Breastfeeding should be encouraged, President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) told a press conference held by the Breastfeeding Association of Taiwan.
Chen Hsing-yu, a mother of two, discussed her own breastfeeding experience during the press conference held at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
Chao Yi-an (
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Breast milk contains three times the minerals and vitamins of cow's milk," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (
She said she was surprised that Yi-an refused to drink breast milk from her breasts after he was nine-months old, so she tried feeding him bottles of breast milk mixed with cow's milk.
She said the boy began to catch colds more frequently after he began consuming regular milk, so she quickly resumed feeding him breast milk.
Learning from that experience, she said she paid closer attention to breastfeeding her second son, Yi-ting (
"Yi-ting doesn't like bottles and prefers to drink directly from the breast, unlike his brother," she said. "First-time mothers may not know what is best for their child, but they can learn and give better care to their second child."
"Breastfeeding should be something that every child can enjoy," said DPP Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅), whose four-year-old daughter Mabel is still being breastfed.
"It is the first step towards a healthier generation, a healthier city and a healthier future," he said.
Traditional views on breastfeeding were also discussed. The Breastfeeding Association said the conventional view used to be that breastfeeding was only for families who couldn't afford to buy milk powder or formula. This belief is gradually changing, it said.
"My in-laws were a bit dubious about breastfeeding at first," Chen Hsing-yu said. "They were concerned that breast milk did not have as many nutrients as milk powder."
Her in-laws have now accepted the idea of breastfeeding since both grandchildren are healthy.
Even though breastfeeding is becoming more popular in this country, there is a lack of adequate public facilities, association director Chen Yi-chun (
There should be breastfeeding rooms in public facilities, complete with breast pumps and comfortable furniture, to allow mothers to express milk or breastfeed their babies, she said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS