THE NEED FOR EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING

WRITTEN BY ANYAWIKE NGOZI

A community health officer at Nkpo, near Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria, Ndubuisi Donatus Uzoiwe who gave the advice, said nursing mothers must, as a matter of necessity, take the breastfeeding issue seriously.

Quoting the late James Grant, former UNICEF director as having estimated the average mortality rate for children globally on daily basis at between 3,000 and 4,000 for not properly breastfed, Uzoigwe noted that when a child is not properly breastfed or not breastfed at all, the tendency is that any little infection or communicable disease can lead to the child’s instant death because the natural immunity a child supposed to derive from breastfeeding would not be available to protect such child from the menace of any such communicable disease or infection.

            He maintained that it is always advisable to adopt the warning system of breastfeeding a child, meaning that a child should not be suddenly stopped from breastfeeding bout by gradual process whereby the 9mother breastfeeding the child exclusively for three months and then begin to combine breast milk with other cereals till six months before finally dropping the breast milk, adding that the danger of improper waning system or sudden stoppage of breastfeeding could lead to psychological shock on children within the six-month age bracket.

Also stating that improper breastfeeding or none at all could affect the growth and brain system of a child, the community health officer maintained that breastfeeding a child from day one with proper waning system makes a child very intelligent and at the same time prepare the body system for resistance of any possible outbreak of communicable disease, since according to him, exclusive breastfeeding is not only very important in the life of a child but also the most potent medicine for children.

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