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| Innocent baby Enjoying... |
When Mrs. Bukola Ajao, an accounts
officer, started bringing her four-month old baby to her work place, it
seemed like a convenient compromise, until he developed cold, cough and
catarrh barely two weeks after.
“Every night afterwards, he would cry
due to the stress of taking him out early every morning,” she
recollected. After that episode, she immediately stopped taking him to
the office.
Continue reading after the cut...
Although she had not planned to, Mrs.
Ajao’s hectic work schedules had forced her into this arrangement
because she wanted to be able to continue the recommended six-month
period of exclusive breastfeeding for her baby, as her doctor had
advised. So whenever she could not breastfeed her baby she used baby,
formula.
“I breastfeed him in the morning before I
leave home and at night when I return from work. I also make sure he is
exclusively breast fed during the weekends. Although I would have loved
to do it all the time, I can’t because I am a working and nursing
mother. When you know the kind of situation you are faced with, you have
to find another way out,” she explained.
Like Mrs. Ajao, many working and nursing
mothers in Nigeria are facing this situation of compromise when it
comes to exclusive breastfeeding for their babies because of their busy
work schedules and the stress that comes with it.
While the use of baby formula seem like a
convenient way out, it is not advisable, said Dr. Sunday Olanrewaju, a
gynaecologist, who noted that exclusive breast feeding meant breast
feeding babies from birth to the first six months of life without adding
any supplements or other food. According to the World Health
Organisation, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to six months of
age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary
foods up to two years of age or beyond. “Colostrum, the yellowish,
sticky breast milk produced at the end of pregnancy, is the perfect food
for the new-born, and feeding should be initiated within the first hour
after birth,” it stated.
Dr. Olanrewaju agreed and added that not
only is breastfeeding essential for a baby’s growth, it is also very
good for the baby’s brain development, especially in the second year.
“Breast milk is a natural source of food for the baby and it is
important for the baby’s growth and development because it contains
cells and antibodies that prevent infections.”
He further explained that breastfeeding
is beneficial because it helps the mother and her baby to bond well. “It
also helps the mother to lose excess weight gained during pregnancy. It
is also good for the economy of the family as it saves them a lot of
money used in buying baby formula,” he said, adding that a family could
spend up to N100,000 or more buying baby formula in a year. Some mothers
spend between N3,000 and N6,000 or more monthly, depending on the brand
of baby formula. This amount increases as the baby grows.
This is where the breast pump, a device
used to extract milk from the breast of a lactating woman, comes to the
rescue. Working and nursing mothers use it to ‘express’ their breast
milk into a bottle that can be used for storage and feeding. It should
be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature between four and ten
degrees Celsius, noted Dr. Olanrewaju. “Because it can be stored for up
to six to eight hours at the right temperature, the baby can feed on
this until the mother returns from work. Then, she can feed the baby
directly from her breasts when she gets back home,” he said.
However, expressing breast milk comes
with its own additional cost, like Mrs. Ajao found out when she first
tried using the breast pump after she gave birth. “I had to stop because
I couldn’t maintain preserving it in the refrigerator due to lack of
electricity,” she complained. Expressed breast milk could go stale if it
is not properly stored under the right temperature conditions, because
just as with any other type of food, this allows the growth of bacteria,
Olanrewaju explained.
Despite the country’s electricity
problems, using breast pumps has been helpful for some others,
especially when they can also afford the extra cost of fuelling their
generators to keep the breast milk well refrigerated and fresh.
This was what helped Dayo Adekunle, a
nursing mother who just finished her mandatory one-year National Youth
Service Corp scheme, to breastfeed her now one-year old baby exclusively
for the first six months before she introduced him to formula milk.
Beyond using breast pumps, medical experts advise mothers to maintain
good hygiene while breastfeeding their babies. These include washing
their hands, sterilising the bottles and pump parts and immediately
storing their breast milk to keep it fresh.
Despite the challenges, working and
nursing mothers face in keeping up with breastfeeding medical experts
have advised that they at least maintain the recommended six months of
exclusive breast feeding, because of its many health benefits. “No baby
formula milk can compare with breast milk because it contains antibodies
to protect the baby from infections. It has been scientifically proven
that babies who are not exclusively breast fed have morbidities such as
diarrhoea, upper respiratory tract infections, bacterial meningitis and
other diseases. They are also prone to having more allergies,” said Dr.
Dorka Bekee, a paediatrician.
Although it is not 100 per cent
guaranteed, the period of breastfeeding could also serve as a form of
family planning, added Dr Olanrewaju. “This is because breastfeeding
increases the secretion of the prolactin hormone – which helps the
breast to produce milk – and also inhibits ovulation. Some women don’t
even see their menses during breast feeding,” he said.
While Dr. Bekee advised that nursing
mothers should eat well to be able to produce enough milk for the baby,
this may pose another challenge for a working and nursing mother as they
may not be able to properly breastfeed their babies after a hectic
day’s job, especially if they put in long working hours.
Although stress does not affect the
quality of breast milk, it does affect the quantity, Dr. Olanrewaju
noted. “In some developed countries, they now encourage mothers to
exclusive breast feed by giving them extended holidays. So instead of
three months, they are given up to six months. Even in some places, they
also give the husband a leave period so that he can help the wife
during this time. That’s why we encourage mothers to have proper
relaxation and rest and take adequate nutrients for their benefit, as
well as that of their babies,” he said, adding that with less stress, a
working mother would be able to produce more milk to nourish the baby.
This is why Dr. Bekee suggested that
organisations should create crèches for working and nursing mothers to
help them meet this demand to feed their babies with breast milk; an
arrangement that would certainly suit Mrs. Ajao who had to register her
son in a nearby crèche.
“At least, this would give us (nursing
mothers) peace and rest of mind, knowing that our babies are very close
to where we work. And from time to time, one can then go and breast feed
them,” she said. For her, she would prefer if organisations could give
nursing mothers at least a four-month maternity leave, instead of the
regular three.
For some who have been able to adhere to
the six-month exclusive breastfeeding period, the rewards are enormous.
“Breast milk is the best food for an infant. Although it could be very
stressful sometimes, but you would be glad you did it. Because your baby
would hardly fall ill, have a high intelligent quotient, sharp mind,
and would be stronger than his peers,” said Mrs. Ese Chiadika, who
breast fed her now one year old son exclusively for six months.
Despite the work schedules of nursing
mothers, it is important that they find a way to ensure exclusive
breastfeeding for their babies, Dr. Bekee advised. As she put it, breast
milk is still superior to any formula milk, no matter how much the
latter is modified.
Her point was buttressed by the American
Academy of Paediatrics, which noted that human milk is uniquely
superior for infant feeding and is species-specific; all substitute
feeding options differ markedly from it. “Human milk is the preferred
feeding for all infants, including premature and sick new-borns,” it
stated.
Beyond exclusively breastfeeding, with
no supplements, for the first six months of life, the AAP also advised
that breastfeeding should continue for 12 months or longer if mutually
desired, because, among many other significant factors, human milk
contains at least one hundred ingredients not found in any artificial
infant milk. In addition, it stated that current research indicated that
adults who were breastfed as infants have a decreased risk of
developing diabetes, heart disease and obesity, as well as multiple
sclerosis and breast cancer.
- Arunkaino Umukoro
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