Breastfed Babies, Pride Of Society -Pediatrician

A Consultant Pediatrician at the National Hospital, Abuja, says breastfed babies are a pride to the society and will not grow up to become terrorists.
Adekunle said this in an interview with The Tide’s source, weekend, on the sidelines of the World Breastfeeding Week celebration at the National Hospital, Abuja.
The source reports that the week is usually commemorated worldwide from August 1 to 7 annually.
The theme for the 2022 celebration, which is ‘Step up for Breastfeeding: Educate and Support’, seeks to involve governments, communities and individuals through awareness and advocacy.
Adekunle, also Head of Department, Pediatrics Unit at the hospital, said breast milk was referred to as the ‘Milk of Kindness’ and ‘Nature’s Wonder’.
According to him, people who have taken the milk of kindness will not grow up to become terrorists because they have seen love and care.
“By the time you take care of a child for two years that thing remains in the child’s brain and psychologically the child is well taken care of.
“The child will not likely develop to be a criminal or be against the society in the future.
“The mother will be able to talk to the child and the child will listen, but a child that was not breastfed that anybody can feed, you can imagine what will happen.
“So, that is why we are trying to encourage people to see the benefits of breastfeeding which goes beyond the baby, the mother, the family and even the community,” he said.
Adekunle said that it also benefited the nation’s economy as the baby formulas are usually imported.
Speaking on the health benefits of breastfeeding babies for both the mother and child, Adekunle said breastfeeding babies would reduce the nation’s child mortality rate as less children would fall sick.
He also said maternal mortality rate would reduce. In those six months of breast feeding, the baby will not be contaminated with anything, grow optimally qualitatively not quantitatively.
“For the mother also if she breast feed her baby the way she should fully breast feed her baby, she will come back to her normal size early, she will not bleed too much during delivery and not become anaemic, so the risk of dying is less.
“For the family, they are going to spend less money of course because they will spend less money on breastfeeding compared to all the other options available like formula.”
Adekunle said the proper thing was to breastfeed babies within one hour after birth to give them the colostrum in the breast milk and then exclusively for the first six months of life after which other foods could be introduced gradually for up to two years and beyond.