Durban - Planning a baby and want one that’s smart? Then make sure you feed your newborn nothing but breast milk for the first six months of its life.
With scientific evidence confirming that breast-fed babies turn out to be more intelligent adults than those that are not given breast milk exclusively for the first six months after birth, a new health initiative kicks off in KwaZulu-Natal to encourage more new mothers to opt for breast-feeding for their babies.
Speaking to the Daily News before the week-long campaign to mark Breast-feeding Awareness Week, the head of the Department of Health in KZN, Dr Sibongile Zungu, said the initiative would be the first of its kind in the country, and was aimed at reducing infant mortality.
“More than 830 000 newborn deaths globally could have been prevented each year if these babies were fed with breast milk in the first hour of life, according to a Lancet study.
“The KZN Department of Health, together with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Centre for Rural Health, have joined forces to implement a programme which will see a lactation adviser based at every one of our health facilities by the end of this month.
“These advisers will support and encourage new mothers to breast-feed as the first option, where the health of mother and baby permits this.
“We need to find innovative ways to save the lives of mothers and babies and exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months of life will go a long way towards helping our country meet our Millennium Development Goals of reducing our maternal and infant deaths, especially when one considers that the mortality rate for children under five can be reduced by 13 percent just through breast-feeding alone, because breast milk contains all the vital nutrients and antibodies a baby needs,” Zungu explained.
There will also be a concerted effort to chart the health progress of breast-fed babies in the province – another first – which will be used as a baseline study on the effectiveness of the campaign.
“South Africa has a very low exclusive breast-feeding rate compared to other countries, such as Brazil. The KZN Initiative for Breast-feeding Support Project aims to strengthen and expand the breast-feeding culture in our province by providing support to mothers in hospital and within communities.
“One of the key challenges with breast-feeding… is the lack of adequate support for new mothers, misconceptions around breast-feeding, including the issue of breast milk and HIV.
Controversy
“Our lactation advisers will provide this advice and relevant information to new mothers,” said KZN Health’s Integ-ration Nutrition Programme Director, Lenore Spies.
While there is still controversy over whether HIV-positive women should breast-feed or not, many new South African mothers remain confused over what to do. It is an issue the lactation advisers will also address, said Spies.
“Formula-fed babies are more at risk of under-nourishment, diarrhoea, pneumonia and other childhood diseases because they lack the antibodies and protection which breast milk provides.
“The World Health Organisation has also recommended that all mothers, regardless of their HIV status, practice exclusive breast-feeding – which means no other liquids or food are given – in the first six months.
“After six months, the baby should start on complementary foods. Mothers who are not infected with HIV should breast-feed until the infant is two years or older.
“These are important aspects of childbirth which we need to promote more aggressively to see a change in our mortality rates in the province,” said Spies.
The Department of Health is also expanding its Donor Breast Milk Banks initiative in the KZN.
Launched last year at Stanger Hospital, it involves breast-feeding mothers voluntarily expressing and donating breast milk without compromising their supply for their own babies.
The milk is tested, pasteur-ised and frozen before being fed to babies in need, including pre-term, those with low birth weight and abandoned or orphaned babies.
The province has since expanded this initiative to include milk banks at Pietermaritzburg’s Grey’s Hospital, Durban’s King Edward Hospital and Newcastle Hospital, with more to open across KZN.
Daily News