different choices, but that's where I was at. I felt my life could go in either direction.

After reconnecting with an old UC Davis friend (after not hearing from her for over a year, I just felt like I HAD to call her), I learned that she was studying to be a midwife. I didn't even know that she was in that line of work and apparently she was a doula for several years before beginning the midwife apprenticeship. I told her about my interest and she highly recommended the doula class I am currently taking that is specifically for women of color. I felt like I had to at least try it out, believing that things always happen for a reason and there was a reason why I needed to connect with her.

For those that don't know, doulas are experienced labor companions that provide the woman and her partner emotional and phsical support throught the entire labor, delivery and postpartum experience. Doula is a Greek word meaning "woman caregiver."

The class has been such an amazing, humbling and emotional experience. I have never been surrounded by such beautiful, strong, grounded and spiritual mamas/women. And while I am still deciding whether or not this is the direction I want to go in, I know that this class was necessary for my growth as a person. I have begun to ask myself the most important questions: Who am I as a mama? What am I doing to make the world a better place? What do I believe in in terms of religion and spirituality? How do I ground myself emotionally and spiritually? How do I heal myself as a mother and woman? What would I rather do than support women through this beautiful rite of passage? What is more important than helping mamas give their babies a right start in life?

the business of being born

If you're pregnant or ever even thinking of having a baby in a US hospital I suggest you watch "The Business of Being Born." This past weekend, I watched it with my doula class (more about my doula class later) and then again with Benji. We, in the past few months since Soluna's birth, are now convinced that our next baby will be born at home with a midwife.

Our country has forgotten the most basic question as asked in the movie: "What are the basic needs of women in labor?" Ricki Lake does an amazing job of exploring this question further while weaving in the real birth stories of mothers who choose to birth at home, the science and research supporting home birth and the history of birth in this country.

While Benji and I went into the hospital with every intention of having a natural, drug-free childbirth, the hospital and people there are not ready to support such decisions. (As evidenced by people coming into the room exclaiming, "Oh my god! You didn't have an epidural! You're so calm.") While Soluna was born drug-free, the hospital still had to intervene. I now know, in my heart, that my body had the capacity and strength to birth Soluna without any interventions if I had been given the support I needed. (We needed a doula!) Next time we'll know better.

More about Soluna's birth story in future posts, mama still needs some healing before she can tell it all.