BREAST FEEDING MAKES A BABY STRONG

Post Courier 1 August 2011

This week is breast-feeding Week and UNICEF joins global partners in calling for the benefits of breast-feeding to be broadcast beyond clinics and delivery rooms to the public at large.

This is to ensure that young people in the developing world understand the importance of breastfeeding long before they become parents.

Breastfeeding is directly linked to reducing the death toll of children under 5 years, yet only 36% of infants under 6 months in developing countries are exclusively breastfed.

Scientific evidence has shown that breastfeeding could lead to a 13 % reduction in deaths of children if exclusively breastfed for 6 months and continued to be breastfed for up to a year.

Breastfeeding also prevents low height for infants that can cause irreversible physical and brain damage. Breastfeeding is a natural and nurturing start to life ffor infants and mothers.

Comment:  Breast milk is rich in protein, fats, vitamins and antibodies that the baby needs from the beginning. Most important is the creamy milk at the very start of the flow of breast milk called colostrum. It carries the first important load of nutrients.

We may notice the weak puppy in a litter of baby dogs. There is always one that is weak and never improves in health.

This puppy may have been last born and last to drink the milk of the mother. It missed out on the first creamy milk and was too weak to drink from that time on. It will die.

HIV positive mothers can breast-feed but need to be on ARV medicine with a double-precaution of the baby being given ARV too. This will make sure that HIV does not reach the baby and does not shorten the life of the mother.