World Breastfeeding Week is taking place from August 1 to August 7 in over 170 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) reiterates its call on health institutions and health professionals to introduce 10 steps that will help mothers breastfeed, improve their children’s health and survival.
The WHO argues that breast milk is an ideal food for infants because it is safe, provides the baby with the nutrients that a small body needs for healthy development, and contains antibodies that protect babies against common childhood diseases.
In many countries, exclusively breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life is becoming increasingly popular. However, for a variety of reasons, including a lack of breastfeeding advice, there are still too many mothers stopping breastfeeding within a few weeks of the baby’s birth.
According to Dr. Elizabeth Mason, director of the WHO Department of Health and Development for Children and Adults: It is estimated that approx. 35 percent. children in the world aged 0 – 6 months are exclusively breastfed. If all babies were exclusively breastfed in their first 6 months, followed by complementary nutrition and continued to be breastfed up to 2 years of age, an additional 1,5 million children under the age of five could be saved each year.
Malnutrition is responsible for a third of the 8,8 million deaths each year among children under the age of 5. It can be the direct cause of death and it can also be an important risk factor for developing the disease in young children. More than two-thirds of these deaths, which are often related to inadequate nutritional practices such as bottle-feeding or the provision of inadequately selected food, occur in the first months of life.
The spread of breastfeeding is a major factor in the plan to improve the nutrition of infants and young children, says Randa Saadeh, nutrition coordinator on the World Health Organization’s Life Course team. Putting an effort to make more hospitals + child-friendly + can give one million more children a healthy start in life, she adds.
10 steps to successful breastfeeding were created on the initiative of WHO and UNICEF. Today, this inventory is used in hospitals in more than 150 countries.
10 steps to successful breastfeeding to clinics and hospitals:
1. Have a written breastfeeding policy in place and communicate it routinely to all staff responsible for healthcare. 2. Train all staff responsible for healthcare in the skills necessary to implement these principles. 3. Informing every pregnant woman about the benefits and procedures of breastfeeding. 4. Help the mother to start feeding within half an hour after the baby is born. 5. Showing mothers how to breastfeed and maintain lactation even when separated from their babies. 6. Not giving infants any food and drink other than mother’s milk, unless medical indications state otherwise. 7. Using the system – rooming-in, that is, allowing mothers and children to be together 24 hours a day. 8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand whenever the baby is hungry. 9. Do not give artificial teats to fed babies. 10. Encouraging the creation of support groups for nursing mothers and referring mothers there on discharge from the hospital. (PAP)
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