207 Taguig moms join ‘Breastfeeding Olympics’

BREASTFEEDING FOR A CAUSE A woman bonds with her baby at a milk-letting event for the benefit of the Taguig City human milk bank. —TAGUIG PIO

MANILA, Philippines — There were no losers, only winners in Taguig City’s first-ever “Breastfeeding Olympics” which closed this year’s celebration of Breastfeeding Awareness Month.

Over 200 lactating mothers gathered last week at the Taguig Lakeshore Hall for the milk-letting event organized by the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital (TPDH) and city nutrition office.

They were grouped according to barangay, with 28 villages vying for the honor of collecting the biggest volume of breast milk for the city’s human milk bank.

Barangay New Lower Bicutan came in first, collecting a total of 1,170 milliliters (ml) of breast milk. Next were Barangays Bagumbayan and Lower Bicutan, which pumped 1,130 ml and 1,040 ml of milk, respectively.

In total, 18 liters of breast milk were collected from 207 participating mothers.

Lactation treats

Each member of the number one barangay took home lactation treats such as squash, cucumber, saba, calamansi, pineapple and five kilos of rice.

For 30-year-old Mary Rose Santos, the event was not just a competition.

“I was very much willing to participate, not only to help my barangay win, but also to help fellow moms feed their babies with breast milk,” she said.

The breast milk gathered at the event will be pasteurized for the use of babies confined at TPDH’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit, outpatient infants, and babies admitted to other hospitals who are in need of breast milk.