Breastfeeding is Love Poured Out From One Heart to Another

A child first learns about God's love 

at his mother's breasts.

When a mother promptly provides milk for her hungry child, a child experiences and learns about God's timely provisions. When a mother consistently nurses her child over a long period of time (like a number of years), the child experiences and learns about God's faithfulness. A nursing mother's loving arms gently wrapped around her baby warms not only a baby's body but also the baby's heart and soul. The baby is comforted by his mother's loving presence and touch. This experience in infancy gives the baby a sense of security and protection from the world around him. Psalm 22:9 (AMP) says, "Yet You are He who took me out of the womb; You made me hope and trust when I was on my mother's breasts." Babies learn to hope and trust that their needs would be met at the breasts. They hope and trust that when they cry (be it out of hunger, thirst or fear), their mom would be there to nourish and comfort them. Breastfeeding, therefore, not only provides for their bodies; but also, for their souls.

I was amazed when I discovered in the Old Testament that God compares His love for His people to the love of a nursing mother for her child. One popular verse related to this is Isaiah 49:15 (NLT) that says, "Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget." This verse recognizes the very strong unique bond between a mother and the child that she nursed. It's as if God was saying in this verse that it's impossible for a mother to forget or stop loving the child that she nursed at her breasts. Wow!

Here's another verse. This time, it's from Isaiah 66:12-13 (ESV). "For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you..." I'm so honored to be a nursing mom! Imagine, God compared Himself to a nursing mom like me! God must have high regard for nursing moms! He definitely sees the powerful love that fills a nursing mother's heart which overflows through the milk that comes from her breasts. This verse gave insight, too, to the other purpose of breastfeeding, which is to bring comfort to a child.

When I was a first-time nursing mom, one of the pieces of advice that I heard was that I should not use my breasts to pacify or comfort my baby. I was told that breastfeeding should be mainly for providing my baby with food. I felt torn by this advice; for, a part of me wanted so much to bring my baby to my bosom every time he cried. Now I understand why I felt that way!

God designed a mother's breast not only as a source of nutrition or food for her child; but also, as a place of comfort and love.

I'm glad that as I grew in experience as a nursing mom, I've learned to break away from this advice. I'm thankful for the grace and wisdom to follow my instincts and to comfort my child through my breasts whenever he needs it. My second child is so blessed since he benefitted from the new lessons I have learned.

That's me breastfeeding my youngest son last year 
during our Mother's Day photo shoot.

I so love breastfeeding! I think God designed us moms this way so that when our babies are hungry, we would feel it in our breasts. When we are away from our babies, we would feel a tug in our hearts to run home to them. I think God designed us mothers to be near our children especially when they are young. I pray that we moms would recognize this wiring from God and we would choose to show our love to our children by breastfeeding them.

*****

This piece above is an excerpt from the first chapter of my latest book BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking, which was released during the last quarter of last year and launched officially at Mothercare, BGC last January 25, 2014.

My strong belief is that breastfeeding is love poured out from God's heart to a mother's heart and into a baby's heart. I believe that we moms are privileged to be given this sacred task of being God's first instruments in making His unconditional and passionate love known to our children. I pray that more mothers would accept and embrace this sacred calling. That is one of my reasons for writing BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking. If only more moms would know what really transpires when a mom breastfeeds her baby, I think that more moms would choose to breastfeed their kids.

  

Let's keep the love flowing from God's heart through ours into the hearts of our babes!

To buy a copy of my breastfeeding book, please click here.

This post is part of the "Breastfeeding is Love" blog link up party. 

Please feel free to visit other posts from fellow mommy bloggers on the joys of breastfeeding! 

Hosted by Chic Mompreneur

Chic Mompreneur: Breastfeeding is Love

My Finance MD: Breastfeeding is Love

Art of Being A Mom: Breastfeeding Love

Mommy Bares All: Breastfeeding is Love Poured Out

Wear and Nurse Baby: Breastfeeding is Love! Why I Breastfeed. 

 Pinions and Plumage of Love: B-R-E-A-S-T-F-E-E-D-I-N-G is the Longest Spelling of Love

The Binondo Mommy: Breastfeeding is Love

Mamanee's Nest: Breastfeeding is Love

*I'm linking this as well to the Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Link Up Blitz for February 2014.

