The Art of Breastfeeding

WOMEN DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY know how to breastfeed. Both mother and baby have to learn. A new mother will need help to gain the skills of breastfeeding. The more a mother breastfeeds the more milk she will make. Breastfeeding is like riding a bike: it takes time to build up the confidence needed to trust in your own instincts and master the practical aspects, and then everything seems to fall into place.

Breast milk contains all the nutrients babies need for the first six months of life, in exactly the right amounts, and remains the most important part of an infant’s diet for two years and beyond. It is the most easily digested food for a newborn’s tiny stomach. Breast milk is a living fluid, constantly changing to meet the needs of the growing baby. Breastfeeding protects against many illnesses developing later in life, long after the baby is weaned. The eyesight, speech and jaw development of infants are known to be enhanced by breastfeeding.

In the first week of August 2005, the Department of Pediatrics, in behalf of the Breastfeeding Committee of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (up-pgh), joins the Department of Health and the World Health Organization in celebrating World Breastfeeding Week. Certainly the highlight of the festivities will be a live painting session bringing together luminaries of the Filipino art scene.

Dubbed "The Breastfeeding Madonna and Child: An Afternoon with the Masters," the session will be held on August 1 from 2 to 6 pm at the 2nd Floor Conference Room of the Sentro Oftalmologico Jose Rizal, PGH compound. Participating in this landmark endeavor are National Artist Napoleon Abueva, Anita Magsaysay Ho, Araceli Limcaco Dans, Teresita Sarmiento Duldulao, Phyllis Zaballero, Aladin Antiqueño, Janice Luison Young, Angelo Baldemor, Lell Baldemor, Tito Sanchez, Socorro Paterno, Gig de Pio and Clarissa Perez. It is a homecoming of sorts for artists Abueva, Ho and Dans, who were all born at PGH.

Breastfeeding moms and their babies have been requested to model for the art session and the 13 pieces of artwork produced will be placed on exhibit for the duration of World Breastfeeding Week at the hallway fronting the charity wards (9 and 11) of the Department of Pediatrics at the PGH.

To generate funds which will benefit the underprivileged mother-infant dyads, the art pieces will be sold in a silent auction conducted on-site until 4 pm of August 4, 2005. All art enthusiasts or collectors and breastfeeding advocates are enjoined to witness the painting session and to register as bidders in the silent auction. Other previously created works of art by some of the invited artists will be displayed in the anteroom of the painting area and will be made available for direct purchase.

For inquiries, please contact Dr. Bel Amante of the UP-PGH Department of Pediatrics at 521-8450 local 2107 or through mobile phone no. 0915-7803589.