Mga Haka-haka Tungkol Sa Breastfeeding or Breastfeeding Myths at ang Katotohanan Tungkol Dito
- Published in Motherhood Life, Tagalog Reads
World Vision Philippines Mother-Baby Friendly Philippines (MBFP) Mobile App and First TV Ad Supported By DOH, Partner LGU’s and Celebrity Ambassadors
World Vision Philippines, has relaunched it’s Mother-Baby Friendly Philippines (MBFP) web-based and mobile application platform last June 27, 2019. This app can be use by everyone in promoting breastfeeding to public and in reporting Milk Code violations in the country.
The event held at Luxent Hotel and attended by the health sector’s stakeholders, the local government units (LGU’s), together with the breastfeeding community, the academe, and the media.
The launched event, hosted by World Vision celebrity advocate Gelli Victor, a breastfeeding mom herself, and is also supported by other World Vision celebrity ambassadors Christine Bersola-Babao and Tippy dos Santos who rendered a song, to the delight of the breastfeeding-supporter guests.
This activity aims to promote the culture of breastfeeding. It also seeks to protect the rights and privileges of every Filipino mother to practice breastfeeding in their chosen places, like in their homes or workplaces.
The newly-enhanced MBFP reporting app also now includes Filipino translation and a Growth Chart and Early Child Care and Development (ECCD) Checklist. The app was made to help parents track their child’s development and milestones.
Within the said event, the Public Service Advertisements (PSAs) is also shown, where it features the powerful stories of real breastfeeding mothers. The PSA aims to inspire other fellow moms to breastfeed their children up to two years and beyond.
One of the moms, 42-year-old Maribel, was featured in the TV and graced the event, proudly shared that she breastfed all her seven children. The three ads will be televised soon on free TV and social media.
“To make #BreastmilkForTheBest fully realized for Filipino children, we need to continue making mothers and the community know that we have laws that protect and support breastfeeding. Now the challenge for all of us, is to ensure that these laws are fully implemented,” said Carleneth San Valentin, Health and Nutrition Technical Manager of World Vision.
Mother-Baby Friendly Philippines is a project of World Vision in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH) and the city government of Malabon, Manila, and Quezon City.
To know more about this project, about breastfeeding, and the Philippine Milk Code, visit http://mbfp.doh.gov.ph or download the MBFP mobile app.
About
World Vision World Vision is a global Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.
- Published in Local Events, Motherhood Life
10 Simple But Amazing Ways On How Parents Can Connect With Their Children
Written By: Tamra Cater
Do you ever think about this? How we, the parents, can connect to our children?
Sometimes I get so busy I feel guilty that I haven’t paid enough attention to my daughter or connected with her enough. However, there are always times throughout the day that I can find simple ways to emotionally connect with her. This can even be something as small as a hug or a kiss on the head. But, it’s important to me that I continually try to make a connection with my daughter. I love her and care about her, so I want her to feel that love. I don’t want her to ever feel like she has to “assume” that I love her. I want her to know it through my actions and words.
When I was growing up, I think my parents assumed that I knew that they loved me. However, it didn’t always feel that way, because they didn’t always go out of their way to say “I love you” or to give me that hug. And as I mentioned in one of my blog posts (http://www.nurturingtamra.com/how-parenting-impacts-a-childs-self-esteem/), it’s more important what the child feels and experiences in terms of that connection and feeling of love. If a child feels connected with their parents, it’s more likely that they will have higher levels of self-esteem than someone who doesn’t feel that way. So as parents, how can we all do a better job connecting with our children?
Why is Connection so Important?
We truly wanted those times where we feel emotionally bonded with our children, but what sorts of benefits does it have for the parent/child relationship as a whole? When children feel connected with their parents, they are more likely to cooperate and listen to parents. In addition, when we give our children positive attention, this helps them feel valued and builds a positive self-image. Last of all, connecting with our children is important so that children feel reassured and safe.
So what are some simple but amazing things that you can do throughout the day to connect with your children?
10 Simple But Amazing Tips for Connecting with Your Children
1.Cook or bake. This is something that my child truly seems to enjoy doing with me. I let her pour the ingredients in the bowl and help me mix the ingredients together. And you can tell by the way she talks, that she is truly enjoying it.
2. Play Chase. For some reason, this brings my daughter to laughter every time. We will run around the house, taking turns chasing each other. In my next point, I explain how laughter helps increase our connection with our children.
3. Be silly and do things to encourage laughter. For example, I “make raspberries” on my daughter’s belly, and again, she laughs a ton! Laughter releases stress-reducing hormones in our body and improves mood. Research shows that families with stronger relationships tend to laugh together more. So, laughter is such a good thing for our relationships with our children!
