The Medical Director of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Dr. Darlington Obaseki, says the breastfeeding committee in the hospital will be reconstituted to bring down the under-five years mortality and to save lives of the new born babies.
The Medical Director, who was represented by Professor Amina Okaku during the breastfeeding and lactation management training for health care workers, organised by the Institute of Child Health, University of Benin Teaching Hospital/University of Benin in Benin City, said it has become necessary to resort to preventive measures to save the lives of children because prevention is better than cure.
“We need somebody with passion that understands that we are trying to bring down the under-five mortality rate and to save the lives of children. We have to close the gaps created by resurrecting the need for breastfeeding at a time like this with the economic situation in the country,” he said.
The Medical Director, who was the chairman of the training for health workers to commemorate this year’s breast feeding week, said UBTH is willing to support breastfeeding, saying, “We need to teach proper techniques of breast feeding as health workers. Let us start talking about breast feeding to close the gap.”
A Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Dr. Wilson Sadoh, noted that to avoid malnutrition there is the need to revitalize baby friendly back to UBTH and talk to the mothers to take breast milk because more than 70 percent of Nigerians are experiencing multidimensional poverty.
In his lecture titled, ” What is breast feeding including anatomy of the breast and physiology of breastfeeding, Dr. Anthony Atimati disclosed that the World Health Organization, WHO, and the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, recommend that infants be fed on breast milk only for six months and commence complementary food while continuing breast feeding for up to two years or more.”
According to him, everything that the baby needs to grow well is contained in breast feeding.
Other lectures received by the mothers and health workers are 10 steps to successful breastfeeding, challenges to successful breastfeeding and their solutions, sustaining breast milk supply when a child temporarily stops breastfeeding, including how to express breast milk, indications for replacement feeding, role of healthcare workers in successful breastfeeding, and the baby friendly hospital initiative.
On the second day, the breast feeding mothers who shared their various experiences were told that the husbands should support their wives while they are breastfeeding.
The Director of the Institute of Child Health, Prof. Ayebo Sadoh, thanked the participants, lecturers and the health workers for attending the trainning and she urged the mothers to put into practice what they have learnt.
