Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Deepen education on exclusive breastfeeding

This year’s Breastfeeding Week, which officially began on Thursday last week, ends today.

Nature has endowed women with the ability to breastfeed children because of its benefits for both the mother and the child.

However, history suggests that at some point, some women wanted to run away from their unique God-given duty.

Therefore, some leaders of old imposed breastfeeding on women to the extent that even during the time of the pharaohs, breastfeeding a neonate by a woman who was not the mother was promoted.

In modern times, although women generally know breastfeeding is better for the baby, a good number of them choose to bottle-feed due to negative attitudes toward breastfeeding, conflicting responsibilities or schedules, convenience, negative breastfeeding experiences, and health or medical reasons.

Others copy those not breastfeeding their babies and choose to bottle-feed.

Obviously not satisfied with the negative attitudes towards breastfeeding, the Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) introduced World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) and first celebrated it in 1992.

Now, the celebration is observed in over 120 countries by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and their partners, including individuals, organisations, and governments, from August 1–7 annually.

The week is meant to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding.

The theme for 2024 is "Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All."

On this theme, the WHO and UNICEF are emphasising the need for governments and society in general to improve breastfeeding support as a critical action for reducing health inequity and protecting the rights of mothers and babies to survive and thrive.

They say that when breastfeeding is protected and supported, women are more than twice as likely to breastfeed their infants.

They further say breastfeeding is a shared responsibility for families, communities, healthcare workers, policymakers, and other decision-makers.

One of the practices that WBW stresses is exclusive breastfeeding, which means feeding your baby only breast milk and not any other foods or liquids (including infant formula or even water), except for medications or vitamin and mineral supplements.

The WHO states that breastfeeding has many health benefits for both the mother and infant.

It says breast milk contains all the nutrients an infant needs in the first six months of life, so infants should be exclusively breastfed during this period to achieve optimal growth, development, and good health.

The Global Health Body explains that breastfeeding protects against diarrhoea and common childhood illnesses such as pneumonia and may also have longer-term health benefits for the mother and child, such as reducing the risk of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence.