‘Breast milk: Why nursing mothers should eat well, be emotionally stable’

Nursing mothers have been advised to eat well, be emotionally stable, and free from many worries to enable them to produce quality breast milk for their babies. The focal person at the Primary Healthcare Centre in Henshaw Town, Calabar, Mrs Magdalene Ekpenyong, who gave the advice also enjoined them to practise exclusive breastfeeding for at […]

Nursing mothers have been advised to eat well, be emotionally stable, and free from many worries to enable them to produce quality breast milk for their babies.

The focal person at the Primary Healthcare Centre in Henshaw Town, Calabar, Mrs Magdalene Ekpenyong, who gave the advice also enjoined them to practise exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months.

She said exclusive breastfeeding has many benefits for babies and their mothers.

She said, “If nursing mothers allow their emotional problems and other worries to becloud them, and if they don’t also eat well, their babies would be affected negatively.

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“There’s a serious need for nursing mothers to eat well, so that they can produce enough milk for the babies. 

“It is strongly advised that they feed the babies on demands, not when they feel like it, or when they have time. Breast milk contains all ingredients necessary for the babies to grow healthily.”

Ekpenyong frowned at some mothers who give water to their newborn babies, insisting that breast milk contains water.

She called for continual sensitisation, saying it will educate the women better and correct stereotypes. 

In the event that the mother dies on delivery of the baby, she said, “In this case, the baby can be fed with baby formula. But if the grandmother is available and can produce milk, that will be preferable.”

The focal person also advised mothers against drinking palm wine to produce more breast milk. 

“To those mothers who drink palm wine to produce milk, I don’t really disagree but they must be very careful so as not to be intoxicated. As a person, when I nursed my babies, I loved eating rice with pepper soup. But the general advice is for nursing mothers to eat well.”