Thousands of Mothers and Babies Join the 2017 Big Latch On

A total of 1,592 participants composed of 804 mothers and 512 babies together with their supporters and several breastfeeding advocates gather at the Mountain Wing Atrium, SM Seaside City Cebu on 05 August 2017 to join the simultaneous world movement for breastfeeding dubbed as the Big Latch On 2017.

The event aims to raise awareness o the importance of exclusive and correct breastfeeding and make sure that children get all the essential nutrients needed for their growth and development. It also aims to emphasize the importance of having support from those around you to be able to successfully breastfeed.

Technical updates were shared to the participants including proper breastfeeding positioning, safe sleeping, appropriate complementary feeding, and proper nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers prior to the programme’s highlight.

NNC 7’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Provincial Coordinator Mr. Retz Pol O Pacalioga, who talked about complementary feeding, gave emphasis on the First 1000 days of a child’s life. He said that this is very crucial because it has a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn and thrive.

Mr. Pacalioga shared signs to know whether a child is ready to receive complementary food and what particular type of food can be fed to the child. According to him, it is important to continue breastfeeding the child up to two years and above to ensure optimum health and nutrition.

Dr. Marini T. Esguerra of the Philippine Pediatric Society in on the other hand encourages the mothers not to feel embarrassed to breastfeed in public. In fact, Dr. Esguerra encouraged the public to give praise to those mothers who willingly feed their children without hesitation. NVS

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