IBM Project 2014: 12 Blogger Moms announced!

Names are out!!!
I am excited to be part of the upcoming I Love Being A Mom (IBM2014) Project this Mother's Month!
The project was launched by N@Wie sister - Jennifer Lopez Gana, wherein 12 blogger moms will be doing a mentoring session with 12 expecting mothers of Nazareth Homes (#126 J. P. Rizal St., Project 4 Quezon City) on May 7. It's surely going to be an afternoon of fun, learning and giving thanks for being granted a child.

The complete list of blogger mommies is listed below:-
1. Denise Rayala (http://www.bebengisms.com/)
2. Camile Aguila (http://www.lolliesandlipsticks.com/)
3. Nerissa Nunag (http://www.babyneosmama.blogspot.com/)
4. Leira Pagaspas (http://www.pagaspas.com/)
5. Joy Lojo (http://www.pinionsandplumageoflove.blogspot.com/)
6. Nadia de Leon (http://www.nanaystrip.wordpress.com/)
7. Clarice Avinante (http://www.tickledmoms.com/)
8. Cheryl Chan (http://www.themulti-tasking-mom.blogspot.com/)
9. Lani Lyutz (http://www.mommybloggersphilippines.com/)
10. Bedalyn Aguas (http://www.mamiandfamily.blogspot.com/)
11. Sella Goden (http://www.diskartengnanay.blogspot.com/)
12. Juliet Cruz (http://www.pinoyvision.net/)

I am happy to know that one of my good friends, Clarice (tickledmoms), will be doing it with me!

I know I still have a lot of mommy experience to go, but I hope that I would be able to help these new mommies-to-be avoid some of the mistakes that I've done in the past and also, let them know what worked for me when I was in their shoes.

Currently, there will be 13 Nazareth moms who will be doing this. Their profiles/stories have been recently shared to the above bloggers to know the types of women we will be mentoring. As I read through their profile, these women do need as much advise and assistance as I can. Their stories are quite diverse and surely an eye-opener for me. I'm hoping for an enlightening and enriching experience between both the mommy that I will be assigned to and will post how it went.

#IBM2014

EcoWaste Management Coalition: Protect Women & Babies against Harmful Chemicals

13 April 2014

The EcoWaste Coalition (a waste and pollution watchdog), Philippine Pediatric Society (a professional association of pediatricians) and Arugaan (a breastfeeding advocacy and support group) organized a “Science Talk” that drew over 50 participants from the healthcare sector, the government and the civil society, including community women, to discuss the importance of determining these toxins in pregnant women and how environmental bio-monitoring can provide a window to the maternal-fetal unit.

Dr Roy Roberto Gerona, a visiting Filipino scientist/clinical toxicologist (based at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California in San Francisco, USA) wanted to draw public attention to environmental chemicals that are finding their way to human bodies, especially among pregnant women who may pass these substances to their budding fetuses through the placenta.

Mommy Abi, me, Velvet, Jenny protesting to the media

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Taken from Ecowaste Site:

Among these environmental toxins are endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, that are structurally similar to endocrine hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, insulin and thyroxine, and which can mimic and interfere with their normal functions, Dr. Gerona explained.

These EDCs comprise most consumer products as like bisphenol A (BPA) in polycarbonate reusable drinking bottles, baby feeding bottles, carbonless thermal papers, rust-protection resins in canned drinks and foods; phthalates used as plasticizers in toys, medical devices, adhesives and glues, enteric coatings of capsules; perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in Teflon and Scotchgard; polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used as flame retardants in polyurethane foams, electronics, furniture, and textiles. He added that these EDCs are also found in some pesticides such as glyphosate (Roundup), DDT, and atrazine.

“Endocrine hormones regulate the homeostatic (steady state) function of our bodies, including reproductive health, cardiovascular health and digestive and metabolic health, among others. Thus, chronic exposure to
EDCs disrupts hormone action and is associated with various clinical endpoints including higher predisposition to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and metabolic syndrome,” he explained.

