South Asian Media Net: 'Women need support for breastfeeding'
April 3, 2011
Shanjida, a housewife at the city’s Rampura area, used to feed her one-year-and-three-month-old baby boy semolina made with formula milk.
She said that she breastfed her baby until it was three months of age. ‘But I felt that the quantity of milk I was producing was not sufficient for my child as he was always crying. That’s why I started giving him formula milk. And when he became 5 months old I started giving him cereal.’
But now she mostly feed the boy semolina milk, cereal and egg, Shanjida said.
Faria Zamal, mother of two-year old child Fayza lived in Shahjadpur area in the city.
Faria said that she cannot breastfeed her baby because she did not produce enough milk.
‘I cannot breastfeed my child so I fed her formula milk using a bottle from the first week of her birth,’ she said.
Faria said that she did try to feed her child with breast milk, but failed. No one at the hospital showed her how to breastfeed properly, she added.
‘When my child became 5 months old, I tried to feed her mixed khichuri made with rice, pulse, meat and vegetable. But she did not want to eat the food,’ Faria said.
‘So I stop giving her khichuri and now feed her semolina with formula milk,’ Faria added.
Sharmin Akhter, from the village of Shajahanpur Upazila in Bogra district, in contrast is feeding smashed rice, potato, fish, egg and pulses to her six-month old baby. The food is taken from the family’s daily meal.
Sharmin said, ‘I only breastfed my baby till she was six months of age and then started giving complementary food after six months.’
‘Some of my family members told me to give the baby sugar and water, but I rejected this advice as nutrition workers and health workers asked me not to do so,’ she added.
According to Bangladesh Demographic and Health survey 2007, around 43 percent children below five years are not as tall as they should be due to malnutrition.
Seventeen per cent of the children are too thin and 41 per cent are under-weight taking their age into account.
According to the report, the children in the rural areas suffer more from malnutrition than those in the urban areas.
The report also said around 58 per cent of children aged 6-23 months are fed appropriately, according to World Health Organisation’s recommendation for Infant and Young Child Feeding practices, that is, they are given milk or milk products and food from the recommended number of food groups and are fed at least the recommended minimum number of times.
Experts said that if mothers can be properly informed, they can feed their child in a proper way. Mothers should also keep patience while feeding their baby, they said.
Rukhsana Haider, a former associate scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh, said, ‘The main problem is that the mothers do not get the information when they need it.’
‘A baby may cry for different reason, but it is a common misconception that a baby only cries for food,’ she said. ‘That is why mothers often think that their milk is not sufficient for their babies.’
‘Mothers should be mentally strong and remain confident and patient while breastfeeding their children,’ Rukhsana said.
MQK Talukder, chairman of the Centre for Woman and Child Health, told New Age that a mother support group is very necessary for improving the nutritional status of the country.
He criticised the government’s decision to stop the national nutrition programme. He said, ‘Around 48,000 trained nutrition workers were working at the field level which is now stopped. It creates a large vacuum in government’s nutrition programme.’
Experts said that it was impossible for a health worker to disseminate so much information and that the government should support the nutrition and help create mother support groups at the community level.
The Institute of Public Health Nutrition director Fatema Parveen Chowdhury said that the government has strengthened the nutrition programme undertaken by the health workers who already have worked at the field.
She said they would also create mothers support groups at the community level through the community clinics.