Non-breastfed children are 88 times more likely to die in 6 months !

Jul 24, 2019

Breastfeeding is one of the cheapest yet very effective way to provide children with a healthy start to life.

By Dr. Irene B Kyamwine
 
Every year, Uganda joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) in the first week of August to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world.
 
Breastfeeding is one of the cheapest yet very effective way to provide children with a healthy start to life. 
 
This year's theme: ‘Empower Parents Enable Breastfeeding' calls for each one of us to participate in promoting, protecting, and encouraging breastfeeding.
 
A few years ago, Brazilian international supermodel Gisele Bundchen boldly stated that all women should be required by law to breastfeed. Her statement ignited a huge debate about the benefits of breastfeeding newborns over using formula.
 
The Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), 2016, states that Only six in 10 Ugandan children below the age of six months are exclusively breastfed and that one in every 16 children in Uganda does not survive past the age of five due to preventable diseases.
 
For most young working mothers, swapping breastfeeding with bottle feeding is seen as a lifesaver because it's less restrictive with their diets, (especially those who smoke and drink) they can quickly lose the baby weight, and even return to work almost immediately.
 
Breast milk, however, is proven to provide all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for survival in the first six months of life. It continues to provide more than half of a child's nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life. Breast milk further promotes intellectual development and protects the infant against infectious and chronic diseases. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life reduces infant death due to common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea or pneumonia and helps for a quicker recovery during illness. A research reported by a scientific journal, the Lancet in 2016 reported that an exclusively breastfed child is 88 times less likely to die in the first six months than a non-breastfed child. Breastfeeding is also beneficial to the health and well-being of mothers; as it helps to space children and reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancer. It can even benefit the entire family by reducing the expenditure on artificial feeding and medical costs due to diarrheal diseases.
 
Even with the above-recognized benefits breastfeeding practices in Uganda remain sub-optimal. This is because breastfeeding is looked at as the mother's duty yet each one has a role to play in empowering mothers to breastfeed. So the question is, have you played your part in helping a mother to breastfeed?
 
Family members, particularly fathers, can support breastfeeding by providing emotional support to their partners and also sharing the care and domestic duties. Fathers can also participate in making decisions concerning breastfeeding, attend antenatal, and postnatal classes to learn more about breastfeeding and raise awareness on the importance of breastfeeding.
 
Women through their social networks can provide moral, social, and practical support needed by breastfeeding mothers. Breastfeeding should be a feminist issue and women can support each other to breastfeed even in public.
 
Young people can provide platforms to inform the communities on breastfeeding through social media and draw masses to engage their peers and the general public in breastfeeding awareness campaigns and support.
 
Healthcare providers are key players in ensuring that families choose optimal infant feeding practices through teaching mothers the health benefits of breastfeeding, discouraging feeding new-borns anything other than breast milk, and by guiding them on breastfeeding positions and breast milk expressing.
 
Employers also play a role in encouraging mothers to breastfeed by having enabling workplace conditions such as simple breastfeeding corners, providing time, and support for breastfeeding workers and implementing social protection measures such as a paid maternity or paternity leave for all workers in both the formal and informal sectors.
 
Policymakers should recognize breastfeeding as a universal human right and invest in creating an enabling environment by putting in place policies that are inclusive of breastfeeding. Implementing and monitoring the international code of marketing of breast milk substitutes of which Uganda is a signatory would also go a long way in protecting and promoting breastfeeding.
 
Breastfeeding remains the unrivaled safest way of providing the perfect food for the healthy growth and development of infants. Therefore let us each play our role in encouraging and protecting breastfeeding to make Uganda a safe and comfortable country for breastfeeding even in public.
 
The writer is a field epidemiologist in the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program, Ministry of Health
 
 

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