Sun Angel Malunggay Tea

I found this on the website of Sun Angel Malunggay Herb Tea here on Multiply  (read the original post here).  I wanted to highlight, in particular, the text in orange.  It's something i really wanted to do when i gave birth to joachim last august in makati med.  but... the doctors and nurses didn't do it, despite reading my Birth Plan and verbally agreeing to it.  they did their usual thing of taking him and cleaning him up, etc., etc. then presented him to me for kiss-kiss and picture taking then brought him to the nursery.  i feel that they should have followed what i wanted to happen - it wasn't going to take too much time, anyway.  and i don't think that it would have harmed anyone if they had put joachim on my tummy (supported him) and then allowed him to nurse right away.

after being discharged and settling in at home, i saw pictures of joachim in the nursery (as i was in the recovery room, so this is at about an hour after being born) and because my mom and tabby were taking sequential shots, you could see joachim opening and closing his mouth.  it seemed like he was looking for me and wanted to nurse.  i felt so bad because i could have started giving him colostrum already.  instead, he was alone in his bassinet in the noisy nursery of makati med.  >sigh<

anyway, here's the post =) 

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The mother's 'breast friend' that comes in a tea bag

  During the recent World Breastfeeding Week in August, Filipino moms and moms-to-be were presented with staggering statistics and realities about breastfeeding.      

The most impactful message however was from recent studies that proved that first hour breastfeeding can mean life or death to a newborn, possibly saving more than a million babies worldwide if properly initiated. 

A  recent study published in Pediatrics in 2006 further showed that when infants are placed skin-to-skin on their mother’s abdomen and chest immediately after birth, they exhibit remarkable capabilities. They are alert, they can crawl, stimulated by mother’s gentle touch, across her abdomen, reaching her breast. This first gentle touch of a baby’s hand or head at the breast stimulates the release of maternal oxytocin, thus beginning both the flow of milk and enhancing the feelings of love for the baby. Then the baby smells, mouths and licks the mother’s nipple. Finally, he or she attaches to the breast and feeds. This sequence of events is important for the survival of newborn babies. 

The study also noted the following: (worldbreastfeeding.org)

*  That babies who do not start breastfeeding until after 24 hours of age are 2.5 times more likely to die than babies who started within the first hour of life, whether they were partially or exclusively breastfed.

* That 30% of babies in the study who were fed solids or other milk before one month of age were four times more likely to die than babies who were exclusively breastfed

* That 16% of newborn deaths could be prevented if newborns were breastfed exclusively from day one

* 22% of newborn deaths could be prevented if newborns initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth.

'BAGGING' THE MIRACLE PLANT

In the Philippines, breastfeeding advocates join hands to promote breastfeeding,  creating awareness among mothers, pregnant women and other concerned agencies. In fact, breastfeeding stations have been opened in various malls even as the Philippines bagged the first Guinness World Record on Simultaneous Breastfeeding in Multiple Sites when 20,000 mothers in more than 400 sites were initiated to let Filipino mothers realize the all-important role of breastfeeding in the family and society.  

It is thus very important that mothers keep their breast milk both healthy and plenty.  

This is what inspired Imee Garcia, a mother of one and a staunch breastfeeding advocate, when she thought of helping nursing moms produce more milk through a most convenient way. 

 “I was having trouble while trying to breastfeed my first child, and my mom and other older relatives would always suggest to try boiling malunggay and take it as a soup. But I found that its taste was really bitter,'' Garcia recounts. 

For generations now, the malunggay vegetable has been relied upon by lactating moms to help them in breasteeding. Its high calcium content helps mothers produce more milk for infants.

Dr. Lydia M. Marero of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in her article ''Malunggay is Miracle Vegetable'' wrote that ''malunggay is one of the world's most useful plants.  It is used as food, effective flocculant or water treatment, antibiotic, source of oil, and coagulant for turbid waters.''

Loaded with nutrients. each ounce of malunggay contains seven times the Vitamin C found in oranges, four times the Vitamin A of carrots, three times the iron of spinach, four times as much calcium from milk and three times the potassium of bananas.

It is also called mother's best friend, and miracle vegetable by many who know malunggay's beneficial uses. Traditionally in the Philippines, lactating mothers are advised to eat malunggay incorporated in soups such as chicken tinola, mongo or halaan (clam) soup. But the nutrients malunggay offers are far from being maximized this way.

  Garcia and her mom also know all the benefits of malunggay too well. 

''But I also know that there is a better, more convenient and more pleasant way of taking malunggay everyday,'' she says. Like many modern mothers,  Garcia goes to work and her busy schedule does not allow her to always ingest the nutrients of malunggay through soups everyday.

Yet,  they won't do it the shortcut way, knowing how beneficial the nutrients of malunggay are. “We know that's why we did it the hard and slow way because we wanted to preserve all the goodness and the nutrients that the vegetable has to offer. No additives, caffeine and other preservatives were added in our tea,” she assures. 

Their determination has paid off, slowly but surely succeeding in ''tea bagging'' malunggay and all its goodness as she came up with Sun Angel Malunggay Herbal Tea, an instant yet effective response to busy breastfeeding women.  With the seal of the Bureau of Food and Drug (BFAD), this malunggay tea can be taken anytime and anywhere, precisely how Imee envisioned it to be.

''I know this will be most appreciated by mothers like me. But what is more important is that more and more women will be convinced that breastfeeding can now be more convenient, on top of the many benefits it gives our babies. There is no more excuse not to breastfeed - that we have no milk or that we are busy. We are gifted with technology to make things easier for all of us and we are making the most out of it, with our babies taking all the benefits,'' Garcia says.

(Sun Angel Malunggay Herb Tea is in Mercury Drug Stores. For inquiries call 776 3895 or 787 047, or check their site at malunggayherbtea.multiply.com and email malunggayherbtea@gmail.com.)