EXCLUSIVE breastfeeding is on the increase in the Northern Region as more women, families and communities have accepted the practice.
This is the assessment of public health authorities in the region following a number of community outreaches that have contributed to deepening the understanding and appreciation of the benefits of breastfeeding among local communities.
Some few years back, some communities refused to accept the practice of exclusive and extended breastfeeding due to their firm adherence to traditional practices that did not recognise any of these.
Apart from preventing newborns from taking the yellowish milk that flows from their mother’s breasts on their first attempt, these communities also preferred giving newborns water along with breast milk, even before the babies reached their sixth month.
These practices had been a source of worry to health personnel in the region, thereby necessitating an intensified campaignon breastfeeding in local communities.
Speaking at a durbar to mark the annual BreastfeedingWeek at the Tamale West Hospital, the Northern Regional Nutrition Officer, Mr Sofo Muntari noted that these unhealthy practices were on the decline.
“Through our rounds in the various communities,we have realised that many families now allow lactating mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding,” he stated.
Mr Muntari said what was even pleasing was that these families and communities no more objected to their newborns taking in the yellowish milk.
“The first milk is very crucial to the baby’s wellbeing. It contains a number of nutrients that would propel the baby’s physical and mental growth and also strengthen the baby’s immune system,” he explained.
Mr Muntari further noted that women in the local communities now testify that exclusive breastfeeding and breastfeeding up to two years impacts positively on the health of both mothers and their babies.
He mentioned, for instance, that some of the women had noticed that proper breastfeeding had helped in delaying theirnext pregnancies.
He also mentioned that the women hadequally observed that babies who benefitted from exclusive and extended breastfeeding looked healthier and fell sick less often than those who were denied.
The Nutrition Officer said apart from these, proper breastfeeding also binds a child to the mother and makes the child to be emotionally stable.
A number of pregnant women and lactatingmothers who were at the durbar to learn more about breastfeeding shared theirexperiences with the Daily Graphic.
“My husband is one who does not joke with the advice of nurses, so he ensures that I always give our baby onlybreast milk,” a mother of a four-month-old baby boy, Issah Ayisha stated.
She said her child had a lot of weightdue to the breast milk and so she was optimistic he would grow thicker than hisfather, who she described as slim.
A seven-month-old pregnant woman, Fati Mohammed, said although she had learnt a lot about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, she would have wished her parents and husband were also at the forum, so they could equally appreciate the message.
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