Manila Doctors Hospital describes itself as a breastfeeding-friendly hospital. Based on my friend's experience, here are what you can expect from the hospital in terms of breastfeeding:
~ they don't really make it a practice to have the baby latch on the Mom the minute it's delivered; my friend only got a cheek-to-cheek contact and since she had a C-section, the next time she touched her baby was when it was brought to the room at 4 PM (some 16 hours after the delivery)
~ they also don't bring the baby to the mother for breastfeeding in the interim, in case the mother cannot go visit the baby
~ the Nursery doesn't use feeding bottles
~ but they will give formula in a nursing cup (S-26)
~ they do encourage rooming-in as soon as possible
~ and they do try to avoid giving formula so you should get your pedia to order the rooming in asap (because they know that if the infant is newly-fed at the Nursery, it won't latch onto Mommy)
~ a NICU nurse delivers the baby and they are pretty well-versed on breastfeeding (at least the latching, positioning and that nipples are self-cleaning), so ask them for help
~ there is an extra P160 or so charge for the bassinet if you'll keep it in your room (plus, they encourage mommies to co-sleep with their babies to facilitate nursing)
All in all, it's still not much where breastfeeding is concerned because both mother and daughter have already lost precious time together. Asian Hospital is more breastfeeding-friendly, but Manila Doctors is better than Metropolitan Hospital.
I think a great deal also depends on your doctors so make sure you make your intentions known to them, as much as possible, as often as possible.
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