4. Explore a new place together. It’s always fun to go to a new park or to a new store. For example, when I first took my daughter to the zoo when she was old enough to understand what she was looking at, this was awe-inspiring for her. I enjoyed seeing how happy and excited she was! These new experiences help build memories and a stronger bond between our children and us.
5. Play with your child. This could involve putting a puzzle together or painting. As another example, recently, I was making sensory bottles with my child, and she had a blast! She got to help put the beads in the bottles. We also enjoy playing with blocks together by making “castles” and “houses.” In doing this, this helps our children feel valued and loved when they get attention and affection from us. This is such a simple way to make a connection with our children!
6. No matter how young or how old your child is, talk to them. For example, with my child, I do what I can do ask her if she had fun after she went to school and what she liked about it. I also ask her about things she likes, such as what her favorite color is. Also, when I was teenager, one thing I enjoyed most was having long conversations with mom until the sun came up. I truly felt connected to her then.
7. Put the phone down and actively listen and pay attention. This is something that I admit I need to better with. When your daughter is trying to play or talk to you, keep the phone out of reach and just focus on the “here and now.” This helps your child feel valuable and important. Listen to what your child is saying and feeling and be empathetic. Validate their feelings.
8. Read to your child. I absolutely love sitting down with my child in my lap and reading to her. This is one of those times where I truly feel connected to her. This is another type of experience that can build memories and stronger relationships!
9. Sing or dance with your child. This is something that my child LOVES! While I feel like I look ridiculous dancing or sound horrible when I sing, I love doing this with my child. I feel like this is another way I can connect and bond with her. Related to this, I think this helps encourage her interests in singing or dancing if I participate and help support her in what she enjoys.
10. Give your child a hug and smile at them. Who doesn’t love hugs and feel more connected with when we get hugs? I think the same thing goes for children. Hugs and smiles help our body release stress-releasing hormones, so we feel good in the end!
Final Thoughts on Connecting with Your Child
We live in a technology-driven world, and there are lots of people on social media. We are also busy with our jobs, household chores, making dinner, etc. However, the best moments are likely those times where we connect with our children and our family. I know that I love these moments and will always hold on to them. These are things that will never be forgotten. So, I think making time to connect with our children even in our busy lives is so important for everyone involved! As mentioned, our children are more likely to listen to us and follow our direction if they feel a strong connection with us. And it also makes us feel good knowing that we have a strong relationship with our children. Do have your own tips on how to connect to your children? Share us here!
References:
Laughter: Nature’s medicine for family relationships. Retrieved from https://www.acpeds.org/laughter-natures-medicine-for-family-relationships.
Positive attention and your child. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/connecting-communicating/connecting/positive-attention
About The Author: Tamra Cater is a mother of a 3-year-old daughter and wife to a football coach. She is a professor that teaches a lot of developmental psychology classes and loves sharing her knowledge of child development with others! You can find her blog at www.nurturingtamra.com.
- Published in English Articles, Guest Posts Corner, Helpful Tips, Motherhood Life, Parenthood
7 Practical Tips For Your First Time Pregnancy
You are pregnant! Congrats!
And this is your first time ever to be in this state of motherhood, so my next words to you is “How do you feel about it?”
You might say “I’m great Lai and actually this is the best thing that ever happened to me at this moment of my life”.
Yes, what you said is technically right. It’s your baby and being pregnant is one of the significant milestones in your life as a women. But what I am asking to you is “How do you REALLY feel about it?” – after all the cheering and congratulatory messages from your family and friends. Let me share you first my own feelings that time when I was in your shoes.
MY MOMENT OF DISCOVERY
I am not the first one who ‘detected’ that I am pregnant.
One of my closest friend saw that there is something new in me when we were attending a convention for our faith. She told me that there’s something different in me, in my body and in my curves and she thinks that I am pregnant. I didn’t know what to say to her. Me and my husband were in fourth year of our marriage and that time it didn’t occurred to me that I can get pregnant too easily because I have a Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) even before I am single. Having PCOS means you will experience an irregular menstruation so there’s a less probability that you could get pregnant because you have an abnormal ovulation. Will tackle this more in my future articles.
To verify my friend’s prediction I used a pregnancy test and viola!She’s right! What I felt that moment cannot be explained by one word. It’s a mixture of different feelings – though I’m happy I also felt overwhelmed, surprised, shocked and appalled.. maybe because this ‘preggy thing’ is new to me, I didn’t know what to expect.
