Force-feeding can expose babies to asthma Expert warns

On May 21, 2023

Child health and nutrition experts have warned that many complications are associated with feeding babies forcefully.

Speaking on the dangers of force-feeding infants, a Consultant Paediatric Haematologist and Oncologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Professor Temiye Edamisan disclosed to newsmen in an exclusive interview that the practice is totally wrong and unacceptable.

Describing the practice as a child abuse, the expert warned that besides the risk of choking to death, force-feeding expose babies to asthma and that most people are ignorant of this.

He cited ignorance as one of the factors that fuels the practice in the country, adding that impatient parents were guilty of the harmful act

He said, “I don’t know why you should force-feed a baby. It is dangerous and can lead to death. So, it shouldn’t be done. Children have died from respiratory diseases as a result of force-feeding.

“When you force the food into their throat, they cry and while struggling to swallow, the food can enter their lungs and it can lead to death. The practice should be discouraged except if the person wants to kill the child,” he noted.

Similarly, besides the risk of dying, a nutrition expert, Professor Ignatius Onimawo, said that there is a possibility that a child that is being force-fed can come down with asthma due to the constant irritation of the trachea.

He said, “The implications of force-feeding are many. When the mother closes the nose of the child and forces food into the mouth, the child will now be breathing through the mouth. Once that happens, the child will be forced to swallow whatever that is being forced in.

“In many cases, particles of these foods will enter the trachea. That is why you see them coughing and vomiting after being force-fed.

“And if that is done for a long period, the trachea gets irritated because food particles have no business getting there in the first place. These are some of the things that could later predispose to asthma,” he added.

However, Cleveland Clinic, an online health portal described the trachea as a long, U-shaped tube that connects the larynx (voice box) to the lungs.

“When you breathe in, air travels from your nose or mouth through your larynx. It then passes through your trachea to your bronchi. Your bronchi carry the air to your lungs” it noted.

The portal noted that when foreign materials like food or drinks enter the wind pipe (trachea), it is known as aspiration. It states that when this happens, the body’s fight-or-flight response triggers an outpouring of adrenaline, which boosts the heart rate and blood pressure.

Prof. Onimawo however described asthma as a killer disease and urged parents not to turn the period of feeding their children, which should ordinarily be a time of enjoyment, to a period of war.

Wumi/Punch