A Look Back at My Breastfeeding Activism in 2019

This has been a tremendous year of support, dedication and growth for breastfeeding activists! My heart, for one, is filled with love and gratitude for my colleagues and everyone in the breastfeeding community. This year, I have:

• Continued to write advocacy blog posts for San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition, supporting breastfeeding-friendly policies including Gov. Newsom’s proposal to give parents six months paid leave and House Resolution 545 that urges the president to support international efforts to improve breastfeeding practices globally. 

• Went through a breastfeeding biopsy and than surgery (which explains why there was no posts added to the blog in the entire April) and continue to breast my now 2-year-old! At one time my baby weaned himself but eventually relactated. I realized breastfeeding is such a gift—both for mom and for the baby.  
  

• Served as a panelist at the 14th Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At the conference, my colleagues and I presented on a panel entitled “Normalizing breastfeeding in Asian Communities.”

• Participated in the filming of a series of breastfeeding-friendly childcare training videos produced by UC San Diego. The videos were up on UCSD’s website as a training tool for childcare providers!

• Been recognized as an Emerging Leader of The Year by US Breastfeeding Committee. Part of the USBC Legacy Award, this award is to honor “exceptional and dedicated individuals” who are new or aspiring breastfeeding coalition leaders.  

• Organized an Asian Breastfeeding Photo Project in collaboration with Asian Breastfeeding Task Force, BreastfeedLA and PHFE WIC. Sponsored by HealthConnect One, we launched a photo exhibit to combat breastfeeding stigma in Asian-American communities. 

Please stay tuned for more great ideas the my colleague and I has to implement to help our breastfeeding community in 2020! Before that, much peace and love for the new year to you and yours!