“Because the levels of hormones in our bodies are also quite low, low level exposures to EDCs affect their function,” he pointed out.

“Because the correct balance of hormone levels is crucial at specific time points in fetal development, the fetus is more vulnerable to the effects of EDCs,” he added.

“Pregnant women’s exposure to EDCs is transmitted to the developing fetuses in their wombs through the placenta. Some EDCs and their metabolites (breakdown products) cross the placenta,” he said.

Exposure of the fetus to EDCs during its development has been associated with immediate pathological effects such as crytorchidism (undescended testicles) and hypospadias (delayed penile shaft opening) or long-term epigenetic effects manifested in higher predisposition to various clinical endpoints such as diabetes, obesity, and cancer later in life, Dr. Gerona said.

Environmental biomonitoring, Dr. Gerona said, is the process of determining the body burden of toxic substances and their metabolites in human samples such as blood, urine, breast milk, etc.

This entails measuring the levels of environmental chemicals using modern analytical instrumentation including gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry (LC-MS), he explained.

At the “Science Talk,” Dr. Gerona also spoke about “non-targeted analysis” of EDCs and how newer LC-MS technologies can help in understanding environmental toxins in pregnant women, including the identification of previously unmeasured chemicals that can be of concern to the nascent fetus.
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Lessons learned:

• avoid plastic bottles - go for glass bottles and containers
• avoid canned acidic foods - go for fresh/locally/ingenious fruits and vegetables
• changing our eating habits will enable our bodies to excrete out the toxins, given ample time and minimal to no toxins. we can be toxin-free, if we give our bodies time to "heal".

Not only did the talk got a wonderful response in the community, it also got a news worthy feature on the afternoon show, Balitanghali.

UNTV Rise and Shine: BFP and Water Birth

On 14 April 2014, Breastfeeding Pinays (BFP) was invited to be a guest at UNTV's Rise and Shine to discuss "Water Birthing", which resident BFP administrator/founder, Velvet Escario-Roxas is an expert of. She is the "first recorded case of Water Birth in the Philippines" and it was done at Alabang's Asian Hospital.

For family and friends, who weren't able to watch the UNTV Rise And Shine's Water Birth segment, you can watch it here!

Thank you all for your constant support and prayers on a successful promotion, protection and education of breastfeeding!

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Rise and Shine is a daily morning program that  showcases a variety of topics from the most recent national issues to practical home solutions; cooking tips; livelihood ideas; family and parenting advice; Do-It-Yourself projects and fitness tips.

Rise & Shine is hosted by seasoned Broadcaster/Actress Louella de Cordova and print and commercial model Jenny Fajardo.

I love Being a Mom Project 2014: Mentoring Would-be Moms

MY MOMMY BACKGROUND
At first, becoming a SAHM was a huge adjustment for a corporate workaholic like me. The adjustment took longer than expected and I can still say that I'm still adjusting. I realized also that although it is NOT an easy job, it is the most rewarding one. No amount of promotion/money could ever equal the countless milestones, hugs, and kisses I get from my kids. And the way my son for example says his "thank you, Mom" and "I love you, Mommy", or how my daughter would come running over to me than her nanny since she decided she wants to direct feed than take it from a bottle. *bless her soul* Hands down, these are the moments that I will remember forever as a mother!

THIS MOTHER'S DAY
One of the things I've vowed to do this year is to be more active and volunteer in promoting breastfeeding, babywearing, and in "giving back" what I can. An opportunity has knocked on my door via my N@Wie sister - Jennifer Lopez Gana's call for volunteer mothers this year in the I Love Being a Mom project. You can read all about this project at JLofied's site. 

IBM PROJECT 2014

Through my self-discovery at home and being a mother in general, I encourage other mothers (full-time, part-time working moms or SAHM) to be a part of this great cause of supporting the moms to be from Nazareth Homes. You can either be a volunteer blogger or a sponsor to the cause.
Let these women know that it's great to be a mother and babies are blessings. To know more about it, please see the poster and support what you can!

