EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING PRACTICE AND ITS EFFECT ON THE PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THREE TO SIX MONTHS BABIES (A CASESTUDY OF SELECTED FAMILIES IN SURULERE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE)Â (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Background to the Study
Breast milk according to Olusegun (2006) has been described as the best natural food and drink created by God for newborn babies. According to him, newborn babies do not need any form of other food or drink, not even water or fruit juice because the breast milk contains enough water and fruit juice for the body. In this regard, UNICEF (2000) recommends that no additional food or fluid is necessary, as it could be a means of introducing harmful bacteria into a newborn baby?s system. However, breastfeeding is all about feeding an infant or newborn baby with breast milk directly from human breast rather than from a baby bottle or other container. This can be exclusive or inexclusive. According to UNICEF (1990), when breastfeeding is exclusive, breast milk alone is given to babies for the first six months of life and the introduction of complementary foods thereafter vice versa.
Exclusive breastfeeding practice by nursing mothers has been noted to have a lot of influence on the physical appearance, growth and development of infants (WHO/UNICEF, 2007). However, it is quite unfortunate that a reasonable number of nursing mothers are not aware of this paramount importance of exclusive breastfeeding practice. Some of them that are aware of it do not practice it due to factors ranging from socio-economic to environmental. Relatively, the WHO/UNICEF?s study in 2007 showed that exclusive breastfeeding of babies during the first six months of life was significant in cushioning the rate of child mortality by an estimated 20% in different parts of Africa. The study also revealed that 1.3 million additional children?s lives could be saved every year if exclusive breastfeeding rate could be raised above 90% level. In addition, Wilson (1998) pointed out that initiation of exclusive breastfeeding in the first hour of life reduces the rate of neonatal mortality by nearly four times.
Besides, infants and children under five years of age have been noted to be the most vulnerable to malnutrition and preventable diseases. In this part of the world, especially in Nigeria as noted by Olusegun (2006), mortality rate has remained high as a result of poor exclusive breast feeding practice. In 1990, it was reported that the recorded deaths of more than one million infants which were mostly caused by feeding those infants with breast milk substitutes could have been prevented via exclusive breastfeeding practice (UNICEF, 1995). Hence, exclusive breastfeeding according to UNICEF (1994) provides complete hygienic nutrition for newborn babies.
