Breast feeding -The purest gift from nursing mothers
It is often said that education is the surest legacy parents can give their children. I agree 100 per cent. I further believe also that the purest gift of every nursing mother is breast milk.
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Putting the baby to the breast from day one through to at least 18 months is the closest bonding between mother and baby. Plus we are told by experts that breast milk has some of the initial nutrients for early growth. It always comes at the right temperature and it has all the antibodies to protect the baby. So, why would any nursing mother want to risk putting her baby on artificial milk?
In a document made available by the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) or MamaYe Ghana, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown through research that children between the ages of six months and two years whose main source of nutrients come from breast milk and whose diet is supplemented by healthy foods tend to score highly in intelligence tests.
Furthermore, such children are less likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes later in life. Any wonder that the campaigns by NGOs such as MamaYe who are focusing on maternal and newborn survival in Ghana are actively promoting that nursing mothers continue to breastfeed their babies?
On the occasion of this year’s Mothers Day celebration, therefore, it is appropriate to ask how well the Ghanaian mother has responded to the call for breast feeding of her newborn child exclusively for the first six months and ideally for up to 24 months with complementary feeding.
Years ago, breast feeding was not promoted. To some, it was for those who could not afford feeding bottles and the artificial milks that were making the rounds. The good news is that the scales are fast tilting in favour of breast feeding.
In a chat with Dr Sally-Ann Ohene, a paediatrician by profession and currently the Disease Prevention and Control Officer of the WHO country office in Ghana, breast feeding has made remarkable inroads in Ghana and across the social ladders too. According to her, the message on the benefits of breast feeding for both mother and baby has intensified over the last 17 years.
Dr Ohene’s assertion is confirmed by evidence made available in the 2011 Multiple Indicator Survey (MICs) carried out across Ghana. The survey scored breast feeding in all the regions quite high.
While the Greater Accra and the Upper East regions scored 99.6 per cent each to hit the top as the regions in Ghana where breast feeding was most practised, the Western Region followed closely by scoring 99.5 per cent, Ashanti 99 per cent, Northern and Eastern regions 98.4 per cent, while the Upper West and Central regions scored 98.4 per cent, followed by Volta with 99.2 and the Brong Ahafo Region with 97.5 per cent.
Dr Ohene believes that those who are propagating the message of breast feeding are doing a good job. To buttress her point, she said in some hospitals, they even discourage expectant mothers from coming in with artificial milk and rather encourage them to put the babies to the breast right after delivery.
In an environment where one can not guarantee the wholesomeness of the drinking water, a baby stands the risk of diarrhoea and other infections if it is fed with artificial milk prepared with water.
Dr Ohene advised working mothers to express their breast milk and have them refrigerated. According to her, the more mothers continue to express their breast milk, the more milk is produced for the baby’s need. The advantage for the mother is that she stands to lose faster her pregnancy weight.
Earlier in a chat with Dr Nana Okai Brako of the Children’s Ward of the Korle Bu Teaching hospital, he minced no words in his advice to nursing mothers. Dr Brako’s view is that breast feeding promotes the baby’s immunity right from day one. He advised mothers that babies fed with breast milk did not require water, since breast milk contains not only the right nutrients but also the right quantities of water for the baby.
He further advised mothers to wash their hands before each breast feeding and ensure that the baby is well positioned and the mouth properly put to the breast for fuller and better sucking.
Malnutrition is said to contribute to over one-third of child deaths in Ghana. According to a survey by MICs 2011, progress has been made to reduce child stunting from over 30 per cent in the 1990s to 22.8 per cent in 2011. This, according to MICs, is an indication that on average, one child in five is not reaching their developmental potential.
We have only a few months to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce by two-thirds the under-five mortality rate. Surely, exclusive breastfeeding has a lot to offer in our quest to get to our goal of 40 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2015.
As we applaud the efforts of caregivers particularly at antenatal clinics and the continued efforts of NGOs such as MamaYe Ghana, the precious advice to nursing mothers is to stick to breast feeding — the pure gift from mothers to their babies.