Lagos — A nursing mother, according to the project co-ordinator, Colostrum International, Dr. (Mrs.) Olubunmi Ogundimu, stands to lose everything by not breast-feeding her baby. First is the health of the baby as she probably would have to be going in and out of hospital for one aliment or the other because the protective agents that are available in breast milk are not available in the infant formula, which this mother would probably opt for.

These protective agents, Ogundimu explained, are living agents that are capable of lining the intestines to prevent the free passage of bacteria, which cause diseases in the baby.

The human breast milk, she said also contains certain agents that line the child's ears to prevent infections as well so a woman who is not breast feeding is risking the health of her baby unnecessarily.

Not only that, the health of the mother is at risk in the sense that during the early stage of delivery for instance, the mother is advised to clear the air way of the baby and then lake it to her breast to prevent unnecessary bleeding.

"As soon as the baby is delivered, we make sure the air way of the baby is free so that while on the delivery bed, the baby is put onto the breast and this helps the mother's womb to contract thereby preventing unnecessary bleeding, so it helps the woman to conserve blood and prevent anemia", she explained further.

From the above illustration, it is obvious that the importance of breast-feeding cannot be over emphasised and for this reason Colostrum International embarked on an annual Baby Show competition to encourage nursing mothers to breast feed their babies. This, the organisers believe, would translate into a healthy and productive citizenry.

Colostrum advocacy for breast feeding as a means of nation building was channeled through the Baby show, which it believes would further afford means of creating awareness that human breast milk is indispensable to the human race.

To stress further the importance of breast-feeding, the co-ordinator said, "The typical human milk is meant for human, the milk of the cat is meant for the baby cat while the milk of the cow is meant for the baby cow and these are what form the characteristics that we see in human and animals.

"When we see a cow, we know from the character that this is a cow, and when we see a human being we also know from the character that this is a human being. But when you have to make use of another to feed the other - because man is what you eat; so if you have a human baby taking cow milk, some of the traces of the cow would be passed on to the child", Ogundimu said further.

The organisation, which was founded and launched in 2002, had its first Baby Show in 2004. The organsation, set up out of the concern for the growing trend of social decadence and broken family system, held its second edition of the baby show recently at the Eko FM Multipurpose Hall, Ikeja, Lagos.

Mothers and babies were gathered at the venue of the show with great expectations as several packs of Cowbell milk and Promasidor products were distributed at the show to support the baby initiative.

The purpose for the support, the public relation officer, Promasidor, Mr. Obinna Uzoma, said, was because Cowbell was passionate about the cause, welfare, development and the well being of Nigerians with special focus on children.

"Cowbell is in support of the idea because it is noble; that is why the company is involved in the initiative, which is targeted at the healthy growth and living of the young ones", Obinna said.

Phamatex Nigeria Limited, co-sponsor of the programme, also came with gift items, which included its brand of vitamin C called Chewet C, a chewable blackcurrant flavour vitamin C as well as exercise books for the children.

Ogundimu explained that her organsation was using breast-feeding as a tool for nation building because the formative years of a child, when the character of the child is being formed, coincide with the period of breast-feeding.

Ogundimu, who was of the view that when a child is properly breast fed, then one could get the best out that child, said that improper instigation of any child would lead to poor attitude.

"Unless the child is tutored in the human way of doing things, it is very unlikely for the child to know how to do things properly.

"A child comes from the world of the womb where probably there is no light and is suddenly born in our world with stipulations from every angle and the first cry of a child indicates that it doesn't know what is going on and that it has so much stipulations and doesn't know what to do with them andif not properly attuned, we can have a child that will behave less than human", Ogundimu explained.

This year's edition of the Bay Show, however, had Anthony Ameh Peter Alechenu (male) as the over all winner. One year and two months old baby Alechenu, a resident in Bariga, Lagos, went home with a brand new car.