As part of efforts to boost breastfeeding among all categories of mothers, the Lagos State Government has urged parents and care givers to ensure exclusive breastfeeding long enough to also help them achieve child spacing.
The Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris, who gave the advice during a media briefing to mark the 2016 World Breastfeeding Week in Lagos, said mothers who breastfeed exclusively for a long time could use it to space their children properly.
“When you exclusively breastfeed and do so for a long time, it is one way of improving child spacing which is good for the child,” said Idris, adding, “it gives that child enough time to grow; that child has enough time to suck breast properly.”
Allaying fears among women who get pregnant too early after and a previous pregnancy, Idris explained that the new pregnancy should not in any way warrant an affected mother to stop breastfeeding for the older baby.
“Invariably when you get pregnant again, you still have to feed that child because they (the new pregnancy and breastfeeding the baby) are two separate physiologies.
He said: “That child must be breastfed unless of course that breast is not producing enough milk. Breastfeeding exclusively improves child spacing which is also good for the growth of the child.”
While highlighting other advantages of breastfeeding, Idris said breast milk has antibodies which protects children against all forms of infections.
According to him, children who are breastfeed properly have lower chances of getting obese.
Similarly, he said children that are well fed with breast milk grow up to be better adults.
Also, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Primary Healthcare, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga said only 28 per cent of nursing mothers in Lagos alone practice exclusive breastfeeding.
The 2013 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) gave the 17 per cent as the national figure of Exclusive Breastfeeding Rate while the 2013 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) estimates that in Lagos State the rate is 28 per cent.
However, while lamenting that both the data for the entire nation and that of Lagos remain abysmally low, Onanuga called for collective efforts of all stakeholders to improve the exclusive breastfeeding rate. Statistics had shown that only 22.6 per cent of children were breastfed within one day of birth while 25.9 per cent of children born in Lagos State were breastfed appropriately (2013 MICS 4).
He therefore appealed to employers in the private sector to adopt the six-month maternity leave policy of the state government.
The practice of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and the introduction of adequate complementary diet till the first two years of life are integral part to child survival and optimal growth, said Onanuga.
“It is important to stress that the practice of exclusive breastfeeding is one of the Child Survival Strategies that has been proven by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and endorsed by Federal Government.”
Speaking further, he said: “The practice of exclusive breast feeding will ensure the provision of vital and adequate nutrients required for healthy and maximal growth and development.
“Babies who are exclusively breastfed are protected from severe complications arising from childhood killer diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia to mention a few. They also become healthy and productive adults.”
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