I am truly happy when I discovered that I was pregnant but I am also undeniably afraid of the unknown that is happening to me that time. Happiness and anxiety submerged and I can’t control it. Did you feel it too?
So from this genuine experience of mine I want to share some practical tips and sincere advice for you my fellow mommy who carries a child in her body for the first time.
1.Don’t Get Too Nervous
This is the most important tip that I will give to you dear mommy. Though you can’t avoid it, you still can control it. Why? Your stress has a very big impact on your child’s present fetal state and your anxiety can also affect your child’s future emotional state. When a mother worries a lot, grumps a lot and always irritated about everything when she’s pregnant, it could affect her baby’s personality and temper in future.
Is this the truth Lai? You may say.
Yes! Though I never knew it at first when I was carrying my first child, after three years I somehow understand it. My proof? My eldest daughter Keilah Bree.
As a first time pregnant I’m a very bothered mommy. I usually worried about anything – yes anything – about the baby inside me. Some trivial thoughts to a more serious questions like ‘Is she still moving?’ ‘Is her heart’s still beating?’ ‘Did I eat the right food for her?’ ‘Can I make it to normal delivery?’ or ‘Maybe she can eat her poop if I get overdue?’always linger in my mind.. I can’t help it because I’m a first time pregnant mom right? We are entitled to feel this way because, this is a new thing to us and for some reasons there’s no one telling us what we should or we shouldn’t feel about it. So what we are going do is to just help ourselves and basically just do what we think is right – to overthink it all and flood ourselves with worries and negativity. The result? Not good at all.
On my first pregnancy, given that I always worry, I usually feel a sudden cramps or sharp pains in my belly. Somehow my unpleasant emotions are affecting my baby and its also affecting me physically. And after three years of giving birth to Kei I saw that it also affects her emotionally. She’s just like me – a nervous and worried kid. I can’t undo the after effects of it now but all I can do now is to manage her and deal with her in best way I could.
So moms-to-be please don’t stress yourselves just because you can. Think first its effects on your baby. That is the most important thing now.
2. Give Your Self Time To Adjust
Being pregnant is not easy and no one expects you to know everything about it, so mom be good to yourself and take it easy. Remember this is your first hand experience of being pregnant so its understandable that you have a little or zero knowledge about it. So give yourself a time to absorb or internalize – your new situation.
For sure you will get overwhelm for this new chapter of your life so give yourself some time to adjust from it. It’s like a first time to ride an airplane – you need to ‘feel’ it first and get acquainted on these new experience – so you will never get afraid.
3. Anticipate Changes In You
Be prepare to know that sooner or later you will experience major changes on yourself – physically and emotionally.
Physically not only on the bump part but also you can see changes on your skin, hair, face, hands and feet.
For most of the women when they get conceive, their skin will get more dry and flaky. Hair’s natural radiance and shine might get lost also. Your face will become more oily or more dry, depends how your hormones will work when you become pregnant. Not to mention what will happen to the size of your nose and your cheek! And also your feet will swell! These physiological changes in you might make you scream – not out of joy but out of panic – but hey all these things are normal for a pregnant momma like you!
Emotional changes will also occur to you. Here comes what we can call “Mommy Blues” – because you – ‘the mommy’ will become more sensitive and more emotional in everything that matters to you. So if you’re a ‘cool girl’ when it’s still you and your man in the picture, you will be a ‘crying girl’ now that you have your baby inside you.
4. Educate Yourself In This New Journey
Just think that motherhood is your new assignment. There’s no harm if you will read articles, books or sites (like this mine) about all of the facts that you want to know about pregnancy and parenthood.
Personally I buy a book about it (I don’t know where I put it now) but the point here is you should be eager to know and you should be willing to learn about this new phase in your life. And for the record I also borrow a book from my friend about baby names! It’s very fun and exciting! You could even browse it online by clicking this ‘baby names’. This insights and ideas will prepare you for this new journey to motherhood. So don’t be lazy and do your homework!
5. Document Your First Times!
Write a diary or personal notes where you can pour out your heart and say your thoughts about your pregnancy. As for me I didn’t do that but I collect and save my prenatal check-up notebooks, my ultrasound results and other paraphernalia like the pregnancy tests that I used (yes I did save it!) and the hospital name tag when I gave birth.
And don’t forget to have a maternity photo shoot! Like what I did on my first! You wanna know from where studio I got it? Just email me and I will tell you!
Putting your first experiences in writing or in picture will make it more memorable to you. This will serve as your remembrance and when the time that you want to look back to it, then you have something to read on and look upon to – reminiscing it with your husband and your grandchildren in future.
