Breast feeding in Kenya

Breast feeding in Kenya

Breast feeding in Kenya is one of the most essential things which a new born baby ought to be administered to. This is because the breast milk contains important components essential for child’s growth and healthy. Here in Kenya maternal education is provided to mothers on the importance of breast feeding.

However, the daily challenges faced by employed mothers make it difficult for them to provide breast milk to their babies. Therefore, active measures are being taken to ensure that babies have the opportunity to receive breast milk.

Importance of breast feeding in Kenya

1. Saves Lives. Currently there are 9 million infant deaths a year. Breastfeeding saves an estimated 6 million additional deaths from infectious disease alone.
2. Provides Initial Immunization. Breastmilk, especially the first milk (colostrum), contains anti-bacterial and anti-viral agents that protect the infant against disease. Breastmilk also aids the development of the infant’s own immune system.
3. Prevents Diarrhea. Diarrhea is the leading cause of death among infants in developing countries. Infants under two months of age who are not breastfed are 25 times as likely to die of diarrhea than infants exclusively breastfed. Continued breastfeeding during diarrhea reduces dehydration, severity, duration, and negative nutritional consequences of diarrhea.
4. Provides Perfect Nutrition. Breast milk, as a perfect food, cannot be duplicated. It is more easily digested than any substitute, and it actively alters in composition to meet the changing nutritional needs of the growing infant.
5. Maximizes a Child’s Physical and Intellectual Potential. The practice of exclusive breastfeeding can virtually eradicate malnutrition among infants up to six months of age. For young children beyond six months, breastmilk serves as the nutritional foundation to promote continued healthful growth.
6. Promotes the Recovery of the Sick Child. Breastfeeding provides a nutritious, easily digestible food when a sick child loses appetite for other foods.
7. Supports Food Security. Breastmilk provides total food security for an infant’s first six months. It maximizes food resources, both because it is naturally renewing, and because food that would otherwise be fed to an infant can be given to others.
8. Bonds Mother and Child. Breastfeeding provides physiological and psychological benefits for both mother and child. Breastfeeding creates emotional bonds and has been known to reduce rates of infant abandonment.
9. Helps Birth Spacing. In developing countries, exclusive breastfeeding reduces total potential fertility as much as all other modern contraceptive methods combined.
10. Benefits Maternal Health. Breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk of fatal postpartum hemorrhage, the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and of anemia. By spacing births, breastfeeding allows the mother to recuperate before she conceives again.

Breastfeeding protects babies

1. Early breast milk is liquid gold – Known as liquid gold, colostrum (coh-LOSS-trum) is the thick yellow first breast milk that you make during pregnancy and just after birth.
2. As your baby grows, your breast milk undergoes changes, with colostrum transforming into what is known as mature milk.
3. Breast milk is easier to digest – For most babies — especially premature babies — breast milk is easier to digest than formula. Babies’ stomachs take time to adjust to digesting the proteins in formula, as they are derived from cow’s milk.
4. Breast milk fights disease – The cells, hormones, and antibodies in breast milk protect babies from illness. This protection is unique; formula cannot match the chemical makeup of human breast milk. In fact, among formula-fed babies, ear infections and diarrhea are more common. Formula-fed babies also have higher risks of:

• Lower respiratory infections
• Asthma
• Obesity
• Type 2 diabetes

Some research shows that breastfeeding can also reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes, childhood leukemia, and atopic dermatitis (a type of skin rash) in babies. Breastfeeding has also been shown to lower the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).

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While formula-feeding raises health risks in babies, it can also save lives. Very rarely, babies are born unable to tolerate milk of any kind. These babies must have soy formula. If the mother has certain health conditions and lacks access to donor breast milk, formula may also be necessary. To learn more about rare breastfeeding restrictions in the mother, visit the Breastfeeding a baby with health problems section. To learn more about donor milk banks, visit the Breastfeeding and special situations section.

Mothers benefit from breastfeeding

1. Life can be easier when you breastfeed – Breastfeeding may take a little more effort than formula feeding at first. But it can make life easier once you and your baby settle into a good routine. Plus, when you breastfeed, there are no bottles and nipples to sterilize. You do not have to buy, measure, and mix formula. And there are no bottles to warm in the middle of the night! You can satisfy your baby’s hunger right away when breastfeeding.
2. Breastfeeding can save money – Formula and feeding supplies can cost well over $1,500 each year, depending on how much your baby eats. Breastfed babies are also sick less often, which can lower health care costs.
3. Breastfeeding can feel great – Physical contact is important to newborns. It can help them feel more secure, warm, and comforted. Mothers can benefit from this closeness, as well. Breastfeeding requires a mother to take some quiet relaxed time to bond. The skin-to-skin contact can boost the mother’s oxytocin (OKS-ee-TOH-suhn) levels. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps milk flow and can calm the mother.
4. Breastfeeding is linked to a lower risk of various health problems in women, which can benefit the mother’s health as well.

• Type 2 diabetes
• Breast cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Postpartum depression

5. Experts are still looking at the effects of breastfeeding on osteoporosis and weight loss after birth. Many studies have reported greater weight loss for breastfeeding mothers than for those who don’t. But more research is needed to understand if a strong link exists.
6. Mothers miss less work – Breastfeeding mothers miss fewer days from work because their infants are sick less often.

When an emergency occurs, breastfeeding can save lives

• Breastfeeding protects babies from the risks of a contaminated water supply.
• Breastfeeding can help protect against respiratory illnesses and diarrhea. Populations displaced by disaster can face the threat of fatal diseases.
• Breast milk is the right temperature for babies and helps to prevent hypothermia, when the body temperature drops too low.
• Breast milk is readily available without needing other supplies.