4 August 2008
Kampala — As we celebrate the International Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, this year's theme is "Mother Support: Going for Gold". The theme focuses on how to support mothers to breastfeed.
The recommended standard of WHO and Unicef is: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and thereafter continued breastfeeding along with supplementary feeds up to two years.
Although breastfeeding is culturally accepted in Uganda and many mothers do it, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding remain low.
If the mother does not have the necessary support, she can be easily compromised and give up breastfeeding. Creating a conducive environment for mothers means creating a circle of support which encompasses a number of players such as health providers, family, friends, employer and the Government.
Breastfeeding plays a significant role in reducing incidences of childhood killer diseases such as upper respiratory infection, diarrhoea, malnutrition and digestive disorders.
Exclusive breastfeeding alone can drop infant mortality by 13%.
Positive steps have been taken nationally to improve breastfeeding for example the maternity protection law which increased the maternity leave days from 45 to 60.
This has enabled mothers stay home longer to breastfeed.
Dr G.K Mukasa, a paediatrician with IBFAN, an international NGO that advocates breastfeeding says: "Many mothers give up breastfeeding when they resume work due to stress and lack of time. When mothers have more leave days, they can breastfeed their children longer."
However, Mukasa says more needs to be done because the provision still falls below the recommended world standard which is 14 weeks of working days.
He also says it is important to disseminate information so that more women can know their rights and benefit from the provision.
Josephine Nalugo, the team leader of Children in Africa Breastfeed, a mother-support group, says: "Health workers need to emphasise breastfeeding since they have access to mothers immediately after childbirth and during antenatal care."
A research done in rural eastern Uganda by paediatricians from Makerere Medical School and the University of Bergen, Norway, shows that support from use of community counsellors helped mothers overcome the common challenges they face while breastfeeding, which helped them breastfeed longer.
It was observed that problems like cracked nipples, breast engorgement (when breasts swell because of not breast feeding), mastitis (bacterial infection of the breasts) and poor positioning while breast-feeding were resolved when counsellors visited and helped the mothers.
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