#ibm2014

BLW: New Guidelines on Choking and Infant Resus (via BabyLedWeaning.com)

It is important to know the difference between Gagging and Choking especially when a parent starts BabyLedWeaning for the babies.
Article location is here.

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First of all, it goes without saying that if you’re doing BLW this is an area that you will have looked into already. (And if you haven’t… as they say on the adverts… just do it. Crazy not to.)

Personally, I think every parent should try to investigate some basic infant resus, because as those little blighters become more mobile and more curious they have a habit of picking more daft objects up to check if they are food or not. I cannot tell you how high we had to keep our first daughter’s brightly coloured school erasers in order to keep them away from our younger child.

From what I saw on our Facebook page this morning, it seems like this is a technique already advocated in the US and Australia, but for the benefit of the UK and anyone else who is interested, here is the latest video as featured in a Sky news report.

In fact, it differs only very slightly to the rather brilliant UK National Health Service video ‘How to help a choking child’

Can you see, in the NHS video the baby rests on the woman’s arm throughout much of her resus? Whereas St John Ambulance are now saying that there will be better support if the child is on the arm AND thigh? A tiny difference but if it’s best practice, let’s do it! (Might have been better if the St John uniform wasn’t so dark, eh? Can you even see those trousers?)


As an aside, it is also interesting to query the figures mentioned in the Sky News report, reproduced below. In a survey of parents of 1000 under-fives, 380 said they had seen their child choke, with only 50% knowing what to do in that event. There are two ways of looking at this… one, 190 children choked, and their parents didn’t know what to do but everyone (we assume, for Sky News would have looked for the goriest story possible) was okay. That’s encouraging (but still do your homework).

The other way of looking at it is that parents STILL don’t know the difference between choking and gagging and some of the chokes were mis-represented gags. It is worth knowing the difference as going straight for resus when they’re dealing with a gag can cause babies to aspirate food.

Gagging is actually a safety response to food travelling too far back into the mouth so when we see our babies gagging they are actually handling the problem and it’s best just to keep calm (or at least look calm) and wait until it passes. Choking, you will know about. The baby looks panicked, no or very little sound can come out, and lips may actually start turning blue. Be smart, educate yourself and know how to act quickly.

So all in all, it’s good news for the BLW crew, in that each and every one of us should already have considered choking, and how we will respond should it happen. (For the record, it happened once with my first child… dratted raw apple, and this below was her a minute later, after she had gotten over it and was onto a rice cake. It just never happened with my second.)


FROM SKY NEWS TODAY

“New first aid advice on how to help a choking baby has been issued to parents.

St John Ambulance, the British Red Cross and St Andrew’s First Aid have updated their advice after research suggested that many parents did not know what action to take.

The new advice is to place the baby face down along the thigh while an adult strikes the child’s back.
First aid experts say this gives the baby more support compared with the previous advice, which was to place the baby along the adult’s arm.

A survey of 1,000 parents of under-fives found 38% had seen their child choke.

Half of the parents said they did not know the correct way to help their child or how to clear the obstruction.
Nearly half said they avoided giving their child certain foods in case they choked.

Clive James, training officer at St John Ambulance, said: ‘If an infant is choking then, in the first instance, they should be laid face down along your thigh and supported by your arm, give them five back blows between the shoulder blades with your heel of your hand.

“Previously this was done along the arm but the leg is felt to be more secure and provide more support.

“Check their mouth for any obstruction. If there is still a blockage then turn the infant onto their back and give up to five chest thrusts.

“Use two fingers, push inwards and upwards against their breastbone.

“If the obstruction does not clear after three cycles of back blows and chest thrusts, call for an ambulance and continue until help arrives.”

Breastfeeding: Block Feeding for Overactive Let-Down?

I've been reading in the BFP forums that there are some concerns about newborn or fairly new babies having trouble coping with her fast milk flow. During feedings, these babies would sputter, cough and then pull themselves off the breast crying. Mothers of these normally assume that she has an overactive let-down (OALD) and would, on my occasions, start using a “block feeding" strategy.

Before I get ahead of myself again...I better explain better and with proper research.

