Conversations on breastfeeding issues have shown that many people are ignorant of the enormous benefits it has. Adebimpe Ayoola (not the real name), a 51-year-old mother, was addressing a young mother and a spinster on how she forced a mother of a four-month-old baby to give water to the baby, who was exclusively breastfeeding.
Ayoola claimed that she did the same for her children, insisting erroneously that it ought to be the right healthy practice.
Many more Nigerians are disposed to the belief that exclusive breastfeeding should be accompanied by water or local herbal preparations, but health experts’ opinions negate this belief.
Some proponents of this erroneous practice argue that the baby cannot be satisfied with breast milk only, so babies still need water with exclusive breastfeeding.
Also, the argument is that babies need complementary nutrients which breast milk cannot offer.
Dr Olukemi Tongo, President, of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine, expresses concern about this development, observing that the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the country has become so low.
She notes that for babies to get the full benefits of breast milk, mothers must exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life for all the benefits accrued from breastfeeding.
According to her, some benefits include the baby’s growth, sound development, emotional development, and immunity to fight infections.
“So that in the future they will have lower chronic disease conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, allergies and all that; aside from that, the cognitive development of the baby is superb with breast milk.
Even when they start complementary food after six months, they should continue breastfeeding for up to two years,’’ she said.
Tongo, a Consultant Paediatrician Neonatologist at University College Hospital (UCH), says exclusive breastfeeding costs are lower than formula food.
She enjoins families during this economic downturn to take exclusive breastfeeding to save costs for the family.
“It will save on the cost of what you buy and prevent illness for the baby and the mother. So we need everybody at this point to be committed to exclusive breastfeeding,’’ she states.
Tongo emphasises the need to support mothers, helping them and educating them on the value of breastfeeding.
“Not only the mothers need education but every member of the family because when they know the value of breastfeeding, they will encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies exclusively.
“There should be provision for a place where mothers can breastfeed their babies when they are on break during working hours.
“Employers need to know that they too will benefit from making the environment conducive for their workers to breastfeed,’’ the consultant advises.
Tongo, nonetheless, states that there are dangers when mothers don’t breastfeed.
“They are at risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and so on, and the cost of treatment if these conditions are high, so the economic loss is enormous, as well as the impact on other family members and the entire community.
“Exclusive breastfeeding helps prevent environmental degradation. You reverse environmental degradation by breastfeeding.
“The need for the present substitute will reduce when you breastfeed. They have to rear the kind of cows that would pollute the environment to make formula food,’’ she explains.
The neonatologist believes that exclusive breastfeeding will also help attain sustainable development goals, such as poverty, hunger, food security, gender equality, and health for all, and that breastfeeding helps in all areas.
“Even in terms of renewable energy because to make formulas you will have to boil water, sterilise your equipment and all that will consume electricity. So, breastfeeding will save energy and cost.
“Imagine, in Nigeria, we have more than seven million babies born every year, so you can imagine what we are saving in terms of boiling water for seven million babies.
“Breast milk is easy and convenient for babies and mothers, and aids bonding between baby and mother.
“Even when babies are sick, breast milk is the only thing that they usually take without vomiting, and that would be the only thing that would sustain them for one or two days. They are down even the older ones.
“When babies break down due to malaria and all that, breastfed babies have extra immunity. They will not have diarrhoea that will take them to the hospital with complications; they will be just fine,’’ she observes.
Also, Mrs Motunrayo Oduneye, Chief Dietitian at the Dietetics Department at UCH, notes that the current data on breastfeeding in Oyo State is challenging.
In Oyo State, the breastfeeding rate is not bad; however, we are still battling with encouraging and improving the data of exclusive breastfeeding, that is, giving the baby breast milk exclusively for the first six months of life.
“In Nigeria, the art of breastfeeding at the time was not so encouraging because many mothers see formula food as an alternative.
But over time, with lots of information and knowledge shared by healthcare professionals indicating the importance of breastfeeding, mothers have adopted breastfeeding in Nigeria, which has been quite encouraging.
“Water used to be a major contending factor with this art of breastfeeding, that is giving water alongside breast milk.
“The composition of water in breast milk is about 75 per cent. So there is no need for water alongside breast milk for the first six months of a baby’s life,’’ Oduneye explains
She notes further that the challenges in the art of breastfeeding include the fact that mothers being working class either with the state or Federal Government or being entrepreneurs or self-employed could hinder exclusive breastfeeding.
“Some mothers still believe that only breast milk will not be enough for a child. But breast milk in the first six months of life contains all the necessary nutrients in quantity and quality that a child requires at this stage of life.
“Mothers should desist from giving lame excuses but ensure that the child is well positioned for breastfeeding, but this art is taught at the antenatal clinic during pregnancy.
Antenatal clinic should give nothing less than four lectures on breastfeeding out of the 10 times mothers attend antenatally.
“Learning the art of breastfeeding would make it easier for mothers to breastfeed their babies,’’ Oduneye notes.
The dietitian advises that mothers must eat well while breastfeeding and warns that the breastfeeding period should not be a time for mothers to think about dieting or wanting to lose weight.
“In fact, one of the importance of breastfeeding is that it helps a woman to get back into shape healthily. The woman should eat well to enhance lactating, though the art of lactation is mostly stimulated by the reflex of suckling from the breast.
“The more the child suckles, the more the stimulation of the hormones to synthesise the production of breast milk,’’ she says.
