According to Ada Ezeogu, a nutrition specialist with UNICEF, women should be encouraged to start breastfeeding as soon as possible after giving birth to protect their infants from infections.
She claims that starting breastfeeding as soon as possible is essential for a child’s survival and safeguards newborns from infections, particularly during the neonatal period.
Ezeogu pointed out that breastfeeding exclusively and at a young age gives infants their first immunization.
The nutritionist made this disclosure at a two-day media advocacy conference held in Lagos by the state’s National Orientation Agency in partnership with UNICEF.
The meeting, which focused on child survival, aimed to increase public awareness of the value of early nutrition and the uptake of routine immunizations.
Every breastfeeding mother, according to the UNICEF nutrition specialist, should start early because it greatly lowers infant mortality.
Every newborn baby should receive colostrum and breast milk within an hour of birth, according to the World Health Organization.
The WHO states that human breast milk is the best type of nutrition for all children.
According to the WHO, “optimal breastfeeding” includes early breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding for six months, frequent feedings, continuing to breastfeed for two years, and increasing feeding frequency while ill.
“Early initiation is important because the timing of breastfeeding initiation is very critical to child survival,” Ezeogu said.
“Mothers who breastfeed their infants within the first hour of life protect those kids from potentially fatal situations.
“Babies are more likely to die the longer they wait for their mothers to make their first contact with them.”
The nutritionist believes that early initiation is crucial, especially during the first month of life.
Therefore, early initiation alone saves lives. The newborn child is effectively protected during the early initiation period because colostrum, the first milk to form, contains antibodies.
It contains anti-infective agents that shield the child from illnesses. Therefore, that child is kept. The first immunization for infants is provided by early intervention and exclusive breastfeeding.
Early initiation rates are 23% in Nigeria. We want every newborn to be nursed within an hour of birth, the woman said.
Ezeogu named cultural customs and a lack of knowledge as some of the obstacles to mothers starting breastfeeding earlier.
She urged the media to promote behaviors that would help families and mothers take advantage of this window of opportunity to give a child a good start in life during the first 1000 days of life.
She emphasized that the first 1000 days are a crucial window of time for laying the groundwork for a child’s healthy growth and development.
According to Ethiopian researchers, if mothers practiced early breastfeeding initiation, neonatal mortality could be reduced by 33%, according to a cross-sectional study published in the BioMed Central journal in 2019.
Early breastfeeding initiation lowers the risk of infections for the newborn, according to the researchers, who also noted that late breastfeeding initiation increases neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Early breastfeeding can improve a child’s ability to fight off infections, lower their risk of getting sick, and increase their chance of surviving childhood, according to the researchers. If mothers practice early breastfeeding initiation, neonatal mortality can be reduced by 33%.
“Colostrum, the first milk given to newborns, is crucial for their defense against infections. Colostrum plays a significant role in disease resistance because first milk contains a lot of immunoglobin G.
The consumption of colostrum can help prevent bacterial, viral, fungal, and protozoal infections in newborns, according to numerous studies. Numerous studies have found that lacking colostrum increases a child’s risk of developing numerous infections, stunting, underweight, and wasting.
In a similar vein, the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information’s digital library PubMed Central asserts that for an infant to survive, breastfeeding must begin as soon as possible—within an hour—and must be done exclusively for the first six months of a child’s life.
