MORE than a hundred mothers trooped Saturday to Limketkai Mall in Cagayan de Oro City to participate what could be the biggest global synchronized breastfeeding to promote its importance and lobby support from the community.
With their babies clutched on to their shoulders, some 186 mothers made history as they were able to feed their babies at the same time at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, August 6.
The figure is higher than last year which was only participated by 120 mothers.
"We are happy with the response of our mothers, murag nagka-anam na ug spread ang awareness about the event which aims to promote breastfeeding," Nadine Angelina Casiño said, founder of Modern Nanays of Mindanao.
Casiño pointed out that breastfeeding should be made a normal practice for mothers as this would help boost the child's immunity and healthy wellbeing.
"Ang gatas sa pag-breastfeed mao gayud dapat kini ang pagkaon sa bata, ug dili kadtong mga gatas na na-commercialized. (Breastmilk should be fed to babies instead of those commercialized milk.) If only mothers know the benefits of breastfeeding, I'm sure they would choose this practice, kaya ang kulang pa kita ug awareness," Casiño said.
Instead of shaming mothers for breastfeeding in public places, Casiño said the community should show support and not objectify women for displaying their breasts.
"Imong i-shame ang mama nga naghatag kung unsa lang ang maayo para sa iyang anak pero dili nato ikaulaw magtan-aw ug mga naka-bikini, mga sexy nga mga model, ang mama na hinuon nga gibuhat ang tanan para sa iyang bata," she said.
"Suportaan dapat nato kay dili kini siya taboo, ug mao ni siya ang normal nga pamaagi para pakan-on ang bata," she added
Casiño also called on establishments to respect the law that mandates them to create lactating station.
Dubbed as "Hakab Na" or "The Big Latch On," the event involved groups of breastfeeding women coming together at registered locations around the world to “latch on” their kids at a certain time.
All of the children are latched on for one minute at the set time and were counted by witnesses and the recorded figure were added to a global total to see if it can beat the previous year’s Big Latch On record.