A Bowl that Fills My Heart with Joy

It's amusing how a bowl of oatmeal can give one a sense of joy that's hard to put into words. What sets this bowl of oatmeal apart is that this bowl belongs to my youngest son and the oatmeal in it is what I cooked for his breakfast today.

 

I write this post to take some time off from my long to-do list of household chores and WAHMie tasks. I want to savor this moment a little longer by documenting it here in my blog.

 

This is one of the perks of being a WAHM. I can choose to spend time with my kids when I want to and I can go back to my tasks later. I thank God for this opportunity to have wonderful breakfasts with my son. I thank God that I can watch him learn how to feed himself and clean up his chair and table afterwards. Most of all, I thank God for the opportunity to cook meals for him and to share a meal with him.

 

 

 

The sweet and innocent smile of my little one as he enjoys his oatmeal fills my heart with much joy. It energizes me to persevere in the many tasks I need to do today. It also reminded me that my boy will not be this young forever. He will learn to do things on his own. He will stay in the house less longer. He will need me less often.

 

I've been home since his birth and yet I still feel that he's growing so fast. And so, I thank God again for this reminder to savor each moment with him... to celebrate life and love even in the ordinary moments, including having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.

Save on Grocery by Making Homemade Baby Food

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that “infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods, while continuing to breastfeed for up to two years or more.” Some parents might be surprised to read this because some health care providers, including doctors, suggest that babies be introduced to solids as early as four months of age. This is the updated/latest directive not only from the World Health Organization but also from other trusted authorities such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, UNICEF and Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council among others. You may click here and here to read articles that summarize the benefits of delaying the introduction of solids to babies to six months of age at least.

 

Many parents however think that making homemade baby food is a lot of fuss so they simply buy baby foods from groceries which are packed in jars or in boxes. But these baby foods are quite expensive, aside from the fact that most of them are available in blended variants and flavors, not really ideal as baby’s first food. It is recommended by doctors that babies try out one kind of food at a time when they are already six months old.

 

We chose the path less travelled by parents. We have decided to give our second child homemade food instead of store-bought baby foods when he started to eat solid food. Let me share some of our reasons for making this choice.

 

We have greater control of our baby’s diet. We are able to plan our baby’s diet and implement it without being dependent on what is in stock in the grocery.

We know exactly what goes into the baby food.

We can make sure that our baby’s food does not lose its nutrients because we are the ones who prepare or cook the food.

We are sure that what our baby is eating is natural and fresh. We didn’t like to use preservatives or other artificial flavors on our baby’s food. We didn’t even put salt until he was one year old because we wanted him to be familiar with the natural flavor and tastes of foods.

We are able to save grocery money because it’s more economical.

Unlike what most people think, it’s convenient. We cook in batches so each batch can last up to 3-5 days. We simply store the baby food in ice cube trays with cover and freeze it. Then, we reheat just enough for each serving or meal.

Now that our baby is older, the baby gets to eat the same foods that the whole family eats so we are able to save much on groceries.

 

Here's a handy helper in making your baby food.

 

How do you make homemade baby food?

 

Click here to continue reading this article.  This was published today at The Philippine Online Chronicles.

Activities Inspired by our Farm Books

Books and stories about the farm are always big hits to my kids.  So today, we had a few farm-related activities.

A peek inside our farm books -- On The Farm and Clifford's Animal Sounds.

First,we cooked hardboiled eggs for breakfast.  Yanthy likes removing the shells from the hardboiled eggs so we allowed him to do it before eating his breakfast with some rice.

We read Cifford's Animals Sounds to Mateo before Yanthy took a bath.

After his bath, Yanthy and I went to the nearby mall where there's a bookstore to buy some materials for our art projects.

We had lunch early then we proceeded with our farm-inspired art activity.  We made chickens out of paper plates and painted them.  I saw this from Mommy and Me Book Club and thought that it would be something that my little boy would love to do.

Let me share how we did it:

1. We cut our paper plates to form the different parts of the chicken.

2. We used the stapler to attach the parts to the chicken's body.

3. Yanthy painted one of the chickens red using a brush.  Then, we add some blue paint on the tail as highlights using our fingers.  We also put yellow paint on the beak. 