6. Prepare Ahead Of Time
You will still have to wait for nine months for your due date but it doesn’t mean you can procrastinate and don’t do a thing!
You can prepare now or as soon as you wanted to! Jot down the things that you and your baby needs before and after you gave birth – the newborn essentials.
For your own health needs, don’t forget your daily prenatal vitamins and medications, your daily glass of milk and your eight hours of sleep. Don’t skip your prenatal check-ups to your OB Gynecologist because with this you will know the real-time condition of your baby.
If you can save right now for your baby’s arrival then save now. Allot a portion of your salary or your budget to your baby’s needs. You will get surprise on how much you could spend from the time you will see your baby in your ultrasound check-ups up to the moment that you will touch her physically. So having a baby means hard work and commitment!
7. Just Seize Your Moment!
Enjoy it while it lasts! Carrying a baby in your body is a very exceptional thing that you can experience in your life! It’s a pure miracle from God and no one could ever understand it until it happens to her personally.
Until now it amazes me when I remember the time when I got pregnant to my eldest daughter. And how much more when I got pregnant for the second time to Kendall!
I can say that those two moments of my life are my most cherished memories as a women. The feelings can’t be explain by words. Only the mother and her child knows it. It connects them perfectly. And it lasts forever. I love the feeling that there’s someone inside of you that you need to protect to and nurture too.
So to you my first-time mommy just enjoy your pregnancy and don’t worry too much. Be confident and never think that you can’t do it, because you can momma! We are the most brave and most loving person in this world! We are mothers!
So I hope with these seven tips and several useful advice from me I somehow help you and give you some knowledge that you will use on your first time pregnancy. Did I empower you? Show it here by commenting below. I would love to hear it from you =)
- Published in English Articles, Helpful Tips, Motherhood Life
What does the word ‘mother’ really means?
All of us knows this word, and all of us uses it everyday. But what does a word “mother” really mean?
Upon searching in Google I saw three different meanings of it. One as a noun and two as verb.
These are:
1. a women in relation to her child or children.
2. bring up a (child) with care and affection.
3. gave birth to.
So we can see from the various definitions above of the word “mother” that the word itself is very dynamic and has its own complexities. So lets talk about it a little more. I will explain it in non-chronological order.
The third meaning is the simplest of all. Because it only applies to the biological mothers who experience the process of pregnancy up to the delivery of the baby. With that description in mind, from the moment that we saw a women with a bulging tummy we will instantly say that sooner or later she will become a mother.
The first meaning, on the other hand, pertains not only for the birth mothers but to the adoptive mothers as well. For those women who adopts a child they can also be called mothers.
Lastly, the second definition above is the most profound one and for me its a very empowering meaning. Why? Because as the definition states you don’t have to be a real mom or an adoptive mom just to be called “mother”, but even if you are a men, a grandfather, a sister, an auntie or whoever you are and you “bring up someone (a child) with care and affection” then you can be called a mother! Yeah right!
Is this a truth Lai? If you may ask me. Definitely yes!
Do you have a proof? Sure! Okay I will share it with you.
My daughter Kei is on her 2nd year in a public daycare center here in Valenzuela City as a Kinder student. As her mom I need to attend their yearly parent meetings, they called it the “Nanay-Teacher Day”. This meetings are very good and a very informing one, since the moderator is from the city’s Department of Social and Welfare Development (DSWD), the parents or guardians of their students will be given the right information and guidance on how to be the best mother and teacher to their kids. And this is where I heard and learned that everybody can be a mother to a child – no exception – because all of us – whether you’re a man or woman, has the capabilitity to raise and nurture someone like these little ones, even if it’s not our own blood and genes.
So basically I attended this Nanay-Teacher Day (Mother-Teacher Day) twice and I really appreciated it (thank you Valenzuela City!) with my heart, so I will tackle it more in my future posts so you moms can benefit from it too!!
So what is the answer in the question “What does the word ‘mother’ really means?” Well if you have love and compassion to others to the the point that you want to provide someone a place to grow, to raise and teach him on how to become a good person, then in its truest sense you can be a mom! You can be the living definition of the word ‘mother’!And with that meaning ANYBODY can be a mom!
Motherhood is a very complex thing and if I can’t pause my mind out of it these post will not end sooner. So right now I just laid the fundamentals of it here and I hope I gave you guys something valuable, do I? Do you learned something from this? Write your comments here below, I will appreciate your words and insights about it. Thank you! =)
- Published in English Articles, Motherhood Life