Despite the challenges faced by
working mothers in adhering to
exclusive breast feeding for their
babies and others, doctors advice
that it remains the best. A
professional in the business has even disclosed that it helps women
to loose weight faster that they
could imagine... 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. 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.
Theta Arowolo

Breast milk i mean. . . . . . Sori 4 d error