Saturday, August 23, 2008 Portraits of love By Janette Huang-Teves Mom-about-town
ONE of a mother's most valuable experiences is the wonderful opportunity to provide vital nourishment to her precious child through breastfeeding.
Admittedly, it is not an effortless task with the sleepless nights, feelings of inadequacy and frustration and the myriad of sacrifices one has to make to be able to breastfeed successfully.
As one new mother Jennifer Joy Chua-Ong shared, "Breastfeeding did not come easy to us. Plugged ducts, sore nipples, wrong latch, nipple confusion, spilled milk and buckets of tears were the staple during our first three months. Every day, I thought about quitting but just continued to tell myself- "just one more day." It became easier and we are still breastfeeding at eight months. Breastfeeding is not easy but is the best sacrifice you can make for your child."
Thus, the organization of Mommysense in Davao was indeed heaven-sent for first-time moms. The group is composed of breastfeeding mothers who banded together to support each other through the challenges and joys of breastfeeding. Its vision since 2004 is "to build a network of breastfeeding mothers and to provide practical, realistic and sustainable support and advice about breastfeeding to mothers-to-be and nursing mothers".
Mommysense's key founding members are Mary Allyn Buyco-Tan, childbirth educator and breastfeeding advocate, registered pharmacist, The Oak & Acorn general manager and mother of Alec Sebastian, 4 and Sofia Paige, 7 months; Alexandria Morris-Hao, childbirth educator, breastfeeding advocate, and home-schooling mom to Amber, 11, Ashley, 8 Allegra, 4, and Nicolas, 3 months; Sharmila Barretto-Ong, Kar-Asia finance officer and mom to Liane Marie, Paulo Sebastien, and to the newest member of the brood, coming this September; and Jolla Amparo-Soriaga, ALSONS Properties Business Development Manager and mom to Cylo, 4 and Mati, 2.
Mommysense eventually grew and activities included meetings, where aside from breastfeeding, information essential to modern parenting was discussed by the experts.
The group's latest and biggest project to date is the on-going "Portraits of Love, Celebrating the Mother-Child Bonds of Breastfeeding" Photo Exhibit.
The photo exhibit's objectives are "to show the beauty of the bond between mother and child and to inspire more mothers to breastfeed their babies, by showing Davao City mothers from different backgrounds who breastfeed, and in their own words, why they breastfeed, how they did it and how they felt about it".
Aside from Mommysense's founding members, the accomplished moms who joined the exhibit include Philippine and New York lawyer Jennifer Joy C. Ong, dentist Maria Carmen Dina Carriedo-Obach; TAA Australia Institute Director of IL Institute (Charlton Brown Davao) Color Perez de Tagle- Dimalanta; businesswoman and Sunday school teacher Stephanie Seng-Ong; housewife and bookkeeper Sophia Yao; full-time moms and entrepreneurs Farrah Faye Huang-Dizon and Charyl Ann Haw-Martin; Martish Marketing Co. general manager and business development manager of Tee Lab Fashion and Accessories Marga Montemayor-Nograles; entrepreneur Kristine King-Gaisano; and hands-on moms Lika Azurin-Tan and Aileen C. Almendras-Uy.
Sponsors of the event are The Marco Polo Hotel Davao, Johnson & Johnson, The Oak & Acorn Learning Toy Store (Breastpumps and Nursing Basics), Martish Marketing, lawyer Karlo Nograles, P.C. Tan Architects & Associates, Natalac, EMC Metro Fruits and Vegetables, Medela Breastpumps and Accessories, Asia United Bank, Gifts from the Heart by Annie, Trust Hardware, Tenny Enterpises, RJ Homes, Safecon Industries, SKS Interiors, Gaisano Mall of Davao and SM City Davao.
Catch "Portraits of Love, Celebrating the Mother-Child Bonds of Breastfeeding" Photo Exhibit at Gaisano Mall of Davao (August 22-28, 2008) and SM City Davao (September 1-4, 2008).
Special thanks to Arnel Barbarona and RJ Monsod for the exhibit launch photos.
(E-mail the author at mom.about.town.dvo@gmail.com. Visit www.mom-about-town.blogspot.com.)
