Breastfeeding Boosts Intelligence in Children- Medical Expert
The Medical Director of General Hospital, Badagry, Dr Olatunde Bakare, has urged nursing mothers to breastfeed their children.
He made the appeal at an event held to commemorate the World Breastfeeding Week Celebration on Friday in Badagry, Lagos. The theme of the event was “Enable Breastfeeding, Making a Difference for Working Parents.”
READ ALSO: World Breastfeeding Week: Group seeks more support for women
According to the Director, breast milk is essential for babies to grow healthy.
“If you want your children to grow healthy and intelligently, then feed your children exclusively with breast milk.
“Research has shown that children fed with breast milk grow healthier, stronger and more intelligent.”
Bakare further urged female residents of Badagry, to always visit the general hospital for their antenatal clinics.
He said the Lagos State Government had provided free treatment for pregnant women from the antenatal period to delivery.
“Even a caesarian section is free and this is part of the palliative by the Federal Government to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal,” he added.
In her lecture, the Chief Matron of the hospital, Mrs Olayinka Alabi, said the World Health Organisation instituted World Breastfeeding Week in 1992.
She explained that the programme started when it was discovered that women were no longer breastfeeding their babies.
The chief matron noted that the 2023 programme was more of an appeal to employers of labour, to allow women to breastfeed their babies in a conducive, friendly environment.
Alabi noted that based on WHO’s record, over 44 per cent of women are not breastfeeding their babies regularly and exclusively.
She said that babies should be breastfed exclusively from their birth to six months before they are given other foods.
According to her, breastfeeding provides a special bond between mothers and babies.
The Apex Nurse of the hospital, Mrs OpeOluwa Amu, in her closing remarks, appealed to nursing mothers to spread the gospel of breastfeeding, stressing that babies should be breastfed for two years.