What is Block Feeding?

Block feeding involves restricting baby to one breast for 3-hour or longer blocks of time before giving the other breast. It is very effective at bringing down milk production when a mother is making way too much milk. Allowing the breasts to stay full for a set period of time sends the signal to slow milk production.

Occasionally if the baby is nursing in a very, very frequent pattern - meaning that the baby is nursing hourly or even closer than hourly and experiencing marked fussiness and perhaps has consistently green stools - a loose block pattern may be suggested as well.  It is good to note that frequent nursing - meaning about every 2 hrs from start of one feeding to start of next feeding - is totally normal.

This is totally different in normal breastfeeding patterns wherein breastfeeding experts recommend "baby led" or "feed-on-demand" nursing patterns. Baby should be allowed to finish the first breast, before burping and offering second side. This may mean baby will nurse, for example, 20-ish minutes on first side, burps, then may or may not be interested in the second side.

**Note: Time of the breast, doesn't mean that the baby is effectively feeding.  You have to still observe the baby on the breast, wherein the following conditions are met: (1) long gulping is done - "long pause", (2) proper weight gain is observed but compared via exclusively breastfeed babies chart, and (3) baby is happy and thriving.

Block Feeding DO's and DON'Ts

DO Consult with a breastfeeding expert, such as a board-certified lactation consultant. An expert in breastfeeding management can assess the situation and help mom determine if she might benefit from using a block nursing pattern, and if so, what type of pattern to use. Most experts recommend starting out with smaller blocks of time and increasing them if needed after a couple weeks.

DO Use this strategy especially in some cases where oversupply (aka “hyperlactation” or “overabundant milk production”) can decrease the quality of life for both mother and baby. For a mother, the drawbacks include regularly full and uncomfortable breasts and recurring plugged ducts. For the baby, oversupply can cause a very fast milk flow that can be hard to manage. In this case, block feeding used for no longer than 1 week would be good for both mother and baby.

DON'T What seems to be more and more common, though, is the assumption that any struggle with milk flow is due to OALD or oversupply when there is usually another cause. As a result, some mothers bring down their milk production with block feeding when their supply is actually at a healthy level, leading to other problems, such as slow weight gain.

Remember that it takes practice and maturity for babies to learn to coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing during breastfeeding. Some episodes of milk flow struggles and pulling away are completely normal and are not necessarily signs of OALD or oversupply.

How to Know if Block Feeding Will Help?

The most reliable gauge of whether block feeding may be helpful is baby’s weight gain. If breastfeeding is going well, during the first 3 months, most babies gain on average about 2 lb/mo. (0.90 kg/mo.). If baby’s weight gain is double this or more, block feeding for no longer than 1 week makes sense.
If baby’s weight gain isn’t this high, it is likely that block feeding will cause more problems than it solves.

How Long Does It Take?
Block nursing is not an "instant fix" for oversupply, but it almost always helps if given enough time to help. In mild cases of oversupply, it may only take a few days to a couple weeks to see good results. In more severe cases, it may take several weeks to a couple months to see good results; although almost always mom will see improvements in the situation within just a few days of implementing the use of the block pattern.

Do I Need To Continue Using the Block Pattern, Once Supply Adjusts?
No, one doesn't need to continue using a block pattern once the situation is resolved. Mom can go back to using a "normal" nursing pattern of offering first breast until baby is finished, then burp and offer second side. If things continue to go well, there isn't a need to do any additional adjustments. If the symptoms of oversupply begin to return, she can resume a block nursing pattern once more for a while longer, and then later on can see if a "normal" nursing pattern will work.

As suggested above, it is recommended that mom locate a board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) to assess each individual situation, provide assistance, information and support.

Alternatives When Baby Struggles with Milk Flow

What can you do if your baby’s weight gain is average but she is struggling with milk flow during breastfeeding? The best strategy is to use feeding positions that give the baby more control overflow. The most difficult feeding positions for babies from a milk-flow standpoint are those in which milk is flowing downhill into their throats, such as all those in which mothers sit upright.

