Exclusive breastfeeding: To do or not do?

World Health Organisation (WHO) describes exclusive breastfeeding as: “the means that the infant receives only breast milk. No other liquids or solids are given – not even water – with the exception of oral rehydration solution, or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines.” As expected, this started a conversation on if a mother should and […]

World Health Organisation (WHO) describes exclusive breastfeeding as: “the means that the infant receives only breast milk. No other liquids or solids are given – not even water – with the exception of oral rehydration solution, or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines.”

As expected, this started a conversation on if a mother should and can actually afford to not just breastfeed her baby for six months but do that exclusively.

UNICEF in its message on the week said: “Breastfeeding is not only the cornerstone of a child’s healthy development; it is also the foundation of a country’s development.”

Life Xtra joined the conversation by speaking to a cross section of Nigerians on their take on breastfeeding. Do they believe in the arguments of exclusive breastfeeding, can a mother sustain that for six months? What of working mothers?

Patricia Ufuoma, a businesswoman in her mid-fifties said: “When we had children, there was nothing like ‘mother friendly.’ Although we heard about it, it wasn’t common.” She said she had five children who she did not exclusive breastfeed, adding that she does not believe that her children were disadvantaged for not doing ‘baby friendly.’

“They are all doing very well, academically and otherwise. I learnt recently from a programme I watched on television that a child who was breastfeed exclusively for six months without water or food, tends to have a higher IQ, well that is their view. Even if it is scientifically proven, I didn’t do it and I don’t think I would advise any of my girls to do it,” Ufuoma said.

 She queried the exclusive breastfeeding idea thus: “A woman who puts to birth today doesn’t have milk in the mammary gland for some days, so what happens to the baby for those days when there is no breast milk, Should the baby go hungry?”

The Executive Secretary Federal Capital Territory Primary Healthcare Board (FCT-PHCB), Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, during a programme for FCT breastfeeding week, said mothers who do not produce breast milk after birth should use alternative foods but he explained that such cases are few.

He noted however, that children who were not exclusively breastfeed may be doing well with good IQs but would have done better if they had been breastfed exclusively.

Chinenye Okoye, a mother of one, said she did exclusive breastfeeding because she had the time to do it but she has so far not noticed any advantage that her child has. “So far I am yet to see any advantage other than my child being very healthy and the fact that I have had no cause to visit the hospital,” she surmised.

Okoye noted that exclusive breastfeeding comes at a great cost: “I feel drained always because my baby is always hungry and always wants to be fed, this makes me eat more. I hope to see the eventual result of it later as scientists have said.”

A proponent for exclusive breastfeeding, Dr Chris Osa Isokpunwu, Head of Nutrition Federal Ministry of Health, says promoting exclusive breastfeeding will reduce mortality rate for children under five years by 13 percent.

The question that many ask is, how do working mothers cope? Aisha Mustapha, a banker and mother of one says, “I would have loved to do exclusive breastfeeding for my child, but how would I have done that, my work wont possibly allow me do that.”

She however, stated that she did exclusive breastfeeding for three months. “I introduced baby milk after three months before a friend advised that I make baby food instead of buying processed cereals and milk. So I learnt how to do it and started grinding pap with crayfish, millet, then separately grind soya beans which I mix with the pap, this is also very healthy for babies,” Aisha explained. 

The chairman Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) Prof Ngozi Nnam, said that we do our children great harm if we don’t exclusively breast feed them because breast milk contains all the essential nutrients required for proper development of the child, particularly proper development of the brain.