MORE than 40 mothers from different barangays in Cebu city joined in the first breast milk-letting activity in Cebu held recently at the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) on Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.
With the theme, “Share Your Love, Share Your Breast Milk,” the activity aims to collect breast milk donations that will be given to the babies at the neo-natal intensive care units of Cebu hospitals.
“The collected breast milk from these mom donors will be frozen and will then be sent to Manila (Philippine Health Government Milk Bank) for pasteurization. It will be flown back here and will be stored at the Vicente Sotto (Memorial Medical Center) and that’s when they can get pasteurized breast milk,” said lawyer Shielamar Abadia, one of the members of Latch-Cebu that organized the activity.
Latch, which stands for Lactation, Attachment, Training, Counseling and Help, is a hospital-based non-profit nationwide organization that offers lactation education and peer counseling services to mothers who wish to breastfeed.
Latch-Cebu was recently organized for the breastfeeding support needs for Central Visayas.
Abadia said that the mother-donors were contacted through their different barangay health workers, and who did not hesitate to donate their breasts milk, especially to the babies who survived from the devastation of super typhoon Yolanda.
Mylin Santana, regional representative for Latch 7, said that they are planning to hold the activity every quarter of the year.
Santana said that providing breast milk to the babies served as the first emergency response when calamities, like Yolanda, struck as mothers, who have nothing to eat, are having difficulty breastfeeding their children.
“We have gone up north already, and we still have to go around, especially to calamity areas in Cebu including Camotes (Island) and Bohol,” said Santana.
April Avila, a resident of Bulacao Pardo and one of those who joined the activity, said that she decided to donate because her abundant supply of breast milk and it is more than enough for her one-year-old baby.
Avila said she would continue to support the DOH’s program. Fatima Secuya, USJ-R Mass Comm Intern