I find either the Australian Laid-back (infant to toddler) or the Japanese Sitting positions worked well for controlled milk flow.

Australian Laid-back position

Japanese Sitting Position

Other positions can be found here.

If baby continues to have consistent problems with milk flow, it's time to see a lactation professional to check for anatomy, swallowing, and breathing issues.

References

Caroline, G.A. and van Veldhuizen-Staas, C. G. Overabundant milk supply: An alternative way to intervene by full drainage and block feeding. International Breastfeeding Journal 2007; 2:11.

Product Review (Pt 2) : Activity in a Box - KaHone

I was fortunate enough to product test another Activity in a Box aside from ExploreSandbox that might of interest to you. It's call KaHone Art - Discover the World in a Box.

The box that I got for this month. The theme is Space. I got excited about this since it is something new for C and I'm sure he would be interested to know what is up in the sky and beyond. The activities are:

1. Alien Headband
2. Build a Rocketship
3. Make Day and Night Happen
4. Bonus Activity - Power of the Sun

On first impression, before even getting the box - there was already a problem with its transport/delivery to me. My friend, Jenny, had to be very careful with its transport since it was a very thin box that would surely be flattened if she asked a messengerial service to send it over to us.

1.) The first among the activities that we did was the ALIEN HEADBAND.

Rave: I like this simple DIY activity. It got him excited though a bit puzzled with the raw materials laid out with him initially. He love the fuzzy twisty stick that he tried following me when he saw me do one side.

Rant: none for the activity. It might be a bit kiddie like for older kids but heck, C loved his headgear!

2.) The next is the BUILD A ROCKETSHIP. This I was curious...and a bit excited. I have a good feeling about it.

Rave: C enjoyed coloring the rocketship template. I think he did a pretty good job! He got excited when he finally found out what the heck mom was deciphering with regards to the instructions in making the rocket fly. We got excited with doing it (blowing) when we all know what to do.

Rant: I don't know if it was me or what but I got so confused with the instructions on how to roll the rectangular paper. I'm sorry but I was overwhelmed? I didn't for the life-of-me know what to do aside from rolling it. The instructions could be better made or worded.  I gave up after a few minutes since C was getting restless already. Daddy had to step in and save-the-day.


3.) Next activity was MAKE DAY AND NIGHT HAPPEN.

Rave: This was an interesting concept with regards to teaching kids light and day - via the shadow and obstructions. C enjoyed making land masses on the "balloon earth". It made him practice his hand coordination. I also got to correct his grip on the scissors.

Rant: The balloon was easy to blow up...it is the tying it to secure the balloon was the tough on. I guess we can't be balloon twisters! Actually, a lot in this activity was done by the adults than C, which left C sometimes bored since it was bit more technical and higher level of comprehension from a 3 year old.

4.) For the POWER OF THE SUN...we had to defer this experiment since it would require the sun out and at its full heat. Its has been pretty gloomy these days so we still need to do the bonus activity Power Of The Sun. But I am sure it's an interesting one but not for C's level yet.


VERDICT?
a.) Packaging is not as sturdy for transport or delivery compared to ExploreSandbox. The box is thin and is a bit on a delicate side thus I had to just pick up my box from my friend's home so she would not have the trouble of having to repackage our KaHone. Tedious but I do like the appealing graphics of the box and their mascot - the Cow.

b.) The activities are easily bought or downloadable, in my opinion on the web. Materials can be store bought and assembled, which isn't very creative. It seems that for a SAHM (Stay-At-Home Mom) like me, I can simply do it and get the materials at the bookstore or department store.

c.) I did enjoy the activities that made him color, use his motor skills and understand blowing unto a straw. It was something that C's school would do and so the activity was smooth and he followed instructions well. But if this was for an older child, maybe some of the activities might not be suited for him like the Alien Headband.

d.) The price of a KaHone is cheaper by around Php250 compared to ExploreSandbox. Based on the activities and for the suitability for C, I would choose ExploreSandbox from the way we did the activities.

For more information about KaHone Art, please visit their Facebook page.