Breast feeding : A burden or a challenge in modern age parenting
August 08, 2020 | DR SEHRISH MANSOOR

Breast feeding : A burden or a challenge in modern age parenting

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) - a national public health institute in the United States statistics from 2016 81% of new moms agree and start out breastfeeding but by the 6 months, only 52% were able to continue. According to WHO statistics in Pakistan, only 37.7% of mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and 44 percent of Pakistani children have lower height for age and other developmental issues.

What’s going on over here???

There are multiple factors which contribute to this. Though we have now more facilities but it’s difficult for a modern parent to cope with the reality of day to day life. When the responsibility of a mother increases the goal to exclusive breastfeeding subsides.

The second this is the formula feeds. When parents find it difficult to cope with the exclusive breastfeeding they switch to formula feeds.

Thirdly returning to work is one of the common reasons women stop breastfeeding their child. It is observed that women having maternity leave less than 6 weeks are more likely to stop breastfeeding then the women who do not work at all.

Last but not the least, as we are going through the pandemic of COVID 19, infectious diseases also have a role in contributing to this challenge. There are a lot of myths regarding transmission of diseases through the breast milk. I will not go deeper into each and every disease. But regarding COVID 19 I must say it’s safe to breastfed your infant. According to WHO, a women with COVID 19 should be supported to breastfeed safely, hold her newborn skin to skin and share a room with her baby.

I am giving some interesting facts here; it might help you to embrace this challenge and might increase your knowledge as well.

1)      DO YOU KNOW breastfeeding protect the mother from diabetes, breast and ovarian cancers, heart diseases and post-partum depression.

2)        DO YOU KNOW Breastfeeding protects your baby from ear infections, diarrhea, pneumonia and other childhood diseases.

3)      DO YOU KNOW the first milk CLOSTRUM is rich in antibodies and gives newborns an immunity boost while their own immune systems are still developing.

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DR SEHRISH MANSOOR

DR SEHRISH MANSOOR