It didn’t matter that the session was scheduled on a weekday at The Monarch Hotel near my office. I filed a half day leave for today to attend this useful awareness campaign because just like every Mom and Mom-to-be who’s hungry for information and useful tools to help them face motherhood, I wanted to arm myself with the knowledge, if not the skills, to feed and nurture my baby.
Breastfeeding is probably one of the biggest decisions any mother or mother-to-be will ever make, especially if she is working full time. I already braced myself for some challenges and major adjustments in the future and have kept that mindset that if others were able to do it successfully, I sure can, too. I’ve been inspired by a lot of Mommy-bloggers out there (you know who you are, ladies) who took on the challenge, and never gave up.
I am also thankful that the UAE is supportive of breastfeeding. Their labor law allows nursing women to have an extra hour of break to breastfeed their child. For our company, we have our own employment law as a separate jurisdiction which basically follows the same rule. In fact, you can even take it as a terminal break so you can leave early to be with your baby sooner.
I must say that the session, for a first, was quite a hit. The number of attendees was good, and a lot of expectant Moms like me had the chance to ask all possible questions we could think of. There were some Moms who brought their babies in the session, and the one next to me was even breastfeeding – totally oblivious to the crowd. Our group pictures were taken by the xpress4me tabloid for their feature. And wouldn’t you know, i was also interviewed by the mbc, a local news channel here in Dubai!
Not only did we leave the session brimming with knowledge and confidence about breastfeeding, but we also were given these cool give-aways by Philips Avent:
Much thanks to the organizers, Philips Avent and iirme for this wonderful and enlightening event!
2 comments:
i remember attending events like these when i was preggy with joshua. i loved it. i loved meeting new and expecting moms. there was so much to learn and of course the freebies was an added bonus.
hi vannie,
that's right! it was really fun, and i loved it, too. it was a good experience, and it was nice to meet fellow Moms-to-be, as well.
Post a Comment