Tandem breastfeeding: Is it safe for mother and baby?

Irene Lekelesoi breastfeeds her 1-day old baby. She is happy that her husband chose to take her to Suguta Marmar Health center to deliver her fourth child

Irene Lekelesoi, a Samburu resident, first became a mother at 24. In an urban setting, she would be among the youngest mothers but in her rural village, it was a way of life.

As expected of her as a married woman, she had one child after another, sometimes barely a year apart. It meant that she had to make some difficult choices; like weaning off early at every cycle of birth. “The older women – who advise us young mothers – ask that we start shunning breastfeeding babies once it is known that another baby is on the way. Failure to abide would attract scorn,” she says.