Section 3Sec./Art. 3

Definition of Terms.For purposes of this Act, the following definitions are adopted:

a) Age of gestationthe length of time the fetus is inside the mother's womb.

b) Bottlefeedingthe method of feeding an infant using a bottle with artificial nipples, the contents of which can be any type of fluid.

c) Breastfeedingthe method of feeding an infant directly from the human breast.

d) Breastmilkthe human milk from a mother.

e) Expressed breastmilkthe human milk which has been extracted from the breast by hand or by breast pump. It can be fed to an infant using a dropper, a nasogatric tube, a cup and spoon, or a bottle.

f) Formula feedingthe feeding of a newborn with infant formula usually by bottlefeeding. It is also called artificial feeding.

g) Health institutionsare hospitals, health infirmaries, health centers, lying-in centers, or puericulture centers with obstetrical and pediatric services,

h) Health personnelare professionals and workers who manage and/or administer the entire operation of health institutions and/or who are involved in providing maternal and child health services.

i) Infanta child within zero (0) to twelve (12) months of age.

j) Infant formulathe breastmilk substitute formulated industrially in accordance with applicable Codex Alimentarius standards, to satisfy the normal nutritional requirements of infants up to six (6) months of age, and adopted to their physiological characteristics.

k) Lactation managementthe general care of a mother-infant nursing couple during the mother's prenatal, immediate postpartum and postnatal periods. It deals with educating and providing knowledge and information to pregnant and lactating mothers on the advantages of breastfeeding, the physiology of lactation, the establishment and maintenance of lactation, the proper care of the breasts and nipples, and such rother matters that would contribute to successful breastfeeding.

l) Low birth weight infanta newborn weighing less than two thousand five hundred (2,500) grams at birth.

m) Mother's milkthe breastmilk from the newborn's own mother.

n) Rooming-in-the practice of placing the newborn in the same room as the mother right after delivery up to discharge to facilitate mother-infant bonding and to initiate breastfeeding. The infant may either share the mother's bed or be placed in a crib beside the mother.

o) Seriously ill mothersare those who are: with severe infections; in shock; in severe cardiac or respiratory distress; or dying; or those with other conditions that may be determined by the attending physician as serious.

p) Wet-nursingthe feeding of a newborn from another mother's breast when his/her own mother cannot breastfeed.

CHAPTER I

ROOMING-IN AND BREASTFEEDING OF INFANTS