Lazi, Siquijor – NNC 7 thru its HRH for Nutrition revives breastfeeding support groups through the conduct of health talks on the importance of breastfeeding and related topics. One such activity was held on 09 June 2022 for the Breastfeeding Support Group (BFSG) of Nagerong, Lazi, Siquijor. The half day activity was conducted by ND II Karen Abe and was assisted by NDP Ms. Therese Monte. Discussed were the power of First 1000 days of life, countless benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and the risks in giving breastmilk substitutes to the babies, complementary feeding, and proper nutrition.
As the country shifts in living into a new normal, the session was conducted to equip the Support Groups with knowledge and skills in advocating the importance of breastfeeding and care for the infant and young children to help and guide breastfeeding moms in their journey towards a successful breastfeeding anchoring on the support groups varied experiences. The support group members had their own milestones in breastfeeding their babies for 6 months and beyond. They firmly believed that investing in nutrition is essential to children’s physical and cognitive development in ways we can produce healthy and productive adults.
The Nagerong Breastfeeding Support Group with 13 members is one of the active BFSGs in Central Visayas. Like their other counterparts, the group is composed of women of any age with successful breastfeeding practice. They play an important role in ensuring an effective response in providing emotional support, information, and counselling to breastfeeding mothers who are experiencing anxiety and challenges in their breastfeeding journey. Strengthening the mother-to-mother support is the goal of every BFSG to sustain the advocacy to mothers into having a successful breastfeeding experience.
Some challenges the BFSG encounter is that some mothers are not aware about the benefits of breastmilk, others believe that commercially prepared formula milk has been enhanced in recent years and has equivalent health benefits to breastmilk enticing them stop nursing their infants early on or unable to breastfeed their babies exclusively, working moms need to report back to work and non-compliance of some companies of RA 10028 or the Expanded Exclusive Breastfeeding in the Workplace Law. To fill these gaps, the active members work hand in hand with the first-time mom or reluctant mothers to encourage them to exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first 6 months and provide appropriate complementary foods after 6 months while continuing breastfeeding up to 2 years and beyond to sustain the life of their baby for a better future.
The Nagerong BFSG is grateful for the refresher course they attended and happy to be given an important role in the community in reaching out to other mothers to promote the importance of breastfeeding and proper nutrition for their babies through their own motherhood experiences. // ND II Karen F. Abe, RND
