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Nigerian Women have called on the state and federal governments to give special palliatives to nursing mothers to encourage exclusive breastfeeding.
In an exclusive interview with The Guardian in Calabar, some nursing mothers complained of poor finances and poor feeding as factors responsible for mothers not practising exclusive breastfeeding.
A Nursing mother, Bright Edet, said, “I feel good to be here because I’m learning new things that I don’t know before. This baby knows how to suck o! My baby is four months old and I’m not doing exclusive breastfeeding because the baby likes food a lot and I don’t have money to feed well for the baby to suck me dry, government should provide for us, that is the only way I can do exclusive breastfeeding.”
Speaking also, Mrs Eme Affi stated, “I will like to do exclusive breastfeeding for my baby but you know, when you don’t eat good food, how will you manage to feed your baby on demand as we are thought here in the clinic. It is not easy my sister but if government can help us, I will start.”
On her part, Mrs Deborah Ndarake said, “I feed my baby with water, formula and breast milk right from when he was born. I couldn’t stand his crying so we decided to get the formula and started giving him water. He is just six days old. My baby can eat too much; I don’t even know what to do.”
According to the husband, Mr Ndarake, “I’m happy supporting my wife with taking care of my baby, it was not an easy road for her, so I have to support her in every way I can, for instance, whenever she is breastfeeding, she might need an handkerchief to clean the baby, I help her with that and many more. As you can see, I’m the one holding the baby, I support her a lot but she is not doing exclusive breastfeeding, and I’m not aware of the importance.” He said.
Speaking with a father who believed in exclusive breastfeeding after his first baby, Mr Godswill Nsikak said, “My baby is 8- months -old and strong because I supported my wife in exclusive breastfeeding.
“First, it is the duty of a man to make sure that there is food on the table for the family, without food, no mother will want the child to suck her dry, so the husband has to ensure that she eats very well. My baby is my third. We did not do exclusive breastfeeding on the first baby but the second and third, we did exclusive. We noticed that the first child is not as smart and strong as the second and third. They are heavy on the ground, balance well and smatter.” He noted.
The Ward Vocal Person, Primary Healthcare Centre, (PHC), Henshaw Town, Calabar South local government, Cross River State, Evelyn Ekpenyong, disagreed with some mothers who said their baby can’t get enough from breastfeeding alone, adding that the major challenge was that most women don’t feed well.
Ekpenyong stated this during a sensitization meeting with nursing mothers in commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), “Zero Water Campaign” with the theme; Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents.
“One of the challenges faced by nursing mothers is that some say that things are hard that they don’t eat well that is why they can’t do exclusive breastfeeding, so the government needs to do something, maybe in terms of special palliatives.” She opined.
While warning nursing mothers of the danger of feeding their zero to six months old babies with formula or other types of food, she charged caregivers to do more in educating mothers on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding/zero water.
“I know that breastfeeding is very important as far as our children are concerned because as a mother breastfeeds her child, the child is bound to grow well in every aspect because the breast milk contains all the necessary ingredients that the child needs.
“Like I interviewed some of them this morning, they are still giving their babies water and breast milk and I told them, its only exclusive breastfeeding that will give their children the necessary nutrients needed for proper growth for the first six months in the child’s life.
“We need to change their mindset from believing that breast milk is not enough for the baby. There are so many factors that can stop breast milk from coming out, one of the factors could be that the nursing mother could be emotionally disturbed and that could prevent the milk from coming out, so that is where the husbands need to come in, they have to support their wives to complete this task of giving the baby the best first six months of his or her life. And again, you feed your baby on demand, it’s not only when you feel like that you breastfeed the baby.
“Breastfeeding and at the same time feeding babies with formula just because mothers feel the breast milk is not enough for the baby is an impression we need to correct. In my facility, we have days that we fix for pregnant women, it is that section, we will intensify the need for them to do Zero Water for six months and the need for them to feed well so that they can produce more breast milk for their baby.” The vocal person is stressed.
Ekpenyong further stated, “During my days of breastfeeding, I used pap (Ogi), then, white rice and pepper soup, it helps a lot to produce breast milk, it must not be palm wine like what some people believe because some people could get intoxicated and it’s not good for the baby.”
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