Once more with feeling, breastfeeding is bestfeeding

I am printing updates and feedback on last Christmas’ article "Breast Friends." Definitely, things happen for special reasons and here, I’m sure you’ll understand why.

Rosanna’s Uno

Dear Maricel,

Thank you for the kind words in the article "Breast Friends." You’re giving me more credit than I deserve.

Guess what? I think the Breast Milk Bank is underway. I have more needy babies. One is in a coma.

Uno is feeding at my breast but six weeks at the hospital have made him used to instant gratification. I had a long "talk" with him last night and I him that we’re a team and he has to help mama produce milk. I also told him that this is his first lesson in life – "No work, no food." The next feeding, he sucked for 45 minutes. – Rosanna

* * * Retired But Available

Thank you for your article today. It filled me with much nostalgia. I am a "retired breastfeeder" and I remember counselling a mama who had a preemie. With a lot of support, she pumped enough milk for her seven-month newborn. She told me later her obstetrician became a breastfeeding convert. Her son was blessed enough to have been able to catch up with full-term babies a couple of years after he was born – no blindness, no abnormality – but boy, she sure put up a fight for him, beginning breastfeeding with just a drop per feeding! God surely has His ways, His natural ways.

Breastfeeding is still in the doldrums since the time I first gave birth and breastfed two girls – I was continuously feeding for nine years. Nature’s ways are best. God put so much natural stuff in our bodies it is a marvel analyzing each one. The continuation of "breastfeeding is bestfeeding" is, of course, natural family planning, but that is another story. If you want to hear that one, feel free to e-mail me. If you ever need to call an "old" breastfeeder to exchange stories, e-mail or call me … that is if you can catch me home. I am an on-again-off-again colorum breastfeeding counsellor. I had an excellent teacher – my dad was a pediatrician who wrote a local textbook on breastfeeding. – Connie Q. Estrada-Calimon

* * * The Good Pump

Hi, I just read your article "Breast Friends" and was very touched by it.

You mentioned in your article the Medela pump. I wonder if you’ve heard of the Avent Isis breast pump, which for me is the best manual breast pump there is. I have a seven-month-old baby girl. I went back to work when she turned three months old. I was very concerned that my milk would dry up even if I expressed at work as I’ve heard other moms tell that story. But thank God, my milk supply is still abundant as I’m using this Avent pump. I tried other breast pumps before, but nothing comes close to this one. I know I sound like an ad for Avent, but I just wanted to share my story to help your friend Rosanna. If only I lived there in Manila, I’d be happy to share my milk with Uno.

If Avent is not available yet there in the Philippines, just drop me a line and maybe I can send one to you.

– Marlene Croox

AWA Technology Services

National Call Centre

Australia

<mailto: mcroox@awa.com.au>

* * * A Similar Story

I share Rosanna’s predicament. I would be needing milk donors for my baby. In case you’ve received donors, please include myson as one of your recipients.

Moreover, my husband and I would want to meet or talk to Rosanna and her husband because we want to know how they were able to cope with their problem.

As a backgrounder, I gave birth to our first baby, Josemaria Raphael, last August 22, 2001. He is a miracle baby at birth and is a miracle till now. He is now barely 700 grams (or 1.5 lb) at 25 weeks old (six months). He is the first baby to survive with such a condition at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City where the surviving rate is 27-28 weeks (with a 50/50 chance). He turned four months last December, but is still in an incubator at the ICU. Right now, he weighs 1.3 k or 2.8 lbs. He’s underwent a lot of aggressive medical treatments, and you can’t imagine how he survived all of these. But in the first week of December, he developed a complication and they had to put him back on the respirator. Thus, we would be spending the holiday season at the ICU.

We have given up everything that we have for our son – our jobs, our plans, our financial savings – and we are selling our properties to cover our mounting medical expenses. We are likewise burdened with financial obligations. We have spent half a year in the hospital as we have been there since July. I had a complicated pregnancy and I had to be in bedrest for three months. I was hospitalized in July and August.

I had a miscarriage in my first year of marriage. We waited for four years to have a baby.

For more details, you may visit the website of our baby, especially topics about our plans and sacrifices, among others, at: http://www.geocities.com/josemariaraphael.

Please find time to browse it. His third month was the happiest month. But this December is much worst than his first two months. We do pray and hope for a miracle that God would bless our angel with the gift of life filled with faith, hope and love. We also pray that God may grant us the grace to hang on and to accept His divine will for our family.

Aside from milk donation, we are also asking for your prayers and those of your family and friends. Please pray for our little angel Josemaria Raphael.

We would also be happy if you could refer us to people who may be of help. May God bless you and your family this Christmas season and throughout the year.

Thank you. – Teresa "Mater" C. Santos

* * *

Would love to hear from you. Kindly e-mail me at bizwrks@attglobal.net.