Baguio City- February 10, 2023. A Forum on Scaling up Interventions on Nutrition in World Emergencies was conducted by the Department of Health-CAR in partnership with the National Nutrition Council-CAR, Breastfeeding Care Center of the North, ARUGAAN and International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).
The activity provided comprehensive updates regarding breastfeeding, methods and techniques on how to overcome breastfeeding challenges during emergencies, biological nurturing and lactation massage.
In one of the discussions, Ms. Ma. Ines Fernandez, one of the speakers and Director of Arugaan, stated that, “1 tsp of breast milk contains 3 billion fighting germs.” Thus, it is very important that every child should be breastfed from birth upto 2 years old and beyond.
Meanwhile, Ms. Di Anne Mendoza, Manager of BCCN also discussed the topic: Overcoming Breastfeeding Challenges During Emergencies and Nutrition During Emergencies. She said that during emergencies, breastfeeding is often neglected due to certain challenges and this practice of neglecting breastfeeding could be harmful for both the mother and the baby. Hence, she has provided feeding alternatives to address this concern. Furthermore, challenges such as infant malnutrition could arise despite babies being exclusively breastfed due to a condition known as tongue tied (ankyloglossia). The infant has a difficulty of sucking due to this condition which prevents them from obtaining sufficient nutrients that their body needs for growth and development. This can be addressed through simple surgery.
In addition, Dr. Stefanie Rosin, a German doctor and coordinator of IFBAN WBTI shares an overview of biological nurturing- this encourages nursing mothers to breastfeed their infants in a relaxed laid-back position that will help initiate exclusive breastfeeding.
Lastly, Ms. Fernandez and Dr. Rosin together with staff of BCCN demonstrated how a breastfeeding massage was done. This type of massage will facilitate the production of breastmilk for mothers who have difficulty producing breast milk.
The activity was attended by 63 participants composed of the Nutrition Action Officers, District / City Nutrition Program Coordinators, Medical Doctors, nutrition staff, nurses, midwives, Barangay Nutrition Scholars and Barangay Health Workers, of the local government units of the Benguet Province and the BLISTT (Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tublay and Tuba); Nutritionist-Dietitians of the Nutritionist-Dietitian of the Philippines – Baguio-Benguet Chapter and Department of Social Welfare and Development-CAR.
//Mia Gail Payapay