Yanthy doing some serious painting.

4.  Since, Yanthy wanted to make a chicken for his baby brother also.  We chose a different color of paint.  We mixed red, yellow and blue to make brown paint.  So, Mateo's chicken is brown and yellow.  We used our fingers this time to paint on Mateo's chicken.

5. After painting and cleaning our hands, we let our chicken art works dry.  (While the kids had their naps.)

6. Our last step was to glue the googly eyes of the chickens on the painted paper plates. 

Yanthy's red hen with blue highlights on its tail.

Before the kids went to bed for their naps, I read to them the book On the Farm and Blue Cow Went Out to Play.  You may click here and here to find another farm-inspired art activity.

Mateo's chicken made by Kuya Yanthy.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with our chickens and imitating their sounds and singing "Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck! Good morning, Mrs. Hen!"  We just changed morning into afternoon. :)

Big Carrot and Baby Carrot Painting

First art work together of Yanthy and Mateo.

Yesterday marked Yanthy and Mateo’s first art work together. Since it was also Mateo’s first time to eat carrots, I thought of doing this art activity with both of them. It’s very simple.

First, I showed Yanthy how to come up with the color orange. I showed him that by mixing the paints red and yellow, we will have an orange paint. It’s amusing even to me as the red and yellow paints fused to become orange. This was not only an art activity but a science activity as well.

After that, I painted one of Yanthy’s feet with the orange paint and asked him to step on the bond paper. To make sure that most of the paint on his foot would transfer to the paper, we counted up to 20 before I asked him to lift his foot. So, we got to practice counting, too.

Then, it’s Mateo’s turn. While our helper was cleaning Yanthy’s foot and removing the paint, I painted Mateo’s foot orange. I then pressed the bond paper (with a magazine to support it at the back) on Mateo’s foot. Viola! There is now a baby carrot beside Yanthy’s big carrot.

For the leaves, I asked Yanthy what finger he would like to use to paint the leaves on his big carrot. He chose his index finger. I helped him dip it on green paint and guided his finger until he has finished putting leaves on his carrot.

It’s Mateo’s turn again. I painted Mateo’s big toe instead of his finger for the leaves on his baby carrots because Mateo like to suck his fingers. I wanted to be safe so no finger painting yet for him. After pressing his big toe thrice, we finished our simple carrot art activity.

I was very happy to have an activity where both Mateo and Yanthy can join. It may be simple but it gave all three of us an opportunity to bond together especially the brothers. The bonus treat is that with this art work, I was able to document Mateo’s foot print on his sixth month and compare it side by side with his big brother’s who is now three and a half. This activity encourages me to think of more activities we can do together in the future to help strengthen the bond between my sons. I pray that God would provide me with plenty of inspiration as we go along.

Mommy TG’s 4-Week Cycle Menu Plan for Lent

Today marks the start of the Lent season as we celebrate Ash Wednesday. I will not attempt to explain Lent here in this post. But for those who would like better understand it, here is a video shared by some of my friends in Facebook that tries to explain what Lent is in a few minutes. My objective for writing this post today is to give Catholics some ideas or options on what to serve during the Fridays of the Lent. I have revised my original Four-Week Menu Plan to help other homemakers out there in their menu planning this season of Lent. You may want to follow it day by day. You may just pick out a week plan or two. Or you can just get ideas for simple meatless dishes you can serve during days of abstinence.

Some of the reasons that I chose these dishes are: 1) I’m breastfeeding my newborn baby; 2) these are easy to prepare dishes that I can teach my maids to prepare; 3) I have a toddler who is a picky and slow eater; and last but not least, they are easy on the pocket.

So here is my revised menu plan for Lent. Today, being Ash Wednesday, we are having Ginisang Mongo with Alugbati. Since today is a day of abstinence, we are not putting pork in our mongo like we usually do. You may opt to put fried fish flakes or use a different leafy vegetable instead of alugbati if you prefer.

