By John Odunayo
Nursing mothers and their babies in Ekiti State were not left out of the celebration of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week with the theme, “Closing the Gap, Break the Record, Break Barriers: Breastfeeding Support for All”.
No fewer than 600 nursing mothers alongside their babies took off time to be part of the celebrations which held at the Jibowu Hall in the Government House Grounds in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
They sang, danced and celebrated as top government officials, especially medical experts and those in related fields took them through the gains of exclusive breastfeeding with related first-hand experience narrations of nursing mothers who had stories to tell.
Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Dr Olayemi Oyebanji, told them that the objectives of this year’s Breastfeeding Week included “to break the world record for the most lactating women breastfeeding simultaneously in Nigeria”.
Oyebanji said this year’s celebration was also “to create awareness to promote exclusive breastfeeding by elimination of water in the first six months of life towards improving maternal and child health outcomes.
The governor’s wife, represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Community Advocacy, Dr Eunice Fasanmi, during the flag off of the World Breastfeeding Week, said, “This record-breaking attempt will serve as a powerful platform to promote optimal breastfeeding, shift harmful norms and combat social stigma around breastfeeding”.
She said that exclusive breastfeeding rate would increase significantly if negative norms and beliefs surrounding breastfeeding, especially giving water within the first month could be stopped.
Oyebanji’s wife said that Ekiti State was still off track in meeting the global target of increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding to 50 per cent and the effective coverage of 90 per cent in order to achieve the maximum benefit from exclusive breastfeeding.
She said, “Breastfeeding is the key to sustainable development strategies as it improves nutrition, ensures food security and reduces inequalities between and within countries.
“Findings have shown that investing in breastfeeding will prevent 13 per cent of child deaths and morbidity if 90 per cent of mothers exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first month of life.
“Globally, only 38 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed and suboptimal breastfeeding contributes to about 800,000 infant deaths, and 27.2 per cent of children below six months are currently exclusively breastfed in Nigeria”.
The governor’s wife, who said the UNICEF and WHO had recommended breastfeeding for the first six months of life for a child as very important and beneficial, “because breast milk contains all the vital nutrients that the baby needs for the first six months. It also contains antibodies that fight against diseases.
“Exclusive Breastfeeding implies feeding a baby with only breast milk from birth till the age of six months without adding water or any other foods. Available data also show that if negative norms and beliefs surrounding breastfeeding, most especially giving water within the first month is stopped, exclusive breastfeeding rate will increase significantly.
“This can only be achieved, when lots of awareness are created on the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and the need to enforce the code of marketing of breast milk substitutes among producers of infant formula,” she said.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Oyebanji Filani, said cultural norms and misconceptions; lack of support from healthcare providers, family and community; and limited access to lactation support services were among some barriers to mothers’ breastfeeding of babies in Ekiti State.
Filani, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mrs Sola Gbenga-Igotun, said, “These gaps must be closed to ensure that all mothers can breastfeed their babies optimally”.
The commissioner urged all stakeholders to join hands with government to ensure that our mothers in Ekiti State have access to skilled breastfeeding practices”.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Peju Babafemi, said that her ministry was providing enabling environment for exclusive breastfeeding as she described breastfeeding as “a right for mothers and their babies, hence women should enjoy the rights”.
Babafemi advised that all hands must be on the deck to sustain the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding.
The Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Niyi Adebayo, urged fathers to support their wives (the mothers) to achieve exclusive breastfeeding.
