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Breastfeeding the best

'Myths and misconceptions’ stand in the way of ensuring proper child feeding practices in Bangladesh, which doctors can debunk to help infants grow and develop, experts say.

World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests children be exclusively breastfed, with no other liquid or solid food given to children for the first six months of life.

It suggests homemade food from the seventh month along with breastfeeding for two years, a practice that a survey finds many families ignore.

The latest Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) showed that 39 percent children received liquids other than breast milk in the first three days of life while at least 10 percent children at their age between nine and 11 months are yet to receive any homemade food.

Improper feeding practices of infants below two years of age stunt their growth and curb their ability to succeed in schools.

“It (misconceptions) all begins with the birth of a child,” Dr Soofia Khatoon, Professor of Paediatrics at Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital told bdnews24.com on Monday, a day before the beginning of the World Breastfeeding Week.

She said much of the work to improve feeding practices took place at the community level involving health workers and volunteers, “but doctors also need training as they play a critical role”.

“There are some persisting myths like that every mother cannot produce enough milk for their kids and that tinned products are healthy for babies.

“All these are due to aggressive marketing of baby food companies and due to lack of awareness on child’s feeding practices”.

She said doctors or health workers should pass on the knowledge when a woman comes to see them during pregnancy.

“In every visit (during pregnancy) when they get to hear the importance of breastfeeding, how it should be started, and how to continue, they will not forget it,” she said.

“Even after babies are born, when mothers come to a doctor with any illness, the doctor should first write about breastfeeding in the prescription and then medicines”.

She said mothers gave liquid to the babies in the first three days from a feeling that children were not getting adequate breast milk.

“At the beginning, body would produce small amounts of special milk called colostrums that would help protect the baby from infection.

“Baby’s tummy is very tiny, so they only need small amounts, just about 60 ml per kg of their body weight to fill up. As their tummy grows, mothers’ milk would change and mother would produce more of it,” she said.

She said after 15 to 20 days, the baby remained awake at night and cry. “This will continue for at least three months”.

“Mothers think they are failing to feed the baby enough. And then start feeding other liquids. But it is not true. You can assess weight and see how many times they wet beds.

“If it’s six times (they wet clothes), then you have to assume that they (the baby) are getting breast milk properly,” she said.

She said after three or four months, babies do not want to feed. “They look around and concentrate on playing things”.

“In this time, they need to be breastfed at an isolated place where no one distracts them”.

“After six months mothers start feeding tinned cereals instead of homemade food. They think babies need tinned food this time. But they must introduce homemade food with animal proteins like eggs, fish, beginning with small quantities and gradually increasing the amount,” she said.

Dr S K Roy, Chairperson of Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation, said children could be breastfed even when mothers were sick.

He said they were preparing plans to train up all doctors for the next five years to dispel all misconceptions and increasing the rate of breastfeeding in Bangladesh where poor nutrition damages away children’s future.

According to the BDHS, 41 percent under-five children are too small for their height, 36 percent are underweight and 16 percent wasted.

“Apart from knowledge of proper feeding practices, we will inform them (doctors) against powder milk campaign”.

Source - bdnews24.com