Week 1

Monday – Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa with Pork and Malunggay
Tuesday – Chop Suey with quail eggs (My eldest son loves quail eggs!)
Wednesday – Ginisang Mongo with Pork and Alugbati
Thursday – Chicken Pochero
Friday – Sweet and Sour Tilapia
Saturday – Pork Adobo and itlog na maalat with tomatoes
Sunday – Chicken and Macaroni Soup

 

 

Week 2

Monday – Picadillo
Tuesday – Tinolang Manok with Malunggay
Wednesday – Pinakbet (We cook this minus the bagoong or shrimp paste because I don’t eat bagoong while breastfeeding.)
Thursday – Almondigas
Friday – Sinigang na Bangus or Salmon Heads
Saturday – Beef Stir-fry with Veggies (Broccoli, Bell Pepper, Corn and Green Peas)
Sunday – Chicken Sotanghon Soup

 

 

Week 3

Monday – Nilagang Baboy
Tuesday – Fried Chicken and Coleslaw
Wednesday – Beef Steak and Togue Gisado
Thursday – Chicken Curry
Friday – Daing na Bangus and Enseladang Talong
Saturday – Ginisang Ampalaya
Sunday – Sausage and Shell Pasta Soup

Week 4

Monday – Sinigang na Baboy
Tuesday – Relyenong Bangus and Pumpkin and Carrot Soup
Wednesday – Chicken Liver and Gizzards with Pineapple
Thursday – Lumpiang Shanghai and Chunky Potato and Bacon Soup
Friday – Crusted Tilapia Fillet and Mango or Pineapple Salsa
Saturday – Pasta Dish (I cook a pasta dish at least once a month because my son, Yanthy, loves pasta and to celebrate my newborn’s birth day every month during his first year of life.)
Sunday – Nilagang Baka

Here are some breakfast ideas for the Fridays of Lent.

 Tortang Talong and steamed rice
 Fried Danggit and Spanish omelette with Garlic Rice
 Champorado
 Ginisang Tuna Flakes with Tomatoes
 Paksiw na Dilis
 Oatmeal
 Cereals and Low Fat Milk
 Potato and Chesse Omelette
 Cheese and Spinach Quesadilla
 Spanish Sardines with toasted bread or rice

There goes my revised four-week cycle menu plan for Lent! Hope it helps you and your families make sure that you observe days of abstinence during the entire season. God bless!
 

Why I Don’t Feed My Baby from My Own Spoon and Insist that He Uses His Own Eating Utensils

It might seem trivial or harmless to some; but, feeding your baby or toddler from your own spoon or from any spoon other than the child’s own utensils can harm him/her. I have always been strict about hygiene and sanitation at home even when I was still single. This behaviour has been highly influenced by my upbringing and the Microbiology and other Food Safety and Sanitation subjects I had when I took up Hotel and Restaurant Administration in UP, Diliman. The parenting books I read when I was still pregnant also taught me a lot about it. Thus, I became all the more conscious about sanitation when I finally gave birth to my baby.

My younger brother and I grew up having our own set of plates, glasses and eating utensils. It wasn’t our practice at home to share these things unlike in other households. And it was with this same mindset and approach that I planned to raise my child. So when our little boy started eating solids, we excitedly purchased him his own set of bowl, plate, cup and eating utensils.

Then just before Christmas, our two-year old son got sick. Our very active toddler suddenly didn’t have the energy to play. He refused to eat or drink. He had high fever that reached almost 40 degrees Celsius and he was vomiting. I got worried so I brought him immediately to his pediatrician. That was when we discovered what was bothering him. He had plenty of “singaw” inside his mouth. (The medical term is quite long and I had some difficulty reading his doctor’s handwriting.) That caused his high fever and refusal to eat or drink. A “singaw” may just be a source of discomfort to us adults; but in young children, this can cause fever. The doctor said that children with high fever usually vomit. That explains it.

But how did he get “singaw?” The doctor asked me and our maid if we had “singaw” at that time. But we didn’t. She said that it is viral and contagious. One can get it upon contact with the saliva of the person with “singaw” like if you used the eating utensils of the person with “singaw.” So, from whom did Yanthy get his “singaw?” We discovered early that evening that Yanthy got it from his Dad who had fed Yanthy the night before from his own spoon while he was eating dinner. My husband and I have already agreed in the past that we will only feed our son using his own utensils but he sometimes forgets. This could be because he grew up sharing his eating utensils with his immediate family members. It was a habit that he finds difficult to break. Unfortunately, this bad habit caused our toddler to get sick.

