Exclusive breast feeding keeps childhood diseases at bay

By RAWLINGS OTIENO

Ms Millicent Akinyi is a mother with bitterness and happiness in equal measure. She has given birth to six children in just ten years.

Married in Owich location in Nyatike District in Migori County, the 28-year-old mother looks pensive while carrying her 11-month-old baby Volenta Anyango.

But as the world marks the breast feeding week, she derives her joy in watching her 11-month old daughter resist childhood diseases often caused by lack of breast feeding. As a mother who exclusively breast-fed, Anyango gleefully boasts how her bubbly daughter has evaded childhood diseases.

Akinyi is among 25 beneficiaries of mother-to-mother breast feeding support groups formed in 2011 to help pregnant and lactating mothers understand and appreciate the benefits of exclusive breast-feeding.

The project, initiated by World Vision Kenya in partnership with the Ministry of Health, targets to educate 6,000 mothers in Nyatike District by end of March next year.

Mr Isaac Oriro, Child Well-Being Facilitator at World Vision in Nyatike says the project has so far benefited 3,200 breast feeding mothers.

Within the groups, there are mothers trained to sensitise others on the benefits of exclusive breast feeding, unlike the conventional way where health officers pass on the same message.

Ignorance

Ministry of Health Official Kennedy Owino says this has helped to win the trust of the groups.

Within Nyatike, there are four mother-to-mother breast feeding support groups. Akinyi admits exclusive breast feeding was not on her mind when she delivered her other five children.

“If I look at the life of my first five children compared to the life of Anyango, there is a big difference. The others started walking when they were over 18 months, but for this baby she started walking at the age of 10 months. I believe it was because of breast feeding,” she says.

Asked what could compel women to start feeding babies as young as two weeks old with foods like porridge, boiled water and even ugali, Akinyi says ignorance coupled with poverty that has stricken most families in Owich village in Nyatike Constituency could force women to avoid exclusive breast feeding.

She says she joined the group to uplift her poverty stricken family and care for her small baby. 

And as the world marks the Global Breast feeding week from August 1 to 7, many mothers are still ignorant of the benefits of exclusive breast feeding that helps lower child mortality.

Breast milk is a unique nutritional source that cannot adequately be replaced by any other food, including infant formula. Although pollutants can accumulate in breast milk, it remains superior to infant formula. But Akinyi is not the only woman ecstatic about breast feeding.

Ms Lilian Atieno, a mother of four, all born within the four years of her marriage did not exclusively breast-fed her first three children until she joined the breast feeding group. Her baby Gift Armstrong Otieno is one month old and she exclusively breast feeds him.

 “Since I delivered him I have not seen any illness or taken him to hospital for any complication. But the other ones were falling sick every now and then,” says Atieno.

Nyatike District Medical Officer of Health Gordon Okomo says studies have demonstrated that breast-fed children are more resistant to diseases in their early childhood than formula-fed children, and are less likely to contract ailments later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and cancer before the age of 15.

Allergies

Mothers, he says who breast feed are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life, are able to lose weight gained during pregnancy more easily and have a lower risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.

“In this village most mothers fear breast feeding saying that anything new that comes into the village is dangerous.  And as such, most women see breast feeding as something foreign and against their culture,” says Okomo.

“When a baby is fed on nothing else apart from the mother’s milk during the first six months after birth, her immunity is boosted and is able to fight common childhood diseases,” says World Vision Child Health Now Campaign Manager Brezhnev Otieno.

He adds exclusively breast-fed babies suffer less from allergies associated with the intestinal tract and have improved cognitive abilities.

Mr Otieno says exclusive breast feeding is a key contributor to lowering child mortality. Child mortality currently stands at 74 per 1,000 live births against the Millennium Development Goals target of 33 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Ms Catherine Amayo, the Maternal and Child Health Coordinator, Nyatike Sub County, says breast feeding is the only way to protect the child from diseases.

“Breast milk is at the right temperature and it has antibodies to protect the baby from disease, it is like immunisation of the newborn,” says Ms Amayo.

Mr Owino says the mothers are also screened regularly at local health facilities for any diseases and the group helps to track those who have not attended these clinics.

“The groups are very useful in terms of attending clinics too because mothers who fail to attend clinics can be tracked using the group members,” he says.