It was very challenging to feed Yanthy while he had “singaw” in his mouth. He found it painful to eat or drink. He refused to drink even his milk. He lost a lot of weight. And he continued to have high fevers which led him to vomit. I just kept wiping him with a face towel dipped in cold water to keep his fever down because his fever was high even with paracetamol. His doctor said that his condition will only improve once the many “singaw” in his mouth decreases in number and eventually disappear. His appetite went back after around a week which was what the doctor predicted.

The other day, I read in a parenting magazine that one can also pass on cavities to babies or toddlers through their saliva when they share their eating utensils with them. The article said that babies naturally do not have that bacteria in their mouth and they usually get these from their moms when the moms feed them using the mom’s spoon or fork. Having learned that, I grew in conviction to be vigilant with what goes inside my son’s mouth.

Sharing food with a baby or toddler seems to be a very sweet gesture but it can be very harmful. It can bring sickness or cavities to the child. So, next time you are tempted to feed a child using your own spoon, remember that you’re not only sharing the food… you might also be sharing a virus or cavity-causing bacteria. Use his/her own eating utensils instead. It’s better to be safe than sorry; because in the end, the child will suffer either from “singaw,” high fever and vomiting or toothache.

Yanthy’s Favorite Soup

I cooked Yanthy’s favourite soup two days ago. Basically, it’s a squash/pumpkin soup which I cook with a twist every now and then. He likes the soup on its own, with rice or with bread. Let me share with you how I do it.

Ingredients:
butter, 1-2 slices
onions and garlic, minced
squash/pumpkin, cubed
pork or chicken broth, 2-3 cups
all purpose cream, 1 tetra pack
evaporated milk, 1 small can (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Melt butter in a saucepan and sauté minced onions and garlic until the onions are transparent and the garlic is fragrant.
2. Add the cubed squash, sauté for a minute.
3. Pour in the pork or chicken broth. If you don’t have left over broth, you can dissolve a chicken or pork broth cube in hot water as substitute.
4. Bring to boil and cook until the squash is tender and soft enough to be mashed.
5. Reduce the heat and mash the squash. You can also remove the squash from the liquid and use a blender or food processor to puree it if you don’t want to mash it manually. Then, return it to the saucepan.
6. Once the squash has been mashed, mix the evaporated milk and all purpose cream with the squash.
7. Simmer over low heat and season with salt and pepper according to taste.
8. Remove from heat/fire and serve with bread.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I make variations to the basic recipe. Like two days ago, I added cauliflower florets and cubed quick melt cheese just before I turned off the heat. Sometimes, I mix shredded carrots or broccoli instead. Other times, I top it with any of the following: grated cheese, bacon bits, biscuits or bread.

Try it! Experiment on the toppings! You and your kids might like it too.

Yanthy’s New Favorite Snack

Banana used to be Yanthy’s favorite snack. Around two weeks ago, after I introduced him to Party Animals biscuits, it has become his new favorite snack. It was supposed to be one of the game prizes in his birthday party last October 18. I thought that it was perfect for his jungle-themed party. I showed it to him and told him about my plan. However, he didn’t let go of the box anymore after he got hold of it. So, I opened it and allowed him to taste the biscuits.

The biscuits are animal-shaped with their names carved on the biscuits. It has different flavors – butter, coconut and seaweed. I bought the butter flavored biscuits. I dipped the biscuits in his milk before giving them to him. He liked them very much. Initially, he could only finish 5 biscuits. After a few days, he averaged 10 biscuits per sitting. He finished 2 boxes of the biscuits in the past 2 weeks.

Last week, his 5 month old cousin JR, tried tasting the biscuits. The other baby liked it also that’s why his parents bought him a couple of boxes from SM Hypermart before going back to Surigao. When his cousin was with us, Yanthy tried eating the biscuits by biting into them without first dipping them in milk. He liked them that way, too. He was able to eat around 5 pieces again.

I’m happy I chanced upon this product when I was looking for game prizes. Although I was not able to use it for its original purpose, I’m glad I found something that Yanthy eventually loved to eat for his snack.